31 Days of Music -- Day 13

Your favorite songwriter:  Ani DiFranco

This was a hard one in a way and in a way, it was easy.  I really admire songwriting as an art and I have a great deal of respect for anyone who can set words to music in a moving way.  I could have made a list of songwriters I love but Ani has such a huge repertoire that covers so much musical ground, it is really impressive.  Her writing style seems to change as often as her hair style. Of course her catalog is full of pointed political commentary (true to her folk roots) and vignettes of life from a woman's perspective.  But then she'll follow a heartbreaking love song with a self deprecating look at her life on the road.   She will switch from first person narrative to stream of conscience meandering. She balances heavy, rhythmic almost hip-hop influenced lyrics with more delicate and melodious verses, all with unrelenting honesty.  The reason I chose her as favorite though is that I can listen to Ani and pick out lines in her songs that make me think, "Damn, I wish I wrote that."


I can't possibly post all of my favorites (she has released almost 20 studio albums) so I thought I'd choose a few topics and let Ani weigh in for herself:

Ani on Religion:

up up up up up up
points the spire of the steeple
but god's work isn't done by god
it's done by people

Ani on Gun Control:

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

Ani on Urban Sprawl:  

white people are so scared of black people

they bulldoze out to the country

and put up houses on little loop-dee-loop streets

Ani on Customer Service:

maybe you don't like your job

maybe you didn't get enough sleep

well, nobody likes their job

nobody got enough sleep

maybe you just had

the worst day of your life

but, you know, there's no escape

and there's no excuse

so just suck up and be nice

Ani on Road Food:

the butter melts out of habit
the toast isn't even warm

and the coffee is just water dressed in brown 

Ani on the Record Industry:

i'm going to do my best swandive

into shark-infested waters

i'm gonna pull out my tampon 

and start splashing around

Ani on New York:

tending the garden of noise

where i grow the traffic

and the church bells

and the neighborhood boys

singing to myself

as the solitude sets in

in tune with the symphony

of south brooklyn

Ani on Breakups:

too bad you had to have a better half

she's not really my type
but i think you two are forever
and i hate to say it
but you're perfect together

so fuck you
and your untouchable face
and fuck you
for existing in the first place