I cannot know exactly what this song is about. It seems music is so magical that it can mean whatever we personally need it to mean. We're going to make sense of lyrics in a way that is flattering to our present understanding of things. That's why music, esp Tori Amos music, is so important. It is our belief in it. It's the one right religion.
Anyway, for me, and most likely very much because I'm intensely insecure inside relationships, that's essentially what it is about. Insecurity ie. jealousy, social anxiety, and self-critical consciousness, as bad medicine, and it is. Because we nourish our insecurity by indulging the emotions they trigger in us and by acting on these emotions which seems the only way to make ourselves feel better (kind of) or at least less helpless, because it really does feel like helplessness for a while. But this indulgence that provides a coping mechanism, unhealthy as it is, is facilitating the insecurity, giving it a reason to stick around. People around nourish them when they accommodate for them or simply do not recognize them as irregular symptoms of dysfunctional insecurity.
These lyrics speak directly to me it seems in this regard. Insecurity as bad medicine, good medicine might say: "you got you a fast horse darling, but all you do is complain it ain't a maserati. You had a soul that you left back in Memphis, but your mama ain't new york. she is pure Tennessee."
These lyrics are helpful to me. they're quite candid with me. I'm a smart girl, I'm quite attractive, I'm talented and more than capable, but most of my energy is funneled into wondering whether im smart or pretty enough, if my boobs are big enough, if my bf is looking at other women and wondering how badly he truly wants to be with or touch them, and me of course. I have jealous feelings of a cartoon horse. honestly, right? Anyway, I'm totally ruining my relationship and my potential. I have a fast horse and all I do is complain it's not a maserati. As for the new york/tennessee line. I understand it to mean stop being dishonest and unfair to yourself by comparing yourself to things that you aren't and won't be. Learn about what you are and love it. Stop trying to be something you're not and probably don't even truly want to be. For me, it means stop punishing myself for things just because they're not the mainstream hollywood ideal. I know it's a simple message, but a lack of it is obviously pretty consequential.
A final reason this song registers with me is that I have this incredible man in my life who is so many things i demand in most men and cannot find. He recognizes this bad medicine of mine and did immediately. He knew he was going to have to smoke it out, and I think he can. Good medicine definitely tells me what Tori says it should.
I cannot know exactly what this song is about. It seems music is so magical that it can mean whatever we personally need it to mean. We're going to make sense of lyrics in a way that is flattering to our present understanding of things. That's why music, esp Tori Amos music, is so important. It is our belief in it. It's the one right religion.
Anyway, for me, and most likely very much because I'm intensely insecure inside relationships, that's essentially what it is about. Insecurity ie. jealousy, social anxiety, and self-critical consciousness, as bad medicine, and it is. Because we nourish our insecurity by indulging the emotions they trigger in us and by acting on these emotions which seems the only way to make ourselves feel better (kind of) or at least less helpless, because it really does feel like helplessness for a while. But this indulgence that provides a coping mechanism, unhealthy as it is, is facilitating the insecurity, giving it a reason to stick around. People around nourish them when they accommodate for them or simply do not recognize them as irregular symptoms of dysfunctional insecurity.
These lyrics speak directly to me it seems in this regard. Insecurity as bad medicine, good medicine might say: "you got you a fast horse darling, but all you do is complain it ain't a maserati. You had a soul that you left back in Memphis, but your mama ain't new york. she is pure Tennessee."
These lyrics are helpful to me. they're quite candid with me. I'm a smart girl, I'm quite attractive, I'm talented and more than capable, but most of my energy is funneled into wondering whether im smart or pretty enough, if my boobs are big enough, if my bf is looking at other women and wondering how badly he truly wants to be with or touch them, and me of course. I have jealous feelings of a cartoon horse. honestly, right? Anyway, I'm totally ruining my relationship and my potential. I have a fast horse and all I do is complain it's not a maserati. As for the new york/tennessee line. I understand it to mean stop being dishonest and unfair to yourself by comparing yourself to things that you aren't and won't be. Learn about what you are and love it. Stop trying to be something you're not and probably don't even truly want to be. For me, it means stop punishing myself for things just because they're not the mainstream hollywood ideal. I know it's a simple message, but a lack of it is obviously pretty consequential.
A final reason this song registers with me is that I have this incredible man in my life who is so many things i demand in most men and cannot find. He recognizes this bad medicine of mine and did immediately. He knew he was going to have to smoke it out, and I think he can. Good medicine definitely tells me what Tori says it should.
I love when people have their own relationships with these songs. Great interp.
I love when people have their own relationships with these songs. Great interp.