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I'll Walk The Plank And I'll Jump With A Smile, Cause If I'm Gonna Go Down I'm Gonna Do It With Style.
-Ani DiFranco
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I'll Walk The Plank

Ani DiFranco
...
I'll Walk The Plank And I'll Jump With A Smile, Cause If I'm Gonna Go Down I'm Gonna Do It With Style.

Understanding the Quote: "i'll walk the plank and i'll jump with a smile, cause if..."

This quote by Ani DiFranco reflects deeply on the theme of style. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Style, Causes, Walks, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Ani DiFranco interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco is celebrated for insightful thoughts on style and causes. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Style
Causes
Walks
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My Life May Not Be Something Special But It's Never Been Lived Before.
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I Think If We Can't Use The Word Feminist, If It's Some Kind Of Taboo Or Dirty Word, Or Means You're Ugly, Or You're Angry, Or You're Not Dateable [laughs], Then You've Just Reduced The Language By A Whole Concept.
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As Any Mom Knows, Having A Baby Is An Extremely Creative Act And To Love And Create A Baby, It's On Par With Any Other Creative Act That We Could Come Up With.
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These Days, My Main Guitar Amps Have Been Magnatone. They're Beautiful. Magnatones Have Actual Tremolo, Which I Recently Learned About Guitar Amps. Often What Guitar Amps Call Vibrato Is Really Just A Volume Up And Down. But Magnatone Has A True Vibrato, Which Is Pitch Bending. And So, It's Just A Lush Sound.
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I Don't Always Feel Lucky, But I'm Smart Enough To Try.
Smart
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You're Trying To Fight Gravity On A Planet That Insists That Love Is Like Falling, And Falling Is Like This.
Love
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Fighting
I Always Wanted To Be Commander-in-chief Of My One-woman Army, But I Can Envision The Mediocrity Of My Finest Hour.
Army
Mediocrity
Hours
We Can't Afford To Do Anyone Harm Because We Owe Them Our Lives Each Breath Is Recycled From Someone Else's Lungs Our Enemies Are The Very Air In Disguise You Can Talk A Great Philosophy But If You Can't Be Kind To People Every Day It Doesn't Mean That Much To Me It's The Little Things You Do The Little Things You Say It's The Love You Give Along The Way
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Mostly, I Stay Out Of Social Media Conversations. But Sometimes, They Hunt Me Down And Shoot At Me Anyway!
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Virtue Is Relative At Best, There's Nothing Worse Than A Sunset When Your Driving Due West.
Philosophy
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Playing Show After Show Is Like My Bread And Butter.
Bread
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I Want Somebody Who Sees The Pointlessness And Still Keeps Their Purpose In Mind; I Want Somebody Who Has A Tortured Soul ...some Of The Time
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Why Do You Think I Write These Feminist Songs, To Try And Teach Myself To Respect Myself. You Know, It's Not Because I'm A Hero.
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While Out In Tv Nation, Under Darkening Skies, The Resistance Is Just Waiting To Be Organized.
Change
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Waiting
When You Grow Up Surrounded By Willful Ignorance, You Have To Believe That Mercy Has It's Own Country And That It's Round And Borderless.
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First Decide What You Got To Do, Then Go Out And Do It. All We Can Do Is To See Each Other Through It.
Life
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People Used To Make Records, As In The Record Of An Event, The Event Of People Playing Music In A Room, And Now Everything's Cross-marketing, Its About Sunglasses And Shoes, Or Guns And Drugs That You Choose.
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And I Try To Draw The Line But It Ends Up Running Down The Middle Of Me Most Of The Time.
Running
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I Am A Work In Progress Dressed In The Fabric Of A World Unfolding Offering Me Intricate Patterns Of Questions Rhythms That Never Come Clean And Strengths That You Still Haven't Seen
Offering
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If I'm Gonna Go Down I'm Gonna Do It With Style. You Won't Hear Me Surrender, You Won't Hear Me Confess Cause You've Left Me With Nothing But I Have Worked With Less.
Style
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I'm An Atheist How Unfortunate It Is To Assign Responsibility To The Higher Up For Justice Amongst People.
Atheist
Responsibility
People
What Bugs Me Is That You Believe What You're Saying. What Bothers Me Is That You Don't Know How You Feel. What Scares Me Is That While You're Telling Me Stories, You Actually Believe That They Are Real.
Real
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What I Like Way Better Than Lgbt In Terms Of Labeling Sexuality Actually Is A Scheme That Comes To Me From My Friend Animal Prufrock Wherein One Is Identified Not By What They Supposedly "are" But Rather By What They Are Into. Which Brings Us To The Terms Hemosexual, Shemosexual, And Mosexual.
Animal
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And Thoughts Of No Other Man But You Could Possibly Get Through The Picket Lines To Enter Into My Mind.
Fall
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Mind
We Need A Radically Truthful Way To Acknowledge Reproductive Freedom.
Needs
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You Got To Look Outside- Your Eyes- You Got To Think Outside- Your Brain- You Got To Walk Outside- Your Life- To Where The Neighborhoods Change.
Teacher
Teaching
Eye
A Lesson Must Be Lived In Order To Be Learned And The Clarity To See And Stop This Now That Is What I've Earned
Order
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Clarity
If More People Were Screamin', I Could Relax.
People
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And I Was Shocked, To See The Mistakes Of Each Generation, Will Just Fade Like A Radio Station, If You Drive Out Of Range...
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I Knew Naturally As A Child Not To Forfeit My Creativity To A World That's All Laid Out For Me. I'll Look At Everything Around Me And Vow To Keep In Mind That Alla This Is Just Someone's Idea. It Could Have Just As Well Been Mine.
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We Are Wise, Wise Women. We Are Giggling Girls.
Girl
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Pop Stardom Is Not Very Compelling. I'm Much More Interested In A Relationship Between Performer And Audience That Is Of Equals. I Came Up Through Folk Music, And There's No Pomp And Circumstance To The Performance. There's No, Like, 'i'll Be The Rock Star, You Be The Adulating Fan.'
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All The Decent People, Male And Female, Are Feminists. The Only People Who Are Not Feminists Are Those Who Believe That Women Are Inherently Inferior Or Undeserving Of The Respect And Opportunity Afforded Men. Either You Are A Feminist Or You Are A Misogynist. There Is No Box Marked "other."
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Art Is Why I Get Up In The Morning But My Definition Ends There. You Know I Don't Think Its Fair That I'm Living For Something I Can't Even Define.
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If You Like It, Let It Be, And If You Don't Please Do The Same.
You Like It
Please
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I Don't Like My Language Watered Down, I Don't Like My Edges Rounded Off.
Music
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Well, It's Really Gratifying To Me To Have A Stage And Some Bright Lights And A Microphone. They're Tools And Opportunities, And To Be Able To Just Pull Somebody Up On Stage With Me And Point At Them Is A Great Feeling.
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Subtract Out The Impact And The Fall Is All You Get. So Here's Two Beers To Remember Why And Three More To Forget.
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I Noticed With Older Songs That I Perform That I'm Coming From A Different Place With Them Now...it Mutates The Vibe And Even The Meaning Of The Same Words When You Have A Different Spirit, If The Person Singing Is Different. I Like That, To Be Able To Sing An Emotionally Wrought Song From A More Centered Place, Or To Sing An Eager, Youthful Song From A More Experienced Place. It Kind Of Colors The Songs Differently, And It Keeps Them Fresh.
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Change The Narrative, Change The Laws.
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For Me, The Stronger Ground I Have In My Personal Life, Then The More Will I Have To Fight The Good Fight.
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I Wonder What You Look Like Under Your T-shirt. I Wonder What You Sound Like When You're Not Wearing Words. I Wonder What We Have When We're Not Pretending.
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It Don't Take A Weather Man To Look Around And See The Weather, Jeb Said He'd Deliver Florida Folks And Boy Did He Ever, And We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident Number One George W Bush Is Not President. Number Two America Isn't A True Democracy. And Number Three The Media Is Not Fooling Me.
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The Minute My Child Was Born, I Was Reborn As A Feminist. It's So Incredible What Women Can Do... Birthing Naturally, As Most Women Do Around The Globe, Is A Superhuman Act. You Leave Behind The Comforts Of Being Human And Plunge Back Into Being An Animal.
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You Can't Start With Imbalance And End With Peace, Be That In Your Own Body, In An Ecosystem Or Between A Government And Its People. What We Need To Strive For Is Not Perfection, But Balance.
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I Was Blessed With A Birth And A Death, And I Guess I Just Want Some Say In Between.
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Love Isn't Over When The Sheets Are Stained.
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When I Look Down, I Miss All The Good Stuff And When I Look Up, I Just Trip Over Things.
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Men Make Angry Music And It's Called Rock-and-roll; Women Include Anger In Their Vocabulary And Suddenly They're Angry And Militant.
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I'll Walk The Plank And I'll Jump With A Smile, Cause If I'm Gonna Go Down I'm Gonna Do It With Style.
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I Really Have Been Enjoying Performing More Lately Than I Have In A Long Time And You Know, It's All About That Sort Of Centered Feeling That I Have Now. You Know, Thanks To, Not Just My Kid, But Her Father Before Her. You Know, I Have A Kind Of A Grounding Through Them That I Really Relish, And I Think Is Also Good For My Work, You Know.
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I Don't Care If They Eat Me Alive, I've Got Better Things To Do Then Survive.
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Care
I Don't Know If There Are Artists Out There Who Love Their Own Records. I Haven't Met Any, And I'm Kind Of Extreme In The Other Direction, But Therein Lies The Impetus To Keep Working And Keep Making New Songs And New Records.
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...words Are Some Of The Most Powerful And Important Things I Know....language Is The Tool Of Love And The Weapon Of Hatred. It's The Bright Red Warning Flag Of Danger--and The Stone Foundation Of Diplomacy And Peace.
Powerful
Hatred
Important
We Have To Really Be Intentional Right Now About Holding The Media Accountable, And Taking Back The Discourse And Terms Of Discussion. It's Been Hijacked.
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Term
Discourse
I've Never Had A Very Closely Connected Family. My Parents Split Up When I Was Young And I Was Living With My Mom For A Little While, Then I Was Kind Of Just On My Own Really Young. It Wasn't Some Kind Of Global Tragedy, It Was Just Never Really A Very Close-knit Family. So There Was Support In The Sense That They Didn't Stand In My Way.
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I Know There Is Strength In The Differences Between Us. I Know There Is Comfort Where We Overlap.
Strength
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Diversity
You've Already Put More Than Enough Energy Into Worry. That's All Women Have Been Allowed To Do, Historically.
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Energy
Enough
I Don't Need Anyone To Hold Me, I Can Hold My Own.
Inspirational
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One Thing That Barack Obama Promised, One Thing That We All Know We Must Do Is Evolve Our Industry And Our Technology To Being Green And Sustainable. We Need To Move Away From Fossil Fuels And Nuclear Power, Both Of Which I Think Spell Doom For Human Society.
Moving
Technology
Thinking
I Like To Be An Inspiration And An Example Of The Idea That You Can Be Independent, And It's No Problem, And You Can Pay Your Rent, And It's Empowering, And It's Great. And That's True, But It Also Takes A Really Long Time, And You Have To Have A Lot Of Patience And A Lot Of Conviction In Why You Want To Remain Independent.
Inspiration
Independent
Ideas
Just Let Me Go, We Have To Be Able To Criticize What We Love, To Say What We Have To Say 'cause If You're Not Trying To Make Something Better, Then As Far As I Can Tell, You Are Just In The Way.
Criticism
Trying
Able
My Songs Are Just Little Letters To Me.
Song
Letters
Littles
What Makes You So Lavish That You Can Afford To Spend Every Sober Moment Feeling Angry And Bored?
Bored
Feelings
Unanswered Questions
You Broke Me Bodily. The Heart Ain't The Half Of It, And I'll Never Learn To Laugh At It In My Good Natured Way. In Fact, I'm Laughing Less In General, But I Learned A Lot At My Own Funeral. And I Knew You'd Be The Death Of Me, So I Guess That's The Price I Pay.
Death
Heart
Laughing
Taking Me Seriously Is A Big Mistake. I Certainly Wouldn't.
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Bigs
Big Mistake
I Mean, Playing Music At Home And Writing And Hanging Out With My Guitar Is Kind Of Medicinal For Me, But When I Bring The Songs To People On Stage, It's Very Joyous.
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I Do It For The Joy It Brings Because I'm A Joyful Girl Because The World Owes Me Nothing And We Owe Each Other The World
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Girl
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I Used To Be A Superhero; No One Could Touch Me, Not Even Myself. You Are Like A Phone Booth I Somehow Stumbled Into, And Now Look At Me - I Am Just Like Everybody Else.
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God Forbid You Be An Ugly Girl, 'course Too Pretty Is Also Your Doom, 'cause Everyone Harbors A Secret Hatred For The Prettiest Girl In The Room.
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Hatred
There's This Brutal Imperial Power, That My Passport Says I Represent. But It Will Never Represent Where My Heart Lives, Only Vaguely Where It Went.
Heart
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Brutal
I'm The Color Me Happy Girl, Miss Live And Let Live. And When They're Out For Blood, I Always Give.
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Philosophy
Blood
When Everything Else Seems Unclear, At Least I'll Know I Do It For The Joy It Brings.
Life
Joy
Knows
I Have Earned My Disillusionment.
Philosophy
Disillusionment
Like How Could You Do Nothing, And Say, 'i'm Doing My Best.' How Could You Take Almost Everything, And Then Come Back For The Rest? How Could You Beg Me To Stay, Reach Out Your Hands And Plead, And Then Pack Up Your Eyes And Run Away As Soon As I Agreed?
Running
Eye
Hands
I Believe The Act Of Giving Birth To Be The Single Most Miraculous Thing A Human Being Can Do And It Is Surely The Moment When A Lot Of Women Finally Understand The Depth Of Their Power. You Think It Can’t Possibly Be Done, You Think You Can’t Possibly Take The Pain, And Then You Do-—and Afterward You Look At Yourself In A Whole New Way. If You Can Do That, You Can Do Anything.
Pain
Believe
Thinking
I Try To Laugh At Whatever Life Brings.
Laughing
Trying
Lying In Bed, You Know, You Don't Seem So Tall.
Sex
Lying
Bed
We Get A Little Further From Perfection, Each Year On The Road, I Guess That's What They Call Character, I Guess That's Just The Way It Goes, Better To Be Dusty Than Polished, Like Some Store Window Mannequin, Why Don't You Touch Me Where I'm Rusty, Let Me Stain Your Hands
Character
Hands
Years
Now Let's Get Talking: Reefer Madness. Like Some Arrogant Government Can't, By Any Stretch Of The Imagination, Outlaw A Plant.
Government
Talking
Imagination
The Scary Truth Is, You Have To Scratch Some Veneer Off To Gauge Where The Moral Fiber Really Is In Certain Pockets Of Society. It's Raw. It's Scary. But It Gives Us A Place To Work With.
Moral Fiber
Giving
Scary
I Love My Country, By Which I Mean, I Am Indebted Joyfully, To All The People Throughout Its History, Who Have Fought The Government To Make Right, Where So Many Cunning Sons And Daughters, Our Foremothers And Forefathers, Came Singing Through Slaughter, Came Through Hell And High Water, So That We Could Stand Here, And Behold Breathlessly The Sight, How A Raging River Of Tears, Cut A Grand Canyon Of Light... Why Can't All Decent Men And Women, Call Themselves Feminists? Out Of Respect, For Those Who Fought For This...
Country
Daughter
Mean
Actually I Don't Know If Honesty Is A Strength Or Some Kind Of Weakness.
Honesty
Weakness
Kind
There Isn't Much I Have To Say, That I Wouldn't Rather Just Shut Up And Do.
Shut Up
I Know The Biggest Crime Is Just To Throw Up Your Hands, Say, This Has Nothing To Do With Me, I Just Want To Live As Comfortably As I Can...
Hands
Want
Crime
Taken Out Of Context I Must Seem So Strange.
Honesty
Taken
Strange
I Think It Is Very Useful To Know Ourselves, But When We Start Naming And Labeling, That Is Dangerous, That Gets Problematic. It Negates That Things Are Always Changing. Besides, It's Hard To Pin A Label Onto Something That's Always Moving.
Moving
Thinking
Labels
Those Who Call The Shots Are Never In The Line Of Fire.
Fire
Lines
Shots
Art May Imitate Life, But Life Imitates Tv.
Life
Art
Inspire
Any Tool Is A Weapon If You Hold It Right.
Tools
Weapons
Ifs
You've Got Your Whole Life To Do Something, And That's Not Very Long. So Why Don't You Give Me A Call When You're Willing To Fight For What You Think Is Real, For What You Think Is Right.
Real
Fighting
Thinking
My Political Mission Is As Acute As Ever. For Me, In Addition To Kind Of Looking At The World And Trying To Engage In My Society Politically, Having The Kid Around Sort Of Makes Me Check In With Myself. I Think You're All Busy Trying To Fix The World, But What About Yourself?
Kids
Thinking
Political
The Fundamental Imbalance That Is Behind All Of The Other Social Diseases Is Patriarchy.
Fundamentals
Disease
Imbalance
Take Away Our Play Stations And We Are A Third World Nation.
Play
World
Explanation
But As Bad As I Am, I'm Proud Of The Fact That I'm Worse Than I Seem
Proud
Facts
Seems
Then I Show Up Steady Ready And Proud And I Find I've Forgotten How To Talk Out Loud. Isn't It Just Like You To Bring Me To My Knees?
Fall
Knees
Proud
I'm Pretty Much A Workaholic, But When You're Doing What You Love It's Hard To Think Of A Reason To Stop.
Thinking
Doing What You Love
Workaholic
Maybe We Are Both Good People Who've Done Some Bad Things.
Philosophy
People
Done
It's Not Important To Be Defined, It's Only Important To Use Your Time Well.
Life
Important
Use
In Any Marginalized Community, Whether People Identify Themselves Or Not Affects Us All.
People
Community
Marginalized
Someday You're Going To Get Hungry And Eat Most Of The Words You Just Said.
Expression
Someday
Hungry
Sometimes The Beauty Is Easy. Sometimes You Don't Have To Try At All. Sometimes You Can Hear The Wind Blow In A Handshake. Sometimes There's Poetry Written Right On The Bathroom Wall.
Wall
Blow
Wind
Now The Profile Of Our Country Looks A Little Less Hard Nosed / But That Picket Line Persisted And That Clinic's Since Been Closed / They Keep Pounding Their Fists On Reality Hoping It Will Break / But I Don't Think There's A One Of Us Leads A Life Free Of Mistakes
Country
Mistake
Reality
I'm Recording Our History Now On The Bedroom Wall, And When We Leave The Landlord Will Come And Paint Over It All.
Wall
Bedroom
Paint
If You Don't Live What You Sing About, Your Mirror Is Gonna Fade.
Mirrors
Fades
Ifs
Goldfish Have No Memory, I Guess Their Lives Are Much Like Mine. And The Little Plastic Castle Is A Surprise Everytime.
Memories
Animal
Castles
I Know Men Are Delicate Origami Creatures Who Need Women To Unfold Them, Hold Them When They Cry. But I Am Tired Of Being Your Savior And I Am Tired Of Telling You Why.
Tired
Sadness
Men
I'd Rather Suffer The Consequences Of Truth Than Of Silence.
Silence
Suffering
Consequence
Somedays The Line I Walk Turns Out To Be Straight - Other Days The Line Tends To Deviate.
Lines
Walks
Turns
I Walk Like I'm On A Mission 'cause That's The Way I Groove. I Got More And More To Do And Less And Less To Prove.
Way
Causes
Missions
If You’re Not Angry, Then You’re Just Stupid, You Don’t Care. How Else Can You React When Something’s So Unfair?
Stupid
Care
Unfair
People Talk About My Image Like I Come In Two Dimensions, Like Lipstick Is A Sign Of My Declining Mind, Like What I Happen To Be Wearing The Day That Someone Takes My Picture Is My New Statement For All Womankind.
Two
People
Mind
What Doesn't Bend, Breaks.
Insanity
Break
All The Wrong People Have The Power Of Suggestion And The Freedom Of The Press Is Meaningless If Nobody Asks A Question.
People
Suggestions
Freedom Of The Press
One Thing I Do Find In The "lost" Generation Or Something Is A Kind Of Abhorrence Of History, You Know, Like It's Boring, Dumb, Or Just Not Interesting. I Think It's Terribly Interesting If You Can Get Your Head Around How It Relates To Where You're Standing Right Here And Now.
Thinking
Interesting
Dumb
I Am Writing Graffiti On Your Body. I Am Drawing The Story Of How Hard We Tried.
Writing
Drawing
Graffiti
Words Are Hotter Than Flames. Words Are Wetter Than Water.
Art
Media
Flames
When I Was A Teenager In The '80s, I Was The Only Girl In The Guitar Shop. Now If You Walk Into A Music Store, It's Mostly Teenage Girls. It's Great! It's An Expansion Of Possibilities For Young Women, Finding A Way To Tools Even If They Aren't Directly Handed Those Tools By Adults.
Girl
Teenage
Possibility
Music Has As Many Roles As People Make It.
People
Roles
I Seriously Hate Pop Music And All Things Super-commercial, So I'd Be Hard Pressed To Feel Embarrassed By Anything I Listen To. Besides, I Have A Three-year-old, So I Don't Have Time For Guilty Pleasures Anyway!
Hate
Guilty
Pleasure
I Envy Your Ignorance, I Hear That It's Bliss.
Education
Ignorance
Envy
I Have Something To Prove, As Long As I Know There's Something That Needs Improvement, And You Know That Everytime I Move, I Make A Woman's Movement.
Women
Moving
Long
I Always Feel I Have To Take A Stand, And There's Always Someone On Hand To Hate Me For Standing There. I Always Feel I Have To Open My Mouth, And Every Time I Do, I Offend Someone, Somewhere.
Hate
Hands
Mouths
Stepped Out Into The Cold, Collar High, Under The Slate Gray Sky. The Air Was Smoking And The Streets Were Dry, And I Wasn't Joking When I Said Goodbye.
Goodbye
Air
Sky
Don't Treat Me Like I Am Something That Happened To You.
Treats
Happened
I Love All Those Great 'f' Words - Feminism, Folk Music.
Feminism
Folks
Folk Music
Art Is Why I Get Up In The Morning, But My Definition Ends There.
Art
Morning
Definitions
Patriarchy Is Like The Elephant In The Room That We Don't Talk About, But How Could It Not Affect The Planet Radically When It's The Superstructure Of Human Society?
Elephants
Rooms
Planets
I Think The Music Industry, For Instance, Is Such A Huge, Multibazillion-dollar Industry And It's Become Very, Very Savvy. There's A Very Short Grace Period In Which Actual Human Rebellion Or Resistance Can Thrive Before It's Co-opted By These Huge Companies. And All Of Youth Culture Is Packaged And Sold Back To Us At This Furious Rate These Days. I Think It's Part And Parcel To This Corporate Encroachment On Our Lives In General.
Thinking
Grace
Dollars
To Split Yourself In Two Is Just The Most Radical Thing You Can Do
Two
Splits
Radical
All Of Youth Culture Is Packaged And Sold Back To Us At This Furious Rate These Days. I Think It's Part And Parcel To This Corporate Encroachment On Our Lives In General.
Thinking
Culture
Youth
No One's Gonna Sympathize When We Crash, They'll Say You Hit What You Head For, You Get What You Ask.
Politics
Crash
Asks
And If There's Anything I Do It's Change And Grow. I'm Just A Living Being. Every Year Of My Life I Seem To Learn That Everything I Know Is Wrong.
Years
Grows
Knows
Life Is A Sleazy Stranger, Who Looks Vaguely Familiar; Flirting With A Bimbo Named Disaster At The End Of The Bar.
Happy Life
Flirting
Looks
My Mother Was A Feminist, And She Gave Me Some Tools Of Self-possession And Self-empowerment, But Now That I Have Lived Here For Forty-three Years, It's, Like, Whoa, There Is Just So Much More To Do, Other Than Become Myself. I'm Still Talking About It. I Still Drop The P-word, "patriarchy," On Unsuspecting People In Everyday Conversations.
Mother
Self
Talking
I Fight With Love And I Laugh With Rage....you Gotta Live Light Enough To See The Humor, And Long Enough To See Some Change.
Love
Life
Fighting
I Was Supposed To Be Cool About This, Yeah, I Remember - Cool Was The Plan. Tried To Keep It All Under Wraps, But The Wraps Kept Going Slack. I Keep Turning Round, I Keep Coming Back.
Fall
Remember
Yeah
I Hope Progressive Ways Of Thinking Will Permeate The "mainstream" More And More In The Coming Years. Goddess Knows We Have Endured A Very Long Spell (thirty Plus Years) Of Regressive Thinking And Hyper Conservativism Dominating Our Culture And National Discourse. It Necessitates Risk Taking And Rule Breaking By People In All Walks Of Life To Swing That Pendulum Back Though.
Thinking
Years
Swings
It Seems That Different People Have An Idea Of What I Am, And What I Should Be. And Then There's Me.
Ideas
People
Different
Imagine You're A Girl, Just Trying To Finally Come Clean, Knowing Full Well They'd Prefer You Were Dirty And Smiling.
Girl
Dirty
Knowing
I Would Like To Perfect The Art Of Being Studiously Aloof
Art
Perfect
Aloof
Emptiness Has Its Solace In That There's Nothing Left To Take.
Sadness
Emptiness
Solace
I'm Sounding Out The Silence, Avoiding All The Words.
Expression
Silence
Avoiding
I Am 32 Flavors And Then Some.
Expression
Flavor
I Feel Like We Need To Understand Feminism More As A Tool To Mediate, Counteract, To Ultimately Defeat Patriarchy And Restore Balance To Our Government, Our Culture And Our Ways Of Thinking And Structuring The World. I Think We've Had A Very "masculine" Sensibility For A Long Time, And I Think We Need To Go Back To The Roots Of Social Imbalance. I Think We Have To Try To Right That First, And From There And All These More Pressing Issues Will Follow.
Thinking
Long
Balance
I Think I'm A Very Solitary Person. To Actually Not Be Anonymous Is A Bit Claustrophobic For Me.
Thinking
Solitary
Persons
You Rhapsodize About Beauty, And My Eyes Glaze. Everything That I Love Is Ugly. I Mean Really, You Would Be Amazed. Just Do Me A Favor, It's The Least That You Can Do, Just Don't Treat Me Like I Am Something That Happened To You.
Mean
Eye
Love Is
I Speak Without Reservation, From What I Know And Who I Am. I Do So With The Understanding That All People Should Have The Right To Offer Their Voices To The Chorus Whether The Result Is Harmony Or Dissonance. The Worldsong Is A Colorless Dirge Without The Differences That Distinguish Us, And It Is That Difference Which Should Be Celebrated Not Condemned.
Who I Am
Should Have
Voice
You Are So Lame. You Always Disappoint Me. It's Kind Of Like Our Running Joke But It's Really Not Funny And I Just Want You To Live Up To The Image Of You I Create.
Running
Lame
Want
I'm Home In New Orleans!
Home
New Orleans
My Feminism Has Evolved Way Beyond Self-empowerment And I See Feminism As A Path To Peace On Earth. The Fundamental Imbalance That Is Behind All Of The Other Social Diseases Is Patriarchy. I Do Believe. As Men And Women, Together, I Really Long To Feel My Society Evolve Its Understanding Since We're One Of The Leaders In The F-word. I Want Us To Grow Our Idea Of Feminism Collectively And Get Both Men And Women Involved In Undoing Patriarchy. It's Huge. It's A Huge Job.
Jobs
Believe
Men
I Basically Get Stereotyped A Lot In Terms Of Being A Girl And Writing 'chick' Music For Teenage Girls Or Something. I Think, If Anything, The Press Kind Of, Because Of My Gender And My Age, Tends To Kind Of Relegate My Work To This Sort Of Special-interest Group. It's Part Of The Cultural Dynamic, I Guess.
Girl
Teenage
Writing
Birth Is The Epicenter Of Women's Power
Pregnancy
Birth
Inspirational Pregnancy
It's Great Being Your Own Boss, But Then, You Know, You Make Your Own Mistakes, You Know, And You Own Them. You Know, So It's Empowering, And It's Also Humbling Along The Way.
Mistake
Empowering
Boss
Love Sets Fire To Your Schedule, And Then Calls An End To Time.
Fire
Schedules
Ends
Some People's Minds We're Not Going To Change. But If We Can't, We Need To Bring More Positive Voices Into The Discussion.
Voice
People
Mind
But In The Garden Of Simple, Where All Of Us Are Nameless, You Were Never Anything But Beautiful To Me.
Romantic
Beautiful
Simple
It's The Ground That We Walk On, It's Where We Sit, It's The Language That We Use. It's A Difficult Undertaking, But I Think Without Healing That And Creating More Of A Balance Between The Sexes, We Will Never Have Balance Globally. I Feel Like I Am Going Deeper And Deeper Into This Space Where I Came From That I Barely Understood.
Sex
Healing
Thinking
I Am A Work In Progress Dressed In The Fabric Of A World Unfolding.
Expression
Progress
Fabric
If You Want To Challenge The System, Don't Go To Bed With It.
Guitar
Challenges
Bed
I Hate It When People Don't Recognize The Work Of Women As Being Universal, Or Having Any Import To The World At Large, As Opposed To Men's Work, Which Is Generally Tends To Be Seen As More Universal - Men's Writing About Their Own Experience Tends To Be Put In A Broader Context.
Hate
Writing
Men
If You Turn On The Tv, You're Going To Get A Certain Palate, And If You Go Looking Underneath The Surface, There's A Whole Lot Of Stuff There That I Think A Lot Of Our Generation Would Be Really Interested In.
Thinking
Our Generation
Would Be
Second Wave Feminism Started With Consciousness-raising Groups, Which Sounds "big" But It's Really Just House Parties. Women Getting Together And Saying, "you Feel This Way?! Me Too!" Hanging Out Is Consciousness-raising.
Party
House
Together
Music Has As Many Roles As People Make It. I Traveled To Burma Once Years Ago To Witness The People's Struggle For Democracy, Meet Some People And Learn Some Stuff. And I Had This Incredible Experience Over And Over Again In The Burmese Jungle Or Refugee Camps Or Health Clinics With Very Oppressed, Very Devastated People. I Show Up, And I'm White And I'm American And I'm Privileged And I Have An Experience That These People Can't Fathom And Vice Versa. There Was This Huge Chasm When I Met People For All Good Reasons.
Struggle
People
Democracy
I Don't Hate Being Compared With Female Musicians. I Don't Mind That At All. I Have No Problem With Seeing Connections Between Women's Work.
Hate
Mind
Musician
It's Just Hard To Travel In The Shadow Of Regret. In Fact, It's So Hard That I Actually Haven't Left Yet.
Regret
Sadness
Shadow
Vulnerability Is Something That I Negotiate Every Day.
Vulnerability
Don't Tell Me What They Did To You As Though You Had No Choice. Tell Me, Isn't That Your Picture? Isn't That Your Voice.
Art
Media
Voice
What I Like About Being Independent [in The Music Industry] Is That Anybody Who Does Play The Album On The Radio And Anybody Who Does Choose To Write In The Media Does So Because They Want To, Because They Like It Or Because They Find Something Interesting There, Not Because They Have To.
Writing
Independent
Media
I've Been Saying The Occupy Movement Has Got The Ball Rolling, And Now We Need To Take The Fight To The Great Indoors!
Fighting
Rolling
Occupy Movement
Science Chases Money, And Money Chases Its Tail, And The Best Minds Of My Generation Cannot Make Bail.
Work
Mind
Bail
I Am Still Praying For Revolution.
Revolution
Praying
Stills
I Am Not A Pretty Girl. I Don't Want To Be A Pretty Girl. No, I Want To Be More Than A Pretty Girl.
Girl
Pretty Girl
Want
Feel Free To Listen, Feel Free To Stare.
Philosophy
Staring
Feels
There Are So Many Things That We Have To Be Very Concerned About. But I Always Come Back To Feminism.
Feminism
Concerned
I've Been A Long Time Coming, And I'll Be A Long Time Gone. You've Got Your Whole Life To Do Something, And That's Not Very Long.
Long
Gone
Whole Life
They Can Call Me Crazy If I Fail, All The Chance That I Need, Is One-in-a-million And They Can Call Me Brilliant If I Succeed.
Crazy
Needs
Succeed
We Have A Complete Void Of Progressive Politics In This Country Right Now. The Will Of The People Goes Ignored And Unrealized. I'm Searching For The People That Can Enter The Political System, A Strong Third Party. We Need To Consolidate.
Country
Strong
Party
The Stronger I Am In My Personal Life, The More Energy I Have To Look Outward, To Address My Society.
Stronger
Energy
Looks
I Am Getting Nowhere With You And I Can't Let You Go And I Cant Get Through.
Relationship
Letting You Go
I Can
We Barely Have Time To React In This World, Let Alone Rehearse.
Time
World
This World
When I Was Four Years Old They Tried To Test My Iq, They Showed Me This Picture Of Three Oranges And A Pear. They Asked Me Which One Is Different And Does Not Belong; They Taught Me Different Was Wrong.
Years
Orange
Individuality
They Say That The Truth Will Set You Free But Then Again, So Will A Lie... It Depends If You're Trying To Get To The Promised Land Or If You're Just Trying To Get By.
Lying
Truth Will Set You Free
Land
Life Is A B Movie: It's Stupid And It's Strange, It's A Directionless Story, The Dialogue Is Lame, But In The 'he Said She Said' Sometimes There's Some Poetry, If You Turn Your Back Long Enough And Let It Happen Naturally.
Movie
Stupid
Long
We Are Wise Women, We Are Giggling Girls. We Both Carry A Smile To Show When We're Pleased, We Both Carry A Switchblade In Our Sleeves.
Girl
Wise
Evil
My Country Tis Of Thee, To Take Swings At Each Other On Talk Show Tv.
Country
Swings
Politics
We Are Taught To View Pain As An Enemy, Not A Teacher. But Pain Is The Right Hand Of Growth And Transformation. Pain Is In The History Of All Human Wisdom.
Teacher
Pain
Views
So Many Of Us, Myself Included, Need To Keep Our Sense Of Personal Outrage In Check. Each Human Beings Position On The Planet Is One Of Intense Humility.
Humility
Needs
Intense
I Just Hope It Was Okay, I Know It Wasn't Perfect, I Hope In The End We Can Laugh And Say It Was All Worth It.
Life
Perfect
Laughing
Either You Are A Feminist Or You Are A Sexist/misogynist. There Is No Box Marked 'other'.
Feminist
Sexist
Boxes
I Found Religion In The Greeting Card Aisle Now I Know Hallmark Was Right
Women
Religion
Cards
Now I Wonder Who Is Gonna Be President: Tweedle Dumb, Or Tweedle Dumber-- And Who Is Gonna Have The Big Block Buster Box Office This Summer.
Summer
Block
Office
The Bathroom Mirror Has Not Budged, The Woman Who Lives There Can Tell The Truth From The Stuff They Say And Looks Me In The Eye- Says Do You Prefer The Easy Way? No? Well Ok Then, Dont Cry.
Eye
Mirrors
Looks
I Fear That Donald Trump Will Continue To Be Followed Around By The Media In Its Totality As He Continues To Rail Against Hillary Clinton.
Media
Clinton
Trump
There's A Crowd Of People Harbored In Each Person There Are So Many Roles That We Play.
Play
People
Roles
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