Ani Difranco - SERPENTINE lyrics

rate me

Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone

so I play and I sing and I just let it ring,

all day when I'm at home

a defacto choice of

macro-microcosmic melancholy

but baby any way you slice it,

I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

yeah the goons have gone global

and the CEO's are shredding files

and the democrans and the republicrats

are flashing their toothy smiles

and Uncle Tom is posing for a photo-op with the oval office klan

and Uncle Sam is riggin' cockfights in the promised land

and that knife you stuck in my back is still there

it pinches a little when I sigh and moan

and these days I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

cause all the wrong people have the power of suggestion

and the freedom of the press is meaningless if nobody asks the question

I mean causation by definition is such a complex compilation of factors

that to even try to say why is to oversimplify

that's a far cry, isn't it dear, from acting like you're the only one there

unrepentantly self-centered and unfair

enter all suckers scrambling for the truth

exit mr. eye-contact who took his flirt and flew the coup

but whatever, no matter, no fishin trips, no fishin

cause momma's officially out of commission

and did I mention in there somewhere

did I mention somewhere in there

that I traded Babe Ruth,

yes I traded the only player

that was bigger than the game

and I can't even tell you why,

cause you'd think I'm insane.

and that's the truth

and the music industry mafia is pimping girl power

sniping off sharp-shooter singles from their styrofoam towers,

and hip-hop is tied up in the back room with a logo stuffed in its mouth

cause the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house

but then, I'm getting away from myself

as I get closer and closer home

and the difference between you and me baby

is I get fucked up when I'm alone

and I must admit today

that my inner pessimist seems to have gotten the best of me

we start out sugared up on kool aid and manifest destiny

and then we memorize all the presidents names like little trained monkeys

and we spit into the world so many spinny-eyed TV junkies

incapable of unraveling the military-industrial mystery

pre-emptively passified with history book history

and I've been around the world now and I can see this about America

the mind control is deep here, man

the myopia is steep here, man

and behold those who try to expose the reality

really try to realize democracy

are shot with rubber bullets and gassed off the streets

while the global power brokers are kept clean and discreet

behind a wall

behind a moat

and that is all

that's all

that's all she wrote

and my heart beats an s-s-s o-o-o s-s-s

cause folks just really couldn't care-care-care less-less-less

as long as every day is superbowl sunday

and larger than life women in lingerie are pouting at us from every bus stop

she loves me, she loves me not

she loves me, she loves me not

she loves me, she loves me not

and "big government should not stand between a man and his money"

i mean, "what's good for business is good for the country"

our children still take that lie like communion,

the same old line the Confederacy used on the Union

conjugate liberty into libertarian

and medicated associated with deregulation privitization

we won't even know we're slaves on a corporate plantation

somebody say hallelujah,

somebody say damnation,

cause the profit system follows the path of least resistance

and the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked

makes it serpentine

capitalism is the devil's wet dream

so just give me my Judy garland drugs and let me get back to work

cause the empire state building is the tallest building in New York

and I have always got the feeling

you just like to hear it fall off your tongue

but I remember my name in your mouth

and I don't think I was done hearing it close to my ear

on a whisper's way to a moan

Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone

so I play and I sing and just let it ring,

all day when I'm at home

a defacto choice of

macro-microcosmic melancholy

but baby any way you slice it,

I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone