Top Ten Songs by Tori Amos

Tori Amos is one of a handful of singer/songwriters who have endured the test of sudden fame and stardom. Not only that, she is almost the only solo artist whose primary instrument is the piano, which she plays with heartstopping sensuality and verve. Tori Amos is no celebrity darling like Britney Spears or Hillary Duff; she consistently delivers exceptional music and has continued to grow and change as an artist. Her work has earned her a very dedicated, loyal fan base who are devoted to her brilliant, powerful lyricism and driving, raw music. In a single album Tori Amos can draw out emotions without exhausting and draining her audience and still leave her fans wanting more. More than anything, this is not “background music”, but music to be savored, relished and thoroughly enjoyed.

1. Crucify, from her debut album Little Earthquakes (1992). This song is pure, raw emotion, as is, almost every song from this album. When Little Earthquakes came out, it was hard to imagine Tori Amos would ever be able to top it. The intensity of this song is incredibly powerful and simply amazing, regardless if it is a first release or a final release.

2. Precious Things, also from Little Earthquakes is a driving, urgent anthem to the scars left growing up and awakening sexually as a girl in middle America. Simultaneously, it delivers the satisfaction of overcoming those things and becoming a stronger woman for it. The urgency and emotive power of this song is stunning. Also from this album is “Me and a Gun” a song about Amos’ rape at the hands of a regular customer at the nightclub she played piano at before she became well-known. This a capella song is disturbing, unsettling and incredibly direct. This song deserves a high place in any top ten of Tori Amos songs, but may be too disturbing for some listeners.

3. Cornflake Girl from Under the Pink (1994) is a sharp song about the desire to belong and remain unique. The music suggests confusion and the dizzy sensation of questioning identity without becoming cluttered or muddled. This song is musically complex and shows Tori Amos’ growth and interest in classical composition and style.

4. Raspberry Swirl, from From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998) is a brilliant melding of Tori Amos’ new foray into an electronica sound and her sound from her previous albums.

5. Professional Widow, from Boys for Pele (1996) is a dark, angry piece filled with thoughts of revenge made even more startling for its baroque sound. The music pulls the listener along, and leaves the feeling of catharsis in its wake. In many ways this sound is especially evocative due to the strange, esoteric feeling the rest of the album has.

6. Waitress, also from Under the Pink (1994), Tori Amos’ second album, is a personal favorite because Amos is able to capture the feeling of being the “second best” waitress (or anything) with sharp whimsy and wit. The music has a tinny-music box feel to it that fits with the off-key, slightly dangerous feeling lingering behind the humorous subject.

7. Bliss, from To Venus and Back (1999) is a strikingly experimental piece that is at once emotive and dream-like. This piece is easy to lose yourself in, without becoming completely overwhelmed by the music. .

8. Mother, another offering from Little Earthquakes, is an exquisitely painful piece that captures the sometimes painful and conflicted relationship between a mother and a daughter just verging on becoming an adult. Simultaneously, Tori Amos is able to evoke the sense of betrayal a woman may have upon entering the world to find it is not what she was raised to believe.

9. Past the Mission, from Under the Pink (1994) is a moody, melancholic song driven with a sense of threat and regret. The music is intense, broad and pure brilliance.

10. I Don’t Like Mondays (2001) from the Strange Little Girls album, is much better than the original by the Boomtown Rats. In it, Amos is able to capture the sadness, anger and desperation of 16-year old Brenda Spencer, the girl about whom the song was written. While the original song is an excoriation of a cold-hearted killer, this song allows the full range of the girl’s confusion and emotional detachment to shine through Amos’ eerily ethereal vocals..

Tori Amos’ most recent albums, Scarlet’s Walk and the Beekeeper, yield solid, brilliant pieces of music, but her previous work simply surpasses the album in emotional content and sheer, raw, emotional power. The Beekeeper, especially, is an album not to be missed as it shows a fully mature woman in command of her life, yet still dealing with all the realities of that life.