Ani DiFranco - Do Or Die Lyrics

Ani DiFranco Lyrics

"Do Or Die"

Do you ever just wanna give up
Well, me too
Are you shocked by what people get
Get used to
Do you wake up in a cold sweat?
Well, that's sane
Least you got a little brain left
You've got a little brain

'Cause there's foxes in the hen house
And bad news every day
And right there on Pennsylvania Avenue
The sheetless KKK
And there's models wielding microphones
Chasing maniacs around
And everything's on fire
And there's twisters touching down

And I know you got to fight your adrenaline
Just to be a gentleman
And you know I got to fight my amygdala
Just to keep hearing ya

But we can do this if we try
Yeah, if we do this like it's do or die
And we can do this if we try
If we do this like it's do or die

So let's pause
Let us regroup
Let us recover
Let us recoup
Let us remember
That we are charmed
Let us look down at our hands
And remember we're armed

'Cause Yankee Doodle Dandy didn't feel free once
So he used his pen to pick the locks
And Yankee Doodle Dandy did some doozy kind of carpentry
When he fashioned that ballot box

And if you think your vote doesn't matter
Then you're not paying attention
Yeah, everything they do they do to
Keep you from their invention
Yeah, so if you think your vote doesn't matter
Then you're not paying attention
Yeah, everything they do they do to
Keep you from their invention

But we can do this if we try
Yeah, if we do this like it's do or die
And we can do this if we try
If we do this like it's do or die

Do you ever just wanna give up?
Well, me too
Are you shocked by what people get
Get used to?

Do you wake up in a cold sweat?
Well, that's sane
Least you got a little brain left
You've got a little brain

And I know you got to fight your adrenaline
Just to be a gentleman
And I know I got to fight my amygdala
Just to keep hearing ya

But we can do this if we try
If we do this like it's do or die
We can do this if we try
If we do this like it's do or die

Submit Corrections

Thanks to higs4281 for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Woody Guthrie

The singer shared the following about making "Do Or Die", "I recorded this song in a semi-abandoned strip mall in Durham, North Carolina, with some very talented musicians from that area. We all came out of isolation for the session and I wore a mask except when I was in front of a microphone singing. I didn't know any of the players before the session. The group was put together by Brad Cook and included his brother Phil Cook on keys, Yan Westerlund on drums, Brevan Hampden on percussion and Matt Douglas on flute. Later, my touring compadre Terence Higgins overdubbed some more percussion and a string quartet called Delgani was added in Eugene, Oregon, arranged by my other touring companion, Todd Sickafoose. Pandemic Productions!"

Ani DiFranco created the video for "Do or Die" in collaboration with Dancing Grounds and New Orleans Dance Collective, organizations in New Orleans.

"Nothing will stem the tide of suffering from COVID-19, economic crisis, police brutality, mass incarceration, endemic poverty, entrenched white supremacy and misogyny, deportation and detainment, gun violence, fire, flood, disease, pollution, irradiation, exploitation, forced reproduction, gender and sexuality-based violence and oppression, dis-information, propaganda, corruption, and greed… short of a functioning democracy! Let's harness our outrage and vote. We can do this, if we try, if we do this like it's do or die," stated Ani DiFranco about this song.