This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Impeccable peccadillo
You are off your guard
Pussy willows groves
There by the church
Don't go in if you are
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
She may be dead to you
But her hips sway a natural
Kind of faith that could give
Your lost heart a warm chapel
You'll sleep in her bell tower
And you will simply wake
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
Impeccable peccadillo
I know who you are
Tales of longing sway
Lost without a verse
Hymns of swing lay low
There by the church
Don't go in if you are
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
She may be dead to you
Kind of faith that could give
Attracted to sin
To sin
To sin
You are off your guard
Pussy willows groves
There by the church
Don't go in if you are
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
She may be dead to you
But her hips sway a natural
Kind of faith that could give
Your lost heart a warm chapel
You'll sleep in her bell tower
And you will simply wake
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
Impeccable peccadillo
I know who you are
Tales of longing sway
Lost without a verse
Hymns of swing lay low
There by the church
Don't go in if you are
Abnormally attracted to sin
Abnormally attracted to sin
She may be dead to you
Kind of faith that could give
Attracted to sin
To sin
To sin
Lyrics submitted by stentorian
Abnormally Attracted to Sin Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Oddly enough i think the images in this song are pretty straightforward. Pussy Willow could mean a couple things. Pussy Willows are used on Palm Sunday (in place of palm fronds) in countries that are too far north to grow Palm trees. So as a representation of an orthodox faith, it makes sense for the Pussy Willow (originally venerated in Pagan traditions) to offer a warning before entering the church if you are "abnormally attracted to sin." It is also a tradition in places like North Carolina, Buffalo and New York to celebrate Easter Monday as a holiday which, to the Polish and Ukrainian population is called "Dyngus Day." Originally Dyngus Day was a day of blessing with water and self flagellation with willow switches to purify the self for the coming year but as time went on, unmarried girls became the only acceptable target of young unmarried men who would douse the objects of their affections in water and switch their legs with willow branches to profess their interest. Girls who avoided this treatment were considered unattractive and unfit for marriage.
I think the bridge is in reference to the Great Mother Goddess (or very likely Mary Magdalene, a good representation of the sexual aspect of the Great Mother). "She may be dead to you but her hips sway a natural kind of faith that could give your lost heart a warm chapel." She's suggesting an alternative to the male dominated right wing patriarchy. Its also a caveat that if you "sleep in her belltower" you won't know what's happening to you but when you wake, you'll simply find yourself abnormally attracted to sin. This is a wakening of the mind to those alternate possibilities. So much of what keeps us submissive to the Patriarchal Right is our CHOICE to be. Then you start to recognize that things like Desire (tales of longing sway lost without a verse) and progressive music (hymns of swing lay low) have become panned by the church. Music by the Beatles and Elvis, some of the most popular music of ALL TIME were banned by some orthodox practices as being "the Devil's music!" Sleeping in Her bell tower awakens you to things that are not inherently evil, but are frowned upon by those in power because they require an ACTIVE mind.