| Tori Amos – Beauty of Speed Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| There is also a reference to "crack" in line 2. This song is awash with drugs! | |
| Tori Amos – Strong Black Vine Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I think that Tori is criticising the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and George W. Bush's "war on terror" in this song. Al Quaida's spokesman appears more than once in the visualette, together with scenes of gulf war. Bush referred to Iran and Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" while Iran refers to the USA as "the great Satan" so, for each, the other is an "evil faith". While the USA "sells arms in Balmy cities", Al Quaida "blows to bits innocent flesh". Both try in their own way to force the other to submit; the USA would like to spread democracy to the arab world, while the arab world seeks to impose sharia law in the west (several such islamic courts were discovered to be operating in England recently). I think the main point of the song is that it is pointless to use violence to try to impose your point of view on somebody else, and murdering that person when they don't come around to your way of thinking is a twisted and "evil faith" that mankind needs to be saved from. | |
| Tori Amos – Fast Horse Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| To me this is about marriage and a woman who is engaged to be married to the wrong man. "I am posssessed, still engaged". She is his possession, engaged to be married. "Time bomb in his palm, a finger apple" might refer to the engagement ring, a time bomb waiting to explode on the day of their marriage, a ring in his palm, put on her finger, like the apple in the garden of Eden it promises good things but doesn't deliver. "Advanced shackling" - a physical shackle is used to hobble an animal like a horse to stop it from running away. She is potentially a "fast horse" who can run away from this unhealthy situation, but because she is mentally shackled she doesn't leave him. | |
| Tori Amos – Give Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Initially it's ambiguous wether it's about sex or vampirism. "Crossed over the line" could certainly refer to the line between life and death and the references to giving and taking blood "There are some who give blood ... some whose give twists iteslf to take" suggest vampirism, as of course does "before the sun begins to rise". But overall I would say it's about sex. The words "I give love" don't really fit into a vampire context, but rather suggest a woman who gives sex. In this sense "crossed over the line" refers to a moral line, behaviour that some would consider immoral. Tori says "What made up the line? ... was it shame?" which again fits into the theme of sex with somebody she's not married to. She says "I must give" not "I want to give" suggesting that this is a compulsion, a sex addiction. She doesn't want to take anything in return, probably having been disappointed too many times she is emotionally cut off from the sex act, so now she sees herself as a sex donor, the same way some people donate blood. I don't think it's about sex for money. |
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| Tori Amos – Maybe California Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Yes, I think since American Doll Posse she has got seriously into dressing up. All of us express different parts of our personalities to different people, e.g. we tell rude jokes to our friends that we wouldn't tell to our parents, we open up our vulnerable selves to our spouses in a way that we wouldn't do with our colleagues. Tori just takes this further and gives these parts of her personality a name and a hairstyle. I don't mind really, I think it's not to be taken too seriously. | |
| Tori Amos – Police Me Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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"Police yourself" sounds a lot like "Please yourself" ... people are doing just what they want. "Will you strike before he's loaded? Full of winter you are" reminds me of the cold war where talk was of the tactical advantage in a "missile first strike" and the risk of "nuclear winter". The overall feel of the song is of an increasingly isolated and grey existence where Tori feels herself to be a brightly coloured person trying to break through and communicate with other people in a world that doesn't want to listen, instead just wants to watch in an impersonal way. |
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| Tori Amos – Dragon Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| At the beginning of the song "Don't tell me a woman did this to you - candy lies" it seems that Tori is saying that another woman, the one who her man has presumably had a previous relationship with, told him sweet lies (or at least that's how he sees it). But at the end of the song Tori sings "Candy lies, forgive my candy lies". So it is actually Tori (or also Tori) who is telling the sweet lies. I can't put this together with the rest of the song. What candy lies is Tori telling the man? | |
| Tori Amos – Me And A Gun Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I can't bear to listen to this song. I avoid films depicting rape or other forms of torture too (Hostel, Captivity etc). I am not saying they should be censured, I just can't understand why 'torture porn' is so popular. Is it entertaining to see somebody get raped/tortured? Personally I don't think so, it makes me feel sick. And films are just fiction, but what happened to Tori is a fact, which makes it much, much worse. I have never met Tori but to some extent I feel like I "know" her through her music, so listening to this song is sort of like hearing a friend telling me that she has been raped. The song is emotionally so very powerful, it hurts me just to listen to it. I can't imagine what it feels like to Tori when she is performing it. | |
| Tori Amos – Maybe California Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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First of all, a big thank you to Tori for the free download of this song and its associated video from her website. It's a great song, and a wonderful gesture much appreciated. My first impression of the song was one of intense sadness. The woman in the video never smiles once. All around her people are enjoying themselves in various entertainments, but she is utterly alone and doesn't interact with anybody. She no longer makes her husband smile, she cries all the time, she sees no reason to carry on living and she is contemplating suicide. But Tori's response is: don't do it. Don't jump because your kids love you, whether you can see that right now or not, and your death would kill a part of their joy forever. And don't jump because there is comfort, not right now and right here, but coming soon from another source. Just be strong and ride out the pain and things will get better. A message of hope. |
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| Tori Amos – Cloud On My Tongue Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Someone's knockin on my kitchen door leave the wood outside I think that these are sexual references. A kitchen is a warm, comfortable place. A door is entry into that place. This is a reference to the female genitalia, and the man who is knocking is seeking entry - he wants to come inside. The slang terms "waiting for wood" and "full wood" refer to the male erection. When Tori says "Leave the wood outside", she is refusing his advances. Tori has had a sexual relationship with this man, who has let her down (probably by being unfaithful with the other 'girls in his hair') so Tori is saying "No more". There's no way he's getting his way with her again after what he has done. |
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| Tori Amos – Icicle Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The gospel according to Mark, chapter 14, verse 22, describing the Last Supper: "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." Instead Tori was taking (pleasure) from her own body instead. |
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| Tori Amos – Yes, Anastasia Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Another interpretation of the line "If you know me so well then tell me which hand I use". Search for "Tori Amos Interview/clips of crucify & Icicle" on You Tube where Tori says, regarding Under The Pink: "There are two references to a woman touching herself, in 'Anastasia' and in 'Icicle'" and in the same clip she also says: "One good thing about being a piano player is that you have a very good left hand, and the nice thing about it is that you can pretend it's anybody you want." |
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| Tori Amos – Martha's Foolish Ginger Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| More musings: If you go to "Google maps" and ask for directions from "oak bluffs harbor, martha's vineyard" to "Ginger Bread style homes", the distance is ... half a mile. | |
| Tori Amos – Martha's Foolish Ginger Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In the Wikipedia entry for "Martha's vineyard" it talks about the Clintons staying at "Gingerbread cottages" in the "Oak bluffs" area of Martha's vineyard. If you bluff somebody then you fool them. I have no idea if Tori has ever been to this part of Martha's vineyard and stayed in a gingerbread cottage, or if there is a watermelon stand there! It might just be a coincidence ... or not. |
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