REBEL SONG

Ani Di Franco - Subdivision

White people are so scared of Black people 
they bulldoze out to the country
and put up houses on little loop-d-loop streets
and while America gets its heart cut right out of its chest
the Berlin wall still runs down main street 
separating east side from west 

and nothing is
stirring not even a
mouse
in the boarded up stores and the broken down houses
so they hang colorful banners off all the street lamps 
just to prove they got no manners,
no mercy, 
and no sense 

and i wonder then what it will take for my city to rise
first we admit our mistakes 
and then we open our eyes 
the ghost of old buildings are haunting parking lots
in the city of good neighbors that 
history forgot

i remember the first time i saw someone lying on the cold street, 
i thought, "i can't just walk past here, this can't just be true." 
but i learned by example to just keep moving my feet. 
it's amazing the things that
we all learn to do. 

so we're led by denial like 
lambs to the slaughter,
serving empires of style and 
carbonated sugar water 
and the old farm road's a four-lane that leads to the mall 
and our dreams are all guillotines 
waiting to fall, 

and i wonder then what it will take for my country to rise. 
first we admit our mistakes 
and then we open our eyes. 
or nature succumbs to one last dumb decision and 
America the beautiful is just one big
subdivision.

You could pretty much a pluck any song from Ani Di Franco’s extensive back catalogue and find a political undercurrent. Her mastery of poetry is unparalleled as far as I’m concerned, as she deals with everything from human rights, sexism, homophobia; she’s pro-abortion and also an environmentalist.

This particular song “Subdivision” is taken from her 2001 double disc release Reckoning/Revelling which begins with the line “White People are so scared of black people”. Her scheduled Letterman appearance in the same year was cancelled as she refused to substitute playing this song for more kosher, upbeat one.