BASICS
TRACK LIST
LYRICS
TOUR
REVIEWS

Break a Silver Lining: Scarlet's Walk

Scarlet's Walk is Tori Amos' 7th full length album, and her first release for her new label Epic. On this page, I'll be tracking details about the album, including track lists, singles, reviews and more. Select a link from the sidebar to jump to a section, or simply scroll down.  For the most up-to-date news, always check the NEWS section of the site first.

LATEST ADDITIONS:Info on the Limited Edition version of the album, Tour dates, Lyrics for entire album

The Basics.

ALBUM NAME:  Scarlet's Walk

RELEASE DATES:  October 29, 2002 in North America;  October 28th in Europe. Initially there will be a limited edition version of the album featuring a bonus DVD, map, keepsake charm and other goods. It's pricey but wow!

FIRST SINGLE AND RELEASE DATE:  A Sorta Fairytale. Commercial single now floating through Europe. B-Sides on the maxi single include Operation Peter Pan, a 101 Remix and original radio edit.

CONCEPT:  The album, written mostly while Tori was on tour last year and partially during the making of SLG, depicts an East-bound journey across a post-September 11th USA. The journey is taken by a woman named Scarlet, who is Tori and isn't Tori, and is handled in the tradition of Native American spiritual journeys or walks. For quotes on specific songs, check the track listing....

Track Listing and B-Sides

CONFIRMED TRACKS ON ALBUM:
1. Amber Waves: "...The public has eaten her and spat her out and she has nobody who cares."
2. a sorta fairytale: "They did care. But somehow they lost each other. Which is why it's only A Sorta Fairytale..."
3. Wednesday: "The trust is gone and she doesn't know whether she is imaging that he's up to something or whether he really is. She's becoming something she never wanted to become - possessive and suspicious." I am hoping this is the rumoured Paperback Friday
4. strange: From there she journeys on through the Bad Lands....
5. Carbon: "All Carbon wants is to disintegrate into nothingness. So it's an extremely destructive story. Just as people risked their lives to keep their sacred land, a meltdown is about to happen in her life and a waltz into insanity is on the horizon. She's on this downhill race in her mind and Scarlet has to get to her before she kills herself."
6. Crazy: "...He's seductive and dangerous and it's delicious."
7. wampum prayer: Scarlet is propelled by the dream until she reaches Cherokee country and the ancestry of her own people....
8. don't make me come to Vegas: In a further dream, she hears the cry of her niece, who is living in Las Vegas, 18 and in trouble...
9. Sweet Sangria: There she meets a Latino revolutionary, fighting American intervention in Central and Southern America...
10. your cloud: She also visits the battlefields of the Civil War, before she arrives in Philadelphia where she sees the Liberty Bell - and observes that it is cracked.
11. pancake: There she meets a Messiah figure , but swiftly becomes disillusioned...
12. I can't see New York: From Boston, the story switches to New York, where Scarlet witnesses a plane crash in mid-air....
13. mrs. jesus: "...But MRS JESUS represents life and she takes a ride with her out of the city to try to make some sense of what has happened."
14. Taxi Ride: There she learns of the death of a gay friend and resolves to visit his house in Baton Rouge, before travelling on to New Orleans. . Tori has referred to this for years in interviews as Just Another Dead Fag
15. another girl's paradise: "All the time she's having a conversation with desire. And she realises that very few of us can genuinely wish each other good in a selfless way."
16. Scarlet's Walk: "In the song, America is a young girl looking over the water at another young girl, who may be called France or Spain or England. She's curious so she invites them over. Pretty soon, they've moved in and taken everything - the husband, the house and the job - and the new sheriff is in charge."
17. Virginia: Scarlet makes her way up to Washington and visits Jamestown, one of the earliest settlements...
18. gold dust: On the birth of her child in GOLD DUST, she is finally able to see the map she has lost.... Refer to my review lower down the page for further musings of my own about Gold Dust...

B-SIDES??

Operation Peter Pan *on the ASF single*
Zero Point
Paperback Friday *if not renamed on album*
Snow Cherries From France *long shot*

Lyrics

AMBER WAVES

Well he lit you up
like Amber Waves in his movie show
He fixed you up real good
till I don't know you anymore
from Ballet Class to a Lap Dance
Straight to video
And the pool side news
was that he would be
launching you


Chorus:
Into every young man's
Bedroom - you gave it up
on DVD and magazine-
you gave it up
a private rite of passage
you gave it up
to every boy's sweet dream
with their paper cuts
You said "he's got a
Healing Machine
it glows in the dark
glows in the dark:

You say "there's not a lot
of me
left anymore-
just leave it alone.
But if you're by, and you have
the time, tell the Northern
Lights to keep shining - Lately it seems like they're drowning"


He could light you up
and summon every swan
or the Lakesie
Off to Cabo San Lucas
for some optical stimulus
Then you started to guess
there was someone else
though His flint glass
seeing all of you
immersed in His sepia


Chorus


So I went by -
cause I had the time,
and told the Northern Lights
to keep shining


they told me to tell you -
they're waving

A SORTA FAIRYTALE

On my way up North
Up on the Ventura
I pulled back the hood
And I was talking to you
And I knew it would be a lifelong thing
But I didn't know that we
We could break a silver lining

And I'm so sad
Like a good book I can't put this day back
A sorta fairytale with you
A sorta fairytale with you

Things you said that day up on the 101
The girl had come undone
I tried to downplay it
With a bet about us
You said you'd take it as long
As I could
I could not erase it

*chorus*

And I ride alongside
And I rode alongside you then
And I rode alongside
'Til you lost me there in the open road
And I rode alongside
Until my honey spread
Itself so thin
For me to break your bread
For me to take your word
I had to steal it

*chorus*

I could pick back up
whenever I feel

down New Mexico way
something about the open road
I knew that he was
looking for some Indian Blood and
find a little in you find a little
in me we may be
on this road but
in this country you know

So we go along and we said
we'd fake it
feel better with

Oliver Stone
till I almost smacked him -
seemed right that night and
I don't know what
takes hold
out there in the Desert cold
These guys think they must
Try and just get over on us

*chorus*

and I was ridin' by
ridin' along side
for a while till you lost me
and I was ridin' by
ridin' along till you lost me
till you lost me in
The Rear View
you lost meI said

Way up North I took my day
All in all was a pretty nice day
I put the hood right back where
You could taste heaven perfectly
Feel out the summer breeze
Didn't know when we'd be back and I
I don't
I didn't think we'd end up like this

WEDNESDAY

Nothing here to fear
I'm just sitting around
being foolish when
there is work to be done
Just a hang-up call
and the quiet breathing
of our Persian we call
Cajun on a Wednesday

so we go from year to year
with secrets we've been keeping
Though you say you're not a Templar man

Seems as if we're circling
for very different reasons
But one day the Eagle has to land

Out past the fountain
a left by the station
I start the day in the usual way
Then think -- well why not --
and stop for a coffee
then begin to recall
things that you say

No one's at the door
You suggest a ghost
perhaps a phantom
I agree with this in part
Something is with us
I can't put my finger on --
is Thumbelina size 10
on a Wednesday --

so we go from year to year
with secrets we've been keeping
Though you say you're not a Templar man

you tell me to cheer up
you suspect we're oddly even
Even still the Eagle has to land

Out past the fountain
a left by the station
I start the day in the usual way
Then think -- well why not --
and stop for a coffee
then begin to recall
things that you say

Pluck up the courage
and snap
It's gone again
I start humming "When Doves Cry"
Can someone help me
I think that I'm Lost here
Lost in a place called America

STRANGE

Thought I knew you well
Thought I had read the sky
Thought I had read a change
in your eyes
so strange
Woke up to a world
that I am not a part
except when I can play
its stranger

After all
what were you really
looking for
and I wonder
when will I learn
Blue isn't red
everybody knows this
and I wonder
when will I learn
when will I learn
guess I was in Deeper than
I thought I was
if I have enough love
for the both of us

"just stay" you say
"we'll build a nest"
so I left my Life
Tried on your friends
Tried on your opinions
So when the Bridges froze
and you did not come home
I put our snowflake under a microscope

After all
what was I really
looking for
and I wonder
when will I learn
Maybe my wish knew better
than I did
and I wonder
when will I learn
when will I learn
guess I was in Deeper than
I thought I was
if I have enough love
for the both of us

so strange
now I'm finally in
the Party has begun
it's not like I can't
feel you still
but strange
what I will leave behind
you call me one more time
but now I must be leaving

CARBON

carbon made
found her at the
End of a chain
"time to race" she said
"race the downhill"
Behind crystaline irises
loons can dive
where the world bleeds white

just keep your eyes on her
keep don't look away
keep your eyes on her horizon

Bear Claw
Free Fall
a Gunner's View
black and blue
shred in ribbons
of lithium
blow by blow
Her Mind cut
in sheets
Layers Deep
now unravelling

just Keep Your Eyes On Her
keep don't look away
keep your eyes on her horizon

get me Neil on the line
No I can't hold
have him read
"Snow Glass Apples"
where nothing is what it seems
"Little Sis you must crack this"
he says to me
"you must go in again
carbon made
only wants to be unmade"
Blade to ice
it's Double Diamond time

and keep your eyes on her...

on her eyes
on her horizon

CRAZY

Not sayin'
not charmed at all
Not sayin'
that you weren't worth
the fall
And I was alone when
I knew it was real
Down the canyon
when I knew I had come


To the line
Through the dawn
To the light
To the turn
When you said

You could drive
all night
Drive all night


So I let Crazy
take a spin
Then I let Crazy
settle in
Kicked off my shoes
Shut reason out
He said "first let's just
unzip your religion
down"


Found that I
I craved at all
Saw me melt
into your
native shelter
Where you carved my
name
Paper tigers scare
and came


Alive


Through the dawn
To the light
To the turn
When you said


You could drive all night
all night
Drive all night


So I let Crazy
take a spin
Then I let Crazy
settle in
Kicked off my shoes
Shut reason out
He said "first let's just
unzip your religion
down"


So I let Crazy
pull me in
Then I let Crazy
take his spin
Kicked off my shoes
Shut reason out
He said "first let's just unzip
your religion down"
Heard that you were once
"Temptation's girl"


And as soon
as you have
rearranged the mess
in your head
He will show up looking
sane
perfectly sane
If I know Crazy

WAMPUM PRAYER

In our hand
an old old old thread
Trail of Blood
and Amens
Greed is the gift
for the sons
of the songs
Hear this prayer
of the wampum
This is the tie
that will bind us

DON'T MAKE ME COME TO VEGAS

don't make me come to Vegas
don't make me pull you
out of his bed
I am vigilant
that it will not be you
on the menu he's serving
up for his friends

don't make me come to Vegas
don't make me pull him
out of your head
Athena will attest
that it could be done
and it has been done
and I think that I am up to it

and the Jacaranda tree
is telling me of
the trouble you're in
just by the way
She bends
remember dancing
and wondering
as you were saying
what kind of woman you'd be
"what will be will be"
over my dead body

slip through your hand again and again
slip through your hand again and again


my old flame was a jester
and a joker
and as dealer of men,
they called him the prince
Prince of Black Jacks
and of women
and of anything
that's slipped into his hands
"and the Ranches and the mustangs"
and the way you said
"You can have all this,
except for me--you see
Lady Luck is my mistress
and you'll have to play
second to her wish"

and the Jacaranda tree
is telling me
it's not over yet,
just by the way She bends
"if you come breezin' through"
you said "i'll know that it's you
by the taste on my lips,
Bet on the desert's kiss"
I could slip through your net
"over my dead body"

slip through your hand
again and again
slip through your hand
again and again
don't make me come to Vegas
don't make me come to Vegas

SWEET SANGRIA

I know
You know
every desperado
and Sharp Shooter
in the West
You say that I can't see behind
The Mask of those who call themselves
The Good Guys in this
who take and take
"so are you with Me
or not you say
this time decide"

Balmy days
sweet sangria
she's been gone
have you seen her
senorita
shyly turning away
leaving me our fading flame
Yeah you think
you think that
What you Believe in
It matters now
to you and me

What you believe in
I'm Takin' in
I said I'm takin' in
What you Believe in
It matters now
to you and me
Before sundown
the Mexicans leave
San Antone
the car will then
Drop him at the
Border the breaking point I know
Your people have suffered
time and time again
But what about I ask you now
the innocents on both sides

Balmy days
sweet sangria...

so you give me a no
Window
I ask you,
give me a Bloodless Road
Tell me
Why does Someone
have to lose?

YOUR CLOUD

Where the river cross
crosses the lake
Where the words
Jump off my pen
and into your pages
Do you think just like that
You can divide
This
You as yours
Me as mine
to before we were Us

if the rain
Has to separate from Itself
does it say "pick out your cloud?"
pick out your cloud
If there is a Horizontal Line
that runs from the MAP
off your body
straight through the Land
shooting up
right through my heart
Will this Horiztonal Line
when asked
know how to find
Where you end
where I begin
"pick out your cloud"

How Light can play
and form a Ring of Rain
that can change bows into arrows
(I found a thrill)
Who we were
isn't lost Before
we were Us
Indigo
in his own Blue
always knew this
if the rain
Has to separate from Itself
does it say
pick out your cloud

PANCAKE

I'm not sure who's fooling who here
as I'm watching your decay
We both know you could deflate
a 7 hurricane
Seems like you and your tribe
decided you'd rewrite the law
Segregate the mind
From Body and Soul


Chorus:
You give me yours
I'll give you mine
cause I can look your God
right in the eye
You give me yours
I'll give you mine
You used to look my God
right in the eye


I believe in defending
in what we once
stood for
It seems in vogue
to be a closet
misogynist homophobe
a change of course in
Our direction
a dash of truth
spread thinly
Like a flag
On a popstar
On a Benzodiazapene


Chorus


Oh Zion please
remove your glove
+dispel every
trace
of His spoken word
That has lodged
In my vortex


I'm not sure who's fooling who here
as I"m watching your decay
We both know you could deflate
a 7 hurricane
You could have spared
her - oh but no
Messiahs need
people dying in their
Name
You say "I ordered you a
pancake"


You say "I ordered you a
pancake"


 


I CAN'T SEE NEW YORK

From here
no Lines are drawn
From here
no lands are owned
13,000 and Holding
swallowed in the purring
of her Engines
tracking the Beackn here
"is there a Signal
there on the other side"
on the other side?
what do you mean
side of what things?

and you said
and you did
and you said
you could find me here
and you said
you would find me
even in Death
and you said
and you said
You'd find me
But I can't see New York
as I'm, circling down
through white cloud
falling out and I know
his lips are warm
but I can't seem to find
my way out
my way out
I can't see.

of this Hunting ground
From here
crystal meth
In metres of millions
In the end all we have,
soul blueprint.
did we get lost in it
do we conduct a search for this
"from the other side"
from the other side?
what do they mean
side of what things...

and you said.
you again
It's you again
I can't see
I can't see New York
from the other side
from the other side
I Hum from the other side

MRS. JESUS

life lines
and suicide crimes --
he found me in a state
grabbed my purse
and hitched a Ride
with a mrs. jesus
"how you been"
I've been cruisin'
a good invention
but in some ways
I don't think
it gets any easier

your walking on the water Bit
by far my favourite one,
But now it seems we're drowning
in a drop of water, Love

and even as I'm climbing up
the stairs I know there's
Heaven there and then
Empty arms that comes
with the Morning Star

well, made my bed
of cut roses
by undertstanding
that the cause
It just comes first
with my mrs. jesus
the Gospel changes meaning
If you follow John or Paul
and could you ever
Let it be
the Mary of it all

and even as I'm climbing up
the stairs I know there's
Heaven there and then
Empty arms that comes
with the Morning Star

well, Life Lines and suicide crimes
there's something every day
and there's someone always
paging my mrs. jesus

your walking on the water Bit
by far my favourite one,
But now it seems we're drowning
in a drop of water, Love

and even as I'm climbing up
the stairs I know there's
Heaven there and then
Empty arms that comes
with the Morning Star

so if you get the Jones
at the crossroad
the personals are great
If you're my way
let me love you mrs. jesus

TAXI RIDE

Lily is dancing on the table
We've all been
Pushed
Too far
I guess on days
like this
you know who your
friends are


Just another Dead Fag
to you that's all
Just another Light missing
on a long taxi ride
taxi ride


And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
this "We are one" crap
as you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
way too much but
I'm glad you're
on my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
my side still


You think you deserve
a trust fund
Just because you
Want one
Sure you talk the talk
when you need to
I fear
the whole world is
starting to
Believe you


Just another Dead Fag
to you that's all
Just another Light missing
in a long taxi line

taxi line


And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
this "We are one" crap
as you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
way too much but
I'm glad you're
on my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
my side still


Lily is dancing
on the
table
We've all been pushed
Too far today
Even a glamorous
Bitch can be in
need
this is where you know
the Honey
from the
Killer Bees


+I'm glad you're on
my side
sure
I'm glad you're on
my side
sure
I'm glad you're on
my side still


Got a long taxi ride
Got a long taxi ride

ANOTHER GIRL'S PARADISE

you caught me lingering
in another girl's paradise
the way she paints the world --
I want that in my life
Emeralds, you should know,
are renting in her meadow
with a stroke beauty lives
how could I resist
you are Desire

when it all is said
said and done
who can love you
and still be standing
there's Mary calling up a storm
can I take from you
and not keep taking
naked as day
Gemma follows him
Does it all come down to
the thing one girl fears
in the night
is another girl's paradise

through twists and turns
Jasmine foxed me
in her grove
arms filled with Honey-bells,
St Michaels Sanford Bloods
"you have come to discover
what you want"
what I want
is not to want
what isn't mine
"But I am Desire"

when it all is said and done...

is another girl
is another girl
is another girl's paradise

SCARLET'S WALK

If you're a thought
you will want me
to think you
and I do
invited a Guest
up until
you announced
you had moved in

"What do you plan to do
with all your freedom"
the new sheriff said
quite proud of his Badge

You must admit the land
is now in good hands
yes, time will tell that
you just lift your lamp

I will follow
her on her path
Scarlet's Walk
through the violets
just tell your Gods for me
all debts are off this year
they're free to leave
yes, they're free to leave

Leaving terra
Leaving terra

There was a time
when I thought that
Her destiny
should've been mine
Big Brave Nation
but instead
her Medicine
now forgotten

"What do you plan to do
with all your stories"
the new sheriff said
quite proud of his Badge

We're weaving through
every rocket's red glare
and huddled masses
you just lift your lamp

I will follow
her on her path
Scarlet's Walk
through the violets
just tell your Gods for me
all debts are off this year
they're free to leave
yes, they're free to leave

Leaving terra
Leaving terra

If you're a thought
you will want me
to think you
and I do
and I did

VIRGINIA

In the Lush Virginia hills
they kept her as long as they could
Cause they knew when the white brother found
white shell Beads wrapped around her
skin - a life giving river - Her body open
as will his hand
And with a "goodbye" there she goes

she may Betray
All that she loves
and even wait for
their Savior to come
And in some things,
maybe he'll be right
But as always
The thing that he Loves
he will change from her
sunwise to clockwise
to soul trading
still she'll lay down her Body
covering him all the same

so Hundreds of years go by
(the Red Road carved up by Sharp Knife)
She's a girl out working her Trade
and she loses a little each day
to ghetto pimps and presidents
who try and arouse her turquoise serpents
She can't recall what they represent
and when you ask, she won't know

she will Betray
All that she loves
and even wait for
their Savior to come
And in some things,
maybe he'll be right
But as always
The thing that he Loves
he will change from her
sunwise to clockwise
to soul trading
still she'll lay down her Body
covering him all the same

oh Virginia do you remember
when the Land held your hand
oh Virginia she will let you back in
oh Virginia you can't remember your name

GOLD DUST


Sights and Sounds
pull me back down
another year


I WAS HERE
I WAS HERE


Whipping past
the reflecting pool
me+you
skipping school


And we make it up
as we go along
We make it up as we go along


You said -
You raced from Langley -
pulling me underneath
a Cherry Blossom
canopy
-Do I Have-
Of course I have,
Beneath my raincoat,
I have your photographs.

And the sun on your
Face
I'm freezing that frame


And somewhere Alfie cries
and says "Enjoy his every smile
You can see in the dark
Through the eyes of Laura Mars"
How did it go so fast
you'll say
as we are looking
back
and then we'll
understand
we held gold dust
in our
hands


Sights and Sounds
pull me back down
another year


I WAS HERE
I WAS HERE


Gaslights
Glow in the street
(flickering past)
Twilight held us
in her palm
as we walked along

And we make it up
as we go along
We make it up as we go along


Letting names
Hang in the
Air
What color hair
(auburn crimson)
Autumn knowingly
Stared
and the day that
She came
I'm freezing that
Frame
I'm freezing that frame


And somewhere Alfie
smiles
and says "Enjoy her
every cry
You can see in the
dark
Through the eyes
Of Laura Mars"


How did it go so
Fast
You'll say as we are looking back
and then we'll understand
We held gold dust
in our
hands

in our
hands



Tour Info

TOUR DETAILS: North American Tour begins this November, ending December 18th in Los Angeles. European dates in London, Germany, France and more to follow in January and February of 2003, with a spring North American tour in 2003, with a particular focus on the South-Eastern US (which is somewhat neglected on the Fall 2002 tour). This tour marks Tori's return to touring more than two Canadian cities (she is covering Montreal for the first time in AGES).

TOUR DATES: Dates for Tori's North American tour have been released. For details on these dates, presales, public sales and more, as I am a very busy girl, head to The Dent's Tour Schedule page. Make sure to sign up at toriamos.com to receive presale passwords and other goods.

Reviews

A SORTA FAIRYTALE *Review Revised*

A Sorta Fairytale is the first single for release from Tori's new album, but do not let the radio edit deceive you.  The original file of this track that circulated online was an unfinished radio edit, and was lacking its very core.  With that core now available to hear, I can make a more accurate review.  And it is more positive than the original.

The sonic end of things is reminiscent of Michelle Branch meets Vanessa Carlton meets Dido.  Light drum work, very simple piano, light guitar.  A very mellow song.  Take 1000 Oceans and remove the funky sounding techno-effect hints and you essentially have ASF.  The song lacks the vocal gymnastics I love, even in the long album version, but there is a vast improvement lyrically.  Little riddles, political sentiment and bitter words about the mistreatment of the Native Americans by European settlers, these topics emerge in the cut for radio lyrics. and suddenyl, the song takes a much darker turn.  I particularly giggled at the smacking of Oliver Stone.  Oliver Stone likes to think of himself as one to expose the dark underbelly of America, but perhaps by smacking him, it is like saying he takes things too far beyond the truth, and becomes that which he aims to expose.  My favourite line is the one about us all being impostors in this country - reminiscent of the sentiment of the B-Side Home on the Range ("America, who discovered your ass?  The white man came;  this land is MY land this is your land they say").

My feeling is Epic pushed for this song to go to radio, because it will do very well I imagine with the radio edit removing all trace of the political anger.  But I'd hate to see what happens when people run out and buy the disc, realizing this song is far from representative - nor is the album version anything like what radio consumers will hear.  With any luck, these listeners drawn in by the whimsical Dido-esque sounds and vocals will open their musical ears to a more intelligent breed of music.

 

AMBER WAVES

Amber Waves is the most upbeat of the songs leaked thus far.  The piano work is very playful, suiting the song's message and topic well.  This song is Tori's take on the pornography industry, how it has changed, how it uses women up and spits them out, and how the world of pornography has come to demand things that just a short time ago were not considered sexy.  An article Tori mentions frequently is one on porno that offers up, paraphrased:  "Pussies are boring" .  Anal sex, animals, rape-like scenarios, these are what the porno companies serve up.  For those who may not be aware, Amber Waves is Julianne Moore's character in Boogie Nights.  Tori I believe cracked once that she would have liked to have been Amber in the film or something to that effect.  

Lyrically, the song is sad but hopeful.....  suggesting that even in our darkest hour there are lights in our lives... if we look hard enough for them.

 

PANCAKE

This song is currently my favourite, hands down, among the 6 tracks I've heard.  Absolutely delicious lyrics combined with sultry sounding musical background.  What I also enjoy about this song is the vocal play Tori engages in, particularly in the way she utters "look your god right in the  eeeeeyyyyyyyyeeeee".  Yummy!    

This song is a very pointed take on religion and taking sides, and the massacre of the innocent to appease zealous leaders.  It's very tinged with references IMO to the post-9/11 war on terrorism, and the religious justification used by Bin Laden's men for their actions, as well as other countries around the world who do not have equality.  For example, the vast restrictions that have been placed upon women in the name of Muslim religion come to mind, when they are taken to excess of course.  There have been times when such women have starved to death in their homes, because they are not allowed to leave without a man and their husbands have died.  The implication that the person Tori is talking to can't look her God in the eye is a sign of guilt, of knowing that one has gone beyond endorsing a religion to megalomaniacal control.  This song feels the most like what Tori fans know her for:  jabs at religion and political hypocrisy and nonsense, done intelligently.

 

GOLD DUST

This song most definitely has multiple layers lyrically, which I will touch on as best I can.  Musically, this song is gorgeous, gentle piano blended with powerful strings, with the punch of the strings and symphony  in Yes Anastasia.  The vocals are a gorgeous blend of soprano and whispers.....

Lyrically, I've begun to take this song in general to be about remembering childhood friendships and those dear to us, and the appreciation of life's beauty that comes with being a mother.  The first half of the song talks about running around in childhood places.  Washington area Tori fans have pointed out references to landmarks in the Washington area, the area around which Tori grew up.  The first half may be mainly about Beene, Tori's best friend to whom she is "absolutely married" as she says.  The second half of the song to me talks more about Tash... "The day that she came.... enjoy her every cry".  Treasure the good days and the bad with your children, because who knows how long you have, is what it says to me.

Taking this in the context of the album being about an eastbound journey across the United States post-9/11, given that Washington was a site of attacks and devastation, and given the message of the fragility and finite nature of life, this song overall, to me anyway, capture a post-9/11 lament of loss, and hope as well.  The first half of the song speaks of young friendships, and it all going by so fast, as if Tori is questioning how it could be over this soon.  Then, she realizes that to have these moments is to hold gold dust = beauty itself, but destined to fly away so easily through the fingers.  The second half of the song, teaches the lesson learned:  that life is too short, and even the bad e.g. a screaming cranky child is to be treasured.  The turn from things going so fast to "the day that she came" brings birth in loss, a symbol of life going on after disaster and tragedy.  And I think, that given 9/11's devastation, that life being born and moving forward is the renewal of hope, with a stronger appreciation for life and how limited it is - like gold dust, slipping through our hands.  A gorgeous song.  My second favourite thus far personally.

 

TAXI RIDE

Taxi Ride marks the emergence of a song mentioned a few times by Tori in recent years, which she referred to as Just Another Dead Fag.  This song takes a massive shove at Bush' policy of we are strong and loving, but hey let's bomb some innocent people.  The hypocrisy and self-absorbtion of the world and the wealthy is also in evidence (the line about deserving a trust fund just because you want one).  It feels to me that Tori dug up JADF and rewrote it partially to bring it up to the current world and its events, particularly the politics of the US post-9/11.  The use of the last cigarette line is clever to me, given that a fag is a slang for a cigarette as well.  The image of expendable people in the world is also a nice sucker punch.  I also detect some sarcasm thrown towards those who preach love and then act in hate towards homsexuals....  I'm still puzzling with this one, so bear with me. 

Musically, the song has some nice piano and tempo shifts, although it is mellow overall.  Tori plays around with her vocal range and making her voice sound almost mechanical in the "Lily is dancing on the table" parts of the song.  It's a solid song in any case, but musically, some fans may get a little bored.  Try and look to the lyrics for this one to grow on you.

 

CRAZY

This song truly let me down upon first hearing it, because lyrically, she's a kick-ass powerhouse.  I read the lyrics about a day before throwing this track in for a spin, and I pictured a sultry, sexy groove, a slower but still saucy sort of Riot Poof.  Maybe dashed with She's Your Cocaine or Raspberry Swirl.  Instead, what we have here sounds like a bad bland remix of A Sorta Fairytale with new lyrics on top.  The only part of the song where it feels strong on both levels is the "First let's just unzip your religion down".  It feels like a bad loop with Tori singing over it.  Also, the introduction is too long and bland.  I'd like to shave off a few seconds and have this song mate with Riot Poof.  I get the distinct impression that this song, like Sugar and Waitress before it, needs to be tarted up.

What are the lyrics about?  The abandon of self-control and will to the power of chaos... to the irrational.... and discovering that we all need a healthy dose of insanity at some point to appreciate the sane.  It is also speaking of how the insane feels sane afterwards, as it justifies itself a million ways.  Some fans have spoken of seeing this song as reflecting bad choices they have made in relationships, and how they appreciate the experiences now for the lessons learned and the growth.  I can definitely see that in here as well....  Overall, this is lyrically one of my favourites but overall, my least favourite.  The fit feels forced and uncomfortable between sonics and words.