The Songs Of Ani DiFranco Trivia Quiz

Answer: 32 Flavors

"Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some..."

In 1995, this was a track on Ani's sixth album "Not A Pretty Girl". It was later covered by Alana Davis and that cover had its best chart performance at number 17 on the Billboard Adult Top 40.

In more that 20 albums from 1989, Ani DiFranco carried her political and social commentary heart on her sleeve. She opposed the Gulf War and joined that great veteran social commentator Pete Seeger at his Clearwater Festival in 1993.

She contributed the track "My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage" to the tribute album "Where Have All The Flowers Gone? - The Songs of Pete Seeger".

Answer: Overlap

"Search your profile
For a translation
I study the conversation
Like a map
'cause I know there is strength
In the differences between us
And I know there is comfort
Where we overlap..."

Nominated nine times for a Grammy in her first 20 years, DiFranco won once. "Overlap" was on her 1995 album, "Out Of Range".

Raised in Buffalo, New York State, Angela Maria DiFranco's mother was Canadian and her father Italian - they met at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

At the age of nine, DiFranco had started busking - singing Beatles songs - and by 14 was writing her own. At the age of 19 she had graduated to the folk clubs of Greenwich Village.

Answer: Jukebox

"In the jukebox of her memory
The list of names flips by and stops
She closes her eyes
And smiles as the record drops..."

"Jukebox" was a track on Ani DiFranco's 1999 album "Up Up Up Up Up Up". It reached number 29 on the Billboard 200. DiFranco wrote all of the tracks and, as she did for most of her early long players, was the producer.

DiFranco refused to sign with any major record label and started her own: "It's not enough to write your own songs. What if you're in control of the way they go into the world? I harnessed a lot of authenticity along the way. Not a lot of perfection. But freaking real as real could be," she said in a 2019 interview with Eve Barlow of 'The Guardian'.

Answer: Pixie

"I'm a pixie
I'm a paper doll
I'm a cartoon
I'm a chipper cheerful free for all
And I light up a room
I'm the color me happy girl
Miss live and let live
And when they're out for blood...

"Pixie" was on DiFranco's 1998 album "Little Plastic Castle", which reached number 22 on the Billboard 200.

Amid all the records, activism and tours, DiFranco settled in New Orleans in 2007. Her memoir "No Walls and the Recurring Dream" told of her life in Buffalo and the broken family from which she came. She has said her mother splitting from her father gave her the confidence to "break rules". "I saw her leave one life behind and go start another. Everything about her was going against the grain. She was the lady in the pink hat with the purple feather." [Interview with Eve Barlow, as Qn 4.]

Answer: Fuel

"They were digging a new foundation in Manhattan
And they discovered a slave cemetery there
May their souls rest easy now that lynching is frowned upon
And we've moved on to the electric chair
And I wonder who's gonna be president
Tweedle Dumb or Tweedle Dumber? ..."

This was another track from "Little Plastic Castle".

Ani DiFranco's activism has crossed many genres and she has cited Pete Seeger and poet Sekou Sundiata as influences.

Answer: As Is

In "As Is", another track from the album "Little Plastic Castle", DiFranco sang:
"And I've got
No illusions about you
And guess what?
I never did
And when I said
When I said I'll take it
I meant,
I meant as is..."

Despite not being on a 'major' record label, DiFranco released about one studio album a year. Many of her concerts were recorded and released as "live" albums.

Answer: In Or Out

"Guess there's something wrong with me
Guess I don't fit in
No one wants to touch it
No one knows where to begin
I've got more than one membership
To more than one club
And I owe my life
To the people that I love..."

The song appeared on the 1992 album "Imperfectly". The tracks on the album were written by DiFranco and it was released on her own Righteous Babe label.

DiFranco had several collaborations during her career, most notably with Utah Phillips, and sang on records with numerous artists, including Prince, Bruce Cockburn, Cyndi Lauper, and Dar Williams.

Answer: Both Hands

"And I am watching your chest rise and fall
Like the tides of my life
And the rest of it all
And your bones have been my bedframe
And your flesh has been my pillow
I have been waiting for sleep
To offer up the deed with both hands..."

"Both Hands" was on the eponymous album "Ani DiFranco" in 1989.

Described by 'The (London) Times' as the "ultimate cult heroine", Di Franco was comfortable recording with other musicians in the studio or performing solo on stage.

Answer: Out Of Habit

"Out of Habit" was on the eponymous debut album released in 1989.

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Ani DiFranco's career really took off in Greenwich Village. She subsequently moved to New Orleans to raise a family...and continue writing songs.

Answer: Untouchable Face

Although she chose to produce and release albums on her own label, DiFranco told CBS News in 2021 that she sometimes wished she had had the backing of a big company or producer: "I look back at some of the things that I've recorded forever, and I think, 'Dang. Those are some good songs, and I didn't do them justice. And if only I had brought in the team of professionals, you know, I was just a kid with ... a stubborn kid who was just like, 'I'm not gonna wait around for the team of professionals. I'm gonna do it.

It's not perfect, but hey.' But sometimes I do look back at my records, and I think, 'Sorry, songs.'"