So, for this week I chose an album with songs of The Beatles, Tom Waits, Eminem, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode and Slayer, among others.
"I've always found it fascinating how men say things and how women hear them. Words can wound and words can heal, and both are included on the album. I've heard a lot of people say, 'They're only words; what is everybody going on about?' But words are powerful; words are like guns. Your fingerprints cannot be erased from your words; you only leave the scene of the crime covered in ink. A person has to take responsibility for their words. We as writers cannot separate ourselves from what we create. All of these songs were created by powerful wordsmiths, whether you agree with them or not".
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Strange Little Girls is a conceptual album of covers made by Tori Amos and released on September 18th, 2001. Tori decided to take songs written by men about women, and try to put on the place of that women. (The album was released with six different covers; I just went with my favorite one).
This is long before the resurgence of the feminist movement and the #MeToo movement. When this was released, 9/11 had happened just a week ago.
Each song is a woman with a story. The girl in "Rattlesnakes" is a mysterious, elusive girl, still hurt by her unborn child; the twins in "Heart of gold" are ready to eat the world; the girl in "Real men" is an androgynous girl, or a boy.
It is a rarity in Amos' catalogue. She had always played covers (her most famous one is Nirvana's "Smell like teen spirit"), but this album doesn't sound like her at all. The production is there just to reinforce the concept of the album; her vocal performance is closer to acting than singing.
Some songs are similar to the original ("Time", "Real men"), but some of them are just heresy. Listen to what she did to "Heart of gold" or "Raining blood" (the singer of Slayer himself confessed he couldn't identify his song on that version).
And then there's the centerpiece: her cover of "'97 Bonnie and Clyde". Eminem sang about murdering his wife; Tori decided to sing what Eminem's wife was listening while she was in the back of the car.
It is breathtaking.
I chose this album mainly because it is so appropriate for these moments, when men we should shut the fuck up, listen to women and stop to think what our words did and still do to them. I don't think Tori is a favorite for a lot of people here, but this album doesn't really sound like her other work.
I have so many personal memories linked to this album, some good and some terrible, but what still strikes me is how demanding of attention it is, how hard it forces me to think about my privileged position.
As the girl in the first song says, it's the beginning of a new age.
A couple of videos:
This was on the first show Letterman made after 9/11. I think Letterman asked Tori to play this song for all the people in New York City.
"Strange little girl" was the only single of the album. At this point, the company record was done with Tori Amos and gave her no support for the album.
She released two b-sides, one was Alice Cooper's "Only women bleed" and this cover of Bowie's "After all".
