Top Ten Songs by Ani Difranco
Untouchable Face
Off of the 1996 record, “Dilate,” Untouchable Face is by far the best-known Ani Difranco song. Ani concerts will inevitably contain throngs of concert-goers screaming the chorus of this song along with Ani when she performs it, “So fuck you, and your untouchable face, and fuck you, for existing in the first place.” What could easily be slated as angry girl rock actually has a lot more depth to it in this case.
Angry Anymore
This track begins, “Growing up it was just me and my mom against the world, and all my sympathies were with her, when I was a little girl/ Now I’ve seen my parents play out the hands that they were dealt, and as the years go by, I know more about how my father must have felt,” and speaks beautifully to everyone, whether a child of divorce or just another Gen X-er trying to find his or her way in the world. With its perky banjo underpinnings, Angry Anymore has enough joy in it to convince the world that coming to peace with your past really can make you happy.
Self-evident
Every once in a long while, a song comes along that floors you when you hear it. This is one of those songs. My first experience with this song (like so many others who were introduced to this song the same way) came at a concert in Austin, Texas in 2002. When Ani began this song, the entire audience stopped breathing to listen to what she had to say – halfway through, the entire audience was in tears. While not a sad song, per se, Self-evident is an overwhelmingly powerful one, calling Americans to stand up for themselves and fight for the underdogs in the name of what is and what will always be right. If you can only listen to one Ani Difranco song in your lifetime, this is the one to hear.
Not a Pretty Girl
Ironically named, as Ani Difranco is actually quite attractive, Not a Pretty Girl became the theme song for a large branch of feminists tired of being treated like fragile creatures. It was this song that helped launch her cult status and make her a feminist icon, as she informs the audience, “I ain’t no damsel in distress, and I don’t need to be rescued/ so put me down, punk; wouldn’t you prefer a maiden fair? Isn’t there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere?”
Two Little Girls
Friendship between two women is a terribly complicated topic, aggravated when that friendship is particularly close and there’s trauma raining down upon the pair. Two little girls is about as narrative as Ani gets, and it tells the story of two close friends whose lives are entwined and then complicated by mature feelings as they grow up. When one of the friends gets into an unpleasant relationship coupled with a drug problem, Ani comments, “I loved you first, and you know I would prefer if she didn’t empty her syringes into your arm.” Such powerful and cleanly-stated shows of emotion are one of the hallmarks of Ani’s work.
32 Flavors
Later recorded by Alana Davis, everyone should hear the original Ani Difranco version, if only to learn what the song is supposed to sound like. A play on the old Baskin Robbins campaign, Ani offers their 31 flavor variety and one more, putting herself forth as “a poster girl with no poster.” She makes a pointed statement about the treatment of women within this song – “God help you if you are an ugly girl; of course, too pretty is also your doom/ Everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room.” Jabs like this one, pointing out the flaws inherent in a patriarchal society, explain her popularity among women of all walks of life.
Letter to a John
Whether this song is meant as a letter from a sex worker to her john or a woman to her partner, the message remains deadly clear, as the song begins, “Don’t ask me why I’m crying; I’m not gonna tell you what’s wrong/ I’ll just sit on your lap for five dollars a song.” The narrator in this song goes on a verse later to talk about being sexually assaulted at eleven years of age. Regardless of one’s interpretation of the speaker of the song, it makes a profound statement about the effects of trauma on women – yet another topic commonly avoided by mainstream music today. Ani Difranco, determined to be able to make songs like this, founded her own record label, Righteous Babe Records.
Dilate
Sometimes heralded as an “angry song,” Dilate is about hesitance, emotional boundaries, and reclaiming personal power. Hurt in the past and hesitant to trust again, our narrator says, “When I say you sucked my brain out, the english translation is ‘I am in love with you, and it is no fun.’ But I don’t use words like love, ’cause words like that don’t matter,” and when she says this, she recognizes that while these words have weight, they don’t really change anything. Life is the way it is, and will continue to be so, and regardless of how the other person responds to this confession, ultimately, life will go on.
School Night
Here we have a song about choice – in this particular case, it’s a choice between two lovers, which the narrator likens to having two children trapped in a burning building and being told that she can only save one. A powerful and beautifully melodic song, it is one of the few Ani pieces done on piano, rather than guitar.
Anyday
While typically a chipper individual, despite her strong political messages, Ani Difranco isn’t known for her love songs, which makes Anyday particularly noteworthy. It maintains her shy girl mystique and has the air of loving somewhat distantly, but Anyday approaches love so openly and honestly that it’s profoundly heartwarming.
