Just in case I like the dancing:  The impact of Tori Amos on a Christian Girl                                 by Allison McCulloch
 
  "You make pretty daisies, pretty daisies." I listened to only Christian music.  It wasn't that I thought mainstream stuff was bad, like evil, but I really thought that it was better musically!  Then I liked it lyrically, because it would help me in my faith and bring up several points of Scripture for me to think about for myself.

"Seems we got a cheaper feel now."  Then I came across a chart that would compare mainstream artists to Christian artists, so you would know who to listen to to get out of listening to secular music. Well, I only listened to Christian music, so it had the opposite effect on me.   When I saw that some girl named "Tori Amos" was supposed to sound like my favorite band, Out of the Grey, I vowed to check her music out.

"Thought that was a good solution."  So I did.  I bought her "Winter" single and was intrigued by "Take to the Sky" and loved the music to "Upside Down."  Using different registers in her voice in "Take to the Sky" was really different than anything I had ever heard and I loved her imagery: "This house is like Russia, with eyes cold and grey."

"But I feel something is wrong." Then I think I read an article about her in The Tennessean, my local newspaper, and I don't know, but the very nature of the article made my heart go out to Tori.  She had a miscarriage.  She was angry at God (at least the reporter made it sound that way).  I pray every once in awhile that Tori would understand that God isn't the person out to get you that people have portrayed, but He is a loving God, even though it's hard to see that when Christians, His followers, have let you down.  That article made me want to write Tori a letter, but I didn't. I didn't want to come across as an evangelical Christian trying to say that I was right and she was wrong.

"Greg he writes letters..."  So I got Little Earthquakes.   I loved "Crucify" and practically bought the album for it, after hearing it on www.imagineradio.com.  Soon I got Under the Pink and From the Choirgirl Hotel.  I remember leaving my car door open on a windy day playing "Pretty Good Year" on the day I bought Under the Pink.   I played it over and over for about seven times in absolute wonder.

"Where'd you put the keys girl?" It was Sunday afternoon, and I was off to a job inverview after arriving at Belmont University the day before. And then I was going to go to a Tori Amos concert afterward.  Well, I have never locked my keys in the car.  But that Sunday I did.  Luckily the interview went great, but afterward they had to drive me back to my dorm so I could get my extra set of keys and get my car.  They said to call for them to pick me up if I needed a ride, and of course, I needed a ride since my roommate wasn't there.  But because of my stubborn pride, I decided to walk seven miles from south Nashville to the border of Green Hills with only three hours before the concert.  It was a long walk, and luckily a lady picked me up in her car and drove me the remaining two miles.  But those five miles killed me! And I was worried, because I didn't think I'd make it to the show.

"The time is getting closer."  So what is so significant about August 22, 1999, the Nashville stop of the Tori/Alanis 5 1/2 week tour?  Well it was Tori's  birthday, and of course, I didn't figure that out 'til they started singing "Happy Birthday" after she played the nostalgic "Landslide."  It was so good.  It's like, I loved Fleetwood Mac's version of it on The Dance, but she just  played a fantastic version of it with just her and piano.  She even made the band leave for that song!  I used to skip "Happy Phantom" until I heard her sing it.  It was kind of weird, because she introduced the song by telling the audience that she talks to dead people.  But of course, on Sessions at West 54th, she's telling David Burns of who she must of been "in another life."  I'm telling you, sometimes it's hard for me to take Tori all too seriously.

"it's your turn now to stand where I stand..."  "Figures that my courage would choose to sell out now..."

 
"Boys get discovered as winter melts."  Interpretation.  I always thought she was saying something about "dance with whole notes" instead of "as winter melts".  Hmm, ok.

            Favorite Tori Songs: "Mother" "Upside Down" "Tear in Your Hand" "Crucify"

"Mother" just grabs me.  It's almost seven minutes long and it keeps my attention and I still want more.  I'm still trying to figure out the ice cream part in "Tear in Your Hand."  And "Crucify"... I know what she means when she says "nothing I do is good enough for you." That's why I left home.  But as a Christian, I don't think "we crucify ourselves", put our desires down, enough.  Well, we're crucified with Christ, but yet we did not have to endure the pain and the shame He did.  Still, Tori touches my heart.  And that's saying a lot, because I don't like half of the alternative stuff out there.

And finally, "Gloria, talkin' 'bout Hosanah."  Man, the way Tori says "Gloria" makes me want to re-write that song based around that.  It would be a beautiful praise song. 

Links: OFFICIAL Tori
Where'd You Put the Keys Girl? A list of Tori links