An interesting juxtaposition - the vague-aries of love
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Artist:
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Album:
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Track:
as my shuffle spews it's amorphous philosophy and in turn, sets my mind to wandering. Not a good thing when going for a run and almost becoming one with a tree.
Back to the point - two songs, one leading into another and each so powerful in it's own right. Making a statement, issueing a plea, fighting their way through life.
The red button song at first appears to be over, but there is a coda tacked on the end.
our father who art in a penthouse
sits in his 37th floor suite
and swivels to gaze down
at the city he made me in
he allows me to stand and
sollicit graffiti until
he needs the land I stand on
I in my darkened threshold
am pawing through my pockets
the receipts, the bus schedules
the matchbook phone numbers
the urgent napkin poems
all of which laundering has rendered
pulpy and strange
loose change and a key
ask me
go ahead, ask me if I care
I got the answer here
I wrote it down somewhere
I just gotta find it
I just gotta find it
somebody and their spraypaint got too close
somebody came on too heavy
now look at me made ugly
by the drooling letters
I was better off alone
ain't that the way it is
they don't know the first thing
but you don't know that
until they take the first swing
my fingers are red and swollen from the cold
I'm getting bold in my old age
so go ahead, try the door
it doesn't matter anymore
I know the weakhearted are strongwilled
and we are being kept alive
until we're killed
he's up there the ice
is clinking in his glass
I don't ask
I just empty my pockets and wait
it's not fate
it's just circumstance
I don't fool myself with romance
I just live
phone number to phone number
dusting them against my thighs
in the warmth of my pockets
which whisper history incessantly
asking me
where were you
I lower my eyes
wishing I could cry more
and care less,
yes it's true,
I was trying to love someone again,
I was caught caring,
bearing weight
but I love this city, this state
this country is too large
and whoever's in charge up there
had better take the elevator down
and put more than change in our cup
or else we
are coming
up
Comments (14)
Not exactly running music, I really must say. I can see how you might meet a tree, unintentionally, while concentrating on the words of the songs rather than the territory. Let's be carefull out there.
I guess living so near to Buffalo, NY (the home of Ani DiFranco you would think I would be familiar with her work but alas we would be wrong. This post is my first experience with her music. To me seems more like the old beat poets reciting their poetry than music.
Yeah, I have to say (well I don't HAVE to, really) that I have never been a big fan of her as a singer/musician, but I think she writes good *poetry*
Hearing this just confirms my earlier opinions.....but as a POET, I really think she is talented.
but the point I was trying to make was that, when distilled down to their lowest common denominator, the central theme of both compositions was love - in some form or another. It just struck me that two disparate individuals such as these ( and the Dlylan tune which no one seems to mention) is vital to this point, two people, in seemingly opposite universes, expressing pain with a common connection of "love".
I just found it compelling that they followed one another on my shuffle, and how this set me off on such a reverie.
Oh well, perhaps I took one to many tokes on the old hookah
ah, but aren't 95% of songs (well, I don't know the exact percentage) about love? But, I do see your point (I think), Bob's flow is the perfect calming male compliment to Ani's obvious distress (esp. in the coda). I don't use shuffle play much, but of the few times I have it has produced some rather glorious (near AI) results. What do you think? Does it just make us think more about the juxtaposition of things??
It certainly raises the eyebrows.
...and for you, that takes what - about 75 p.s.i. ?
It highlights the interconnectiveness of life - how we may think we are individuals, with our own thoughts and dreams when in fact, the imput stimulus for most of us is exactly the same and it is fascinating to witness the interpretation of said stimulus.
You grog?
It's OK if you don't - I seem to befuddle folks with my "pearls" of wisdom- no doubt it's me :-)
Oh, inrumford, I must admit that when I first saw this post I only played the difranco song, and I didn't pick up the point you were sending out. Then I went home, and now I'm back at work, and after reading your comment and listening carefully to the Dylan song, I DO see your point. If you had not posted the comment, however, I probably would have just for whatever is in your hookah
*asked* for....ahem.
My hookah is your hookah
Why thank you!