88.5 WMNF played "self evident " by Ani DiFranco...An AMAZING poem

[JanMichael]

If you haven't heard this WTC inspired work of art please listen to it here: http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/l_self_evident.html

EDIT: While I was driving home to work they played it. It's probably the first time today that I felt somewhat "out of sorts".

self evident

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall

and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?
======================================

What powerful words...

[ikojo]

1. Ani did this live in St Louis approx six months

after 9/11. When she said:
and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me

The place erupted into a chorus of clapping and cheering! Wow!

I love Ani DiFranco!

[blondeatlast]

2. I'm speechless; she said so much.

I often disagree with you, JM, but this was astonishing.

"3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?"


Damn. I needed that.

[JanMichael]

3. What? Nobody disagrees with me...Certainly not "OFTEN"!!!!

Glad you liked it:-)

[Shakeydave]

10. Complete and utter rubbish!

Bwahahahahaha! Just kidding! You were looking for your muse! Good Stuff :thumbsup:

[goobergunch]

4. WOW!

I'd play it, except I'm supposed to be doing homework.

[liberalmuse]

5. What a fantastic poem!

Wow! Very, very heart-rending.

[JanMichael]

6. Did you listen to it?

Or just read it?

Either way it's amazing.

The way she delivers the lines is remarkable.

[KCDem]

7. beautiful poem!

I'm forwarding the link on to some of my liberal friends. Thanks, JanMichael!

:hi:

[JanMichael]

8. They'll like it.

Funny about this song/poem is that it was huge last year and I didn't hear anything about it until the radio came alive and brought it back.

[ET Awful]

9. She did it slightly different immediately post 9/11

And the live version I heard from then affected me more for some reason, at that time, she performed as follows:

yes, yes, yes, us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
bordering upon hyper distillation

and once upon a time
we were moonshine

rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway despite what the PA announcement said
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity fermented and distilled to eighteen minutes

burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there

yes it's part of a pair there
on the bow of Noah's Ark
the most prestigious couple
just kicking back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its Indian Summer breeze
on the day that America
fell to its knees

after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you or please

the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
because we were all on time
for work that day

we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then when the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything I've seen so far

yes it looked more like war than anything I've seen so far

so fierce and ingenious,
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on

and I'll tell you what, while we're at it,
you can keep the Pentagon,
you can keep the propaganda
and each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate in some prep school punk's plan
to perpetuate retribution

perpetuate retribution

even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair

and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from Hell's Kitchen to Brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowing like never before
as all over the country folks just shake their heads, and pour

so...

here's a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine, and Iraq, and El Salvador.
here's a toast to the folks living on the Pine Ridge Reservation with GI Joe still coming back for more
here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City just to listen to a young woman's voice
here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now awaiting hot oil or guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads to
find peace in the form of a dream

cause take away our Playstations
and we are a 3rd world nation
under the thumb
of some blue blood royal son
who bought the Oval Office in that phony election
and I'll tell you while we're at it, let me state unequivocally,
he is not President of Me, he is not President of me

cuz I, I am a poem heeding hyper distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family
and I'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels,
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost

cause once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
where the laundry was waving out on the line
and the graffiti was teasing us from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys under stars
i dream of touring like Duke Ellington in my own railroad car

i dream of waiting on the big wooden benches
in the grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger
and relearn how to rock and roll

yes, the lessons are all around us
and the truth is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble,
clean the streets,
and clear the air

tell our government to pull its big dick out of the sand of someone else's desert
and put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of 'freedom forever'

cause when one lone phone rang in two thousand and one
at ten after nine on nine one one, which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall right off our desk

and down the long hall down the long stairs
in the building so tall
that the whole world stopped
just to watch it fall

10% metaphor and 90% tragedy
shhhh, listen to the poetry.

- Ani Difranco


Not a whole lot of changes, both are fantastic (and I have both on CD now). But for some reason,this version hit me harder.

[NashVegas]

11. Nashville's Rally Monday

When * was in town at a disappointing fundraiser (I'm told it was definitely not a sell-out) there was a rally held across and down the street.

Someone made a huuuuuge banner, like 15 x 1 yards, that read "We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident." I'd have taken a pic, but couldn't get it into one frame.

[KG]

12. WMNF-FM 88.5 - ahead of the curve.

saw ani on jan of 95 at a small venue in tampa when WMNF brought her to town for her 'not a pretty girl' tour :)

[Shakeydave]

13. Hey!!!!!!!!! Who let KG back in??????????

Bwahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahha!

[JanMichael]

14. Very cool.

Now who let you back in?

[Shakeydave]

15. I am the Gate Keeper!

Be gone with yourself!

[JanMichael]

16. Ay! Sure...

Let's see, I hope that I just stole that little machine gun toting deamon.