sort form Submissions:
submissions
Tori Amos – Strange Lyrics 18 years ago
I know she wrote much of this album when she was in the southwest. And the first time I really listened to this album was this past summer when I lived in new mexico (and I have always lived in new york - quite a change!) So I know so much of the Scarlet Walk songs are references to this part of the country and to the legacy of the native americans.

the very first verse is precisely how I felt upon coming to new mexico:
"Strange
Thought I knew you well
Thought I had read the sky
Thought I had read a change
in your eyes
so strange
Woke up to a world
that I am
not a part
except when I can
play it's stranger"

I thought I knew the USA, my home country, until I lived in NM. It was so different than what I was used to. There was even a different language. I literally woke up to a world that I was not apart of, except when I played the stranger.

this may be nothing of what she was thinking when she wrote it, but this is how I always feel when I hear this song - that theres such a disconnect (or, there was) between me and my lifestyle in NY, compared to the land and the way of life in the southwest.

submissions
Tori Amos – Pancake Lyrics 18 years ago
I think the chorus could mean something about how all religions have borrowed things from eachother (like how pagan holidays were incorporated into christianity..), "you give me yours I give you mine". but there are christians who refuse to take this into account if they make blanket statements by saying theirs is the one true religion, and they refuse to look her God right in the eye, refuse to accept that their religion is borrowed from others.

the whole 'you say "i ordered you a pancake"', to me, means that someone else (say, family or upbringing) has "ordered" a specific faith for her, prescribed it, one which she doesnt accept as her own. pancake referring to communion - someone ordered her to partake in that sacrament.

one of my favorite songs, for sure. Like all of her music, its so rich in meaning, especially if you have dealt with a deep conflicting internal religious conflict or existential crises, etc... And the music itself is so beautiful. Its such an experience to learn what she is saying in her songs.

* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.