some crazy fucker carved a sculpture out of butter
and propped it up in the middle of the bonanza breakfast bar
and i am stuffing toast and sausage into my pockets
under a sign that says grand opening
while my dog is waiting in the car

i wake up, i check out
i fill the tank and wash the windshield clean
then i'm back out on the highway
and BANG that's when i remember my dream:

we were standing in a garden
and i had a machine that made silence
it just sucked up the whole opinionated din
and there were no people on the payroll
and there were no monkeys on our backs
and i said, show me what you look like
without skin

science chases money
and money chases its tail
and the best minds of my generation
can't make bail
but the bacteria are coming to take us down
that's my prediction
it's the answer to this culture
of the quick fix prescription

but in the garden of simple
where all of us are nameless
you were never anything but beautiful to me
and, you know, debt never really owned you
you just carried them around you
and then one day you put 'em down
and found your hands were free

so now it's early in the morning
at the longitude of memphis
and the sun is setting sweetly on hong kong
and the big plan is just to keep spinning
'cause the big bang is only just beginning
and sometimes it's all that we can do just to hang on

and what i meant to say is xxoo which means i'm thinking of ya
which means i've been thinking of you
all along


Lyrics submitted by aur0ra

Garden of Simple Lyrics as written by Ani Difranco

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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Garden of Simple song meanings
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6 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    My absolute favorite Ani song.

    Ani is a storyteller, a dreamer, a singer-songwriter, and this is her best work.

    The main part of the song, and the title, revolve around her dream of a garden of simple, in which everything has been made quiet by her machine.

    All the burdens the couple has are melted....and they can be themselves (show me what you look like without skin).

    The rhymes are excellent, and its just kind of an amalgam of thought she had about her partner:

    "which means I've been thinking of you all along"

    sakeboxon June 07, 2002   Link

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