Alla This :: Ani DiFranco

so...we haven't had an Ani DiFranco post since we started this blog back in Nov/Dec of 2007. it is about time we get a little more of her!

i started running *GASP* this week, and so far things are going really well. and during my runs, i select a random cd and just run to that. sometimes i get caught off guard by a song and i get fixated on it for the rest of my run. this particular song did just that to me. i was first introduced to Ani during my first year of college (i know....really late) and quickly joined the Church of DiFranco. besides her amazing guitar skills and unique voice, Ani's lyrics are what get me every time. she is not just a musician, she is a poet. and her lyrics speak to my activist heart.

this particular song is rockin because it's one of the more poignant political songs that Ani has done (in my opinion) in quite some time. it's right up there with Your Next Bold Move for me... so hopefully it will ring true for some of y'all.

the end.
love,
meggo.

Alla This :: Ani DiFranco


Alla This :: Ani DiFranco

i will not stand immersed,
in this ultra violent curse
i won't let you make a tool of me
i will keep my mind and body free
bye bye minutiae
of the day to day drama,
i'm expanding exponentially,
i am consciousness without identity

i am many things,
made of everything,
but i will not be your bank roll
i won't idle in your drive-thru,
i won't watch your electric sideshow
i got way
better places to go

i will maintain the truth
i knew naturally as a child
i won't forfeit my creativity,
to a world that's all laid out for me
i will look at everything around me
and i will vow to bear in mind
that all of this was just someone's idea
it could just as well be mine

i won't rent you my time
i won't sell you my brain
i won't pray to a male god
cuz that would be insane

and i can't support the troops,
cuz every last one of them's being duped,
and i will not rest a wink
until the women have regrouped

i am many things,
made of everything,
but i will not be your bank roll
i won't idle in your drive-thru
i won't watch your electric sideshow
i got way
better places to go

Bonus Song!!! This one is about DiFranco's baby daddy...it's not often we hear happy love songs from Ani, so enjoy!



Way Tight :: Ani DiFranco

i tell you what - there is plenty wrong with me,
but i fixed up a few old buildings...
and i planted a few trees.
children seem to like me,
and animals, too -
like the birds and the bees...

and eating a sandwich,
standing over the kitchen counter
with only the sound of chewing in the room -
i can see you as a challenge,
that i will eagerly meet...
'cuz you are way way way way sweet.

it’s just that kind of evening -
that cracks open like a half shaken beer,
cool and refreshing, running down your arm,
baby, there’s no other place i’d rather be...
than here, parting my periodic alarm.

you are ever true, ever new in love...
and i mean that in the best and worst way.
i don’t really know what i was so mad about,
but the full moon is about a week away.

i tell you what - there is plenty wrong with you,
stuff you’d sooner fight for than cop to
i think it’s just more reason why we are meant to be;
people say i look like you and you look like me...
a crazy combination of everything and nothing right...
we are way way way way way way way way way tight,
yes, we are way way way way way way way way way tight,
we are way way way way way way way way way tight.

Youth :: Matisyahu

Matisyahu has recently become one of my new favorite reggae artists to listen to. This song was on the MBLGTACC mix cd that we made for our extraordinarily long road trip from here to central Illinois and I got hooked instantly. Matisyahu is a Hasidic jew from the east coast who writes some really fantastic reggae songs, blending dancehall reggae with the traditional style of Jewish cantors. One cool random fact is that he sometimes performs with Kenny Muhammad, a Muslim beatboxer.
Matisyahu has only recorded a handful of albums, but everything I've listened to is fantastic.
This particular song is about the confusion and frustration that a lot of youth feel, but not in a whiny "woe is me" way. More in an empowering, youth are the future, make good decisions to shift the world in a positive way. Enjoy!



Some of them come now
Some of them running
Some of them looking for fun
Some of them looking for away out of confusion
Some of them don't know where to be
Some of them don't know where to go
Some of them trust their instincts
That somethings missing from the show
Some don't fit society
Their insides are crying low
Some of them teachers squashed the flame
'fore it had a chance to grow
Some of them embers still glow
Them charcoal hushed and low
Some of them come with hunger supressed
Not fed them feel the death blow, yo
CHORUS:
Young man control in your hand
Slam your fist on the table
And make your demand
Take a stand
Fan a fire for the flame of the youth
Got the freedom to choose
You better make the right move
Young man, the power's in your hand
Slam your fist on the table and make your demand
You better make the right move
"youth is the engine of the world"
Storm the halls of vanity
Focus your energy
Into a laser beam
Streaming shattered light
Unites to pierce between the seams
And it seems
The world open peering
The children see
Rapid fire for your mind
Half a truth is just a lie
They rub me the wrong way
They say their way or fall behind
Seventeen disconnect left out
The concept as to why
There's a spiritual emptiness
So the youth them get vexed
Skip class and get wrecked
Feel with beer and cigarettes
To fill the hole in their chest!

When I'm Gone :: Ani DiFranco (cover of Phil Ochs)

This is not the song I actually wanted to write about this week. I attended Ani DiFranco's concert in Columbus on Wednesday and was absolutely galvanized by a song I had not heard her play before called "The Atom." The song was an environmental anthem railing against the dangers of nuclear power. That song was an amazing experience - due in large part to the musicians playing with Ani on this tour. Obviously, I wanted to find a video of her playing "The Atom" live and share it on the blog, or even find some recording of it that I could post, but it alas, it was not to be. The song can be found on Ani's "bootleg" live recording of a 2007 show she played in Boston (check her website). In lieu of that song, I leave you with Ani's cover of Phil Ochs' "When I'm Gone," the sentiment of which rings true for me at this moment in my life, as I am beginning to realize more and more and quickly life really goes by (even when you're lucky enough to live for a pretty long time) and how easily it can be clipped too short. To me, this song is not just about activism and the immediacy of the issues of our day and the opportunities we have to really participate in change, but is also about living each moment as if you won't live another. I think this doesn't mean we have to go crazy and work ourselves into the ground, or never take a moment to relax. On the contrary, I think it means that we should do our best to be fully present in each moment of our lives - both the quiet and the active.

I think a lot about what happens when people are gone - what will happen when I'm gone and I want to think that at the end of my life, whenever that may be, I'll be able to look back and be sure that I was part of something and that I did not stand by in ignorance of my connection to each living thing on this planet, living things that are all made up of the same tiny little atoms.



Much peace.

Better People :: Xavier Rudd

Guest Blogger::Emily

I was first introduced to Xavier Rudd by a close friend of mine. On a very random night, I met my (soon to be) friend, an Irishman who was stopping through the US on his way to live and work in Australia. He had no job lined up, no place to stay, no real plan, just $600 in his pocket and a dream. Three years later, keeping in touch only through text messages, we reunited and he brought me a gift of all of Xavier Rudd’s CDs. We were only together for a week, but he said that I would learn a lot about him while he was gone by listening to Xavier’s music.

So I did, and I want to share it with all of you. Xavier has an amazing sense of the intersection between humanity and nature. He seems to be a man who knows himself and who is in tune with the echoes of the earth on which we live. He is a native Australian, and many of his songs pay tribute to the Australian Aboriginal people (see: “Land Rights” and “Anni Kookoo” on his White Moth album). He plays all of his own instruments, including the didgeridoo. His website describes his music as an “amalgamation of folk, reggae, rock and world music”.


Really, all of his songs are good. I chose to write about “Better People” (off the album, White Moth, because of its sense of honesty, beauty, inspiration, and hope in a (at times) dreary, hopeless, and mean world. As he points out, there are some people who don’t listen or care, but there are lots of people who do care and are working to heal each other. Our earth is wounded, but there is overwhelming beauty in nature and humanity.

From a musical stand point, he really uses his voice as an instrument. He does not just talk or sing over the music, he and his words become a part of the music. I really like his infusions of different styles and the music quality in general. It’s unique.

Let me know if you want recommendations of others songs of his. Also, more information about Xavier, his music, and his mission can be found HERE.

Enjoy and pass along!




Better People::Xavier Rudd

you people saving whales,
giving your thanks to our seas
my respect to the ones in the forest,
standing up for our old trees

them giving food to the hungry
giving hope to the needy
giving life to a baby
giving care for free
cause there is freedom around us
we have everything we need
i will care for you
because you care for me
we all have opinions
some of them get through
but there’s better people
with more good to do
good to do...

what I have could be a message
or just some words from my heart
my respect to the ones making changes
for other lives they’ll give their own

like giving food to the hungry
giving hope to the needy
giving life to a baby
giving care for free
cause there is freedom around us
we have everything we need
i will care for you
because you care for me
we all have opinions
some of them get through
but there’s better people
with more good to do
good to do...

well our world it keeps spinning
round and round it goes
human nature keeps spreading its disease
and our children keeps growing up with
what they know from what we teach
and what they see
and it’s only a question of the time we have
and the lives that our children will lead
they can only keep growing up with
what they know from what we teach
and what they see

like giving food to the hungry
giving hope to the needy
giving life to a baby
giving care for free
cause there is freedom around us
we have everything we need
i will care for you
because you care for me
we all have opinions
some of them get through
but there’s better people
with more good to do
good to do...

Great Divide :: Hanson

Last Saturday, December 1, was World AIDS day. Perhaps I should have written this post last week, in advance of that day. However, I wasn't quite ready to come out of the musical closet, so to speak. Dylan and I sometimes like to joke about this when we talk about our appreciation of this particular band (Sorry, Flunker – I'm outing you, too). We like to say, "You know, there are just some things that you can't share with the people around you – things you have to keep secret from your friends, and from your family... This is one of those things..." And then we'd usually launch into some entirely absurd cover of "MMMBop."

But right now, I'm not interested in a flashback to the 1990s. Like I said, Saturday was World AIDS Day, and since most of us who write for this blog are passionate about music and about social justice (often simultaneously), I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the song "Great Divide." Last year, on World AIDS Day 2006, Hanson released a new single that they'd recorded with two children's choirs in Mozambique and South Africa after becoming interested in the movement to fight global AIDS. The song is available on iTunes – and here's the best part - all the proceeds from its purchase go to the Perinatal HIV Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa. In addition, while on tour this fall to support their new album, The Walk (2007), Hanson has been making speeches and organizing barefoot walks in every city they've played in, to raise awareness about global poverty and encourage people to become involved in AIDS activism.

Let me take a break for a moment. I imagine some folks are having trouble digesting all of this. Social justice, global AIDS awareness, activism, and Hanson!? I was as surprised as anyone else. But, then, it appears that Hanson, despite being three silver-spoonfed white boys from Oklahoma, aren't the strangers to social activism that we might presume them to be. In fact several years ago, after becoming disgusted with the corporate music industry and the massive media mergers that occurred in the late 1990s, Hanson left their major label and started their own, independent record label. They made a documentary about the experience, called "Strong Enough to Break." It's a far cry from "MMMBop."

So, in honor of World AIDS Day, in remembrance of the 25 million people who have died of AIDS since 1981, and in solidarity with the 22.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa who are currently living with HIV or AIDS, I am posting the song "Great Divide" and encouraging folks to download it and spread the word.

More information on the global AIDS epidemic: http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm ; http://www.fightglobalaids.org/

More information on HIV/AIDS in Africa: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/africa/2000/aids_in_africa/default.stm; http://www.avert.org/aidsinafrica.htm

More information on the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where the proceeds from "Great Divide" go: http://www.chrishanibaragwanathhospital.co.za/bara/index.jsp



Great Divide
The earth is shaking under siege
And every breath will meet its fate
Still we hunger for a moment of freedom
Even though the hour's late

I find hope and it gives me rest
I find hope in a beating chest
I find hope in what eyes don't see
I find hope in your hate for me
Have no fear when the waters rise
We can conquer this great divide

When every eye is on the fortune
It can only breed contempt
They say blood is thicker than oceans
Still we box our brothers in

I find hope and it gives me rest
I find hope in a beating chest
I find hope in what eyes don't see
I find hope in your hate for me
Have no fear when the waters rise
We can conquer this great divide

And we're gone
And we're gone
And we're holding on
And we're holding on
And we're holding on

I find hope and it gives me rest
I find hope in a beating chest
I find hope in what eyes don't see
I find hope in your hate for me
Have no fear
Have no fear when the waters rise
We can conquer this great divide