Red Letter Year
by Ani DiFranco
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1. |
Red Letter Year
04:17
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new years eve we dropped mushrooms
and danced round the house
making music with everything that we found
incantation replaced resolution
and we vowed to allow each perfection
that we could be and the goddesses sent word
that this would be a red letter year
they didn't mention how much shit was gonna change around here
it's just as well we weren't swollen with unfocused dread
we had visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads
dancing in our heads
first you go under and then coming up gives you the bends
and when you break the surface
all you see is your friends
so you grab your purple crayon
and flesh out the picture behind
and finally the whole world is made of one unbroken line
one unbroken line
when you wake up sick as a dog
with dull eyes and really bad hair
standing under a lit sign with the words “on air”
and the water is rising
it's coming in everywhere
just remember you are there
you are always, always there
and representing the white race
a man with a monkey for a face
is flying over in a helicopter
whistling dixie and playing dumb
in a town that might put a gun to your throat
or rip the roof right off of your place
there’s a mold crawling up the walls
and falling asleep in your lungs
and you and I both know how to drink so
we will always have work in this town
and besides the police are stationed at the bridge
and they’re preventing passage to higher ground
so let’s pull up a bar stool
and get ourselves a ring side seat
for one unnerving moment
they’re gonna show the truth on TV
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2. |
Alla This
03:13
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i will not stand immersed
in this ultra violent curse
i won't let you make a tool of me
i will keep my mind and body free
bye bye minutiae
of the day to day drama
i'm expanding exponentially
i am consciousness without identity
i am many things
made of everything
but i will not be your bank roll
i won't idle in your drive-thru
i won't watch your electric sideshow
i got way better places to go
i will maintain the truth
i knew naturally as a child
i won't forfeit my creativity
to a world that's all laid out for me
i’ll look at everything around me
and i will vow to bear in mind
that all of this was just someone's idea
it could just as well be mine
i won't rent you my time
i won't sell you my brain
i won't pray to a male god
cuz that would be insane
and i can't support the troops
cuz every last one of them is being duped
and i will not rest a wink
until the women have regrouped
i am many things
made of everything
but i will not be your bank roll
i won't idle in your drive-thru
i won't join your electric sideshow
i got way better places to go
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3. |
Present / Infant
03:02
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lately i've been glaring into mirrors
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age i'd have thought of
something better to do
than make insecurity into a full-time job
make insecurity into an art
i fear my life will be over
and i will have never lived it unfettered
always glaring into mirrors
mad i don't look better
but now here’s this tiny baby
and they say she looks just like me
and she is smiling at me
with that present/infant glee
and i would defend
to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be
so i'm beginning to see some problems
with the ongoing work of my mind
and i've got myself a new mantra
it says: don't forget to have a good time!
don't let the sellers of stuff
power enough
to rob you of your grace
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
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4. |
Smiling Underneath
04:59
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i don’t mind waiting in line
no no
i don’t mind if the bills pile up
and the work is slow
i don’t mind the gas or the groceries or the grind
long as i’m with you
i’m having a good time
don’t mind the stoner waiter
or the poorly cooked food
don’t mind little miss kitty
or her knuckle head dude
don’t mind if every last person here
is ugly and rude
long as i’m with you
i’ve got a good attitude
long as i’m with you
we could be stuck in traffic
for over a week
with a car full of quintuplets
who are all cutting teeth
and around my neck
could be a flaming christmas wreath
and i’d be smiling underneath
smiling underneath
i don’t mind waking up early
for a flight that’s delayed
i don’t mind our week’s vacation
was chilly and grey
i don’t mind the traffic cops or the TSA
long as i’m with you
i’m having a good day
don’t mind spilling my hot sauce
onto my white shirt
don’t mind that twinge when i walk
in that knee that i hurt
don’t mind my gums peeling back
or my hair gettin’ thin
long as i’m with you i win
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5. |
Way Tight
03:50
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i'll tell you what
there is plenty wrong with me
but i’ve fixed up a few old buildings
and i’ve planted a few trees
and children seem to like me
and animals too
like the birds
and the bees
and eating a sandwich
standing over the kitchen counter
with only the sound of chewing in the room
i can see you as a challenge
that i will eagerly meet
cuz you are way way way way sweet
it's just that kind of evening
that cracks open like a half shaken beer
cool and refreshing and running down your arm
and baby there's really no other place i'd rather be than here
pardon my periodic alarm
you are ever true
ever new in love
and i mean that in the best and worst way
and i don't really know what i was so mad about
but the full moon is about a week away
i’ll tell you what
there is plenty wrong with you
stuff you'd sooner fight for than cop to
but i think it's just more reason why we are meant to be
people say i look like you
and you look like me
and we get this crazy combination
of everything and nothing right
but we are way way way way
way way way way
way tight
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6. |
Emancipated Minor
04:30
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emancipated minor
well directed
and brilliantly casted
riding a greyhound
down to the city
with her fake id
and a hell of a little hand-basket
little game of see-saw
and then he came to claim her
and then a sordid line
formed behind him
reproductive system
newly activated
she participated
in nature’s plan
she participated
and i can’t say i envy her
i don’t think i miss it
wrought iron cobwebbing
over thin
window panes
the city seducing her
on tip-toe to kiss it
don’t think twice
just roll the dice
roll the dice
so she attended the dance classes
and she learned the little dance
and she tried the high heels
but she couldn’t bring herself to prance
all the while a faint ticking
in the silence between the songs
just south of her gut
two tiny time bombs
and love comes in many forms
and for each she would yearn
hungry as a student
hungry to learn
every flavor of person
every species of intent
with the body pulsing
at the center detent
but all the good graffiti
got painted over in time
and she watched the last faceless chain
replace the last five and dime
and she wondered if the only noble thing
ain’t to just to get a big garden
and plant it in the spring
and kiss the city goodbye
in some big graceful gesture
and focus on the moon’s groove
and groove with the moon
focus on the moon’s groove
and groove with the moon
and i can’t say i envy her
i don’t think i miss it
wrought iron cobwebbing
over thin
window panes
the city seducing you
on tip-toe to kiss it
don’t think twice
just roll the dice
roll the dice
roll the dice
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7. |
Good Luck
02:35
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a throat with a heart in it stuck in traffic
a ticket and a mind to fly
an alarm clock still drunk and high
sanity painting her mask on
all the way across town
a compact frown
projected on her retina upside down
you’re an avalanche of detour signs
falling off a truck
swooning like a boxer
that is too dizzy to duck
your decisions turn around
and make you back and then you’re stuck
and then good luck
good luck
a lock with a key in it that ain’t turning
smoke filling up behind door
a fire with a purpose being ignored
a body slipping into disease
quietly making that choice
while the joy drains out of a voice
you’re an avalanche of detour signs
falling off a truck
swooning like a boxer
that is too dizzy to duck
your decisions turn around
and make you back and then you’re stuck
and then good luck
good luck
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8. |
Atom
05:25
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the glory of the atom
begs a reverent word
the primary design
of the whole universe
yes, let us sing its praises
let us bow our heads in prayer
at the magnificent consciousness
incarnate there
the smallest unit of matter
with its orbiting electrons
echoing off the solar system
like a hawk in the hills at dawn
the smallest unit of matter
uniting bird and rock and tree
and you and me
oh holy is the atom
the truly intelligent design
to which all of evolution
is graciously aligned
the one single structure
to which everything distills
the air
the wood smoke there
and the hills
leave me here surrounded
by everything that's real
far outside the boundaries
of the digitized ordeal
leave me here awake
leave me here to heal
human beings are a cross
between monkeys and ants
you can see us from your spaceship
melting the polar ice caps
with our arrogance
summon a congress of angels
dressed in riot gear
we got ourselves a serious situation
down here
i have this great great uncle
who worked on the atomic bomb
he got a nobel prize in physics
and a place in this song
and i bet there were no windows
and no women in the room
when they applied themselves
to the pure science of
boom
yes, messing with the atom
is the highest form of blasphemy
whether you are making weapons
or simple electricity
someone fashion me a pulpit
i have been called to engage
with the maniacal heretics
of the nuclear age!
let the religious get religion
let consumers get a clue
let scientists get perspective
let activists get their due
let industry get a conscience
let the earth inherit the meek
let the divinity of nature speak
the glory of the atom
begs a reverent word
the primary design
of the whole universe
yes, let us sing its praises
let us bow our heads in prayer
at the magnificent consciousness
incarnate there
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9. |
Round a Pole
02:58
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i could sing you round a pole
i could talk you up a tree
but when it comes to what really matters
you are way more clever than me
i knew i wanted to be challenged
but i was unclear about how
so i'll be the guy with the toolbox
and you be the fun lovin gal
and i'll learn to fix stuff
if you will teach me love
and god will radiate out from within us
instead of this bullshit from above
and we can dance round like monkeys
after the paparazzi have gone home
having let go forever
the fallacy of ever being alone
i could sing you round a pole
like a ball at the end of a rope
have you duckin and sluggin
protecting your head
but i decided just to love you back instead
cuz i have studied my own pain
like an ambitious scientist
and i've discovered it’s all the same
and has nothing to do with this
so i'll learn to fix stuff
if you will teach me love
and god will radiate out from within us
instead of this bullshit from above
and we can dance around like monkeys
after the paparazzi have gone home
having let go forever
the fallacy of ever being alone
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10. |
Landing Gear
02:55
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hey little bag of sugar
floating in your biosphere
summon the courage
to put down your landing gear
and come out here
cuz i am as exhausted
as a drowning polar bear
swimming around looking for a ride
and it's so god-awful hot outside
and quit kicking me in the rib
every time adam tells what he did
man creates woman, he says
sweeping his hand through the air
like mister show biz
you're gonna love this world
if it's the last thing i do
the whole extravagant joke
topped in bittersweet chocolate goo
for someone who ain't even here yet
look how much the world loves you
look how much the world loves you
the candles are burning down
the music is fading
your piñata is torn
it is time to be born
death is at the door
peddling that old fashioned
blood and gore
here at the house of creation
cue the sobering moment
of revelation
you're gonna love this world
if it's the last thing i do
the whole extravagant joke
topped in bittersweet chocolate goo
for someone who ain't even here yet
look how much the world loves you
look how much the world loves you
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11. |
Star Matter
02:48
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love gets started
and next thing you know
it leaves everything else behind
love sets fire to your schedule
and then calls an end to time
and love ain't far behind you
love ain't far behind
when we're parted
it's always too long
and every time you come back
you come back so strong
and as soon as we can
we gotta go lie down
in that place
where our breath is one sound
and love ain't far behind you
love ain't far behind
i was there to hear your bell
the first time it rang
and the beauty was
the beauty of everything
we are star matter
from the big bang
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12. |
Red Letter Year Reprise
06:26
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credits
released September 30, 2008
2008, 2008 Righteous Babe Records distributed by United For Opportunity
2008, 2008 Righteous Babe Records distributed by United For Opportunity
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Ani DiFranco New Orleans, Louisiana
Grammy winner and feminist icon Ani DiFranco began her career as a proponent of the artist-run label, creating her own Righteous Babe Records in 1990. Since then she has released over twenty studio albums and supported a broad range of social causes including racial justice, reproductive rights, gender equality, environmental issues and prison reform. ... more
discography
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