[2002-10-30] deHTMLized by script by Zrajm C Akfohg Ani DiFranco: To The Teeth [?] (c)1999 Righteous Babe Records 1. To the Teeth 2. Soft Shoulder 3. Wish I May 4. Freakshow 5. Going Once 6. Hello Birmingham 7. Back Back Back 8. Swing 9. Carry You Around 10. Cloud Blood 11. The Arrival's Gate 12. Providence 13. I Know This Bar 1. To the Teeth The sun is setting on the century And we are armed to the teeth We're all working together now To make our lives mercifully brief And school kids keep trying to teach us What guns are all about Confused liberty with weaponry And watch your kids act it out And every year now like christmas Some boy gets the milk fed suburban blues Reaches for the available arsenal And saunters off to make the news And the women in the middle Are learning what poor women have always known That the edge is closer than you think When the men bring the guns home Look at where the profits are That's how you'll find the source Of the big lie that you and I both know so well By the time it takes this cultural Death wish to run it's course They're gonna to make a pretty penny And then they're going to hell He said the chickens all come home to roost Malcolm forecast the flood Are we really going to sleep through another century While the rich profit off our blood Yeah it may take some doing To see this undoing through But in my humble opinion Here's what I suggest we do Open fire on hollywood Open fire on mtv Open fire on nbc and cbs and abc Open fire on the nra And all the lies they told us along the way Open fire on each weapons manufacturer While he's giving head to some republican senator And if I hear one more time About a fools right to his tools of rage I'm gonna take all my friends And I'm going to move to canada And we're going to die of old age 2. Soft Shoulder I don't keep much stuff around I value my portability But I will say that I have saved every letter You ever wrote to me The one you left on my windsheild Outside of the motel Is in the pocket of my old gigbag From back when life was more soft shelled Letters littered with little lewd pictures Drawn by the ghost of woody guthrie Who would use your big thick hand Just to draw one two for me And I think of your letters as love letters Which is how I think of songs In that it is the writing of these things That tend to carry us along And I dance to one of your old tunes With my true love on our wedding day And your voice sang the way my heart would sing That finally knew just what to say Two people pulled over on the same night To look up at the same stars They both found their wheels Were spinning in a soft shoulder When they got back into their cars They missed fate's appointed rendezvous And then a whole lot of time went by And finally they were done worshipping The landscape and they put down their hands And moved into the sky And they had barely said hello And it was time to say goodbye Goodbye ... 3. Wish I May Losing my love of adventure Losing all respect for me and myself tonight I wonder what happens If I get to The end of this tunnel And there isn't a light I've worn down the treads On all of my tires I've worn through the elbows And the knees of my clothing And I'm staring down the gravel Driveway of desire trying not to Wake up my sleeping self loathing Do you ever have that dream When you open your mouth And you try to scream But you cant make a sound Thats everyday starting now Thats everyday starting now Don't tell me it's gonna be alright You cant sell me on your optimism tonight Don't tell me it's gonna be alright You cant sell me on your optimism tonight It's a stiff competition To see who can stay up later The stars or the street lights And all I really want Is to be alone with the darkness No more wish I may No more wish I might It takes a stiff upper lip Just to hold up my face I gotta suck it up and savour The taste of my own behaviour I am spinning with longing Faster then a roulette wheel This is not who I meant to be This is not how I meant to feel Do you ever have that dream When you open your mouth And you try to scream But you cant make a sound Thats everyday starting now Thats everyday starting now Don't tell me it's gonna be alright You cant sell me on your optimism tonight Don't tell me it's gonna be alright You cant sell me on your optimism tonight I don't think I am strong enough To do this much longer God I wish I was stronger This song can never be long enough To express every longing God I wish it was longer I don't think I am strong enough To do this much longer God I wish I was stronger This song can never be long enough To express every longing God I wish I was .... 4. Freakshow Life in the circus ain't easy But the folks on the outside don't know The tent goes up and the tent comes down And all that they see is the show And the ladies on the horses look so pretty And the lions are lookin real mad And some of the clowns are happy And some of the clowns are sad But underneath There's another expression That the makeup isn't making Life under the big top It's about freedom It's about faking There's an art to the laughter There's a science And there's a lot of love and compliance Welcome to the freakshow Here we go... We live to hear the slak-jawed gasping We live under a halo of held breath And when the children raise up a giant shield Of laughter, it's like they're fending off death And we can make something bigger Than any one of us alone And then the clowns will take off their makeup And the people will go home But life on the ouside ain't easy No sequins, no elephants No parading around Oh the circus comes And the circus goes And they're stuck in this fucking town You need a lot of love and compliance Welcome to the freakshow Here we go 5. Going Once Going once Going twice Sold to the girl who ignored all the good advice Of all the people who knew better She just stood there On the front porch Waiting for her (will) to come and get her She was packed She had a suitcase Full of noble intentions She had a (map) And a staight face Hell bent on reinvention And she was ready for a long day She was in it for it (only) And they said "you think that you don't need us But you're not going to get far All your big ideas are suckers None of them work None of them have cars" But she was not deterred It was like she hadn't heard a word And just then a primer grey el camino Pulled up to the curb Going once Going twice Down the road less taken Through the coffee And the wd40 And the gasoline And the beer There was always someone there to say Why don't you just stay And hang your hat Here But she was packed She had a suitcase Full of fumbles and near misses She was swinging through a jungle Of last calls and first kisses And she was learning About please About hugh/cute? humilities And then one day she looked around her And everything up till then was showing And she wondered how did I get here Without even knowing where I was going And now there's no getting out of this And there's no going back And it all seems so odd sometimes And the odds all seemed stacked 6. Hello Birmingham Hold me down I am floating away Into the overcast skies Over my home town On election day What is it about birmingham? What is it about buffalo? Did the hate filled want to build bunkers In your beautiful red earth They want to build them in our shiny white snow And now I've drawn closed the curtains In this little booth Where the truth has no place to stand And I am feeling oh so powerless In this stupid booth With this useless little lever in my hand And outside My city is bracing For the next killing thing Standing by the bridge And praying for the next doctor martin luther king It was just one shot Through the kitchen window Just one or two miles from here If you fly like a crow A bullet came to visit a doctor In his one safe place A bullet ensuring the right to life Whizzed past his kid and his wife And knocked his glasses right off of his face And the blood poured off the pulpit Yeah the blood poured down the picket lines And the hatred was immediate, yeah And the vengence was divine So they went and stuffed god down the barrel of a gun And after him they stuffed his only son Hello birmingham; it's buffalo I heard you had some trouble down there again Just calling to let to know That somebody understands I was once escorted Through the doors Of a clinic By a man In a bulletproof vest And no bombs Went off that day So I am still here to say Birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best Oh birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best Oh birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best On this election day 7. Back Back Back Back back back in the back of your mind Are you learning an angry language Tell me boy boy boy are you tending to your joy Or are you just letting it vanquish Back back back in the dark of your mind Where the eyes of your demons are gleaming Are you mad mad mad About the life you never had Even when you are dreaming Who are these old old old people In these nursing homes Scowling away at nothing Like big rag dolls just cursing at the walls And pulling out all of their stuffing Ever day is a door leading back to the core Yes, old age will distill you And if you're this this this full of bitterness now Some day it will just fill you When you sit right down in the middle of yourself You're gonna wanna have a comfortable chair So renovate your soul before you get too old Cuz you're gonna be housebound there When you're old you fold up like an envelope And you mail yourself right inside And there's nowhere to go Except out real slow Are you ready, boy, for that ride? Your arrogance is gaining on you And so is eternity You better practice happiness You better practice humility You took the air, you took the time You were fed and you were free Now you'd better put some beauty back While you got the energy You'd better put some beauty back, boy While you got the energy 8. Swing She came to and her Whole life was how she remembered it She had a mouth full of fur And she was laughing She parked her hearse across Three spaces posted motorcycles only And jumped out shouting Wha the cus could make a nice girl like us Feel so lonely? Are you weary as water In a faucet left dripping With an incessant sadness Like a sad record skipping And an ugly and ornery And shadowy dread Lurking like a troll under the bridge Between your heart and your head Please dumb blind kind sir Lend little miss listless a little bit of christmas She's been a real good girl But now she's stuck here The world is so little and still Mysterious and ominous as ever before Like an unmarked bottle of pills On the shelf right next to the thing You were reaching for Swing the groove 'round here Where I can reach it When I get my ass back on track I'm gonna need it Swing shift til I get the money To buy me and my baby a moon full of honey Then I'm gonna turn off the nagging voices Inside my head That follow me to bed and say You suck... ("break it down" freestyle by Corey Parker added to this song during some performances) If you dig it on the sound Break it down No walls up, break it down Break it down Happiness spread it all around Break it down Racism stomp it in the ground Break it down So if you dig it on the sound Break it down No walls up, break it down Break it down Ignorance stomp it in the ground Break it down Happiness spread it all around Break it down Check, who said folk and hip-hop can't latch Put us together on the stage and light a match Kaboom, guess who stepped in the room Sweeping you off your feet like we had a broom With Ani DiFranco and maceo Add a little freestyle flow and who knows Put a little scratchin' into the mix And it's enough to get you high if you need a fix So, if you dig it on the sound Break it down No walls up, break it down Break it down Ignorance stomp it in the ground Break it down Happiness spread it all around Break it down If you dig it on the sound Break it down No walls up, break it down Break it down Racism stomp it in the ground Break it down Happiness spread it all around Break it down So, if you dig it on the sound Break it down 9. Carry You Around How pleased can one Sun setting make you If you humble yourself To it? How grateful can you Really say that you are Just to be here and live Through it? And when beauty asks a question How often do you reply? How often do you wonder About life on the other side? On the other side of sorrow On the other side of rage On the other side of ok Ok at all In any way Imagine what loneliness Will drive someone to do Now multiply that times me And multiply that times you Now imagine what it would take to make this all happen again And just when you think you're gonna cry Multiply that times ten You Are distracting me From all other activities And I know the fact of your presence Will dominate my memory Of this restaurant, this table This day and this town Cuz I carry you baby I carry you around 10. Cloud Blood I've been wondering what you meant When you asked do you have a light? I've been wondering where you went When you left that party that night Cloud blood smudge smeared on the sky Its dawns roadkill I've been driving since midnight And I'm driving still Stop on the top of the ridge Just to feel the wind on my rand mcnally Then I feel the air grow cold As I drift in to the first blue of the valley And you're wondering how far down you are on my Call back list But you don't realize Everytime I find I'm by a phone the landscape shifts Every other song someones trying to write Angels into the world Every grace every ace every near miss Every decent kiss by a pretty girl She was an angel She looked like an angel And all of the angels did sing And the angels were watching And the angels were listening And the angels were on hand to stand in for everything You can call it magic When a man pulls a rabbit out of a hat But the reason I don't call Is cuz I wonder if there isnt a better word than that And you can call me crazy But I think you're as lazy as white paint on the wall And I know you'll only speak to me in dial tones If I call Its been way too long Since I've been behind the wheel Headlights guiding me right through the dark I feel Dry eyed, trying to resist Sleeps first kiss Everytime I have time to think I think of this Da da da da Da da da Da da 11. The Arrival's Gate Gonna go out To the arrivals gate at the airport And sit there all day Watch people reuniting Public affection is so exciting It even makes airports ok Watching children run With their arms outstretched Just to throw those arms Around their grandpas' necks Watching lovers plant kisses Old men to their misses At the arrivals gate Watching a mother With a mother's smile Don't tell me to move I just wanna sit here for a while I have determined It's a sure cure for cancer Watching excitment turn family Dogs into dancers At the arrivals gate I got me a white bread sandwich With some shredded lettuce And I got me a ringside view For my quaint little fetish I just wanna drain my little pink heart Of all its malice And kick back for the afternoon In this flourescent palace Everybody's in a hurry Here in purgatory Except for me I'm where I need to be At the arrivals gate 12. Providence Who knew At this party that I would walk in and I'd see you I guess now We could just get drunk Yeah, and that would be our excuse You could slip And outta nowhere I could be there to catch your fall And we could laugh at ourselves And the writing that's on the wall It's a narrow margin Just room enough for regret In the inch and a half between Hey, how ya been? And Can I kiss you yet? So we talk like Nervous neighbors over a tall fence True love But for lack of providence But I just got one more Thing to tell you Cuz words are vitamins And life is short And I know when we get up To the front office We're gonna have to fill out A full report The first question will be What were you thinking? And the nexy question will be What did you say? And then they're gonna check to see If the answerss to one and two Matched up much Along the way In the interest of poetry And the cowboy movie That's you and me I'm back on the horse now And I am riding I am striding so effortlessly What I mean is It's late Much too late for us And I'm fixing to go home With just my conscience And a bitter sense of irony As my chaperone 13. I Know This Bar I know this bar With a jukebox full of medicine And christmas lights blinking Around a clouded mirror It's not that far From old voelkers bowling alley Just go up there and turn right It's about four blocks from here You'll probably find grace Her shift starts at happy hour She's got this sweet face Easy as tea leaves to read You gotta know what to look for You gotta know what's there to find But then I gues syou don't really know her So nevermind I used to hang out a lot around there In that part of town Where all the white kids Still have feathered hair I know this song With this one really killer line I don't remember it exactly But it slays me everytime It's on the jukebox there I know it's number 5403 Go put that song on for me won't you And make gracie think of me [[eof]]