i am not a pretty girl
that is not what i do
i ain't no damsel in distress
and i don't need to be rescued
so put me down punk
maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair
isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere
i am not an angry girl
but it seems like i've got everyone fooled
every time i say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
and never to their own fear
and imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they'd prefer you
were dirty and smiling
and i am sorry
i am not a maiden fair
and i am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere
and generally my generation
wouldn't be caught dead working for the man
and generally i agree with them
trouble is you gotta have yourself an alternate plan
and i have earned my disillusionment
i have been working all of my life
and i am a patriot
i have been fighting the good fight
and what if there are no damsels in distress
what if i knew that and i called your bluff?
don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down
whether or not you ever show up
i am not a pretty girl
i don't want to be a pretty girl
no i want to be more than a pretty girl

Take me now, baby, here as I am
Hold me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed
Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand, come under cover
They can't hurt you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Have I doubt, baby, when I'm alone
Love is a ring on the telephone
Love is an angel, disguised as lust
Here in our bed 'til the morning comes
Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand, come under cover
They can't hurt you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
With love we sleep, with doubt the vicious circle turns, and burns
Without you, I cannot live, forgive the yearning burning
I believe in love too real to feel, take me now, take me now, take me now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin's birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
'Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas you get you deserve
-Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Oh life is bigger,/ It's bigger than you/ And you are not me/ The lengths that I will go to/ The distance in you eyes/ Oh No, I've said too much/ I set it up/ That's me in the corner/ That's me in the spotlight/ Losing my religion/ Trying to keep up with you/ And I don't know if I can do it/ Oh No, I've said too much/ I haven't said enough/ I thought that I heard you laughing/ I thought that I heard you sing/ I think I thought I saw you try/ Every whisper/ Of every walking hour/ I'm choosing my confessions/ Trying to keep an eye on you/ Like a hurt lost blinded fool -fool/ Oh No, I've said too much/ I set it up/ Consider this, Consider this/ The hint of the century/ Consider this/ The slip that brought me to my knees failed/ What if all these fantasies come failing around?/ And I've said too much/ I thought that I heard you laughing/ I thought that I heard you sing/ I think I thought I saw you try/ But that was just a dream/ That was just a dream/ But that was just a dream/ Try, cry, why? Try/ That was just a dream/ Just a dream/ Just a dream

I have a friend in a bright and distant town
She's found a common balance
Where you do your work, and you do your love
And they pay you, and praise your many talents
Well I'm passing through, and we know we won't sleep
She laughs, puts up the tea
She says "You know I think you remember every part of me."
And the water starts to boil
And if I had a camera
Showing all the light we give
And showing where the light extends
I'd give it to my friends
Sometimes I see myself fine, sometimes I need a witness
And I like the whole truth
But there are nights I only need forgiveness
Sometimes they say "I don't know who you are
But let me walk with you some"
And I say "I am alone, that's all
You can't save me from all the wrong I've done."
But they're waiting just the same
With their flashlights and their semaphores
And I'll act like I have faith and like that faith never ends
But I really just have friends
-Dar Williams

Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.
-James Dean

cookies and porn? you're the best mom ever!
-Ross Geller

I used to be 'with it.' then somebody changed what 'it' was. now what I'm 'with' isn't 'it'. and what is 'it' seems weird and scary to me.
-Abraham Simpson

my father's house was a nightmare. your house was a dream. now, I want something in between.
-Cinderella in 'Into the Woods', dumping her prince

in a coffee shop in a city
which is every coffee shop
in every city
on a day which is every day
i pick up a magazine
which is every magazine
and read a story then forgot it right away
they say goldfish have no memory
i guess their lives are much like mine
the little plastic castle
is a surprise every time
it's hard to say if they are happy
but they don't seem much to mind
from the shape of your shaved head
i recognized your silhoutte
as you walked out of the sun and sat down
and the sight of your sleepy smile eclipsed all the other people
as they paused to snear at the two girls from out of town
i said, "baby, look at you this morning
you are by far the cutest"
be careful getting coffee
i think these people want to shoot us
or maybe there's some kind of local competition here
to see who can be the rudest
people talk about my image
like i come in two dimensions
like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind
like what i happen to be wearing the day
that someone takes my picture
is my new statement for all of womankind
i wish they could see us now
in leather bras and rubber shorts
like some ridiculous team uniform
for some ridiculous new sport
quick someone call the girl police
and file a report
in a coffee shop in a city
which is every coffee shop
in every city
on a day which is every day
-Ani DiFranco

You ask me if I love you/ I choke on my reply/ I'd rather hurt you honestly/ Than mislead you with a lie/ And who am I to judge you/ Or what you say or do/ When I'm only just beginning/ To see the real you/ And sometimes when we touch/ The honesty's too much/ That I have to close my eyes and hide/ I wanna hold you till I die/ Till we both break down and cry/ I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides/ Romance with all its strategy/ Leaves me battling with my pride/ And through the insecurity/ Some tenderness survives/ I'm just another writer/ Still trapped within my truth/ A hesitant prize fighter/ Still trapped within his youth/ And sometimes when we touch/ The honesty's too much/ That I have to close my eyes and hide/ I wanna hold you till I die/ Till we both break down and cry/ I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides/ Oh at times I want to break you/ And drive you to your knees/ At times I want to break through/ And hold you endlessly/ at times I think we're drifters/ still searching for a friend/ a brother or a sister/ but then the passion flares again/ And sometimes when we touch/ The honesty's too much/ That I have to close my eyes and hide/ I wanna hold you till I die/ Till we both break down and cry/ I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides/

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin', its early morn
The taxi's waiting, he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could cry.
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go.
I'm leavin' on a jet plane
I Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go.
There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back, I'll wear your wedding ring.
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go.
I'm leavin' on a jet plane
I Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go.
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Then close your eyes, I'll be on my way.
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say,
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go.
I'm leavin' on a jet plane
I Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go.

My body is a temple. now get down on your knees and pray!
-Leigh's friend Judy

how many times can a boy cry wolf before he starts to think that the wolf just doesn't exist.
-Collin Warren

God, I feel like hell tonight
Tears of rage I cannot fight
I’d be the last to help you understand
Are you strong enough to be my man?
Nothing’s true and nothing’s right
So let me be alone tonight
You can’t change the way I am
Are you strong enough to be my man?
Lie to me
I promise I’ll believe
Lie to me
But please don’t leave
I have a face I cannot show
I make the rules up as I go
It’s try and love me if you can
Are you man enough to be my man?
When I’ve shown you that I just don’t care
When I’m throwing punches in the air
When I’m broken down and cannot stand
Will you be strong enough to be my man?
Lie to me
I promise I’ll believe
Lie to me
But please don’t leave
-Sheryl Crow

You come out at night, / that's when the energy comes / And the dark side's light, and the vampires roam / You strut your astor ware, / and your suicide poem/ And a cross from a faith that died, / before Jesus came / You're building a mystery / You live in a church, / where you sleep with voodoo dolls / And you won't give up the search, / for the ghosts in the halls / You wear sandals in the snow / and a smile that won't wash away / Can you look out the window / without your shadow getting in the way / You're so beautiful, / with an edge and charm/ And so careful, / when I'm in your arms / Because you're working,/ building a mystery / Holding on, and holding in / Yeah you're working, / building a mystery / and choosing so carefully / You wake up screaming aloud, / a prayer from your secret god / You feed off our fears, / and hold back your tears... oh, / You give us a tantrum, / and a know-it-all grin / Just when we need one, / when the evening's thin / You're a beautiful, / a beautiful, fucked up man / You're setting up your / razor wire shrine / You're building a mystery...
-Sarah McLachlan

look, they're dealing drugs in 3D! you're not supposed to do that! you can deal drugs, and you can be in 3D, but you can not deal drugs in 3D!
-Gwyneth Jordan

we forget the vagina. what else could explain our lack of wonder... our lack of awe?
the heart is capable of sacrifice
so is the vagina
the heart is able to forgive and repair
it can change its shape to let us in
it can expand to let us out
it can ache for us, stretch for us, die for us
and bleed and bleed us into this difficult, wondrous world.
so can the vagina.
-Eve Ensler

I'm picking mushrooms to destroy goodness!
-Charity possessed by an evil spirit, 'Passions'

I'm not a social butterfly. I'm more of a social moth. I come out at night and am attracted to the people who light up my life.
-B.Ellen

"You're not always going to be kind/inspired/driven/attentive. If you were, you wouldn't be human, and you would freak people out and they might shoot at you."
-Alestar

I am told
I am adored by millions
but no one calls.
-Jewel

How do you document real life
when real life's getting more like fiction each day?
headlines breadlines blow my mind
and now this deadline-
eviction or pay.
rent
How do you write a song when the chords sound wrong
though they once sounded right and rare
when the notes are sour
where is the power you once had to ignite the air
and we're hungry and frozen
some lives that we've chosen!
how we gonna pay how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay last year's rent?
we light candles.
how do you start a fire
when there's nothing to burn and it feels like something's stuck in your flue?
how do you generate heat when you can't feel your feet and they're turning blue!
you light up a mean blaze
with posters!
and screenplays!
how we gonna pay how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay last year's rent?
how do you stay on your feet when on every street it's trick or treat
and tonight it's trick!
'welcome back to town"
I should lie down
everything's brown and uh-oh... I feel sick!
"the music ignites the night with passionate fire
the narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"
zoom in as they burn the past to the ground...
how do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?
it reaches way down deep and tears you inside out till you're torn apart
rent!
how can you connect in an age where strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray?
what binds the fabric together when the raging shifting winds of change keep ripping away
draw a line in the sand and then make a stand
use your camera to spar
use your guitar
when they act tough you call their bluff
we're not gonna pay we're not gonna pay
we're not gonna pay
last year's rent this year's rent next year's rent
rent rent rent rent rent
we're not gonna pay rent
cause everything is rent!

Being nice when you say something pricklike makes you even more of a prick!
-Center Stage

"have you ever been in love? horrible, isn't it? it makes you so vulnerable. it opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. you build up all these defenses. you build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person wanders into your stupid life... you give them a piece of you. they don't ask for it. they do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. it gets inside you. it eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. it hurts. not just in the imagination. not just in the mind. it's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and rips-you apart pain. nothing should be able to do that. especially not love. i hate love.
-Rose Walker

and I return to my old dreams of the type that won't come true.
-B.Ellen

did I say something wrong... did I say something true... oops, I didn't know we couldn't talk about sex. did I have a point of view... oops, I didn't know we couldn't talk about you. and I'm not sorry...
-Madonna "Human Nature"

clothes don't feed my soul... they just wrap up my body with more shit.
-combined wisdom of Jill and Carrie!

Moving with a speed I cannot check
the car hurtles down the black deserted road
towards an unfamiliar destination.
Immense cautioning roadsigns appear at every curve,
warnings that I am too close to turn back.
In school bathroom toilet stalls girls
smoke their first illegal cigarettes
rites of passage to the world.
They major in beauty, and makeup,
a Seventeen magazine their textbook,
taking care to master the tools
of a trade necessary for survival.
Hungry, groping adolescent male hands
touch virgin bodies as clandestine kisses
are stolen in corners of dim high school hallways
Mother says "sex is dirty."
"Boys are out for one thing."
Maybe she's right;
I don't know.
She tells me nothing;
I am so afraid;
she wants me to be perfect.
I am her first-born daughter.
Brown-eyed, blond, curly-haired cooing baby,
I grow in her image and have her face.
She pinned her lost dreams on me
like crisp cotton diapers and pink lacy dresses.
Immortalized in bronze,
my baby shoes were placed atop the piano
harbringers of the greatness
I am expected to achieve.
I grew learning the lesson that legends
are hard to live by.
With budding breasts and spreading hips
bursting the protective garment of childhood
I am left naked and exposed.
I soon will arrive
at this strange place for which I am not ready.
Stomping the breaks to no avail,
feeling powerless and out of control, I cannot stop.
From somewhere deep inside me a voice speaks
softly
"To stall the car, simply let it run out of fuel."

Refusing food, my flesh falls away.
Day by day I grow smaller and thinner.
Alice in a carnival funhouse wonderland.
My world becomes narrower.
Daily devotions of arduous exercise, weights, and scales
assure my redemption through perfection and control
Reborn, emerging purged and purified
under the light of eternal childhood,
I am my own power, I am my own strength.
Only once have I surrendered to temptation
gorging for a week on the forbidden fruit.
The tape measure showed the evidence
of the fall from grace.
like Hester Prynne I am sentenced to wear
my sins on my body for everyone to see,
two days penance of fasting becoming
the only hope of absolution.

At the dinner table battleground,
Mother and I face each other in endless daily combat.
Like a military general she orders me to eat.
Stabbing the enemy food on my plate,
raising it to my mouth in surrender,
the sour taste of defeat poisons my lips and tongue.
Rebellious prisoner of war on a hunger strike
I have become a problem to the victor.
Helpless she takes me to a Haitian shrink.
tap, tap, tap,
he knocks on my brain with his witch doctor chants
of hypnotic incantations.
"Go away; you cannot come into my body temple
or perfect religion."

Shivering in the cold wind, no flesh to warm me,
I walk on a deserted playground
under an overcast, forbidding sky.
Lonely and sad I do not want to play here
anymore.
All of my friends have grown-up and gone home.
Like castles in the sandbox pelted by
a torrent of sudden summer rain
I have watched my idols crumble.
Like a broken seesaw off center,
my life is unbalanced and askew.
It is time to stop the games and put away the toys.
They are for children.
I too must go home.
I am hungry.
It is time to eat.

Donna Marquardt

When you look at pain as material, it makes all the difference in the world... the pain that is too big to be used as material would be a pain I couldn't (and wouldn't want to) imagine.
-Violet(of Violet and Claire)

I wanna glitter like a unicorn.
-Dar Williams

What if we gave an election and nobody won?
-Bud Warner

Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.
they come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday.
-Kahlil Gibran

No teacher to follow, no prophet to tell me how, but I know what I want, I know what I want now.
Like water, it rushes, it's the last thing that you see when you close your eyes, it's one place you want to be
but if it doesn't brush my shoulder and it doesn't beat my heart, that's not what I want, no, that's not where I will start. I never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart, that's not what I want.
If you don't know what you're missing cause you don't know where to start, follow your wishing heart.
I was restless, I was restless, I was restless, I was restless, I just want this to be good, I just want this to be good.
But you don't understand,no, you don't understand me, and I want to be understood.
but if it doesn't brush my shoulder and it doesn't beat my heart, that's not what I want, no, that's not where I will start. I never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart, that's not what I want.
If you don't know what you're missing cause you don't know where to start, follow your wishing heart.
and if all leap before we crawl, we might fall...
and it's not always candy spun from head to heart...
and it's not always meant to be...
and it's not always up to me...
but if it doesn't brush my shoulder and it doesn't beat my heart, that's not what I want, no, that's not where I will start. I never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart, that's not what I want.
If you don't know what you're missing cause you don't know where to start, follow your wishing heart.
-Lisa Loeb

Once upon a midnight dreary, I woke with something in my head
I couldn't escape the memory of a phone call and what you said
like a game show contestant with a parting gift, I could not believe my eyes,
when I saw through the voice of a trusted friend, who needs to humor me and tell me lies,
yeah, humor me and tell me lies,
and I'll lie too and say I don't mind
and as we seek so shall we find,
and when you're feeling open I'll still be here,
but not without a certain degree of fear,
of what will be of you and me, I still can see things hopefully,
but you... why you wanna give me a runaround
is it a surefire way to speed things up, when all it does is slow me down
and shake me and my confidence
about a great many things
but I've been there I can see it cower
like a nervous magician waiting in the wings
of a bad play where the hero's right, nobody thinks or expects too much, and Hollywood's calling for the movie rights, saying "hey baby let's keep in touch!" hey, baby let's keep in touch...
but I want more than a touch, I want you to reach me,
and show me all the things no one else can see
and soon if we're lucky we'll be unable to tell
what's yours and mine, the fishing's fine,
and it doesn't have to rhyme so don't you feed me a line!
but you... why you wanna give me a runaround
is it a surefire way to speed things up, when all it does is slow me down
ba-ba-boom, this is the pilot speaking,
and I've got some news for you
it seems my ship still stands no matter what you drop,
there ain't a whole lot that you can do!
sure, the banner may be torn, and the wind's gotten colder
perhaps I've grown a little cynical,
but I know no matter what the waitress brings, I shall drink it and always be full,
yeah, I will drink it and always be full!
well, I like coffee and I like tea,
I'd like to be able to enter a final plea
I've still got this dream that you just can't shake
I'll love you to the point you can no longer take
well all right! okay, so be that way,
I hope and pray that there's something left to say
but you! why you wanna give me a runaround
is it a surefire way to speed things up, when all it does is slow me down...
-Blues Traveler

How To Forgive Your Father
I am not Daddy's Little Girl. I'm a mountain lion in a skirt, with prayers in my heart. When I asked my dad what he wanted in a "dream daughter" he said "I wanted a daughter who would wear an apron and make soup from a ham bone." I'm a vegetarian who doesn't cook. My "fantasy father" would be super literary and work at home. My dad was a travelling salesman who struggled with spelling. When I was 4, my dad's head was as big as the world! I rode on his shoulders, clasping his forehead with my tiny hands and laughing as we ran through the grass. Together we were taller than God. my dad held my red schwin bike as I balanced my first solo trip, and ran alongside before letting me go to pedal into a new world. My dad always got mad at dinner and I thought it was because of me so I sat up straight and tried to do it all perfect and he still yelled. His dad got mad at dinner too. I finally learned that when I could show softness, my dad could show support. I wish I'd had more time to be with him. I remember whisker rubs and "serious talks" and standing on his feet to dance around the kitchen. He tied my ice skates double-tight, and there was always love--large and raw and imperfect. When I prowl through all the prayers in my heart, and in certain photographs in a special kind of light, I can see my dad's face inside my own, saying "stick with me, kid!" I know now that he loves me in his own language--that the past stuff is just fog on the mirror--that the little girl inside never stopped loving him. She feels the love and forgives the pain. HEY, DAD! I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER, YOU KNOW.
-S A R K

I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night and found that it had wheels and moved in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing.
-Brian Andreas

LILU...
crouching on the edge of reason, just beyond rationality, this faery is the provocateur of restless nights and erotic dreams. She is the one who ensnares us with compulsions, fixations, or feverish imaginings. Yet within the dark tangle of images she weaves are the glittering threads of our own healing--for even as she conjures our compulsions she holds out the ability to release their grip, enabling us to confront and let go of all that we no longer need.
-Brian Froud

the thing women have got to learn is that nobody gives you the power. You just take it.
-Roseanne

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
-Lucille Ball

Once upon a time... what is that supposed to mean? what time are we upon and where do I belong?
-Witch Baby

Love is a dangerous angel
-Dirk

No cwying!
-Andrea

Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative.
-Scream

your broken heart, it needs a fix
you're feeding off a high that would not last
so kiss your past...
or kiss your ass
good-bye!
-Aerosmith

Hey lady! It's against the rules to throw other people's heads!
-Labyrinth it's TREMENDOUSLY SIGNIFICANT!!!
-Bill Mosher

Staples are born stuck together. They die alone. Keep that in mind next time you need to collate your copies.
--Lara Lustig

Is my mind really happy... or is it swimming in the hyper ballad pool of my sped up heart beat?
-Carrie Sisson

I'm naked and my conditioner is under the bed
-Becca Tolbert

Don't ask what you are not doing
cause your voice cannot command
in time you will move mountains
and it will come through your hands
-Don Henley/John Hiatt

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
no longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from fill lives with love and bravery and you shall live
a life uncommon
--Jewel

I don't need no one to hold me
I can hold my own
I've got highways for stretch marks, see where I've grown
--Ani

This looks familiar, vaguely familiar. Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet. Close to my soul, and yet so far away... I'm going to go back there someday.
Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls. Is that a song there, and do I belong there? I've never been there, but I know the way. I'm going to go back there someday.
Come and go with me, it's more fun to share. We'll both be completely at home in midair. We're flying, not walking, on featherless wings... we can hold on to young like invisible strings.
There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met. Part heaven, part space... or have I found my place? You can just visit, but I plan to stay... I'm going to go back there someday. I'm going to go back there someday.
--Gonzo The Muppet Movie