Great Music

Heroes in the World of Music

Ani Difranco

I was introduced to Ani DiFranco's music when I was in college. In my art classes, students would bring in music for the class to listen to and we'd vote on what we wanted to hear. Ani often won out in the nearly-all-female classes. I remember liking the music, and eventually I picked up one of her albums.

Ani's famous for her feminist stance, but she's one of the most liberal and outspoken musicians today on a wide range of issues. Her lyrics are meant to be shocking, and succeed. Maybe sometimes things just need to be said loudly and angrily because no one is listening any other way.

Lyrics from Self-Evident:

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
I dream of touring like Duke Ellington
in my own railroad car
I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll

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