Ani DiFranco " 'Tis of Thee " w/Lyrics

Album: up up up up up up - 1999

they caught the last poor man on a poor man's vacation
they cuffed him and they confiscated his stuff
and they dragged his black ass down to the station
and said "ok the streets are safe now.
all your pretty white children can come out to see spot run
and they came out of their houses and they looked around
but they didn't see no one.

and my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on talk show tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you

and above 96th street,
they're handing out smallpox blankets
so people don't freeze
the old dogs they got a new trick
it's called criminalize the symptoms
while you spread the disease
i hold on hard to something
between my teeth when i'm sleeping
and i wake up and my jaw aches
and the earth is full of earthquakes

and my country tis of thee
to take shots at each other on prime time tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you

they caught the last poor man
flying away in a shiny red cape
and they brought him down to the station
and they said "boy you should know better
than to try and escape"
and i ran away with the circus
'cause there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies
but it's not the same goin' town to town
since they put everyone in jail 'cept
the cleavers and the bradys

and my country tis of thee
to take swings at each other on talk show tv
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you

Copyright Ani Difranco/Righteous Babe Records

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ani
• DiFranco
• folk
• music
• accoustic
• poetry
• up
• photography

[gnosticcarebear]

This song means SO much to me, as all of Ani's 'music',way of life, multiple acts of random kindness,etc,all that she does means SO Much to me. So, if u can, do WHATEVER you CAN/ARE ABLE (the smallest bit counts, like my mum's used to say when cooking, "Every grain of salt that u put into the recipe matters. It all +s up, &believe it or not, knowing this&having this awareness while cooking makesaHuge difference on how the food turns out."Take it 4m her,the #1Best cook!Fav wds:I joind circ cuz..'

[beti2384]

cool song

[silversoul7]

I've been hitting the replay button on this about 10 times in a row.

[SuperHippiemomma]

love the music i love anishe has gotten me through two abusive relationships and helped me get through life in so many other things,god bless god for given us ani rock the fuck ani/loyal friend sarah sind/jamm on

[paviuus]

Might very well be the best song in the world, and as someone just said, Winnerbäck's cover is awesome too.

[winnerback94]

Lars Winnerbäck's version Du Gamla Fria Nord is great too!

[silviaspagnoli]

meraviglia che entra nelle orecchie

[beti2384]

o my gah does anyone really say "cool" anymore??