Serpentine Lyrics by Ani Difranco

Serpentine Lyrics

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

    yeah the goons have gone global
    and the CEO's 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 klan
    and Uncle Sam is riggin' 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

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

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

    and I must admit today
    that my inner pessimist seems to have gotten the best of me
    we start out sugared up on kool aid and manifest destiny
    and then we memorize all the presidents names like little trained monkeys
    and we spit into the world so many spinny-eyed TV junkies

    incapable of unraveling the military-industrial mystery
    pre-emptively passified with history book history
    and I've been around the world now and I can see this about America

    the mind control is deep here, man
    the myopia is steep here, man

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

    and my heart beats an s-s-s o-o-o s-s-s
    cause folks just really 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
    she loves me, she loves me not
    she loves me, she loves me not
    she loves me, she loves me not

    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 medicated associated with deregulation privitization
    we won't even know we're slaves on a corporate plantation

    somebody say hallelujah,
    somebody say damnation,
    cause 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
    cause the empire state building is the tallest building in New York
    and I have always got the feeling
    you just like 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

    Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone
    so I play and I sing and just let it ring,
    all day when I'm at home

    a defacto choice of
    macro-microcosmic melancholy
    but baby any way you slice it,
    I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

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