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