Tori Amos

ByTrudy Olmos

Contents

• Biography• Composition Histories• Listening Guides• References, Bibliography

Tori Amos - Biography

• Tori Amos born in Newton, North Carolina on August 22, 1963.

• Since the age of 2 she was trying to get her fingers on the keys of the family piano.

• Lived in various parts of Brooklyn, MD.

• Amos was accepted into the Peabody Conservatory Institute .

• Youngest student to ever be accepted at the time.

Biography - Continued• She lost her scholarship over her

love of modern music.• Amos had a very supporting

father who helped her get gigs at nightclubs at the age of 13.

• In 1984 she got signed on by Atalntic Records with the band “Y Cant Tori Read” the bands titled stemmed from Amos’ inability to read sheet music.

• In 1991 Amos was sent to England by Atlantic Records to perform her extended single “Me and a Gun” recounting her experiences with being raped.

Biography - Continued

• In 1992 Amos recorded her first album “Little Earthquakes”

• In 1996 she recorded “Boys for Pele” that was well received in both the UK and U.S.

• In 1996 she began took part in the “Dew Drop” tour the lasted nearly ten months.

• In 1997 she miscarried her first child which led to her which led her to record her next album “From the Choirgirl Hotel”.

Composition Histories

• Father Lucifer• Mr. Bad Man• Playboy Mommy• Wednesday

Composition History:Father Lucifer

• Tori Amos states that the influences for this song came from taking hallucinogenic drugs with a South American Shaman and that she claims to have gone on a journey and met with the devil.

• Tori Amos first performed Father Lucifer on her Dew Drop Tour on February 25, 1996 at the Apollo theater located in Manchester, UK. The Dew Drop Tour started on February 23, 1996 and lasted until November 29, 1996. The song was recorded with the assistance of fellow musicians: George Porter Jr who plays the bass guitar, Steve Caton who plays the guitar and James Watson who plays the trumpet. Tori Amos plays the Bosendorfer and does the vocals. The album was published by Atlantic Records company.

This song was written in 1995 and was recorded on the album Boys for Pele that was released in January 23, 1996. The song was recorded in 1995 in a church located in County Wicklow, Ireland. A few other songs on the album were recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tori Amos did the recording herself as she did not want to have to answer to anybody with how the songs were recorded. Tori Amos stated in an interview on February 10, 1996 with Bradley Bambarger in an issue of Billboard magazine that “The album was a form of reclaiming of the forgotten feminine”.

Composition History:Mr. Bad Man

• The song was written in 2007 and was recorded and released on May 1, 2007 on the American Doll Posse album that was published by Epic Records. Tori Amos produced the album in Cornwall, England at the Martian Engineering Studio.

• The song was first performed at the Teatro Verdi in Florence, Italy on May 30, 2007 for the American Doll Posse World Tour.

• On this album she plays with fellow musicians: Matt Chamberlain on the drums, Jon Evans on the bass, Mac Aladdin on the electric guitar and ukulele and Tori Amos playing the bosendorfer and Isabel on vocals.

The influences for this song are about Tori finding inner strength. Tori Amos is split into 5 distinct personas on the album and Isabel happens to be one of the characters that once assembled blend to be a complete woman.Tori states in an interview with Jenny Eliscu for an issue of Rolling Stone magazine on May 31, 2007 “I only take credit for singing 5 of the songs on the album, the alternate Amoses sing the other songs.” She also states “ they even have their own blogs!”. Her other alter egos go by the names of: Isabel, Santa, Clyde and Pip.

Composition Hisotry:Playboy Mommy

• The song Playboy Mommy was influenced to help her deal with her grief from her miscarriage. Tori Amos stated in her interview with Steven Daly for the Rolling Stone Magazine on June 25, 1998 “The music had become vital to me again; Playboy Mommy helped me deal with my feelings of being rejected”. Tori Amos stated that she felt emotions such as “ Wasn’t I good enough to be your mother.” and things like “ Didn’t you want me?”

• This song was first performed at the Chili Pepper theater in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on April 18, 1998 for the Plugged Tour.

• The song was recorded and also played live with fellow musicians: Matt Chamberlain on the drums, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and George Porter Jr on the bass guitar, and guitarists Steve Caton and Stewart Boyle.

The song was written around the early year of 1997 and was recorded on the CD album From the Choirgirl Hotel. The Album was recorded in September 08,1997 and was published by Atlantic Records and was first released on January 01, 1998.Tori Amos wrote this song after her Dew Drop Tour. Tori Amos had planned to take a break from creating and playing music when tragedy struck. Tori Amos had a miscarriage at the end of the year in 1996. Tori Amos was devastated.In order to recover from the loss she returned to creating new music.

Composition History: Wednesday

• Tori states in her interview with Christa Titus that was published for Billboard magazine on October 19, 2002. “He would tell me about how people had a map, and that it was a part of who they were”.

• So the album is of our own inner map.

• The fellow musicians that played on the album were: Matt Chamberlain on the drums, Jon Evans on the bass, Robbie McIntosh on the acoustic and electric guitar, MAc Aladdin also on the electric guitar and Tori Amos on the Bossendorfer and vocals.

This song was written in 2002 and was placed on the album Scarlet’s Walk. The song was published by Epic Records and was first released on October 29, 2002. Tori first performed the song Wednesday at the Carol Morsani Hall in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, Florida on November 7, 2002 for her Scarlet’s Walk Tour. The album was self produced by Tori and was recorded in Cornwall, England. Tori Amos states that the influence behind this album is a pilgrimage acrossAmerica and of her own inner soul map. She states that her grandfather who is Cherokee, he would talk to her about having a soul map that would mark momentous events in peoples lives.

Listening Guides

• Father Lucifer• Mr. Bad Man• Playboy Momy• Wednesday

Father Lucifer

• Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ux7GMOc6k

• 0:00 Introduction: The melody starts with Tori singing a brief “Hey” with only the piano playing a main theme which has an inverted arch played with a trill. The rhythm is a common meter beat.The piano plays on the lower keys in a major mode. The piano has a nice clear dulcet timbre. The intro repeats a second time with the main theme with a second whispered “Hey” and followed by a softer “hey” and then the song goes into the 1st verse.

• 0:21 Verse 1 begins: The piano plays a variation of the main theme and the melody for the vocals are sung in a descending conjunct soprano. Tori uses augmentation on the words at the end of each phrase.

• 0:40 Main Theme: As Tori holds the last note the piano plays the main theme again before going into the chorus.

Father Lucifer Continued• 0:49 Chorus: The chorus repeats only one

phrase while the piano plays a mimic of the vocals. In the chorus there is also a Bass guitar played with a low steady beat that has a disjunct section then repeats. There is also a Viola playing a slow chopped ascending melody with drawn out tones.

• 1:06 Main theme: The piano plays the main intro theme again and then goes into the 2nd verse.

• 1:15 2nd verse begins: Like the first verse Tori sings the note at the end of each phrase longer to help emphasize that there is an end. There is also a trumpet playing a disjunct melody that ascends and then follows an inverted arch. The trumpet has a nice smooth rounded timbre that fades out.

• 1:35 Main Theme: Once again the piano plays the main theme and then goes into the chorus.

• 1:39 Chorus: The chorus repeats only one phrase while the piano plays a mimic of the vocals. Again the Bass guitar plays a low steady beat that has a disjunct section then repeats. The Viola plays a slow chopped ascending melody with drawn out tones.

• 1:56 Main Theme: The piano plays the main theme and then goes into the bridge.

• 2:01 Bridge: Here the Dynamics of the piano plays louder as there is a building up of emotion. The piano plays a continuous up and down chords that are short and there are also guitar chords that play the same thing for about 2 measures. Tori sings a descending drawn out “Hey.. yes”

Father Lucifer Continued

• 2:09 Bridge Variation: At this bridge variation Tori sings a polyphony of two different vocal parts: The first vocal part is the main section and is sung in a soprano pitch the melody is a disjunct inverted arch. The second vocals is sung in an alto and is a slower rhythm and has a conjunct arch that repeats for four measures.

• 2:21 Bridge continues: At this point the trumpet comes in with an ascending triumphant blare in the background as the vocals continue.

• 2:28 Bridge: Tori starts a third vocal part that she sings with a high falsetto soprano for the last two measure of the bridge.

• 2:37 Bridge: The trumpet does a repeated ascending vibrant peal, and then the main vocal part holds the note on the last word in the bridge.

• 2:46 Main Theme: The piano plays the main intro theme again and then goes into the 2nd verse. Tori sings a “Hey” and a few homophonic “mm”s and “hum”s.

• 3:05 3rd verse begins: The lyrics for the first verse are repeated here with a short inverted arch melody played by the viola and then the trumpet plays a conjunct melody that goes into an ascending melody played in a minor mode tones.

• 3:25 Main Theme/end: Once again the main theme is repeated for the last time for the ending. Tori sings a brief “hmm” and then a final “mm” with the note drawn out. The piano does play a variation instead of repeating the theme twice it repeats the last part of the theme and adds diminution for the last chords that end the song.

Mr. Bad Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heGX40buMFk

• 0:49 Chorus: The chorus repeats only one phrase while the piano plays a mimic of the vocals. In the chorus there is also a Bass guitar played with a low steady beat that has a disjunct section then repeats. There is also a Viola playing a slow chopped ascending melody with drawn out tones.

• 1:06 Main theme: The piano plays the main intro theme again and then goes into the 2nd verse.

• 1:15 2nd verse begins: Like the first verse Tori sings the note at the end of each phrase longer to help emphasize that there is an end. There is also a trumpet playing a disjunct melody that ascends and then follows an inverted arch. The trumpet has a nice smooth rounded timbre that fades out.

Mr. Bad Man Continued• 0:36 Chorus: Here the drums play only

the bass drum with some toms; there is a tamborine being hit in the background. The piano plays chords in a common meter with added diminution to give it a choppy feel. The bass guitar plays an ascending slow melody that descends at the end followed by a riff played fast that ascends. The melody repeats for the other measures. Tori sings a soprano falsetto that follows an disjunct arch and then descends. The music cuts out here and Tori sings by her self “And flavor too” with just the Rhodes playingdescending chords into the chorus variation.

• 1:03 Chorus variation: The bass plays a slow disjunct arch that each note is held for about a half note. Tori sings “And flavor too” in an alto pitch while she sings a polyphonic harmony of “Doo” in the background for 2 measures.

• 1:18 intro theme: The ukulele plays a repeat of the intro theme of a pickup ascending melody that plays 3 notes and goes into strumming chords in an inverted arch. Again Tori plays an imitation of the melody on the Rhodes piano. The drumbeat continues with the same rhythm; just the bass drum and toms.

Mr. Bad Man Continued• 1:25 2nd verse begins: The drums

continue with the bass drum and toms and then in the second measure the tambourine comes in with a cymbal crash.The Rhodes piano plays chords for this verse only. On this verse tori sings an arch melody and sings a second imitation of the same lyrics for the first phrase at the end. The following phrase does the same but is sung with a harmony for the second phrase ending. The end phrase in the second measure is sung alone.

• 1:53 3rd verse begins: The ukulele comes in and plays chords until the end of this verse. Tori repeats the lyrics for the first verse for the 3rd verse. On the first measure she sings the first phrase ”He’s a Bad Man” and Tori sings 2 imitation vocal parts that sing “Just a bad bad man”, and then she sings” Mr. Bad Man” and the 2 vocal parts sing “ Such a bad man” and then a polyphonic harmony at the end all together. The second phrase in the second measure is sung alone like the second verse.

• 2:21 Chorus: On this chorus there is an electric guitar that plays an imitation of the bass guitars melody that is an ascending slow melody that descends followed by an ascending riff played fast that then descends at the end. Tori plays diminutive chords that are choppy like the first chorus. Tori sings a repeat of the soprano falsetto that follows a disjunct arch and then descends. The chorus then goes into the variation.

Mr. Bad Man Contiued• 2:50 Chorus variation: The bass plays a slow

disjunct arch that each note is held for about a half note. The electric guitar on this part plays an imitation of what Tori is singing for the backup. Tori plays the Rhodes piano on this part and just chords. Tori sings “And flavor too” in an alto pitch and sings a polyphonic harmony of “Doo” in the background for 2 measures. On the third measure a third vocal harmony is added in the soprano range for the remaining measure.The instruments play a final chord for the end of Tori’s last word.

• 3:18 End: The song ends with Tori singing the last “Doo” and draws the note out, and then ends..

Playboy Mommy

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ5ornWMukM

• 0:00 Introduction: The songs starts out with the drums playing a slow common time rhythm. There is a synthesized alto saxophone melody played on a keyboard. The synthesized saxophone has a clean nasal timbre. It plays a monophonic descending melody the first notes are held and drawn out and then as it descends the last notes it plays a polyphonic disjunct inverted arch and then fades out.

• 0:18 1st verse begins: Tori sings a monophonic soprano melody that has small jumps in pitch. Her voice has a smoky mellow timbre. The beginning of the verse the dynamics of the piano is played soft for a few measures and then the piano starts to play with more volume. The bass comes in on the second measure of the verse and plays a slow rhythm with single notes. The bass has a deep boom and is more noticeable with the piano playing softer.

Playboy Mommy

• 0:47 Chorus: Tori sings an inverted arch with the bass playing an ascending single note melody played in a triad form. The piano plays in the lower keys single notes with chords. The chorus continues for four measures and then goes into the intro theme.

• 1:24 Intro theme: The synthesized saxophone melody comes back in with the same intro theme and plays only one measure of a descending disjunct form. The piano plays an ascending melody with single notes in the lower keys.

• 1:33 2nd verse begins: On the second verse tori sings the same melody but adds a harmony on the end of each phrase on the first two measures. The piano and bass guitar repeats their same melody.

• 2:02 Chorus: On this chorus along with the vocals, piano and bass repeating the same parts;there is two guitars that join the melody. One is an electric guitar the other is an acoustic. The electric guitar is playing chords and strumming up; the acoustic guitar is playing with a slide. The timbre of the acoustic guitar with the slide being used is a smooth twangy sound, and the electric guitar is a metallic high scratchy sound.

• 2:39 Solo: After this chorus the acoustic guitar plays a solo with the slide. Tori hums a few notes towards the end of the solo.

• 2:57 3rd verse begins: This verse is sung with a different melody than the other verses. Tori sings a inverted arch that is disjunct. The end of the third verse goes into a semi tiny bridge.

Playboy Mommy Contiued

• 3:11 end of the 3rd verse: Here Tori sings a polyphonic conjunct descending melody with only brief chords played from the bass, piano and guitars. The instruments fade out and just the vocals and harmony are heard on the last word that is held for about 3 seconds.

• 3:20 Chorus: On this chorus Tori sing polyphonic harmonies at the end of every other measure. At the end, instead of singing everything; Tori speaks the very end part and her voice cracks of few time to add emotional emphasis on the end. All of the other instruments play the same as the second chorus.

• 4:02 End: Tori sings the very end of the song with a harmony and then the harmony fades out.

Wenesday

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=WRGOMyJeqrw

• 0:00 Introduction/ 1st verse begins: The introduction starts right into the verse. The rhythm follows a duple meter and simple division for the verse. Tori sings an arch syncopation in the major mode. The drums are playing an upbeat tempo with the snare being hit softly with a jazz stick to give it a smooth rattle texture. The bass is playing a fast single note disjunct inverted arch that goes into a descending melody. The piano is playing an imitation of the same melody as the bass.

• 0:18 Chorus: On the chorus there is an electric guitar that is using a wah wah pedal that gives the timbre a funky metallic round sound. The bass plays slower single notes and again the piano plays an imitation of the melody. The melody is very disjunct with an inverted arch that switches to an arch on the second measure. Tori sings an arch that goes from being alto to soprano pitch and holds the last word for a brief moment that fades with the piano playing a single note 3 times that goes into the bridge.

Wednesday Continued• 0:39 bridge: The piano starts to play chords that follow

the rhythm of a triple meter with simple division beat. Tori also sings a soprano pitch melody that descends and then goes into an ascending melody and follows the same form for the second measure. The bass comes in on the second division section in the first measure and continues to play with piano and vocals for the end of the bridge. 1:02 2nd verse begins: Here there is an acoustic guitar added that is playing a rhythm with single notes being played in between chords. The piano and bass play a repeat melody from the first verse. The vocals repeat the same melody as the first verse.

• 1:20 Chorus: The electric guitar plays the rhythm strumming up and down with the Wah Wah pedal and is using his palm every now and then for a controlled muting of the chords to give it a crisp syncopated percussive sound. The piano and bass play the same parts for the chorus of a disjunct melody with an inverted arch that changes to an arch on the second measure. Tori sings the same melody no other harmonies are added. She again holds the last word for a brief moment that fades with the piano playing the single note 3 times that goes into the last bridge section.

• 1:43 Last bridge/End: The vocals and piano start the bridge again the rhythm is a triple meter and simple division beat. On this bridge there is an electric guitar that is using the wah wah pedal with distortion and it has some reverb added to give it a lengthy crisp mournful ring to it. The electric guitar is playing only two single notes that are alternated throughout the end of this bridge. The electric guitar comes in at the same time as Tori and the piano. The bass starts on the second division on the first measure and plays a alternating melody of an disjunct arch that goes into an inverted arch followed by a descending section and then a last note by all of the instruments together and the last note is held until it fades and Tori sings the last word.

• 2:29 End: The song ends with Tori holding the last word of “America” and drawing out the note for about 4-5 seconds and then she lets it go.

References/BibliographyWorks cited• Sweeting, Adam . "Tori Amos goes back to classical." Website Title. Sinfini Music,

19th April, 2013 . Web. 28 June 2013. <http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/watch/2013/03/interview-tori-amos/>.

• Daly, Steven. "Her Secret Garden." Rolling Stone 789 (1998): 38. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 July 2013.

• "Tori Amos." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jul 01 2013, 08:01 http://www.biography.com/people/tori-amos-600646.

• "The Official Tori Amos Website." The Official Tori Amos Website. Ed. Philip Fierlinger and Rob Van Tuin. The Bridge Entertainment Group, 01 July 2013. Web. June-July 2013.

• Verna, PaulSexton, Paul. "Tori Amos Isn't Alone In Her `Hotel.'." Billboard 110.14 (1998): 9. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 July 2013.

• Romano, Audrey. "Tori Amos: HEREINMYHEAD.COM." Here In My Head. Audrey Romano, n.d. Web. 02 July 2013.

• Titus, Christa. "Tori Amos Surveys Reaction To Sept. 11 On Epic Debut, 'Scarlet's Walk'." Billboard 114.42 (2002): 12. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 3 July 2013.

References/Bibliography Cont.Works Cited

Father Lucifer• Bambarger, Bradley. "The Modern Age." Billboard 108.6 (1996): 75. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1

July 2013.• "The Official Tori Amos Website." The Official Tori Amos Website. Ed. Philip Fierlinger and Rob

Van Tuin. The Bridge Entertainment Group, 01 July 2013. Web. June-July 2013.• "Tori Amos." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jul 01 2013, 08:01

http://www.biography.com/people/tori-amos-600646.• Romano, Audrey. "Tori Amos: HEREINMYHEAD.COM." Here In My Head. Audrey Romano, n.d.

Web. 02 July 2013.Mr. Bad Man• "The Official Tori Amos Website." The Official Tori Amos Website. Ed. Philip Fierlinger and Rob

Van Tuin. The Bridge Entertainment Group, 01 July 2013. Web. June-July 2013.• Titus, Christa L. "Big Wheel." Billboard 119.20 (2007): 72. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 July

2013.• Eliscu, Jenny. "American Doll Posse." Rolling Stone 1027 (2007): 95. Academic Search Premier. Web.

3 July 2013.• Titus, Christa. "She's Got The Power." Billboard 121.16 (2009): 31. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 3 July

2013.

References/Bibliography Cont.Playboy Mommy• Daly, Steven. "Her Secret Garden." Rolling Stone 789 (1998): 38. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 July 2013.• Verna, PaulSexton, Paul. "Tori Amos Isn't Alone In Her `Hotel.'." Billboard 110.14 (1998): 9. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 July

2013.• "The Official Tori Amos Website." The Official Tori Amos Website. Ed. Philip Fierlinger and Rob Van Tuin. The Bridge

Entertainment Group, 01 July 2013. Web. June-July 2013.• "Tori Amos." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jul 01 2013, 08:01 http://www.biography.com/people/tori-amos-

600646.• Romano, Audrey. "Tori Amos: HEREINMYHEAD.COM." Here In My Head. Audrey Romano, n.d. Web. 02 July 2013.Wednesday• Titus, Christa. "Tori Amos Surveys Reaction To Sept. 11 On Epic Debut, 'Scarlet's Walk'." Billboard 114.42 (2002): 12.

MasterFILE Premier. Web. 3 July 2013.• "The Official Tori Amos Website." The Official Tori Amos Website. Ed. Philip Fierlinger and Rob Van Tuin. The Bridge

Entertainment Group, 01 July 2013. Web. June-July 2013.• BOB, EDWARDS. "Profile: Life And Music Of Tori Amos." Morning Edition (NPR) (n.d.): Newspaper Source. Web. 3 July 2013.• National Park Service. 2013. NPScape: monitoring landscape dynamics of US National Parks. Natural Resource Program

Center, Inventory and Monitoring Division. Fort Collins, Colorado. http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/npscape/.• Monahan, W. B., J. E. Gross, L. K. Svancara, and T. Philippi. 2012. A guide to interpreting NPScape data and analyses. Natural

Resource Technical Report NPS/NRSS/NRTR—2012/578. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.• Romano, Audrey. "Tori Amos: HEREINMYHEAD.COM." Here In My Head. Audrey Romano, n.d. Web. 02 July 2013.• Mikewhy. "Tampa, FL - November 7, 2002 - Set List & Reviews." Tampa, FL - November 7, 2002 - Set List & Reviews. The

Dent, n.d. Web. 03 July 2013.