A Sorta Fairytale

Tori Amos

on my way up north
up on the ventura
i pulled back the hood
and i was talking to you
and i knew then it would be
a life long thing
but i didn't know that we
we could break a silver lining

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

things you said that day
up on the 101
the girl had come undone
i tried to downplay it
with a bet about us
you said that-
you'd take it
as long as i could
i could not erase it

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

and i ride along side
and i rode along side
you then
and i rode along side
till you lost me there
in the open road
and i rode along side
till the honey spread
itself so thin
for me to break your bread
for me to take your word
i had to steal it

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

i could pick back up
whenever i feel

down new mexico way
something about
the open road
i knew that he was
looking for some indian blood and
find a little in you find a little
in me we may be
on this road but
we're just
impostors
in this country you know
so we go along and we said
we'd fake it
feel better with
oliver stone
till i
almost smacked him -
seemed right that night and
i don't know what
takes hold
out there in the
desert cold
these guys think they must
try and just get over on us

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this
day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

and i was ridin' by
ridin' along side
for a while till you lost me
and i was ridin' by
ridin' along till you lost me
till you lost
me in
the rear
view
you lost me
i said

way up north i took my day
all in all was a pretty nice
day and i put the hood
right back where
you could taste heaven
perfectly
feel out the summer breeze
didn't know when we'd be back
and i, i don't
didn't think
we'd end up like
like this


Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce

A Sorta Fairytale song meanings
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64 Comments

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  • +6
    General Comment

    I think that this song is allowing yourself to be open to love - not just the kind of love that you read about in fairy tales but in real love - with all the disappointments, pain and joy that comes along with allowing another person into your innermost private self. When you first fall in love with a person you have an idealized perception of who they are. As time goes on in a relationship there can be disappointments - you can never go back to the way it was when you first met them but you do have memories that you can call upon like passages in a book - these memories help keep you together and serve as reminders to why you fell in love in the first place. These memories help you to see the person you love as a whole and help you to move to the future together. This song really struck a chord with me and is one of my favorites.

    magda1enaon March 16, 2003   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    to me this song is about a truly genuine love that was lost. it almost seems that she is recalling the event, sharing with us the sights, sounds, and feelings that were present in the time that it happend. a sorta fairytale, her story, her fairytale that was missing the happily ever after. what i love about tori's songs are that i can read them like a book. you hear her lyrics, and you come up with your own understanding, youre own story, something completely different from what she is saying. its a connection between the artist and the viewer. "riding along till you lost me in the rear view" this lyric means so much to me in so many different ways. we've all been left behind by someone going forward in their life. god i love this song!

    xstarfukkerxon May 09, 2003   Link
  • +4
    Song Meaning

    The music video, directed by Sanji, features Amos, as a head attached to a disembodied leg, falling in love with another head attached to a disembodied arm (played by Adrien Brody). The two creatures show signs of romantic interest in one another, until the arm accidentally hurts the leg's feelings by laughing at her crooked fifth toe. The leg then flees by jumping onto a passing skateboard, and ends up alone on a deserted beach. The arm finds her and they consummate their love with a deep kiss. The act of kissing causes the arm and leg to suddenly start swelling up and growing their extra body parts–they finally become complete, "whole" humans by realizing their love.

    InterestedObserver12on October 12, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think my view may be different, but to me this song expresses a time when you have a wonderful day/experience with someone you know you just won't be able to be with for more than a seized day in your life. It's not going to work at that moment, yet you wish you could free that moment in your memory and relive that feeling again and again.

    There is someone who actually has given me that feeling lately. For various reasons we just can't be together whenever we want to be, but it doesn't mean we love each other any less for knowing the way things have to be. Each moment I share with that 'someone' feels exactly like that....a moment out of my normal time/space/life and daaaaammmmnnnnnn I wish I could save those days like photos in an albumor stories in a book. I could remember them when those times are passed.....so my fragile memory doesn't have to try and recall all of it cuz I know I will never remember it as perfectly as it was......but I am changed forever by this....

    laurethon April 19, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I dunno this song kinda sounds like being in love and how we feel bitter to the ones we love and a little tension can become a huge argument which can end a relationship.

    GUILLOTINEincon April 07, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I love this song, it's beautiful and sad. It is hard to truly know the meaning of the words. To me, it's about a relationship that is not as good as it appeared in the beginning - before they truly got to know each other. But she'll forever treasure that beautiful day they spent together. I love the soft beat, the piano, her voice, everything - it's a pretty song. Fairytale - that's all it can really be.. not in reality.

    daydreamer82on June 05, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this is my favourite. reminds me of my husband and i.

    vettie-edderon April 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I have never heard any Tori Amos songs except "1000 Oceans" that a friend sent me. I think "A Sorta Fairytale" just made me interested in listening to Tori Amos' previous albums now.

    Simplisticon August 20, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It is a song about loosing something that is beautiful out of nowhere. ALSO, the new album that this song is on "Scarlet's Walk", is available Oct 29th. Check out ToriAmos.com for more details.

    dazedkidon August 23, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Man oh man, this song is beautiful. Just like simplistic, I never was interested in tori until this song.

    whoadieon September 01, 2002   Link

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