500 Miles Lyrics

Lyric discussion by clovus 

Cover art for 500 Miles lyrics by Tori Amos

Well, "Communion" normally refers to the "breaking" of bread in remembrance of the body of Christ. However, in a more general sense, it can simply refer to joining together in mind, spirit, or body. I think Tori’s "lover’s communion" could represent the relationship described, or simply just sex. Tori is certainly being sacrilegious here, but, hey, the album is titled "Abnormally Attracted to Sin".

So, he travels 300 miles to bring some kind of euphemistic bread to her, which I guess they’ll be consuming on this 500 mile trip. I think the weird part in the middle (from "Step it up" to "some actress"), is just some idle chatter before the trip. She’s watching the news and pointing out random things. Some famous couple broke up.

Maybe the line "We fought in the Land of the Midnight Sun" reveals how shaky this relationship is. That makes the lines "Will he break?" simply mean, "Will he break my heart at the end of this (lover’s) journey?" I guess he travels at the beginning, and she travels at the end. So, it makes sense that he might break her "again".

My Interpretation