Not So Soft Lyrics - Not So Soft - Ani Difranco

In a forest of stone 

Underneath the corporate canopy 

Where the sun 

Rarely 

Filters 

Down 

The ground 

Is not so soft 

Not so soft 

They build buildings to house people 

Making money 

Or they build buildings to make money 

Off of housing people 

It's true 

Like a lot of things are true 

I am foraging for a phone booth on the forest floor 

That is not so soft 

I look up 

It looks like the buildings are burning 

But it's just the sun setting in the window 

The solar system calling an end 

To another business day 

Eternally circling signally 

The rhythmic clicking on and off 

Of computers 

The pulse 

Of the american machine 

The pulse 

That draws death dancing 

Out of anonymous side streets 

You know 

The ones that always get dumped on 

And never get plowed 

It draws death dancing 

Out of little countries 

With funny languages 

Where the ground is getting harder 

And it was 

Not 

That 

Soft 

Before 

Those who call the shots 

Are never in the line of fire 

Why 

Where there's life for hire 

Out there 

If a flag of truth were raised 

We could watch every liar 

Rise to wave it 

Here 

We learn america like a script 

Playwright 

Birthright 

Same thing 

We bring 

Ourselves to the role 

We're all rehearsing for the presidency 

I always wanted to be 

Commander in chief 

Of my one woman army 

But I can envision the mediocrity 

Of my finest hour 

It's the failed america in me 

It's the fear that lives 

In a forest of stone 

Underneath the corporate canopy 

Where the sun 

Rarely 

Filters 

Down 

And the ground 

Is not so soft