This song came out when I was having a difficult time during High School, and I used to sing it to myself every single afternoon as I walked home. Even today, when I reach a certain spot near my old school, I can hear those first few piano notes going through my head. The lyrics in this song just seemed so random to me, so mysterious - I never could explain this song to other people. But to me, both then and now, it's sort of a Janus-like song. It looks back with sadness and it looks forward with fear. I used to think that was just adolescence, but 12 years later I think that's just life. We all carry the scars of bad relationships and failures, and we all step forward into the future, frightened of the tests that are going to be thrown at us.
When Tori sings "I know what you want / the magpies have come" she gets immediate intimacy - past all the intellectual logical level that we all pretend to operate on - towards something more symbolic, more intimate. And what always surprises me about this song is just how many times the music itself, even when it's bursting with joy, always fades - again and again. It's not like it starts loud and stays loud - it builds up, fades, builds up, fades. At the end of it, I always feel like I've been on a journey.
Under The Pink as an album gave me so much comfort, but no other song by Tori or anyone else seemed to express the confusion and fear of becoming an adult like "Yes, Anastasia."
This song came out when I was having a difficult time during High School, and I used to sing it to myself every single afternoon as I walked home. Even today, when I reach a certain spot near my old school, I can hear those first few piano notes going through my head. The lyrics in this song just seemed so random to me, so mysterious - I never could explain this song to other people. But to me, both then and now, it's sort of a Janus-like song. It looks back with sadness and it looks forward with fear. I used to think that was just adolescence, but 12 years later I think that's just life. We all carry the scars of bad relationships and failures, and we all step forward into the future, frightened of the tests that are going to be thrown at us. When Tori sings "I know what you want / the magpies have come" she gets immediate intimacy - past all the intellectual logical level that we all pretend to operate on - towards something more symbolic, more intimate. And what always surprises me about this song is just how many times the music itself, even when it's bursting with joy, always fades - again and again. It's not like it starts loud and stays loud - it builds up, fades, builds up, fades. At the end of it, I always feel like I've been on a journey. Under The Pink as an album gave me so much comfort, but no other song by Tori or anyone else seemed to express the confusion and fear of becoming an adult like "Yes, Anastasia."