j

can’t sit on my porch and smoke a j
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 going to 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

round here if there is one thing people know
it’s that government ain’t there for you
it’s all for show
and i’m tryin to tell em
it don’t have to be so!
but i can understand that their confidence is low
cuz round here people so high they can see
over the tops of the tall pine trees
down to the mouth of the mississippi

blood ignited in a blighted sky
blood on the water like we all could die
blood in the reeds glistening in the sun
blood on our hands each and every one

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 louisiane
in the gut where hunches come from
a message goes out loud as it can

and you’d a thought we’d a 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
and the disappointment is the 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

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

truth is for telling
truth is foretold
truth is for those with the guts to behold
we got vampires down here in louisiane
we need voodoo dolls
we need talisman
we need wooden stakes and shards of light
we need harbingers riding through the night
we need fountain pens
we need whale harpoons
to overthrow the oil tycoons
cuz 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 is 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’d realize that wasn’t our happiness
no that wasn’t our happiness
no that wasn’t our happiness
no that wasn’t our happiness
no that wasn’t

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

 

Ani DiFranco Lyrics brought to you by danah boyd since 1995