.Tori FAQ's and Random Info.

Ever hear a Tori song and think, “What in the world is that??” or perhaps “Who??” or even just plain “….??….”

Well, so have the best of us. Probably more than once. So, I thought I’d create a little page for Tori lookups, or things that perhaps you just sat and thought, “….???…”

I’m basically throwing out random facts that some people might find interesting whether you have thought about it before or not. Some of these might be common knowledge to some people, and unheard of to others. And visa versa. So…. I’ll just start to ramble and hope someone finds some of it useful.

(this might not be anything new for die hard Ears With Feet who have everything and anything Tori related collected in their Tori Shrine Room – but other than you head honchos, this might be helpful – who knows! ;)).

I hope some of these are of some use to some people:

FAQ’s:
1. Who is this ‘Neil’ guy Tori keeps mentioning??
2. What is an "EWF"??
3. Datura?!? (enough said)
4. Riot Poof?!? (ditto above)
5. Who is Greg in Pretty Good Year?
6. What is R.A.I.N.N., and how is Tori connected?
7. Who is Beenie?
8. What does Borneo have to do with anything in Cloud?
9. Who is Marianne?
10. What is a ‘concertina’ anyway? And what is a squeeze box? And chinese paper cuts- what??
11. Is Father Lucifer about her real father? What about Bliss?
12. Who is Bobby (in Sugar and Marianne)?
13. Who is Eric?
14. Where is and what is Juarez?
15. What in the world does “bogenvilla” mean (in Cruel)?
16. What is a Bösendorfer?


Answers to the FAQ's:

1. Who is Neil? - Neil is Neil Gaiman, the creator of the popular Sandman comics series and author of many novels such as Neverwhere.
- The connection to Tori: Tori was/is a fan of his Sandman series, and she sent him a tape of her work. He fell "in love" and called Tori up (they both were living in London). They have been very close friends ever since.
- Songs he's mentioned in: Tear In Your Hand ("me and Neil'll be hanging out with the Dream King), Space Dog ("where's Neil when you need him?"), Horses ("but will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?")
- Refered to in Hotel with "the velvets"
- Random info: Neil has written the introduction to Tori's tour books for the past 3 tours (if not 4).... One of Neil's characters in his series, Delerium, greatly resembles Tori in both appearance and personality.

2. What is an "EWF"? - an EWF stands for "Ears With Feet", which is a Tori-ism for "fan". If you are a Tori fan, you are an Ears With Feet, or EWF.
- How this came about: After the last show on the Dew Drop Inn tour, two sisters named Molly and Alie asked Tori for a few parting words for the fans on the Dent, the popular online Tori fan page. Tori agreed, and in the middle she starts crying and said she appreciates her fans so much... then she says that the word "fan" isn't good enough; we should be called "Ears With Feet". So that's when and how the term EWF was born. Go HERE for the complete story. ~thanks to the Dent for that link~

3. Datura?? What??: I do not pretend to understand Tori's mind, especially not in this song, but I'll share what I do know. The jibberish she seems to be speaking throughout the first part of the song are herbs and plants in her real garden in England (or so I hear). I've heard that they are the plants that survived a hurricane in her garden, and also that they are just the plants that her gardner wrote down for her that are in her garden. Either way, the plants that she names supposedly ARE in her garden.
- More info on Datura: Datura itself is an extremely powerful hallucinigen and very dangerous, and yes, Tori has it in her garden as well.
- It was also supposedly used by 'witches' and in witchcraft to create the effect of flying.

4. Riot Poof?!? This song was written in happy response to Marcel van Limbeek's coming out. It is a celebration of gay men in many ways and also about the many trials that many of them have to go through in society for being themselves. "Riot Poof" itself I believe is Dutch slang for a gay man (Marcel is Dutch).

"...like Riot Poof. Really, the homophobic thing is Riot Poof. One of the guys on the crew was coming out - quite a fierce lad. To come out in that world, sometimes it takes a lot of courage..." -Tori

"...Where did the phrase "Riot Poof" come from?"
"It's a Dutch thing. I love that, their idea of not a drama queen but a poofter. But I love the word 'riot' being with it, because in a strange way it's a joke. But at the same time it's not, because of the unleashing of the gay community. Sometimes it really is a sexual riot, a frenzy. It's a real male frenzy, that whole song. But the idea of the unbelievable judgment that men have against men who desire to be with other men... But women wanting to be with women is quite yummy to anybody. If you think about it, the idea of men who love watching women being together, there's an erotica. That's 'on the birth of the search / white trash, my native son'. I'm singing Riot Poof from the concept of the mother - the all-inclusive mother, having borne men who want to be with men, having borne men who want to 'break the terror of the urban spell,' who want to kill men who want to be with other men. Because Venus, that's the mother mode. She's singing it from her point of view: 'The sun is warming, my man is moistening." -Tori
(both quotes taken from TALD, a great reference for lyrical questions)

5. Who is Greg in Pretty Good Year? Tori received a letter from a boy named Greg from Northern England, which apparently is a rather hard place to live. He went on in his letter to say that his life basically sucked, he had no idea what girls wanted, and that he just couldn't figure anything out. He had drawn a little sad simple figure of a boy with a droopy flower that he said was a self portrait. Tori has said many times in various stories that she sympathized with his problems and that she knows its hard figuring out what girls want... but... "No pity!!" (-Tori) ;)

"I got a letter from a guy named Greg in England. This one got to me - it missed getting to me for, like, three months. But it just got passed around different people, and finally somebody just - I was walking through the record label between the tour up in England, and somebody put it in my bag. They just said, 'You know what, Tori? This has been sitting around here. Just take it.
And I took this letter, and I opened my bag two days later, and I read it. It was a picture of - he had drawn himself. It was a pencil drawing. Greg has kind of scrawny hair and glasses, and he's very skinny and he held this great big flower. Greg is 23, lives in the north of England, and his life is over, in his mind. I found this a reoccurence in every country that I went. In that early 20 age, with so many of the guys - more than the girls, they were a bit more 'Ah, things are just beginning to happen.' The guys, it was finished. The best parts of their life were done.
The tragedy of that for me, just seeing that over and over again, got to me so much that I wrote Pretty Good Year. You don't really kno wwhat my role is. Am I Lucy, or am I that eight bars of grunge that comes out near the end where I express, and then nothing, everything else is Greg's story? I found that kind of really fun. The emotion is coming from somebody else's story. And yet it touched me so much that I could sing it."
-Tori (again from TALD)

6.What is R.A.I.N.N., and how is Tori connected? - R.A.I.N.N. stands for "Rape Abuse & Incest National Network" and it was co-founded by Tori in 1994. After Me and a Gun and her openness about her rape, more and more people were turning to Tori for help and inspiration in rape situations. Wanting to help but realizing she couldn't do it alone, she turned to Atlantic Records to help provide the basis for the founding of RAINN. It is a 24 hour free hotline (1-800-656-HOPE) for anyone who needs it and is completely confidential. Please click HERE for more info.

"A lot of times you shut off your whole heart off from your experience -- you close the door, and you wither and die. My hope is that the RAINN hotline can be a bridge to the next step." -Tori

7.Who is Beenie? - Beenie is Nancy Shanks, one of Tori's most beloved friends of all. She is mentioned in Father Lucifer, Jackie's Strength, actually sings on In the Springtime of His Voodoo, and no telling what else. Tori wrote Raspberry Swirl for her, also (see quote below). Beenie appears in photos of Tori's wedding found in the Plugged Tourbook, and is basically one of the most important people in Tori's life.
"In some of my relationships with... a few of my women friends, I play a certain role. *giggles* (this is really getting, eh, I don't know... I hope my father's not watching this, he just doesn't know WHAT to do - the straight jacket's coming! But you know, I've always told my dad - gays, lesbians - he just has to get used to it. One of the nieces or nephews is gonna be one, he's just gotta get ready.) So, um, what I said was - to Beenie, who's the love of my life, my husband understands this - that um, well, we're married. We're absolutely married. And I adore her with all my heart, and she's dated some idiots. And I hope you're watching, I want you to know what I think of you. And um, in another life I'll absolutely kick your ass. And I'm going to kick it right now, actually, because this is for her, and I'm IN LOVE with her." - Tori, on Raspberry Swirl, MTV's Unplugged.

**sorry, I've run out of time to answer the rest... apologies! Maybe some day..**


Did you know---? (random Tori facts)

+ the first lines of Playboy Mommy were written after Tori fell down some curly cue stairs in Champagne, England because of her “very very high” shoes? Well, her shoes were “Very very high” and perhaps some of the Champagne wore off on her as well, and she hit the floor pretty hard. Thus the first lines of Playboy Mommy were born after a few edits of, shall we say, less appropriate lyrics. ;)

+ Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails sings background vocals on Past the Mission? It’s true. Tori went to visit him and the rest of NIN while they were recording “The Downward Spiral” in the house that Charles Manson and co. murdered Sharon Tate and asked him to sing it. Anyhow, that’s Trent with the smooth vocals in the background. They are not close any longer though.
Trent on Tori: "Tori would be another example. She called me to do this vocal track. It wasn't that big a deal. Her first album was permanently in my car's CD changer. It really struck me as well written, in a similar vein to what I was doing-from a different point of view, but the same kind of addicting, pouring out, gushing, baring, naked kind of song. Other people put their fingers in the pie, and they kind of messed up a friendship. We're not that close now. Some malicious meddling on the part of Courtney Love. But I still feel the same feelings for Tori." -Spin Magazine

+ Tori "hated” her grandmother (according to Tori! I didn’t say it!)? Well, according to Tori, she was a real drag. Her grandmother’s “Victorian” ways did not go over so well with the not-so-traditional Tori. Later her torments helped produce amazing gems such as Icicle.
"I always liked the story of Hansel and Gretel because I felt like I had a bit of a wicked grandmother. I thought it was good of someone to really tell it like it could be!" -Tori
"...and I'd spit in her jello when she wasn't looking..." -Tori on her grandmother!! Tori!! haha...

+ Tori’s guitarist for her Plugged and 5.5 Tours, as well as To Venus and Back, Steve Caton was also the guitarist for Y Kant Tori Read? Yep again. They met long ago during the big hair and ripped up jeans era and had continued close contact. He joined her on the Dew Drop Inn tour of 1996, and of course on the past 2 tours with the band as well.

+ Tori’s drummer, Matt Chamberlain, is also Fiona Apple’s drummer (among others)? Yep. He has quite a resume. In fact, he has toured with Fiona, the Wallflowers, and even Pearl Jam briefly, to name a few. But he has stated that although he enjoys all the people he works with, he has said, "I have a soft spot for Tori"

+ Tori and Michael Stipe of REM recorded a duet together called It Might Hurt for the movie “Don Juan de Marco” but it never left the shelf? As upsetting as that is, it’s true. I know – GET THAT THING OFF THE SHELF!! But, alas, it has never seen the light of day because it was left off the soundtrack and who knows if it ever will. But we can hope, right? ;)
~Tori on Stipe: "We wrote a song together called 'It Might Hurt' but it kind of took a vacation. Maybe I'll resurrect it sometime, I don't know. We were put together by one of the film guys at Atlantic Records, and we got along like a house afire. He's very special." -IGuide Interview, 1996

+ The strange but funky sounds in the background of Professional Widow is the true sound of bull shit getting shoveled? True indeed. While Pele was being recorded in Ireland, a bull lived next door and would always bay (or what ever bulls do) and create quite a racket. Well, they decided to record it and got not only the bull talking but also a man shoveling it’s poo as well. Both sounds appear in the song. ;)

+ Merman was not written specifically for Matthew Sheppard, but that shortly after it's creation Tori began playing it in memory of him? Yes. In response to his tragic death, Tori started playing Merman for him. It is now almost completely associated with and for him in most (if not all) EWF's minds.

+ Flying Dutchman was origionally going to be at the end of Little Earthquakes in the final spot? I forget what song was added in its place, but it obviously got removed from the album and placed as a bee side, and of course the song Little Earthquakes is a fitting end for the album. (if anyone knows more details please email me – I have forgotten which song was added, etc. Thanks!!)

+ Honey was supposed to be on Under the Pink, but was kicked off at the last second in mastering? True again. Tori claims this is her favorite song from Pink, and yet it is not on it because she was “such a dingaling” and that “it, like, went to the bathroom during mastering”. ;) Again, I’m fuzzy on the song details, but it was slated to be on the album and she changed her mind at the last second and claims the song still gets restless about it.

+ Sugar was written in very quickly and suddenly? It was. Tori had to whip out a bee side on a time limit and the muses came up with this masterpiece. She has also said it’s “a song I’ve written about those people you meet that you’ll never have a relationship with, but if you could have 25 minutes alone with them, you’d have this incredible affair. There’s something magical and you want to merge with them in every possible way.”

+ Tori’s name came from a friend of a friend? Tori and her friend Linda McBride met up one night, and Linda’s date said that Myra Ellen looked more like a Tori. Obviously she liked the name and the idea, and it stuck. (It’s also a kind of wirey pine tree).

+ Tori played in gay bars when she was young? Yes, and not only that, but her father would go with her and sit with his minister’s collar on as a chaperone while she played to the masses. ;) Tori claims that the people she met in those bars are some of the nicest most accepting people she’s ever met and would not trade the experience. (they also taught her how to give blow jobs with a banana) ;)

+ Tori wanted to give her virginity to Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant? Ah yes, true indeed. At the mature age of 10 she was “considering sex” and “had it all planned out” that Plant would be The One ;)

+ Cooling was written during the Pele years, but Tori didn’t feel it mixed well with the other Girls? Yes. This beautiful girl was written during the Pele era, but it didn’t exactly mesh well with the feeling of the record so Tori saved it. Well, then with Choirgirl the same thing happened and so it was left off the album again. However, Tori says that it does very well as a bee side and loves to “show up” and that she has a “very good relatioship” with her. She understands and enjoys her role as a Bee Side, which Tori has called “a cult status” ;)

+ Alanis Morissette called up Tori one day and asked her to do the 5.5 Weeks Tour? Yes she did. Tori has said that Alanis was the one who instigated it and wanted to tour with Tori; Tori agreed to it and Alanis even let her name it ('the 5.5 Weeks Tour' was Tori's idea). Tori speaks very highly of Alanis and has said numerous times that touring with her was a very pleasurable experience.

+ Tori has a great love for wine? Of course she does! ;) Tori has stated over and over that she adores "good wine". I forget her favorites, but she is quite the conossuer(sp?) ;). There are also numerous pictures of her and her crew/friends with a glass of "good wine" in their grips in the tour books, etc (like this one with John Witherspoon).
"I have a lot of respect for the cultivating of the grapes and what it signifies. People who make wine, what's happening in their lives in that year gets put into the grapes, whether they know it or not. I love that Jesus saying, 'I'm the vine, you are the branches.' There's something really biblical and at the same time Dionysian about the whole thing. In another life, I know I was one of those fat ladies who was stomping in the grapes." -Tori, Rolling Stone, November 22, 2001

+ Tori also has a great love for shoes? Of course again. She has a passion for shoes - high heeled ones mostly. She always plays with heels for leverage and it's always a treat to see what she has decorating her feet. There are a few pictures of her when she's very young with kick ass shoes - the penchant started early ;)

+ Tori has a jaw condition that causes pain relatively constantly? I have read that Tori's jaw has given her trouble throughout her lifetime; I have heard recently that its TMJ (temporomandibular joint disease), a fairly common but painful condition. Apparently it gets really sore and can be painful at times.. She holds warm tea mugs to it to soothe the pain... poor Tori :(

+ Tori came extremely close to losing her singing voice forever when she was younger? True. There was a period in 1983 when she overused her voice to a point that the doctor said that if she did not completely stop using her voice for at least 10 days she would never be able to sing again. She did what he said - she and her parents packed up and headed for the Southwest Virginia mountains for a quiet 10 days alone. Tori did not say a word the entire time, and thank goodness her voice turned out ok.

+ Tori lived in the REM-made-famous town of Rockville for a few years? True again. Any REM fans will recognize this town's name immediately; Dr. Amos moved to Rockville United Methodist Church in 1978 and so of course Tori went with him. (she also led the children's choir there, and the sight of her in tight red leather pants in church leading the children singing didn't go over too well with many parents. But the kids adored her!) ;)

+ Under the Pink was recorded in an old hacienda in New Mexico? Sure was. Tori said she "was drawn to go record there" because she "felt the past of the Pueblo nation" and the land is "still alive with those memories". Eric discovered the hacienda on accident when he went out on a "bizarre calling to go to Taos." On Pink in general: "You had to be in the middle of the desert, so I wrote it like a painting, and I still think it's misunderstood."

+ Tori believes she was "A Viking named 'Sven'" in one of her former lives? She does indeed. She believes very firmly in reincarnation, stating "of course I believe in having past lives, I mean, three quarters of the human race believes this, it's not like a great new thought here." She also said about Sven - "there's a part of me that's Sven the Viking, and if anybody tries to hurt that girl again, he'll annihilate them." She now states that that quote has become such a big "snowball that just wouldn't stop" that she gets viking hats at shows! haha ;)

+ Tori and Mark have three homes? They sure do! Their main home is in Cornwall, England (Mark is British), where they've been since 1997, and they have a beach house in Florida, and a Georgian house in Ireland. According to Tori, Cornwall is where they're going to raise Tash, and it's also where her recording studio is:
"I have one man, three homes and five pianos - that's not too excessive, is it? Cornwall is our main home but it's also where my husband, Mark, and I have our recording studio. I wanted to create a spot that was a little bit difficult for the outside world to get to me. I wanted a place that didn't have all the crazy anticipations that go with the music business - when I walk into the studios in L.A., I can smell the fear. Often in L.A., the studio's fear is greater than their faith - bless their cotton socks. But when I'm in Cornwall the record company never crosses me. There's a real positive energy force."
"I think Cornwall connects with my Celtic and native American roots. I'm predominantly Cherokee Indian and Scots. As a family, we grew up in Cherokee nation land in North Carolina, and my grandfather taught me to have an instinctive relationship with the spirit of the land."
-Tori, both quotes from Woman's Journal (U.K.), November, 2001

+ Tori does situps every morning? Apparently she needs the stomach strength to play and sing. As she said in a Newsweek interview (with Dave Matthews, who she says is "charming", a "gentleman", and a "new friend") in 1998, "First thing in the morning, before I do anything, I get up and do my abs. I just sit there and do 200 sit-ups. Otherwise I don't have the strength to play." Nice stomach, Tori!! :)

+ Tori LOVES lipgloss? Of course! Apart from mentioning it in iieee (need a lipgloss boost in your America), she has quite a fondness for it and usually has various kinds handy at all times. She's even stopped and asked for some during concerts before! I agree that it's better than lipstick any day :)
"I have to have the right lip gloss for the right moment. If you're not feeling well, Kiehl's is good. In the morning, a lip gloss with a little flavor is nice...unless you've got a hangover, then it's gross. On a date, you don't want sticky stuff. Christian Dior and Estee Lauder both have good lines. I've got Fresh in my pocket right now. It works. This is my thing." -Tori Amos, Rolling Stone, November 22, 2001

+ Tori really admires Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush? Yes indeed! She has actually been criticized by many critics for being a Kate ripoff. However, though Tori admits to being "blown away" by Kate when she first heard her, she also says that she was singing and playing a lot of her own music before she coming into contact with Kate's music. I'm sure she was influenced by her, but to what extent, who knows! :) She also did a gorgeous cover of Joni's A Case Of You, released on the UK limited edition digipak Cornflake Girl single.
(Tori when asked:) "Best song by a female artist? Very difficult. I think we should go back in time umm, this is something that a lot of us can agree on and it's not the best, i don't think that's fair but it's potent and it's still potent. umm. Joni Mitchell Blue has resonated with a lot of us and umm Kate Bush Hounds of Love. These were really ground-breaking records of there time." - Tori on MTV2, 2001

+ Tori is close friends with Maynard James Keenan from Tool? She is indeed. She has tremendous respect for him as an artist and also as a person. He appears in the Tori Amos: Live In New York video from 1996 alongside Tori singing Muhammad My Friend on her bench - it's gorgeous!
+"There are a lot of people, especially musicians, where they can be bought. They'll sell you up the river. You don't really know who your real friends are. But he's [Maynard] a real friend. If he's your friend, he's a real friend." -Tori, Spin Magazine, 6/01

+ Tori wore a leopard outfit onstage one time for an encore? In San Jose, CA, September 19, 1998 during the Plugged Tour, Tori came out in a full body leopard suit and and played her encores in it! She danced with Caton for awhile in it before sitting down, and people who were there called it, "other dimensional - it was just completely bizarre and cool" :) haha!
Interviewer: "What's the coolest outfit you've worn onstage?"
Tori: "The band bought me this full leopard suit with ears and a tail. I wore it one night onstage. My crew needed cheering up, so i went out in it for the encore. Nothing i wore that night was very flashy, so the paradox of it worked." -US Magazine, January 2000

+ Tori wrote the lyrics to Muhammad My Friend while sitting in church for a Christmas Eve service? According to a story she told while in concert on the Dew Drop Inn tour, she was sitting next to her father in a Christmas Eve service listening to Away In A Manger, and her dad asked her why she wasn't singing. She said it wasn't inspiring her, and he asked why not? It's about our lord Jesus Christ. She responded, "Because there's something MISSING...!" and started scribbling the lyrics to MMF in her program.

+ Tori and Mark named their daughter (Natashya Lorien, called "Tash") after an elvin forest in J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings"? Lorien, or Lothlorien as known in full, is a beautiful, magical, golden forest in Middle Earth that restores strength and energy to anyone who visits and is a friend of the elves. To anyone of evil spirit, however, it is a dangerous place indeed. Tori and Mark would read segments of LoTR's to Tash before she was born, and thus named her "Lorien" after the most beautiful, pure, and fair place in Middle Earth.


***Sorry, I've run out of time and I won't really be adding to the site anymore! Sorry!***

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