A Tour of the Toriverse, for Glory.

I should be a music appreciation teacher. Can you imagine? XD
Anyway, this is for my girl Goddess Glory - and I prolly shoulda done it sooner. While I am only going to include 1 (and sometimes 2) songs from each album, it may get kinda long, so for those of my followers who just can't get next to this type of music... Well, I didn't do this for you anyway. (Haha, one cup of coffee down, 2 more to go before bitchiness fades.)

Begin at the Beginning.

I might have expressed this to you before, but before Tori was the way we know her now, she was a cheesy 80's "Rock Chick".

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B: (And, in all honesty, this is the only song on the album that stands up over time. The rest, in my honest opinion, are forgettable.)
Y Kant Tori Read - Cool On Your Island

Seeing as how she hadn't yet developed the style of elongating her words, I won't bother with the lyrics here. It doesn't matter much, this song is about a romance where the guy is not reciprocating the love. Guess many of us could relate to that, but it's not nearly as deep as the songs that would follow.












Little Earthquakes 1992-1993

Probably one of the most deeply personal albums I have ever heard - this album plays out like a diary. There is so much pain and so much power in these songs that it can take your breath away if you're tuned into it like that. And she does indeed have a funny way of making her pain sound a lot like ours.



PRECIOUS THINGS
so I ran faster but it caught
me here yes my loyalties turned like my ankle in
the seventh grade running after BILLY running
after the rain these precious things let them bleed
let them wash away these precious things let them
break their hold over me he said you’re really an
ugly girl but I like the way you play and I died
but I thanked him can you believe that sick
holding on to his picture dressing up every day I
wanna smash the faces of those beautiful BOYS
those christian boys so you can make me cum that
doesn’t make you Jesus I remember yes in my
peach party dress no one dared no one cared to
tell me where the pretty girls are those demigods
with their NINE-INCH nails and little fascist
panties tucked inside the heart of every nice
girl…

Under The Pink 1994-1995
I love to listen to this album in the wintertime. It sounds like winter, but feels so warm despite the chill.



THE WAITRESS
So I want to kill this waitress
She's worked here a year longer than I
If I did it fast you know that's an act of kindness

But I believe in peace
I believe in peace Bitch
I believe in peace
I believe in peace
But I believe in peace
I believe in peace Bitch
I believe in peace

I want to kill this waitress
I can't believe this violence in mind
And is her power all in her club sandwich

But I believe in peace
I believe in peace Bitch
I believe in peace
I believe in peace
But I believe in peace
I believe in peace Bitch
I believe in peace

I want to kill this killing wish
They're too many stars and not enough sky
Boys all think she's living kindness
Ask a fellow waitress
Ask a fellow waitress


ICICLE
Icicle Icicle where are you going I have a hiding place when spring marches in will
you keep watch for me I hear them calling gonna lay down gonna lay down
greeting the monster in our Easter dresses Father says bow your head like the
Good Book says well I think the Good Book is missing some pages gonna lay
down gonna lay down
and when my hand touches myself I can finally rest my head and when they say
‘take of his body’ I think I’ll take from mine instead
Getting Off Getting Off while they’re all downstairs singing prayers sing away
he’s in my pumpkin p.j’s lay your book on my chest feel the word feel the word
feel the word feel it
I could have I should have I could have flown you know I could have I should
have I didn’t so

Boys For Pele 1996 - 1997


This is the "Angry Volcano Goddess" record. I know I make it sound corny here, but it isn't. This is the album of Tori's that you listen to when you are just downright pissed-the-fuck-off.



BLOOD ROSES
Blood roses
Blood roses
Back on the street now
Blood roses
Blood roses
Back on the street now
Can't forget the things you never said
On days like these starts me thinking
When chickens get a taste of your meat girl
Chickens get a taste of your meat yes

You gave him you blood
And your warm little diamond
He likes killing you after you're dead
You think I'm a queer
I think you're a queer
Said I think you're a queer
I think you're a queer
I shaved every place where you been boy
I said I shaved every place where you been yes

God knows I know
I've thrown away those graces
God knows I've thrown away
Those graces
God knows I know
I've thrown away those graces

The Belle of New Orleans tried to show me
Once how to tango
Wrapped around you feet
Wrapped around like good little roses

Blood Roses
Blood Roses
Back on the street now
Blood Roses
Blood Roses
Back on the street now
Now, Now
Now you've cut out the flute
From the throat of the loon
At least when you cry now
He can't even hear you
When chickens get a taste of your meat girl
Come on
Come on
Come on
...
When he sucks you deep
Sometimes you're nothing but meat

And a cool interview segment from the recording of Boys For Pele:


from the choirgirl hotel 1998



Tori began experimenting with electronic sounds for this album. It took me a while to warm up to it, but now it's a staple in my collection.

Here's an interview from that time (sorry, the sound is a little warbly!):





To Venus And Back 1999-2000



I'm not terribly fond of this album - but there's a few tracks I dig. This was Tori's first double album - one disc of all new songs, and a live disc.



COOLING
Maybe I didnt like to hear
But I still cant believe speed racer is dead
So then I thought Id make some plans
But fire thought shed really rather be water instead

And peggy got a message for me
From jesus
And Ive heard every word that you have said
And I know I have been driven like the snow

This is cooling
Faster than I can
This is cooling
Faster than I can

But do I hate what she is
But do I want to be her
And dont we love something fresh
Anything new, virgin

Woman you got too many brambles
Hiding under these bushes
Woman you got too many brambles
But I always liked a good storm
Im always good for a storm

So then love walked up to like
And said I know that you dont like me much
Lets go for a ride
This ocean is wrapped around that pineapple tree

And is your place in heaven
Worth giving up these kisses
These, these kisses

And peggy got a message for me
From jesus
And Ive heard every word that you have said
And I know I have been driven like the snow, but

This is cooling
Faster than I can
Hey yes, faster than I can
Hey, this is cooling
This is cooling

Strange Little Girls 2001



Strange Little Girls is compiled of songs written by men but performed by Tori from the perspectives of female characters. The songs are composed by such artists as Neil Young, Eminem, Lou Reed, and Lennon/McCartney amongst others.

97 Bonnie And Clyde (Eminem cover)



Scarlet’s Walk 2002



"After the Twins went down, it was a time the masks were down for people, and people were asking questions that they haven't asked in a while," Amos said. "I was asking questions. So we hit the road, it was the most logical thing for us to do; I've been doing it for so long, it's where I find some of my answers. So we went out, and the road trip is part of my life, and the songs started coming." "There's nothing that I can seem to do to make Amber see herself how I see her," Amos explained, using the first person to refer to the album's character. "She's lost pieces of herself that she can't seem to reclaim. So the story takes off from there, and I meet people along the way. Events happen that make me question what I believe in and make me question what my country has been up to, and I start searching out answers: Who are the good guys? Because it doesn't seem like the ones that are calling themselves the good guys are doing the things I thought they were in the country's name."
--Tori; MTV.com News, 09/23/02





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
Honeybells, 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
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

Does it all
come down to
the thing one
girl fears
in the night
is another girl
is another girl
is another girl's paradise

"She's on this idea of women now. And, when I think being around all these women who have all these different kind of perceptions of each other. And you could say, some of them are intimidated by each other and some of them are envious and some of them really kind of like the other one but are afraid of being rejected so they don't know how to approach them. And there's all that going on. So busy, like bees. And uh, she makes her way into the warmth of Florida. She takes her time. She's driving now, she's on her own. And she's thinking about women, and women and women's relationships with each other and...what it brings up. And so, she sort of um, goes to the land for this one. This one place that's, where a lot of people come to soak in, to feel sensual and warm and healed and delicious. So she's in Florida, and goes to another land where people go to feel delicious. Another paradise. And she finds that there's room enough for both of them, that they're both very different. And desire is very much a part of all this. And at the end of the day, Desire will do what she does best, which is make you desire that which is not yours. She moves on to away, and then comes back to Florida. Not feeling like she needs to betray one or the other. That she can value both of them, that there's room enough for both of them. I think there's healing all along the way in different parts of this. But that's really for the reader, and the listener to sense, because it's in the music a lot of that. Those are clues that it takes you, I think, to our real feelings. The music is always the place where the clues are."
-- Scarlet Stories CD

The Beekeeper 2005



The Beekeeper is an allegory about that coming storm, and one woman's journey through it. It's not strictly an autobiography, although as Amos admits, "If I didn't relate to it in some way, I wouldn't be able to sing it." It is, however, very much about these times, and about the struggle to find a bedrock of truth beneath the tangle of lies, mythology, casual assumptions and political manipulation that have formed the cultural landscape of the U.S.A. today. For Amos, the problems facing America have less to do with the simplistic duality of "red" and "blue" states than with the ways in which power, faith and relationships have been misunderstood and abused. --Bio, Toriamos.com

Marys Of The Sea



Hey I am not in your way
Hey no need to push me again
I know it's your day in the sun
Last time I checked
he came to light the lamp for everyone

"relax Love"
he said before he left
"take those hands away from your eyes
from where I stand you're in my sky"

you must go
must flee
for they will hunt you down
you and your unborn seed
in all of Gaul
is there safety?
Les Saint Marie de la Mer
You will dance the ring
Marys of the Sea
the lost Bride weeps
Les Saint Marie de la Mer
We will dance your ring

Hey there's a new Jerusalem
Hey you built on rock that's on sand
For now you have hijacked the Son
Last time I checked
he came to light the lamp for everyone

I hear a voice
and it says
"the red of the red rose is it's own
and something no man can divide"
so St. Germain hear the prayer
of this supplicant
for two Scarlet women, Black Madonna

Hey I am not in your way
Hey no need to push me again
I know it's your day in the sun
I know it's your day in the sun
Hey I am not in your way
Hey no need to push me again
I know it's your day in the sun
Last time I checked
he came to light the lamp for everyone

American Doll Posse 2007



"In 2007 we'll tour again with the new record that we're working on now. The box set is the end of an era "it's very much about pulling everything together over the last fifteen years before I jump ship. You have to sense what is going on in the world - it's a really disturbing place right now. A few years ago I had more confidence that people would make the right choices for our leaders in America and they didn't. So therefore it's time to take the gloves off."
-- Tori; Clash Magazine, September 2006



YO GEORGE
I salute to you Commander
And I sneeze
Cause I have now an allergy
To your policies it seems
Where have we gone wrong America
Mr. Lincoln we can't seem to find you anywhere
Out of the millions
From the desserts to the mountains
Over prairies to the shores
Is this just the madness of King George
Yo George
Is this just the madness of King George
Yo George
Well you have the whole nation on all fours



BIG WHEEL
I've been on the other side
Got my lips smacked
Now they're dry
Then you
Call me
Call me in
You think I am your possession
You're messing with a Southern girl
But my recipe is on
With your stale bread
Yeah it's hot
But baby I don't need your cash
So baby maybe I'll let your
Big wheel turn my fantasy
Don't you throw your shade on me
I've been drinking down your pain
I'm gonna turn that whiskey into rain
Wash it away
Wash it away
Wash you away boy
Let's go
I've been on my knees
But you're so hard to please
Did you take me
Take me in
So you are a superstar
Get off the cross
We need the wood
Somehow you will rise
But with attitude
I know honey you're a pro
But baby I don't need your cash
Momma got it all in hand now
Big wheel turn my fantasy

Don't you throw that shade on me
I've been drinking down your pain
You go turn that whiskey into rain
Wash it away
Wash it away boy
Wash you away now
Gimme-8
Gimme-7
Gimme-6
Gimme-5
Gimme-4
Gimme-3
I-I-I am a M-I-L-F
Don't you forget
M-I-L-F
Don't you forget
M-I-L-F
Don't you forget
Baby I don't need your cash
So baby maybe I'll let your
Big wheel turn my fantasy
Don't you throw that shade on me
I've been drinking down your pain
I'm gonna turn that whiskey into rain
Big wheel turn my fantasy
Don't you throw your shade on me
I've been drinking down your pain
I'm gonna turn that whiskey into rain
I'm gonna turn your whiskey
Boy into rain
Wash you away
Wash you away boy
Wash you down
Big wheel

Ok, there ya go. Not incredibly comprehensive, but it works. :)
Enjoy!