This is one of the most heart breaking songs I have ever heard. Both the lyricist and Tori Amos have such sympathy with the character.
I believe rattlesnakes symbolise potential danger but the song itself conveys a story of someone who has got a little lost in the hurts of love and relationships and is left with no conclusion or solution, just a wish to never re experience those pains. The song is not about any immediate danger. She over compensates "Jodie wears a hat although it hasn't rained for six days". We hear the character has become apt at steering away from these situations "Jodie never sleeps cause there are always needles in the hay". I always felt that lyric was contrasting the more playful side of love and romance against the potential for hurt. The needles in the lovers hay stack. I feel the character wanting to cut herself off completely from any pleasure out of fear of pain so much so that "her never born child haunts her now as she speeds down the freeway" completely bored and at a loss with life and herself. She is reading philosophical books for meaning and still finds "she's oblivious despite herself". She acknowledges that love was her great disappointment. When she says all she needs is therapy it is as if a friend is echoing back to her "all you need is love, is all you need". In concert when Tori sings this she pays homage to the Beatles pausing over the lyrics "all you need is love".
This is one of the most heart breaking songs I have ever heard. Both the lyricist and Tori Amos have such sympathy with the character.
I believe rattlesnakes symbolise potential danger but the song itself conveys a story of someone who has got a little lost in the hurts of love and relationships and is left with no conclusion or solution, just a wish to never re experience those pains. The song is not about any immediate danger. She over compensates "Jodie wears a hat although it hasn't rained for six days". We hear the character has become apt at steering away from these situations "Jodie never sleeps cause there are always needles in the hay". I always felt that lyric was contrasting the more playful side of love and romance against the potential for hurt. The needles in the lovers hay stack. I feel the character wanting to cut herself off completely from any pleasure out of fear of pain so much so that "her never born child haunts her now as she speeds down the freeway" completely bored and at a loss with life and herself. She is reading philosophical books for meaning and still finds "she's oblivious despite herself". She acknowledges that love was her great disappointment. When she says all she needs is therapy it is as if a friend is echoing back to her "all you need is love, is all you need". In concert when Tori sings this she pays homage to the Beatles pausing over the lyrics "all you need is love".