Need help interpreting these lyrics (Past the Mission - Tori Amos/Trent Reznor)

Sounds like the writer suspects the girl who knew him well of murdering him, but that’s just my guess. I’ve never heard the dong nor know this artist.

Myself, I’m not entirely sure, but the overwhelming theory on this site is that the woman in the song is Mary Magdalene, and the man is Jesus.

Sorry, to late to edit. Song, not dong lol

@Judi Hehe!

Tori Amos is one of my all-time favorite artist and I also have had a tough time figuring out what her songs actually mean. When I first listened to her album (Boy For Pele), I remembered stumbling across a forum solely dedicated to the interpretation of Tori Amos’ songs lyrics, but I can’t find it now… Sorry. However, this website http://www.hereinmyhead.com/collect/under/utp4.html has Tori’s comment on the song and as jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities said above, it’s to do with the book “Holy Blood Holy Grail”. Hope that helps.

You are now my best friend for knowing who Tori Amos is and listening to her music.

I, too, however, have no fucking idea.

^_^

I have also heard of the Mary Magdalene/Jesus theory though, which provides somewhat of an explanation for the “hey they found a body/not sure it was his/still they’re using his name/and she gave him shelter” part of the song.

<<also big tori fan. i love her story telling. ive never looked it up…but i think its jesus/mary related. i know she was a catholic school girl, right? and i think some f’d up shit she’s seen and experienced sooo…yeah..a few of her songs relate to that.

When I hear this song I hear a story of knowing.

Of how it is possible to know another differently than any other person will.

The sort of knowing where the mystery of one meets another and in this meeting is the gift of a knowing intimacy that penetrates past rules, dogma, expectations, acquaintance, history, and impression into the depths of wonder that can never be fully understood except by the two.

just sayin’

@liminal lurve

@jjmah word.

I love Tori and this has always been one of my favorite songs of hers. However, until this evening, I had no idea what the song meant. I’m kind of literal and Tori’s lyrics are usually pretty abstract, so I kinda just go along with the imagery and how the song feels to me. Thanks for that link, @jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities, it’s interesting to me to have more insight into the song’s meaning. And seeing that she refers to herself a lot as a “recovering Christian”, it would make a lot of sense.

christian! i knew it was something absurd like christianity or catholicism.

It may be Catholicism, I can’t remember. But either way, she refers to herself as “recovering”. I know she has a bunch of songs that make reference to how religion played in her upbringing and how she’s since distanced herself from it.

Her father was (is?) a Methodist preacher, if that clears anything up.

I’ve always wondered about the lyrics to Waitress. Especially the part “I want to kill this waitress/if I did it fast it would be an act of kindness.” Any thoughts as to why she wanted to kill this waitress?

Love this song and Tori Amos.

In fact, I was so enchanted by this whole album (“Under the Pink”), it inspired me to write a childrens book. I’ve been sitting on the script and character bios for years. One of these days I’ll have the time to illustrate it.

Anyway, it’s the fourth song on the album and I interpreted it as part of the journey the two girls in my story were on.

Independent of my personal (and self-serving) interpretation, I have heard that it was about Jesus and Mary M. also.

This is my favorite question ever, as I love this album (and Tori Amos) and nobody ever talks about it.

@holden: I always figured “Waitress” was pretty straight-forward. Just an immediate visceral reaction to the bad service of an annoying/rude waitress. An angry thought balloon as it were. I pictured the song going through her head as she sat at the table fuming.

@cprevite she is possibly the most underrated musician in the world. I love her so hard.

I am speaking from the point of view as someone who writes poetry, or assembles words, or condesnes stories into a minimal amount of words that produce a vivid flash of imagery in your mind.

As the artist, you listen to, watch, read, and learn what you love and are interested in, and when you get in the state of mind where related interesting thoughts are coming to you, you let them. They can come from anywhere. In this case, something she read! It’s a question of word knowledge, taste, and appropriate rhyming, which can obscure the meaning a little further.

Whats amazing to me right now, is that I’ve never heard that song, nor do I know the story it’s referring to, but I have Holy Blood Holy Grail on my book wishlist. I consider that to be in the same category as Mary Magdalene: The Illuminator, by William Henry on my wishlist.

I believe the person she refers to is Judas who is describing Mary M.

@liminal I love your viewpoint. :)

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities thx

I like her voice, but she has some issues from her childhood and some of her stuff makes me a bit uncomfortable. It’s almost like she’s working out her issues in public. I thouth the same about Trent Reznor for a long time, and I think it’s significant that they’ve teamed up.
The lyrics are ambiguous to me, which may be intentional. Eddie Vetter is another person who seems to write things that are intensely personal. I love the raw quality of his voice, but some of his stuff makes for some discomfort. I almost feel like I’m peeping into his head where I have no business being.

Another great one.

@Trillian – Where would an artist be without angst? Honestly, some of the best music albums are from angry periods in the musician’s life. For example, Paula Cole’s most famous album was really angry, and in my opinion, it is her best.. the one after that was written after she found religion and became peaceful, and it’s just not as good.

And it can be really cathartic and wonderful to listen to music born out of pain, cause at least you know the artist understood.

@jjmah Lurve to you for posting this, and lurve to everybody else. I’ve never really listened to Tori Amos, but this question inspired me to give her a try. I’ve listened to quite a few of her songs today, and I’m really enjoying them. Thanks!

@MissAnthrope I can’t deny that the angst seems to make for some great inspiration. I’m just saying that I’m slightly uncomfortable with come of the personal information. I feel like I’ve been eavesdropping.

@MissAnthrope…did u mean alanis?

@lizzyluckbox – I meant Paula Cole, but the same could be said about Alanis. Her angry album, she redid acoustically years later after finding peace, and I can’t even stand to listen to it. I love her, by the way, but the happy renditions of angry songs are just weird.

word.