This section is dedicated to the well-known allusions in her lyrics.
Have a cool insight? E-Mail me!

TORI AND NINE INCH NAILS ALLUSIONS

Some people may or may not have noticed the allusions to the group Nine Inch Nails in a few of Tori's songs. For a bit of trivia, here are the "connections" I have noticed and/or heard of.

LITTLE EARTHQUAKES: In Precious Things, there is the line "With their nine inch nails and little fascist panties..."

UNDER THE PINK - Trent Reznor, NIN's vocalist, performs backing vocals on Past The Mission

BOYS FOR PELE - I've never heard this one mentioned, but I noticed this line in Caught a Lite Sneeze: "made my own pretty hate machine". Pretty Hate Machine is a title from a NIN CD.

FROM THE CHOIRGIRL HOTEL - It's hard to find, especially since I'm not familiar with all of NIN's work. However I noticed the line in Pandora's Aquarium that goes "The Lord Of The Flies was diagnosed as sound". In the NIN song Piggy, the lyrics are all from the novel Lord of the Flies, and by writing a song about it, NIN "diagnosed" the book with sound.

NEIL GAIMAN AND SANDMAN : THE CONNECTION TO TORI

Tori, a fan of the Sandman works by Neil Gaiman, wrote Tear In Your Hand before meeting him. After sending him a tape of music containing the song, they soon met and became good friends. Tori is convinced she knew Neil in a past life. Throughout Tori's work, Neil is mentioned or alluded to. As best I can, I will list all Neil references.

As a side note, Neil's character Delerium is often said to be based on Tori, as her hair and mannerisms remind fans of the songstress. Neil's comment is that Tori and Delerium steal aspects from each other.

TEAR IN YOUR HAND: "If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the Dream King/Neil says hi by the way"

SPACE DOG: "Seems I keep getting this story twisted/So where's Neil when you need him?"

HORSES: "But will you find me if Neil makes me a tree"

LIQUID DIAMONDS: Liquid diamonds, according to a fan I can't recall the name of, is a reference to a line said by a Sandman comic character
HERE'S MORE: I've finally found the actual reference thanks to kathleen (nuala):
In a game of you chapter 5

in the cookoo's citadel...
barbie looks out at the "brightly shining sea"
realizes its the atlantic ocean
and its "as if the light wasnt reflected, rather as if the sea shone with its own wonderful light,
glittering and sparkling like liquid diamonds"

HOTEL: "Where are the velvets?" refers to characters in Gaiman's novel Neverwhere.
Lamia is a Velvet, a guide of sorts. She also gives Richard Mayhew a nasty surprise.... Velvets like to steal the lives of men. By sucking the warmth out of them (if I'm recalling it right) :)

TORI AND T.S. ELIOT

A fellow Toriphile gave me an awesome insight recently into a line from the song Pretty Good Year. According to Corwin Lambeth, the line
"Heard the eternal footman/Bought himself a bike to race"
is an allusion to a poem of Eliot's (coming soon). Thanks for the tip!

THANKING THE FAERIES

It is customary of Tori to thank the faeries in each of her CDs.
One need only look at the thank-you section of each CD to find mention of the faeries. All These Years, Tori's biography, tells of Tori and her "faery shit". *L*

Some fans have had a really hard time finding the faery thank-you in From the Choirgirl Hotel. So here it is for you! Look under the credits beginning with Dispatches and Polaroids. Read down and you will see a line that says

Most Things Illegal Faerie

Tori gave them their own special spot!
There is also a group of people who say that in one of the weirdly spaced song lyrics in the booklet, It's like one of those puzzles you hold to your nose. And if you do so, you'll see the word faerie