Ani DiFranco - J (10.01.2010) New Orleans

Ani DiFranco performs an unreleased song born in Louisiana during the BP oil spill.
Blue Nile Balcony Room, New Orleans, LA

can't sit on my porch and smoke a jay
and remember how peaceful life can be
but all night long are a bunch of pushers
selling drugs right there on my TV
drugs that whether or not i buy
are gonna end up in my water supply
along with who knows what else, who knows when,
just gotta take a deep breath and drink it in

around here there's one thing people know
it's that government ain't there for you, it's all for show
and i'm trying to tell them it don't have to be so
but i can understand that their confidence is low
cos round here the people're so high they can't see
over the tops of the tall pine trees
down to the mouth of the mississippi

oh, blood ignited in a blighted sky
oh, blood on the water like we all could die
blood in the reeds glistening in the sun
blood on our hands, each and everyone,
here in the calm before the wars
when the earth shrugs us off like dinosaurs
here in the sunset days of yore
the first signs washing ashore

******
goddess, come and lift us here in deepest louisianne
in the gut, where hunches come from
a message goes out loud as it can

******
you'd have thought we'd have come more far somehow
since the changing of the guard and all
i mean dude could be FDR right now
and instead he's just shifting his weight
the disappointment is a knockout blow
filmed in torturous slow-mo
oh "hope", please come where i can see
don't let the poison get the best of me


well, truth is for telling, truth is foretold
truth is for those with the guts to behold
we got vampires down here in louisianne
we need voodoo dolls, we need talismen
we need wooden crosses set alight
we need harbingers riding thru the night
we need fountain pens, we need whale harpoons
to overthrow the oil tycoons

cos there's no fish in the water, no birds in the sky
no life in the soil, no end to the lie
no time like the present and it's passing us by
but it's never too late, never too late to try
cuz if we all had to change, we all just would
and we would move closer and that would be good
and we would buy local and we would buy less
and we would realize that wasn't our happiness
no, that wasn't our happiness

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ani
• DiFranco
• Jay
• Blue
• Nile
• New
• Orleans
• BP
• oil
• spill

[francoapple]

great videos...hope you have a lot more to share from that night!

thanks! ;)

[MaxSenn]

@francoapple Hey Franco! My other vids from this show are so dark, they make Ani look like a blue ghost. I will post If He Tries Anything tonight.....

[trancewe]

Want. New. Album.

[Mandourage]

every time i watch this i think: how come you thought everything would change when obama came? but then, i listen to the end of the song, when she says it's never too late, and it's the eternal hope she has that makes her art so beautiful as it shines through even the saddest of her songs. i'm glad that she pushes it upon us, because i sometimes forget how to hope.

[TheFolkyboy]

I wish this would be on the next CD. I cannot wait to hear this recorded in a studio!

[commonthread2]

ani looking forward to the end o the wrld love u forever

[jbeam333]

Your music still rocks my world everyday. Thanks Ani Di and your sharing of so many beautiful things over the years. You are one tough chick. That kicks quite alot of ass. Peace. Hope. Joy. Love.

[Rozzar1]

Yo - great video - I recorded same song in London earlier in the year, which is on Youtube, but some words indistinct... thanks also for the lyrics..

[MzHibou]

@MaxSenn we don't care, it's all about the music <3

[laecee]

Thank you SO much. This was just the fix I was looking for. :-)