Beauty of Speed

I'm thinking this is about two people in a relationship...not necessarily romantic. They meet and things go so fast for them. One thing leads to another, and they're caught up in all these emotions and all these dares maybe...

But quickly things deteriorate...they get out of control. But Clyde (the song's narrator) claims she was built to withstand intense heat; she can handle this other person. She has to constantly move and change in order to keep up with him, maybe.

That's just my two cents...

I can definitely see where you're coming from, starpatroller, but I think that there might be some really literal meaning in here, too.

"Speed", as in the drug.

Yes, there's definitely the aspect of a relationship in here, but I think there might be a double meaning of the drug being used as a coping mechanism to deal with a relationship gone very wrong.

Normally, I wouldn't think that, but looking at the lyrics, she speaks of moving from a "black and white world" to one filled with color, which is very reminiscent of a lot of older songs that speak of the mind-opening powers of drugs.

Beside, Clyde is portrayed (not just in this song) as a "broken" person. One who has fallen apart and is trying to put herself back together. Tori's past, also, had some drug use in it, so it could be her speaking of her past experiences.

Or I could be completely off. Who knows with a Tori Amos song?

i'm really not sure, but the drug reference interpretation might make sense, especially lyric "smacked up side of the head". as in smack (duh). also she mentions winter, and i know a few people thought "winter" was about the drug ice.

but as you said, who knows with a tori song? bless her cotton socks, i love her

coming from someone who has used speed often, I felt that this song was used for those of us who begins the evening w/ speed and endures it throughout the night. It all starts out so beautifully as your high escalates. And it also goes with you so wonderfully. That by the time you pass out ? And wake up to harsh daylight You're not sure what is.

I think there's definitely a drug reference there...it also reminds me of ecstasy. Maybe that's just my personal experience speaking...but the colors changing, out of a black and whit world...ecstasy is VERY speedy, but with an extra hallucinogenic quality. You understand everything, and the problem i you weren't "loving" enough. you love everyone and everything, and you can't see why there was any problem.

And then suddenly, you look around and it's WAY too bright...it's morning, you've been up all night, you have NO tolerance for light or any other kind of stimulation. And you have the feeling that just a minute ago you solved every emotional or relationship problem you ever had, and for some reason you are very, very sad. And you still can't sleep, because the only affect that's left is...the speed.

I think the "colors changing" is a scientific reference to the fact that colors exist as different frequencies. As you increase the frequency (or speed it up) the colors shift from red to violet and beyond. So as you speed up, you "see the colors changing." And I think, too, that it is an allegory; that the speed at which things are changing in this relationship is extremely fast, fast enough to see the colors changing.

Then she's "smacked upside of the head with the harsh of daylight." She doesn't love this man anymore - at least not the way she used to. Things were so simple before she started seeing the world in color. Seeing that there is more than just black and white.

There's also the idea that while she was in this relationship with this obviously bi-polar individual (fluctuating temperature) her world was black and white. Not moving. Static. Suddenly things have changed and she is moving again. Her life has picked up speed. So she's coming back for more out of a black and white world. She's moving so quickly now that she can outpace a shooting star and she sees the colors changing from red to violet. Hot to cool.

Swift word choices. Light is a universal constant while the material bodies merely slow reflections of that universality... "...in a way I wasn't lovin'..." Like: the "changing" as a subjective reference to Doppler effects. [Not liking: Changleing Winter Faire Court subjects "Dopplgangering."] Makes one wonder what exactly she meant by Canopy and Gauge. We vs. I. POV changing.

i LOVE listening to this song when in driving at night