definitely my favorite ani song :)

i just started listneing to ani and yes this is a song that ijsut can not stop listening to.

Ultimate power song. Has gotten me through a lot of shit in my life...

i love this song, its one of my favorites, the idea of her writting a song like this, suggesting that another women seeks pleasure from another women because her husband is lacking is awesome and so controversial. i love it

ani is the ultimate woman. i love her. when i get in my angry lesbian moods, miss DiFranco is cranked on my stereo

pump up the jams

i saw her live back in 2004 i have gotta say i was nearly hvibg an orgasm when this song came on

so i am doing a dance to this song for dance.. and i dont know what it means my dance teacher says its all about cockiness but im not sure..

i'm going through a sort of thing like this with a girl i'm recently invovled with-
her brother and I were once good friends and have drifted, he does not want her around me, you see.
He's a bit over-protective, even when she dates a man.
This is her and I's song, especially the lines
"they're gonna wanna know
how we got in here
and they're gonna wanna know
how we plan to get out
we better have a good explanation
for all the fun that we had
'cause they are coming for us, babe
and they are going to be mad
yeah they're going to be mad at us"

This song is about a complicated relationship-
it seems as if she is invovled with a woman who is married- Thanks to the lines of
"i gotta cover my butt 'cuz i covet
another man's wife"
Which is not going to be best if found out by the woman's husband.
I love it.

i agree with the rest of the comments. I think it's about a woman involved with another woman who's married. I love the lines:

"we're in a room without a door
and i am sure without a doubt
they're gonna wanna know
how we got in here
and they're gonna wanna know
how we plan to get out
we better have a good explanation
for all the fun that we had
'cause they are coming for us, babe
and they are going to be mad"

Awesome song.

i love the snarling at the beginning of this

any comments on the lines
"i guess i'd shut my mouth
and rethink a minute
but i can't shut it now
'cause there's something in it"

jess-ka:

i don't think it's as crude as it sounds; ani is more lyrically talented than that. i definatly think the line has a double meaning, but i generally think that it means that she's got this relationship now and she can't stop talking, thinking etc about it. Like, she can't shut her mouth because she has something she wants to talk about, something she wants to do.

"just gimme your skeleton" is a reference to a skeleton in the closet, ie coming out of the closet, perhaps?

General Comment

To an extent, I agree with the comments above, in that this song deals with the idea of one woman being in love with another woman, but I think that you could expand it to much more inclusive tone.

The explicit lyrics "I gotta cover my butt 'cuz I covet another man's wife" are the only content which actually deal with the woman loving a married woman.

Ani DiFranco is an amazing lyricist and most of these lyrics can be applied to any lesbian/gay/bisexual/ect. who has come out.

"I cannot name this
I cannot explain this
And I really don't want to
Just call me shameless
I can't even slow this down
Let alone stop this
And I keep looking around
But I cannot top this"

This is essentially the narrator coming to terms with their sexuality, they can't explain their feelings, and they don't want to, now that they have come to this realisation, it is something they can't stop, or even slow down – it's a feeling they can't top, not with any amount of lying.

"If I had any sense
I guess I'd fear this
I guess I'd keep it down
So no one would hear this
I guess I'd shut my mouth
And rethink a minute
But I can't shut it now
'Cuz there's something in it"

To me, this is dealing with the views of society, that difference is to be feared and silenced, hidden and never spoken of. The narrator, however, has other plan – they won't shut out their emotions and their truth, because those feelings aren't just fake – the emotions real.

"We're in a room without a door
And I am sure without a doubt
They're gonna wanna know
How we got in here
And they're gonna wanna know
How we plan to get out
We better have a good explanation
For all the fun that we had
'Cuz they are coming for us, baby
They are going to be mad
They are going to be mad at us"

I think that this is talking about being in the closet, a room that is typically built without a door to keep different people locked up and away from society. The narrator is being cheeky when she says "we better have a good explanation for all the fun that we've had" – she's been fooling around with someone else in the closet and now they're both going to have explain how they could have this fun when it's a shameful state to be in. "And they're gonna wanna know how we plan to get out" I think this line can be taken one of two ways: either as a challenge or as philosophical question, in the context of the song, I believe that it is more of challenge – "how do you plan to get out of this room that built for you? There aren't even doors. So just be quiet and stay put"

"This is my skeleton
This is the skin it's in
That is, according to light
And gravity
I'll take off my disguise
The mask you met me in
'Cuz I got something
For you to see"

This stanza, to me, is talking about the revelation, showing your everything – your skeleton, your skin, the disguise that you once wore, and who you really are.

"Just gimme your skeleton
Give me the skin it's in
Yeah baby, this is you
According to me
I never avert my eyes
I never compromise
So never mind
The poetry"

This is obviously a continuation of the preceding stanza, but this time it is the narrator revealing someone else, seeing their everything and then telling them who they are (according to the narrator's point of view).

In all, these stanzas are about coming to terms with who you are and then showing the world, and possibly even finding a person with a similar issue.

"I gotta cover my butt 'cuz I covet
Another man's wife
I got to divide my emotions
Between wrong and right
Then I get to see how close I can get to it
Without giving in
Then I get to rub up against it
Till I break the skin
Rub up against it
Till I break the skin"

The obvious part of this stanza is about coveting another man's wife, but it further explores the narrator knowing what is wrong is right, but still tempting fate – rubbing up against it until it eventually breaks the skin, causing harm to the person. This is kind of a summary of everything that the song explores – challenging society's morals and ideals, going to the very edge even if it's dangerous and just rubbing away at what society has created.

"Just please don't name this
Please don't explain this
Just blame it all on me
Say I was shameless
Say I couldn't slow it down
Let alone stop it
And say you just hung around
'Cuz you couldn't top it "

This is can be interpreted many ways, it is obviously the narrator talking to someone – probably in the hope of not being defined by their secret, as people often are. The narrator would rather have the secret blamed on her being shameless that having it exist separately from the rest of her. The ending of this is quite positive – "And say you just hung around 'cuz you couldn't top it" – a lover, a friend, society, watching, sticking around because the narrator's secret, the part of themselves that they are to be ashamed of is actually something that cannot be topped, it's something good.

Overall, I believe this song is about dealing with society's pressures when coming out, but sticking to your guns and not hiding away when people call you 'Shameless'. It's about eventually finding out that the 'wrong' is actually right for you and that it cannot be topped by what society says is good, moral and normal.

General Comment