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LIFE BOAT
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“If you’re not getting happier as you get older, then you’re f***in’ up,” says Ani DiFranco on her 17th studio album, Righteous Babe Records’ recently released “¿Which Side Are You on?” and to hear her tell it, she’s living what she sings about. It would seem that the oft-labeled “angry” singer-songwriter has found contentment. Now 41 and married with an almost 5-year-old daughter, Petah, DiFranco takes a broader survey of her life on “Side.” It is no less politically pointed than her previous work (the focus on feminism is pronounced), but more willing to investigate the past and understand the future. The Daily caught up with DiFranco to discuss the album, her status as a pot-smoking mom and her relationship with fame.
The last line of the record is, “Pour your love into your children until there’s nothing left to say.” Is that why you’ve been quiet for the past three years?
Yep, exactly. I’m a mom first, for sure, and then whatever I thought I was second. It’s slowed me down quite a bit, but I’m actually finding that I’m grateful for that. There’s nothing like taking your time making a record to get closer to right.
When you released “Red Letter Year,” it was just ahead of Obama’s election and hope pervaded your music. Do you think things have gotten worse since then?
Well, you can’t get worse than George W. Bush. That I will write in the sky with a plane. But it hasn’t gotten as better as many of us hoped. We have a culture of celebrity in America, and I, too, had the naïve hope that this one individual could swoop in and save us. But of course, democracy is much more complicated and much more difficult than that. The real problem is Congress. We have flaccid Democrats and spiteful Republicans, who state openly that their only goal is to obstruct governance. It’s hard to know where to start fixing our government, it’s become so corporately entrenched. Although I do have a plan!
Do tell. You remember a few months ago this congressional super committee that was supposed to figure out how to balance the budget and the deficit and fix the economy?
Of course they failed miserably, but meanwhile that work was done by Occupy Washington, D.C., activists and organizers. Through a very democratic process with a public hearing, they drafted the 99 percent’s deficit proposal. I’m now in dialogue to bring it to Capitol Hill. We’re going to lobby Congress.
Do you consider yourself a part of the Occupy movement?
Absolutely. I visited a bunch of the sites in my travels. I haven’t been camping out myself (laughs). I hope that all working Americans can feel connected to those people who are sleeping out in the cold and trying to get the word out about the disparities.
In your song “J,” you continue your open discussion of pot smoking. Was there any debate over whether or not you’d remain a smoker after having your child?
Well, sure. You worry about things when you’re pregnant and breastfeeding and every woman finds their own balance with that. Now my kid is pushing 5, as she becomes more aware, you’re like, “OK, now do I have to hide it from her?” It’s ridiculously illegal in our society. But I don’t think it’s wrong. I think of all the mood-altering substances that we partake in legally all day long, this is far less offensive.
You say, “If you’re not getting happier as you get older, you’re f***in’ up.” Are you getting happier?
Thankfully, I am, and therefore healthier. I used to consider myself very susceptible, almost sickly. And now I realize that I was just stressed out. As I’ve become happier and calmer, I’m way healthier, stronger, I sleep better. It’s amazing stuff, happiness.
Does the old Ani ever creep in and say, “What are you doing? Work faster!”?
There’s something about driven people, artists, pounding away on the road and spitting albums into the world and furiously creating songs. People who do that are broken. They have huge, gaping holes inside of them, and they’re trying to fill them with something. That’s what I was doing.
Were you trying to fill that hole with the adoration you experienced playing live?
Oh sure. The admiration I exchanged with my audience was the greatest love in my life until I met my husband. In the early days, when the adulation starts surrounding you, you have to come to terms with it. I spent years very deeply alone and sad in my dressing room, and then I walked out onstage and was loved by thousands, and then I walked off and was alone again. It makes your own depression that much more poignant and harder to deal with when it’s contrasted with a public life that’s so bright and shiny.
What do you make of the notion that we soften over time?
I think it’s a beautiful thing. All hail the eagerness and righteousness of youth, but the planet needs other forms of energy to strike a balance. As you get older, you see more and more sides of everything. I can empathize with more and more people. You’re less quick to stand up and say, “I have all the answers!”
You’re admitting you were self-righteous in the past?
All kids are. You should talk to my 5-year-old if you want answers!
LIFE BOAT
Download song
“If you’re not getting happier as you get older, then you’re f***in’ up,” says Ani DiFranco on her 17th studio album, Righteous Babe Records’ recently released “¿Which Side Are You on?” and to hear her tell it, she’s living what she sings about. It would seem that the oft-labeled “angry” singer-songwriter has found contentment. Now 41 and married with an almost 5-year-old daughter, Petah, DiFranco takes a broader survey of her life on “Side.” It is no less politically pointed than her previous work (the focus on feminism is pronounced), but more willing to investigate the past and understand the future. The Daily caught up with DiFranco to discuss the album, her status as a pot-smoking mom and her relationship with fame.
The last line of the record is, “Pour your love into your children until there’s nothing left to say.” Is that why you’ve been quiet for the past three years?
Yep, exactly. I’m a mom first, for sure, and then whatever I thought I was second. It’s slowed me down quite a bit, but I’m actually finding that I’m grateful for that. There’s nothing like taking your time making a record to get closer to right.
When you released “Red Letter Year,” it was just ahead of Obama’s election and hope pervaded your music. Do you think things have gotten worse since then?
Well, you can’t get worse than George W. Bush. That I will write in the sky with a plane. But it hasn’t gotten as better as many of us hoped. We have a culture of celebrity in America, and I, too, had the naïve hope that this one individual could swoop in and save us. But of course, democracy is much more complicated and much more difficult than that. The real problem is Congress. We have flaccid Democrats and spiteful Republicans, who state openly that their only goal is to obstruct governance. It’s hard to know where to start fixing our government, it’s become so corporately entrenched. Although I do have a plan!
Do tell. You remember a few months ago this congressional super committee that was supposed to figure out how to balance the budget and the deficit and fix the economy?
Of course they failed miserably, but meanwhile that work was done by Occupy Washington, D.C., activists and organizers. Through a very democratic process with a public hearing, they drafted the 99 percent’s deficit proposal. I’m now in dialogue to bring it to Capitol Hill. We’re going to lobby Congress.
Do you consider yourself a part of the Occupy movement?
Absolutely. I visited a bunch of the sites in my travels. I haven’t been camping out myself (laughs). I hope that all working Americans can feel connected to those people who are sleeping out in the cold and trying to get the word out about the disparities.
In your song “J,” you continue your open discussion of pot smoking. Was there any debate over whether or not you’d remain a smoker after having your child?
Well, sure. You worry about things when you’re pregnant and breastfeeding and every woman finds their own balance with that. Now my kid is pushing 5, as she becomes more aware, you’re like, “OK, now do I have to hide it from her?” It’s ridiculously illegal in our society. But I don’t think it’s wrong. I think of all the mood-altering substances that we partake in legally all day long, this is far less offensive.
You say, “If you’re not getting happier as you get older, you’re f***in’ up.” Are you getting happier?
Thankfully, I am, and therefore healthier. I used to consider myself very susceptible, almost sickly. And now I realize that I was just stressed out. As I’ve become happier and calmer, I’m way healthier, stronger, I sleep better. It’s amazing stuff, happiness.
Does the old Ani ever creep in and say, “What are you doing? Work faster!”?
There’s something about driven people, artists, pounding away on the road and spitting albums into the world and furiously creating songs. People who do that are broken. They have huge, gaping holes inside of them, and they’re trying to fill them with something. That’s what I was doing.
Were you trying to fill that hole with the adoration you experienced playing live?
Oh sure. The admiration I exchanged with my audience was the greatest love in my life until I met my husband. In the early days, when the adulation starts surrounding you, you have to come to terms with it. I spent years very deeply alone and sad in my dressing room, and then I walked out onstage and was loved by thousands, and then I walked off and was alone again. It makes your own depression that much more poignant and harder to deal with when it’s contrasted with a public life that’s so bright and shiny.
What do you make of the notion that we soften over time?
I think it’s a beautiful thing. All hail the eagerness and righteousness of youth, but the planet needs other forms of energy to strike a balance. As you get older, you see more and more sides of everything. I can empathize with more and more people. You’re less quick to stand up and say, “I have all the answers!”
You’re admitting you were self-righteous in the past?
All kids are. You should talk to my 5-year-old if you want answers!
