My Top 50 Tori Amos Songs.

I was recently asked to compile a list of my top 50 favorite Tori songs for a project that my twitter friend Daniel (@DanielBoudreaux @ToriSongs) has undertaken. His idea is to take top 50 song lists from 50 of the biggest Tori fans, and use a scientifically measured poll of points to create a master top 50 list. The idea being that the results could be some of Tori’s greatest, or most appreciated works. He will take everyone’s lists and use this system to re-equate the songs into a master list. For example, songs nearer to the top of people’s lists receive more points than songs near the bottom, so the very favorite songs garner more weight than songs closer to the end. It’s Tori Amos geekery at it’s best. I love it.

What I didn’t expect was the nostalgic journey that creating my own list would take me on. I’ve been a pretty big Tori fan for a long time. My second piano teacher recommended her music to me when I was a young teenager. Although I don’t listen to her as regularly as I used to, she remains my favorite musician ever. So over the course of the two weeks I’ve been making this list, I listened to pretty much her entire catalog. I didn’t just put my iPod on Tori-shuffle and listen to whatever popped up. In fact, I actually got out my Little Earthquakes album, blew the dust off of it, and put it on AN ACTUAL CD player as I tidied up my kitchen and did a couple chores. Then a few days later I actually got out my vinyl Boys For Pele, and gave it a spin from start to finish for the first time in over 10 years (with of course a nice bottle of wine). On a long drive to visit a friend, I listened to Scarlet’s Walk from start to finish. One night, I just sat on my porch with some tea and listened to From The Choirgirl Hotel. None of her music has “aged” at all to me. All the songs take me right back to the moments in my life when I first really experienced it. Sometimes, I still even hear things I hadn’t noticed before. It also made me realize that I really miss the “old” way of listening to music. Putting on an album, and listening to the parts that you love AS WELL AS the parts you don’t care for as much.

Looking at this list now that I’m finished, it very much looks like the soundtrack of my life. These songs have taken me through many of the ups and downs that one faces in this world; Friendships, break-ups, college, travel, deaths, births, and those little life-changing moments that only you experience in the privacy of your own head. After I submitted my list, Daniel said to me “I think it defines you wonderfully, I’m getting a little choked up looking at the top ten, on down… the stories it tells…”

The stories it tells indeed.

As with any list of this nature. It could change from year to year, it’s not finite. I tried to take into account as much of her recent work as I could, I think sometimes we forget Tori also had dud songs back in the day (The Wrong Band, anyone?). I was amused by some of my choices, as things like “Cornflake Girl” and “The Waitress” didn’t make my list, her Y Kant Tori Read “Fayth” anthem did. There was a time in my life I couldn’t leave the house without having a good sing-a-long to that song, the middle eight still has the power to fill me with optimism:

I could wake up to face the day

Maybe I could start again

Why am I afraid of change

Maybe Fayth will understand

Darling I remember when

I held the violets in my hand

Love can crush, held too tight

We could bring it back alive

With a little more

Fayth.

In the end, there were a good 25 songs that didn’t make the cut, and it broke my heart. It felt like I was excluding memories from my past. I knew immediately that my first song would be “Playboy Mommy” and my last would be “Twinkle.” I also knew that from her most recent work, “Carry” and “Fearlessness” had to be represented, even though I’m still getting to know them.

Anyways, here we go:

1. Playboy Mommy
2. Cloud on my Tongue
3. A Sorta Fairytale
4. Hey, Jupiter
5. Northern Lad
6. Caught a Lite Sneeze
7. Baker, baker
8. Tear in Your Hand
9. Cooling
10. Marianne
11. Liquid Diamonds
12. Spark
13. Hotel
14. Winter
15. Father Lucifer
16. Riot Poof
17. Past the Mission
18. Gold Dust
19. Jackie’s Strength
20. Spring Haze
21. Putting the Damage On
22. IIEEE
23. Sugar
24. Silent All These Years
25. Crucify
26. Fearlessness
27. Upside Down
28. Merman
29. Fire on the Side
30. Winter’s Carol
31. Bouncing Off Clouds
32. Toast
33. Carry
34. Fayth
35. Raspberry Swirl
36. Dolphin Song
37. Datura
38. Icicle
39. Code Red
40. She’s Your Cocaine
41. Secret Spell
42. Precious Things
43. Take to the Sky
44. Take me with You
45. Pancake
46. Indian Summer
47. Pandora’s Aquarium
48. Belulah Land
49. Girl
50. Twinkle