"serpentine" by Ani DiFranco

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 
or microcosmic melancholy 
but, baby, any way you slice it 
i'm thinkin i could just as soon use 
the time alone 

yes, the goons have gone global 
and the CEOs 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 clan 
and uncle sam is rigging 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 

cuz all the wrong people have the power 
of suggestion 
and the freedom of the press is meaningless 
if nobody asks a question 
i mean 
causation by definition 
is such a complex compilation 
of factors 
that to even try to say why 
is to over simplify 
but 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 scoop 
exit mr. eye contact 
who took his flirt and flew the coop 
but whatever 
no matter 
no fishin trips 
no fishin 
cuz mamma'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 
cuz you'd think i'm insane 
and that's the truth 

and the music industry mafia is pimping girl power 
sniping off their sharp shooter singles from their styrofoam towers 
and hip hop is tied up in the back room 
with a logo stuffed in its mouth 
cuz 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 to home 
and the difference between you and me baby
is i get fucked up
when i'm alone

and i must admit 
today my inner pessimist 
seems to have got the best of me 
we start out sugared up on kool-aid and manifest destiny 
and we memorize all the president's names 
like little trained monkeys 
and then we're spit into the world 
so many spinny-eyed t.v. junkies 
incapable of unravelling the military industrial mystery 
preemptively pacified with history book history 
and i've been around the world now 
and i can see this about america 
the mind control is steep here, man 
the myopia is deep here 

and behold 
those that try to expose the reality 
who really try to realize democracy 
are shot with rubber bullets and gassed off the streets 
while the global power brokers are kept clean and discrete 
behind a wall 
behind a moat 
and that is all 
that's all she wrote 

and my heart beats an sss o o o sss 
cuz folks just 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 
shelovesme shelovesmenot shelovesme shelovesmenot... 

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 medicate it 
associate it 
with deregulation 
privitization 
we won't even know we're slaves 
on a corporate plantation 
somebody say halleluja! 
somebody say damnation! 
cuz 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 
cuz the empire state building 
is the tallest building in new york 
and i always got the feeling 
you just liked 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 
but 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 
or microcosmic melancholy 
but baby, any way you slice it 
i'm thinkin i could just as soon use 
the time alone 

Ani DiFranco Lyrics brought to you by danah boyd since 1995