Serpentine Lyrics - Evolve - 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 C-E-O'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 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 

'cause 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' 

'cause 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 

'cause 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 

'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 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 cool-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 bin 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 

'cause 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 

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 medicate it 

Associate it 

With deregulation 

Privatization 

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 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