If I Was Jesus, I Would Not Be Showing Up There With Those Dry Babes
Jeez. I can't get to sleep cause I had coffee at 6:00pm. I was planning on writing all sorts of interesting stuff. About how me and Casey saw Ani Difranco at Town Hall on Saturday. About how Dennis Kucinich played shaker during the encore. About how tonight I saw a show called "The Birthright Israel Monologues." About how I've been getting gazillions of emails ever since I posted a casting call on Playbill.com.
But all I want to do is share with you this video clip:
The existence of this clip astonishes me. I heard a bootleg audio version of this when I was 15, on a dub of a dub of a dub of a cassette that a friend of my girlfriend made me, and it confirmed my suspicion that Tori Amos is some kind of Martian. Her deconstruction of these two Led Zeppelin songs defined my expectation for every "cover song" I've since heard. A few days ago, while making that CD for Jeff, I rediscovered the audio. And, on a lark, just now, I searched YouTube for "Tori Amos" and "Whole Lotta Love," only to find that the EXACT SAME PERFORMANCE was actually from a TV SHOW. The editing sucks, and pulls back for all the most shocking performative moments, so you rarely get to see her face making these noises. And there's a typically elliptical story beforehand, which only makes sense to me because I've heard her tell a more coherent version of the same bit. She says the name "Robert" as a punch line, as though everyone already knows she's talking about Robert Plant. She always speaks in this ridiculous short-hand, assuming that you're privy to inside information that she doesn't divulge. That may be the definition of insanity. Regardless. The story wasn't in my bootleg, and it freaks me out. In my imagination, the song always followed some sort of trance or growling spasm.
Anyway, even if the visuals aren't that interesting, close your eyes and listen. (I recommend reviewing the original Led Zep versions of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Thank You" first.)
Love
Dan
ps: Here's the more coherent version of her banter (from 00:49 to 02:00):
But all I want to do is share with you this video clip:
The existence of this clip astonishes me. I heard a bootleg audio version of this when I was 15, on a dub of a dub of a dub of a cassette that a friend of my girlfriend made me, and it confirmed my suspicion that Tori Amos is some kind of Martian. Her deconstruction of these two Led Zeppelin songs defined my expectation for every "cover song" I've since heard. A few days ago, while making that CD for Jeff, I rediscovered the audio. And, on a lark, just now, I searched YouTube for "Tori Amos" and "Whole Lotta Love," only to find that the EXACT SAME PERFORMANCE was actually from a TV SHOW. The editing sucks, and pulls back for all the most shocking performative moments, so you rarely get to see her face making these noises. And there's a typically elliptical story beforehand, which only makes sense to me because I've heard her tell a more coherent version of the same bit. She says the name "Robert" as a punch line, as though everyone already knows she's talking about Robert Plant. She always speaks in this ridiculous short-hand, assuming that you're privy to inside information that she doesn't divulge. That may be the definition of insanity. Regardless. The story wasn't in my bootleg, and it freaks me out. In my imagination, the song always followed some sort of trance or growling spasm.
Anyway, even if the visuals aren't that interesting, close your eyes and listen. (I recommend reviewing the original Led Zep versions of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Thank You" first.)
Love
Dan
ps: Here's the more coherent version of her banter (from 00:49 to 02:00):
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Dan Fishback is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Dan Fishback may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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