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Tori Amos – Give Lyrics 15 years ago
I think it's about Capitalism.
Take into account that the video and the lyrics
were written by different people. As such they
have different meanings.

"There are some,
Some whose give
Twists itself to take
They mis-take
Who, what made up the line?
Some say it was pain
Or was it shame?"

It is about vampirism and vampirism is a form of greed.
If you live in excess you have 10 cars and 3 houses
and you see a person that works with isolation and their
family is starving because he is not paid enough to feed
them. He works 60 hours a week while the bills pile up.
Hoping that someday there will be some sort of relief.
And then you feel the "pain," the guilt, the "shame"
because you know by living this excessive lifestyle you
are effectively contributing to his plight and so you
give to him because you want to ease your conscience.
Basically she gives to live by giving she can live her
excessive lifestyle and do it guilt free. All of this
song's lyrics are a metaphor for that. She has just
realized what her lifestyle is costing the rest of
the world so she feels a pressing need to give as soon
as possible, because she can't live with the guilt anymore.

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