Ani DiFranco - Do or Die / Contagious (Single)

Ani DiFranco's double single from forthcoming LP. Tracks include "Do or Die" and "Contagious."

About "Contagious":

With "Contagious," in part an homage to Michelle Obama, Ani says as hard as it is to play by the rules, act on principle, and maintain your honor when you feel like you’re the only one in the room doing so, that's exactly what it will take to get us out of these hard times.

About "Do or Die":

Unprecedented numbers of Americans have poured into the streets for months now, in the midst of a pandemic, to demand a reckoning with white supremacy once and for all. Black Lives Matter and it is time for Americans to stand up now. Heed the lesson of the  2016 election: this is not a shoe-in. In November, we will need to vote in such massive numbers as to overwhelm massive corruption. Not only must we vote out [#votethemout], we must vote in enough people to pass The Breathe Act, a visionary bill that divests our taxpayer dollars from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in a new vision of public safety! We’ve got to vote in people all the way down the ballot who will enact meaningful policy change which rises to this historic moment and heeds the call of the American people for justice. Insistent, tenacious, against-all-odds voter participation this November will become the difference between life and death for many. 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.

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 man terence higgins overdubbed some more percussion.