Video with 11 notes
Ani Difranco- Swan Dive (from the 2004 Trust DVD)
Swan Dive is one of the definitive songs for Ani Difranco, but that’s unfortunately more due to the legendary “I’m gonna pull out my tampon and start splashing around” lyric that fans gleefully sing along with and which grosses out most non-fans and critics. By reducing the song to just that one line though, the overall beauty of the song is missed. Ani’s acoustic guitar playing is propulsive and highly charged as always (She’s terribly under-rated as a guitarist. What she lacks in terms of solos or technical wizardry is made up for by the fact that she’s one of few musicians in recent years to have achieved a signature distinctive guitar sound), but what makes the song special is that it manages to approach the idea of hope from a fully-informed and non-idealistic viewpoint.
Most songs that center on hoping for something better have unrealistic views or are simply too innocent to resonate after you see more of life and realize, “Hey, maybe shit isn’t gonna work out most of the time. Now what?” In this song though, Ani fully realizes the difficulties of life, she’s “swan div(ing) into shark-infested waters” and knows “that jumping is easy, that falling is fun, up until you hit the sidewalk, shivering and stunned”. Acknowledging all the negative things that could and probably will happen to her is what makes the joy in choosing to take a chance here so compelling.
What’s the point of a life without risks, right? “I don’t care if they eat me alive, I’ve got better things to do than survive.”
Question with 7 notes
auditorylove asked: Here's a loaded question: what would you pick for your ten "desert island discs?"
Hmm, this is hard but actually not as hard as I thought it would be. They’re not in order because trying to figure that one out would probably give me a brain aneurysm.
- Tori Amos, From The Choirgirl Hotel
- Tori Amos, Boys For Pele
- Fiona Apple, When The Pawn…
- Ani Difranco, Dilate
- Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
- Donna Summer, The Donna Summer Anthology (This is two discs, so if that’s cheating, I’ll just take disc 1)
- Madonna, Celebration (This is two discs as well, but you’ll just have to let me cheat a little because The Immaculate Collection doesn’t have Dress You Up or Burning Up.)
- Hole, Live Through This
- Liz Phair, Exile In Guyville
- Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Runners-up include: Patti Smith, Horses; Alanis Morissette, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (which used to be my 3rd favorite album ever, but which has tumbled in rankings as I’ve gotten older even though I still love it); PJ Harvey- Is This Desire?; Radiohead- The Bends; Emmylou Harris- Wrecking Ball
It’s kinda weird that 7 of these albums are from the 90’s and the most recent album came out in 2000, since I do listen to a lot that isn’t from that relatively small time period. The most recent album to even come close to making it was Ys by Joanna Newsom, and only Joni Michell’s Blue and Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks were even close to getting on the list as far as pre-1980’s albums go.
Audio post - Played 10 times
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Ani Difranco- Independence Day
don’t leave me here
now that you’re back
you’d better stay this time
cause you say the coast is clear
but you say that all the time
we drove the car to the top of the parking ramp,
on the 4th of july
and I planted my dusty boots on the bumper and sat out on the hood,
and looked up at the sky
I’m sneaking my 4th of July post in just under the wire. I didn’t spend it on top of a car and depressed like Ani though, I went to Lady Bird Park (maybe the best park name ever? or DEFINITELY the best park name ever?) and saw the Austin Symphony and a pretty nice fireworks show.
When I first heard Margaret Cho was making a “comedy music” album, I had no interest in it. Her recent material has been lackluster and comedy songs…just no.
But then the list of collaborators came out! Bitch recruited Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, Ani Difranco, Rachael Yamagata, Tegan and Sara, and Ben Lee (among others) to write songs and sing with her. With that much creative muscle, I’m confident this project will be at least entertaining, even if it ends up as an entertaining trainwreck.
