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Tori Amos
"Silent All These Years"
from
Little Earthquakes, 1991
Excuse me but can I be you for awhile
My dog won't bite if you sit real still
I got the anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin' at me again
Yeah, I can hear that
Been saved again by the garbage truck
I got something to say, you know, but nothing comes
Yes, I know what you think of me
You never shut-up
Yeah, I can hear that
But what if I'm a mermaid
In these jeans of his with her name still on it
Hey, but I don't care 'cause sometimes
I said sometimes I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent all these years
So you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts
What's so amazing about really deep thoughts
Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon
How's that for thought for you
My scream got lost in a paper cup
You think there's a heaven where screams have gone
I got 25 bucks and a cracker
Do you think it's enough
To get us there
'Cause what if I'm a mermaid
In blue jeans of his with her name still on it
Hey, but I don't care 'cause sometimes
I said sometimes I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent all these
Years go by
Will I be waiting for somebody else to understand
Years go by
If I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds raining in my head
Years go by
Will I choke on my tears till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too easy easy easy
Well I love the way we communicate
Your eyes focus on my funny lip shape
Let's hear what you think of me now
But baby don't look up
The sky is falling
Your mother shows up in a nasty dress
It's your turn now to stand where I stand
Everybody lookin' at you
Here take hold of my hand
Yeah, I can hear them
But what if I'm a mermaid
In these jeans of yours with her name still on it
Hey, but I don't care 'cause sometimes
I said sometimes I hear my voice
I hear my voice
I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent all these years
I've been here
Silent all these years
Silent all these
Silent all these years
For some very strange reasone I found myself thinking about Tori Amos tonight. It's strange because in many ways I'm not the biggest Tori fan in general. I think she has some very strong songs, and an almost equal number of not-so-strong efforts. And, some of her writing is a little too intense to really quote here (i.e. "Me and a Gun" about rape, etc.).
But, it occurs to me that she has an important place on a thread like this. I've had several friends in my past who swear by Tori... they say she really helped them through tough times, etc. And, she undoubtedly has a huge following of loyal and usually feminist oriented women. One of my good friends from grad school gave me a copy of this album shown here. She used to tell me that Tori (and a number of other musicians) were something of a lifeline for her when she was extracting herself from an abusive relationship with an ex-boyfriend during her college years.
And, the first woman I ever had a relationship with (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)... but not really a girlfriend (more a fling) was an obsessed Tori fan. Her license plate on her car said "Tori."
Anyway, I think this is a beautiful song.
One nice thing about this song is that it reads very well as poetry... in the absence of the accompanying music.
