Virginia

As with the rest of 'Scarlet's Walk' (the album), I think this song has (at least) a dual subject of the "character" of the land and the (again dual) "character" of (American Indian) Scarlet/(American musician) Tori, and where Tori came from and where Virginia/Scarlet went. Kagerou sums up the song pretty well as I hear it, but there is one particular line that I just made sense of and so I figured I'd stop in and drop a comment about it.

For years, I've wondered what the "turquoise serpents" represent. In my creative writing MFA program, we learned that great Modernist novelists experiment with subject and form, but in order to be effective, the work itself is imbued with instructions on how to read and understand what is being read. That's how Tori Amos's music is written: "turquoise serpents" has always been a stand-out image for me, and clearly the term turquoise can be easily related to American Indian culture. Since the song is set in the 'lush Virginia hills,' I thought the turquoise serpents may be the rivers of the Virginia mountains--and I think they are, if you are reading the song as being about the Earth itself--but as I am from the hills of Northern Virginia myself, I've never seen turquoise waters within the state--or anywhere north of Florida. So what is it?

I also puzzled for quite a long time about Tori's song "Strong Black Vine." I heard the song as a sexual metaphor the first few lessons--the image of the vine and the line "submission is my mission/for a strong black vine," but that idea doesn't follow throughout the song. I believe I read on here people describing the song as being about ayahuasca, which I have since learned is a decoction made from a boiled black caapi vine and another plant that activates its hallucinogenic qualities. OK, that made sense in the context of being 'Abnormally Attracted to Sin.' I moved on. But now we have 'Night of Hunters,' in which Tori sings "from ivy leaves/there is an ale that can unveil/the hidden meanings and serpents/only revealed through visions." This is another reference to ayahuasca, plainly and clearly--and in case it seems like that can't be the case since Night of Hunters is set in Ireland and not Central or South America, she carefully followed 'Battle of Trees' with the song 'Cactus Practice,' which is also geographically out of context in the album.

So what is the point of all of this? I think that Virginia, and Strong Black Vine, and Battle of Trees all are strong examples of how Tori Amos's writing is far more complex than it ever comes across on its surface; it is never nonsense, and almost without exception, her words should be understood to mean more than one thing at any given time. She's a poet who writes in layers and who is always teaching something--something of a spiritual nature most of the time.

Amos has spoken frequently about having spent time with shamans in Central or South America when she was younger. Her songs Datura, Father Lucifer, and the ones being discussed here all relate back to those experiences, and she means them to be taken seriously. 'Battle of Trees' is very much about the living spirits that were imbued in the ancient Celtic tree alphabet, and likewise, 'Virginia' animates the American land with living spirit. Still, it is easy to overlook the specifics in Amos's lyrics where they may seem just generally metaphoric--'turquoise serpents' is the prime example to me.

I've never taken ayahuasca or any other hallucinogen (but now I admit I have a strong desire to try the 'strong black vine'), but I have been reading a lot about it lately, and it's really a fascinating substance. People who drink it--practiced shamans and people who have zero idea what to expect--almost always relate stories of fluorescent colors, bright light, and very often report frightening snakelike creatures that somehow impart a deep wisdom of reality and are able to convey a sort of meaning of life to people. The people of the Western Amazon believe that the plants around them are alive and intelligent, and in particular they believe that the caapi vine (used to make ayahuasca) is a godlike teacher and that its mother is an anaconda or a boa constrictor. Shamans move back and forth from this reality to the 'hallucinated' one, which they believe is as real as our lives here on sober Earth. These brightly colored snakes have to be the turquoise serpents--the teachers from the other realm/dimension/whatever--who Virginia has forgotten once she gave herself over wholly "from sun wise to clockwise to soul trading" to the Europeans. "Virginia" tells the story of the loss of that sacred knowledge and wisdom and understanding of what we are doing here on this planet, "Strong Black Vine" is a sort of instruction manual for getting spiritual seekers back there, and "Battle of Trees" is Tori and the "Tori" of 'Night of Hunters' going back to a pivotal time when mankind (or at least the Celts) lived in harmony and cooperation with the natural world, and then that was taken away from them by the church.

Nobody wants to read all this I know, but the more I think about what I've learned because of Tori Amos's enigmatic but ingeniously written lyrics, I just get hungrier and hungrier for more.

Well, I read this, ArtistLike, as well as Kagerou's explanation and I loved it. It describes the song perfectly to me in words I would never be able to find for it :)

wow i am so blown away by your incredible insight. Of course you are right about the link to naive americans and Virginia the location. I understood that the Girl's name and the state were Tori's intentional interplay. But I completely missed the link between the virgin and mother earth. It dramatically transforms the tone of the entire piece for me: This is a song about loss of innocence and the virgin must try to find her identity to regain that innocence. Thank you so much for your wonderful posting. If you are a true Tori fan you'll appreciate why this means a lot to me: Tori is always referencing the virgin in her work and here it was yet again. 'she will supply' in professional widow, i know she will remember her name even after the ghetto pimps and the corrupt presidents ... i just know!!!
:)

wow i am so blown away by your incredible insight. Of course you are right about the link to naive americans and Virginia the location. I understood that the Girl's name and the state were Tori's intentional interplay. But I completely missed the link between the virgin and mother earth. It dramatically transforms the tone of the entire piece for me: This is a song about loss of innocence and the virgin must try to find her identity to regain that innocence. Thank you so much for your wonderful posting. If you are a true Tori fan you'll appreciate why this means a lot to me: Tori is always referencing the virgin in her work and here it was yet again. 'she will supply' in professional widow, i know she will remember her name even after the ghetto pimps and the corrupt presidents ... i just know!!!
:)

she will supply

she will supply

@darkspot I like this, especially insofar as I also like and VERY much agree with the commenters who say this is about America and/or The Native Americans who were in tune with the land and lost it, but I think if they do not mention that there is this other layer of meaning applicable quite specifically to women, another crucial layer is missed (and yea, I realize and do, ALSO agree—I just agree with it all, LOL—that Gaia/“Mother Earth” is coded feminine, but I don’t think recognition of this metaphor makes a more explicit reading like yours, and mine, which directly attributes the protagonist’s plight as also representing what often happens to the female identity in certain patriarchy, particularly this one!). So, in short, the brilliance of this song, to me, is the layers of meaning and how they all just click together… the rape of the land occurred via the erasure of a people which occurred via the rape and erasure of identity or so, so many women, and it all begins with the Native American tribes, but continued and was interwoven through slavery and then the terrible treatment of women in general, especially those of the lower classes—we all suffer from being spiritually detached from the land, America espouses values and forgets them repeatedly, let alone the purposeful erasure of the original cultures! It’s cyclical and the trauma endures.

@darkspot I like this, especially insofar as I also like and VERY much agree with the commenters who say this is about America and/or The Native Americans who were in tune with the land and lost it, but I think if they do not mention that there is this other layer of meaning applicable quite specifically to women, another crucial layer is missed (and yea, I realize and do, ALSO agree—I just agree with it all, LOL—that Gaia/“Mother Earth” is coded feminine, but I don’t think recognition of this metaphor makes a more explicit reading like yours, and mine, which directly attributes the protagonist’s plight as also representing what often happens to the female identity in certain patriarchy, particularly this one!). So, in short, the brilliance of this song, to me, is the layers of meaning and how they all just click together… the rape of the land occurred via the erasure of a people which occurred via the rape and erasure of identity or so, so many women, and it all begins with the Native American tribes, but continued and was interwoven through slavery and then the terrible treatment of women in general, especially those of the lower classes—we all suffer from being spiritually detached from the land, America espouses values and forgets them repeatedly, let alone the purposeful erasure of the original cultures! It’s cyclical and the trauma endures. OH and yes, all are removed from their innate magic by being removed from the land and forgetting who they are. People in general, cultures that are destroyed especially, and then women especially—who are both revered and destroyed for this same thing. It might be this, that you rightly observed, that I feel so strongly in this song, that makes me most inclined to read it not only as about America and the Native Americans, but women in general, as well.