Imperfectly Complete Album - Ani Difranco

What If No One's Watching

if my life were a movie

there would be a sunset

and the camera would pan away

but the sky is just a little sister

tagging along behind the buildings

trying to imitate their gray

the little boys are breaking bottles

along the sidewalk

the big boys, too

the girls are hanging out at the candy store

pumping quarters into the phone

'cause they don't want to go home



and i think,

what if no one's watching

what it when we're dead, we're just dead

what if it's just us down here

what if god ain't looking down

what if he's looking up instead



if my life were a movie

i would light a cigarette

and the smoke would curl around my face

everything i do would be interesting

i'd play the good guy

in every scene

but i always feel i have to

take a stand

and there's always someone on hand

to hate me for standing there

i always feel i have to open my mouth

and every time i do

i offend someone

somewhere



but what

what if no one's watching

what if when we're dead, we're just dead

what if there's no time to lose

what if there's things we gotta do

things that need to be said



you know i can't apologize

for everything i know

i mean you don't have to agree with me

but once you get me going

you better just let me go

we have to be able to criticize

what we love

say what we have to say

'cause if you're not trying to make something better

as far as i can tell

you're just in the way



i mean what

what if no one's watching

what if when we're dead

we're just dead

what if it's just us down here

what if god is just an idea

someone put in your head



i mean what

what if no one's watching

what if no one's watching...



Fixing Her Hair

she's looking in the mirror

she's fixing her hair

and i touch my head to feel

what isn't there

she's humming a melody

we learned in grade school

she's so happy

and i think

this is not cool

'cause i know the guy

she's been talking about

i have met him before

and i think

what is this beautiful beautiful woman

settling for?



she bends her breath

when she talks to him

i can see her features begin to blur

as she pours herself

into the mold he made for her

and for everything he does

she has a way to rationalize

she says he don't mean what he do

she tells me he called

to apologize



he says he loves her

he says he's changing

and he can keep her warm

and so she sits there like america

suffering through slow reform

but she'll never get back the time

and the years sneak by

one by one

she is still playing the martyr

i am still praying for revolution



and she still doesn't have what she deserves

but she wakes up smiling every day

she never really expected more

that's just not the way we are raised

and i say to her,

you know,

there's plenty of really great men out there

but she doesn't hear me

she's looking in the mirror

she's fixing her hair



In Or Out

guess there's something wrong with me

guess i don't fit in

no one wants to touch it

no one knows where to begin

i've got more than one membership

to more than one club

and i owe my life

to the people that i love



he looks me up and down

like he knows what time it is

like he's got my number

like he thinks it's his

he says,

call me, miss difranco,

if there's anything i can do

i say,

it's mr. difranco to you



some days the line i walk

turns out to be straight

other days the line tends to

deviate

i've got no criteria for sex or race

i just want to hear your voice

i just want to see your face



she looks me up and down

like she thinks that i'll mature

like she's got my number

like it belongs to her

she says,

call me, ms. difranco

if there's anything i can do

i say, i've got spots

i've got

stripes, too



their eyes are all asking

are you in, or are you out

and i think, oh man,

what is this about?

tonight you can't put me

up on any shelf

'cause i came here alone

i'm gonna leave by myself



i just want to show you

the way that i feel

and when i get tired

you can take the wheel

to me what's more important

is the person that i bring

not just getting to the same restaurant

and eating the same thing



guess there's something wrong with me

guess i don't fit in

no one wants to touch it

no one knows where to begin

i've more than one membership

to more than one club

and i owe my life to the people that i love





Every State Line

i got pulled over in west texas

so they could look inside my car

he said are you an american citizen

i said

yes sir

so far

they made sure i wasn't smuggling

someone in from mexico

someone willing to settle for america

'cause there's nowhere else to go



and every state line

there's a new set of laws

and every police man

comes equipped with extended claws

there's a thousand shades of white

and a thousand shades of black

but the same rule always applies

smile pretty, and watch your back



i broke down in louisiana

and i had to thumb a ride

got in the first car that pulled over

you can't be picky in the middle of the night

he said

baby, do you like to fool around

baby, do you like to be touched

i said

maybe some other time

fuck you very much



and every state line

there's a new set of laws

and every police man

comes equipped with extended claws

there's a thousand shades of white

and a thousand shades of black

but the same rule always applies

smile pretty, and watch your back



i'm in the middle of alabama

they stare at me where ever i go

i don't think they like my haircut

i don't think they like my clothes

i can't wait to get back to new york city

where at least when i walk down the street

nobody ever hesitates

to tell me exactly what they think of me



and every state line

there's a new set of laws

and every police man

comes equipped with extended claws

there's a thousand shades of white

and a thousand shades of black

but the same rule always applies

smile pretty, and watch your back



a little town in pennsylvania

there was snow on the ground

a parked in an empty lot

where there was no one else around

but i guess i was taking up too much space

as i was trying to get some sleep

'cause an officer came by anyway

and told me i had to leave



and every state line

there's a new set of laws

and every police man

comes equipped with extended claws

there's a thousand shades of white

and a thousand shades of black

but the same rule always applies

smile pretty, and watch your back



Circle Of Light

standing just outside

the circle of light

avoiding the pool cues

watching the game

waiting for you

hanging in the doorway

like smoke

like mistletoe

this is where i'll be

whenever you come or go



i'm gonna roll you over

gonna peel you back

expose your tender center

watch the juices flow from the crack

gonna peel you out

of your protective shell

or i might have to break right in there

and raise some hell



i don't have no grand plan

for you and me

just nothing is impossible

nothing is unlikely

i'm just riding the tide

nothing more

and it's bound to take me out some

before it brings me back to shore



when you look in the mirror

do you see visions of your past

i ain't got time for halfway

i ain't got time for halfassed

when i look in the mirror

i see my days to come

and my face is just a trace

of where i'm coming from



just outside the circle of light

is where you've been living

your whole life

you've got to jump into the center

and launch your attack

and then you've got to crawl back

in the corners

where it's really black



If It Isn't Here

standing like john wayne

she is full framed

she is center stage

and my imagination is

rattling in its cage

i didn't really notice

when everything else disappeared

but as far as i'm concerned

if it isn't her

it isn't here



she says do i know you

i say well, no, not biblically

but i've been waiting for you come

and talk to me

i have been playing

too many of those boy girl games

she says honey you are safe here

this is a girl girl thing



i told him i loved him

so he thought i'd roll over and play dead

he was god's gift to hypocrisy

with weak knees and a big fat head

she says honey don't tell me

that old story

you are boring me

just tell me do you like me

tell me what you're gonna do

now that you're free



standing like john wayne

she is full framed

she is center stage

and my imagination

is rattling in its cage

i didn't really notice

when everything else disappeared

but as far as i'm concerned

if it isn't her

it isn't here

as far as i'm concerned

if it isn't her

it isn't here



Good, Bad, Ugly

it was good

good to see you again

good to meet your girlfriend

i'll try not to wonder where you are

when you go outside to kiss her

in the front seat of your car



it is good

good to be back home

how i missed this time zone

strangers are exciting

their mystery never ends

but there's nothing like looking at your own history

in the faces of your friends



and it's bad

to have eyes like neon signs

flashing open open open

open open open open open

open all the time

and it's bad

that i wrapped you in a fantasy

and i carry you with me

but lately it seems like everybody's

joined at the hip

and i'm still fancy

i'm so fancy

fancy free



sometimes the beauty is easy

sometimes you don't have to try at all

sometimes you can hear the wind blow in a handshake

sometimes there's poetry written right

on the bathroom wall



and it's bad

that i took that second look

i guess i'm an open book

you know i didn't really intend

to embrace you that long

but then again i wasn't the only one

holding on



I'm No Heroine

you think i wouldn't have him

unless i could have him by the balls

you think i just dish it out

you don't think i take it at all

you think i am stronger

you think i walk taller than the rest

you think i'm usually wearing the pants

just 'cause i rarely wear a dress



well...



when you look at me

you see my purpose,

see my pride

you think i just saddle up my anger

and ride and ride and ride

you think i stand so firm

you think i sit so high on my trusty steed

let me tell you

i'm usually face down on the ground

when there's a stampede



i'm no heroine

at least, not last time i checked

i'm too easy to roll over

i'm too easy to wreck

i just write about

what i should have done

i just sing

what i wish i could say

and hope somewhere

some woman hears my music

and it helps her through her day



'cause some guy designed

these shoes i use to walk around

some big man's business turns a profit

every time i lay my money down

some guy designed the room i'm standing in

another built it with his own tools

who says i like right angles?

these are not my laws

there are not my rules



i'm no heroine

i still answer to the other half of the race

i don't fool myself

like i fool you

i don't have the power

we just don't run this place



Coming Up

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

solicit graffiti until

he needs the land i stand on

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 spray paint 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 weak hearted are strong willed

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



Make The Apologize

my breast is cradled

in the curve of my guitar

i'm breaking strings

and other things

playing hard

no i'm not on the rag

but i'm not on the run

i am matching the big boys

one for one

and i must admit,

i'm having myself some fun



because the music business

is still run by men

like every business

and everything

but we can sing like a sonofabitch

make them twitch around their eyes

make them apologize



he had a mean streak

three miles wide

it was a long walk

to the other side

she tried to get through it

holding on to her smile

but he wasn't worth the time it takes

to make that mistake

he just wasn't worthwhile

she's been under command

of the wrong man

and she'll give you everything

except the upper hand

she was his mother, and his lover,

and his wife

now she wants the luxury

of her own life



'cause the marriage business

is still run by men

like every business

and every thing

but she can sing like a sonofabitch

make him twitch around his eyes

girl, make him apologize



they all want to lead the fight

and they know what they know all right

but there's so much

they don't understand

what about the other sex

what about the other hand

they only know what they've been told

and they're well cast

but they don't break the mold

and good sources are not enough

so she calls their bluff

yeah, she calls their bluff



'cause the revolution business

is still run by men

like every business

and everything

but we can sing like a sonofabitch

make them twitch around their eyes

until they realize

they just don't realize



The Waiting Song

your basic average super star

is singing about justice

and peace

and love

and i am glaring at the radio,

swearing

saying that's just what i was afraid of

the system gives you just enough

to make you think that you see change

they will sing you right to sleep

and then they'll screw you just the same



but i will wait

yes, i will wait for the truth



they think i make a big deal about nothing

but they still think i'm

kinda cute

they joke about the status quo

to break the ice

once the ice is broken

i hope they all fall through

'cause this is no joke to me

they don't fool me

with their acts of sensitivity

they too shall pass

just like everyone

who's only here for my ass



and i can't wait

oh i can't wait till they get their due



baby i've only got a minute

baby i have to go

a minute is all my life

will ever allow

let's grow old

and die together

let's do it now

because you'll do all the jobs

no one else will do

and you'll step aside

and you will let me come through

you have all my respect

i'll leave it here when i go

maybe i never told you, baby

maybe you don't know



but maybe if we wait

if we wait things will improve

maybe we just wait

and things will improve

you know, they've got to improve



your basic average superstar

is singing about justice

and peace

and love

and i am glaring at the radio

swearing

saying that's just what i was afraid of

the system gives you just enough

to make you think that you see change

they'll sing you right to sleep

and then they'll screw you just the same



he says i know you have to go

you have gone before

we are fighting on two different fronts

of the same war

but no matter what else

i will do

i will wait for you



Served Faitfully

he caresses every bottle

like it's the first one he's had

saying

it ain't love

but it ain't bad

it's the only reward

bestowed upon me

and i have served faithfully



i can see he is scarred

from doing some hard time

but i let alone what is broken

'cause it isn't mine

he strikes out at me

when i am within reach

then he reaches for me

when i draw the line



sometimes it seems like love

is just a fancy word for compromise

you gotta read between the years

you gotta write between the lines

you gotta try to understand

the grandness of the man behind the petty crimes

and let him off easy sometimes



i have only just met

an old old friend

we've been walking around holding hands

i hope some day he can bend

as far as it takes to understand

and risk breaking open again



Imperfectly

i'm okay

if you get me at a good angle

and you're okay

in the sort of light

and we don't look

like pages from a magazine

but that's all right

that's all right



i crashed your pickup truck

and then i had to drive it back home

i was crying

i was so scared

of what you would do

of what you would say

but you just started laughing

so i started laughing along

saying, it looks a little rough

but it runs okay

it looks a little rough

but it runs good anyway



we get a little further from perfection

each year on the road

i guess that's what they call character

i guess that's just the way it goes

better to be dusty than polished

like some store window mannequin

why don't you touch me where i'm rusty

let me stain your hands



when you're pretty as a picture

they pound down your door

but i've been offered love

in two dimensions before

and i know that it's not all

it's made out to be

let's show them how it's done

let's do it all imperfectly