Imperfectly lyrics

If my life were a movie
There would be a sunset
And the camera would pan away
But the sky is just a little sister
Tagging along behind the buildings
Trying to imitate their grey
The little boys are breaking bottles
Along the sidewalk
The big boys, too
The girls are hanging out at the candy store
Pumping quarters into the phone
'Cause they don't want to go home

And I think,

She's looking in the mirror
She's fixing her hair
And I touch my head to feel
What isn't there
She's humming a melody
We learned in grade school
She's so happy
And I think
This is not cool
'Cause I know the guy
She's been talking about
I have met him before
And I think
What is this beautiful beautiful woman settling for?

She bends her breath
When she talks to him

Guess there's something wrong with me
Guess I don't fit in
No one wants to touch it
No one knows where to begin
I've got more than one membership
To more than one club
And I owe my life
To the people that I love

He looks me up and down
Like he knows what time it is
Like he's got my number
Like he thinks it's his
He says,
Call me, Miss DiFranco,

I got pulled over in west Texas
So they could look inside my car
He said are you an American citizen
I said
Yes sir
So far
They made sure I wasn't smuggling
Someone in from Mexico
Someone willing to settle for America
'Cause there's nowhere else to go

And every state line
There's a new set of laws
And every police man
Comes equipped with extended claws

standing just outside
the circle of light
avoiding the pool cues
watching the game
waiting for you
hanging in the doorway
like smoke
like mistletoe
this is where I'll be
whenever you come or go

I'm gonna roll you over
gonna peel you back
expose your tender center
watch the juices flow from the crack
gonna peel you out
of your protective shell
or I might have to break right in there

Standing like John Wayne
She is full framed
She is center stage
And my imagination is
Rattling in its cage
I didn't really notice
When everything else disappeared
But as far as I'm concerned
If it isn't her
It isn't here

She says do I know you
I say well, no, not biblically
But I've been waiting for you come
And talk to me
I have been playing
Too many of those boy girl games

It was good
Good to see you again
Good to meet your girlfriend
I'll try not to wonder where you are
When you go outside to kiss her
In the front seat of your car

It is good
Good to be back home
How I missed this time zone
Strangers are exciting
Their mystery never ends
But there's nothing like looking at your own history
In the faces of your friends

And it's bad

You think I wouldn't have him
Unless I could have him by the balls
You think I just dish it out
You don't think I take it at all
You think I am stronger
You think I walk taller than the rest
You think I'm usually wearing the pants
Just 'cause I rarely wear a dress

Well...

When you look at me
You see my purpose,
See my pride
You think I just saddle up my anger

Our father who art in a penthouse
Sits in his 37th floor suite
And swivels to gaze down
At the city he made me in
He allows me to stand and
Sollicit graffiti until
He needs the land I stand on
I in my darkened threshold
Am pawing through my pockets
The receipts, the bus schedules
The matchbook phone numbers
The urgent napkin poems
All of which laundering has rendered

My breast is cradled
In the curve of my guitar
I'm breaking strings
And other things playing hard
No I'm not on the rag
But I'm not on the run
I am matching the big boys one for one
And I must admit,
I'm having myself some fun

Because the music business is still run by men
Like every business and everything
But we can sing like a sonofabitch
Make them twitch around their eyes

Your basic average super star
Is singing about justice
And peace
And love
And I am glaring at the radio,
Swearing
Saying that's just what I was afraid of
The system gives you just enough
To make you think that you see change
They will sing you right to sleep
And then they'll screw you just the same

But I will wait
Yes, I will wait for the truth

He caresses every bottle
Like it's the first one he's had
Saying
It ain't love
But it ain't bad
It's the only reward
Bestowed upon me
And I have served faithfully

I can see he is scarred
From doing some hard time
But I let alone what is broken
'Cause it isn't mine
He strikes out at me
When I am within reach
Then he reaches for me
When I draw the line

I'm okay
If you get me at a good angle
And you're okay
In the sort of light
And we don't look
Like pages from a magazine
But that's all right
That's all right

I crashed your pickup truck
And then I had to drive it back home
I was crying
I was so scared
Of what you would do
Of what you would say
But you just started laughing
So I started laughing along

Dig if you will the picture
Of you and I engaged in a kiss
The sweat of your body covers me
Can you my darling
Can you picture this?
Dream if you can a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom
Animals strike curious poses
They feel the heat
The heat between me and you

How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that's so cold? (so cold)
Maybe I'm just too demanding

For Lee I'm cement, but behind the buttons on my blouse
My heart is bent between fair weather and a woman who may never be.
A woman who would be me.
Or the smell of women with a recipe.
All those voices stirring jealousy into the sounds cooking in me.
Well, I lost five seconds to the powers that be.
And then a man, some man defined chronologically.

he was a handsome musician
but he had an ugly scar
you could not see it on him
but you could hear it when he played guitar
naked and nervous silence
therefore conversation to abuse
stood between us like a parent
like a game we had to lose

he kept an eye on the door
and his back to the wall
his walk told of the time it takes for a man to fall

and i welcomed him into my closet

Do you ever wonder when the damage will be done?
Do you ever feel like one times one times one?
Do your eyes scrape the pavement as you shuffle from the sun?
Does your breath walk behind you when the dialog is done?
Are you somewhat uninhibited, are you somehow unfree, are you like me?
Are you a pile of loose brown leaves waiting to be blown, ready to disown?

The subway car smells like an animal's cage
And don't you feel like the captain riding in a rage
Oh the city's sweet as cider...sours with age
The toss between fear and freedom
Looking for a familiar sign
And the man sitting next to you says "hey baby, can you spare a dime?"
Oh the city's sweet as cider... sours in time

You turn to see his pants from 1965 with the holes in the pockets

On the underside of your salutation
I can hear you turning inward
Hello is such a thin word

You're going to have to hide doubletime from me
Cuz I read our poetry, and I can see when it doesn't rhyme
You said you either wanted me home
Or you wanted to be alone[?]
Or you wanted to be alone
And I felt you decide
I have heard all the words you hold inside

We were knitted like yarn

Things can't get much weirder
This can't get much worse
Don't know why you wouldn't kiss me
But it's a good thing I asked you first.
You were a big strapping boy with a boner.
And I felt it in your goodbye
You gave me an evening I'll never forget
No matter how hard I try.

Yeah you were just mister flirtatious
All night just workin' that ass

You are listening to the phone ringÃ
Like a church bell sounding out the hour.Ã
And the ringing cuts the silenceÃ
Like a knife leaving little pieces left of your life.Ã
You are watching the night shadows grow tall
Swallowing you in terror like the foot on the wall.Ã
Shake me down to the soil of a dream.Ã
Take me whole and take me clean.Ã

I am wading through the waters wanting you.Ã
I don't dare look cause I'll see right through.Ã
I tried to warm myself to sleep, but now I'm wading way too deep.Ã
I can't scream my sirens any higher, cause I'm bound to find a fire.Ã
I can smell your closeness though you hide in your tower
The peasant boy playing with the princess of power.Ã

Two years ago
Before you felt so familiar
Before I could remember your last name
I remember now
How our bright spring green deepened
With the years the seasons changed
And we were lush as the underside of August
The streets looked like water
They swelled and they shimmered
And they stretch like the sea
And dressed in my best shining skin
And my squiny eyes
I put the miles behind me

Girl, what are you gonna do with this time?Ã
You are on your own with a question on your mind.Ã
Ain't it a funny thing to accept that you are the worst company that you have ever kept?Ã
What are you gonna do?Ã
You are living all alone, there's no place to go out to and no reason to come home.Ã
And oh, it's so ironic, you the girl with all the friendsÃ

The warmth of north main street
Shows me how I took myself through
Illogical landscapes with you
Scribbling on napkins in foreign ports
All sorts of sidewalks I don't traverse anymore
All kinds of people I don't write into the score

Well I see you drive your car past my house
You're so far from admitting I've emerged
From under your deep weather

I come to your town
Like thirsty lips to a cup
I come to your town
And I wanna call you up
I don't know how you feel
But I hope you feel the same
I've broken every speed limit in your name
Sometimes I just wanna bury my head in a hole
Tell me do you have the kind of touch that can console
I wanna hold my hands over my eyes during the scary scenes

I always escape where I have been.Ã
I leave you looking for my face,
wondering what it was you've seenÃ
Down the long dark hallway in flight heading back from which I came.Ã
I am a creature of the night and silver Ingrid is my name.Ã
Silver Ingrid be my teacher, show me laughter laced with love.
Tell my theories of the wind song on the wings of a dove.Ã

I shut my mouth
Cause they are the law
And I am alone
Ohhh, the boys in blue
Have decided I need a good talking to
Though I've done nothing wrong
He is less than polite
I guess I'm not his type
And while he has his fun
The whole time he has his hand on his gun

My friends, they say
You'll have to grow your hair
And watch what you wear
If you want them, to go away

Susan is a connotation
At less than arms length
She has the strength of an opinion
Her promises are like the night overcast
Like the stars she doesn't show
And when she does, she doesn't last
You can see her goodness
Like her breath on a window pane
And then she turns her head
And it is gone again

And while I'm left waiting
She'll wax and she'll wane

well your arms hang parallel to the curtains
your gaze falls perpendicular to the floor
your resign yourself to the hurting
the lines in your brow are deeper than before
don't misunderstand
I just wanna be your friend
well a phone call is a phone call
is not the means to an end

your t-shirt's white across your chest
loose around your neck
your eyes come to rest on my face

the wind
was applaudingÃ
my passingÃ
your houseÃ
how tempting, I keep your key still on my ring
I have half a mind to open the gate
how easy to climb your fire escapes of steel
so familiar
oh I feel like twoÃ
of the plain of the face of you
I was hidden by the nightÃ
but not enough
every night came back to me
and the wind just passed by
disappointedly

you wander into the forest
following that shiny red ball
and by the time you looked up
you were lost, that's not all
instead of being the hero boy
he finds his way and emerges a man
you just start cutting me down tree by tree
as fast as you can

oh say can you see me
oh say can you see me
oh say can you see me
over here, over here

you want me to tell you a story

I bet you're wondering if you woke today
just to learn why the caged bird sings
I bet you're wondering if the goddesses are all crazy
or just keeping it interesting
situated slightly outside society
at odds with its odd offerings
I bet you're teetering on the edge of sobriety
just to alleviate a few things

like the fear that you're standing here
because you want to be liked

seems like you just
started noticing
how noticably bad things really are
and when you walked past this couple arguing
in a rolled up window
of a parked car
and all of that
gesticulated bitterness
and all of that
muffled yelling hell
its dark just starts wafting at you
like a big fury rat died
inside of that wall kinda smell

breathe like it's rolling like a cold front

no you didn't just leave
I actually kicked you out
I couldn't hardly believe
that the words came out my mouth
you couldn't hardly believe
what you heard yourself discuss
and you packed up all your things
and you said goodbye to us

tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?
tell me what is in the way
in the way of my love for you?

your body
forshortened below your shoulders
your face so close it's out of focus
way down the hallway
comes the sound of your shoes
this is when I think about when I think about you

if we let our love off of it's leash
do you fear like I fear how fierce it would be?

your headlights sweepin'
across my ceiling
the breath of my smile
the depth of my feeling

I'll be your biggest fan, I will be your fool
I'll be your exception to every rule

and I ain't the type to bitch
I ain't the type to cry
I'll sit at your red light
and wait for your ship to go by

and this vague little smile is my all-purpose expression
the meaning of which I will leave to your discretion

yeah my distraction is my defense against this lack of inspiration

you're taking up lots of space
your shit is everywhere
your breath is all up in my face
your hands are swarming in the air

you're the first one out the car
and then the loudest one in the bar
tell me is there something wrong
girlfriend, what's with this new version of who you are

so she lifts her chin and
squints at me
to assess what I think I know

second intermission, anticipation
you know the third act
small talk drops out of the play

you're standing in the lobby
tightening your tourniquet
waiting for it
waiting for it
and the bell sounds
and the lights flash
and there's all these questions millin' aroundÃ
and there's no time to ask

blissful little Miss Leading
she's learning about bleeding

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

she was hungry
so hungry
she was trying to think clear
she kept opening the fridge door
staring at the mustard and the beer

then finally she went out into the rain
carrying her bicycle chain
and her feet were the pedals
while her appetite steered
and after that she just followed her nose
and fate is not just
whose cooking smells good
but which way the wind blows

you keep telling me I'm beautiful
but I feel a little less so each time
your love is so colorful
it flashes like a neon sign

but I finally drove out where
the sky is dark enough to see stars
and I found I miss no one
just listening to the swishing of distant cars

so I hope I'd never see the ocean again
pushin' and pulling at me as I go deeper and deeper in