you for a while

To divulge a bit of personal info, I am a psychology student about a year and a half from my good ol’ Playa Hatin’ Degree (PhD for those of you who aren’t “down” he he he). I work primarily with the severely and persistently mentally ill. I was driving into work this morning listening to Purple People and I was surprised how perfectly it described the plight of a patient with schizophrenia. Just thought I’d share a bit of this interpretation.

(Oh, and by the way. Isabel opened in Wallingford, CT last night and the set was wonderful and included a cover of the “Let it Be.” Not that I’m shirking my concert review responsibilities, but I don’t want to be labeled as a “concert review” blog. There are other sites that do that much better than me. Besides, “YouForAWhile” suggests a sort of crawling into Tori’s skin and the best way to do that is via her songs…so I like to try out that shoe every now and then too…)

Okay. Stanza 1:

Well, hey, do you do Judo when they surround you?
A little mental Yoga will they disappear?
It’s grim but never dubious as motives go,
No matter what it takes she promises a show.

Here I picture a young woman with schizophrenia who is truly terrified of everyone around her, even her treatment team who is trying to help her, because she is under the delusion that they are out to get her. She tries to defend herself by kicking and screaming (i.e. “Judo”) but she ends up in restraints…hence “the show.”

Chorus:

Thunder wishes it could be the snow.
Wishes it could be as loved as she can be;
These gifts are here for her. For you. For me.

This woman knows she is more than her illness and wants others to love that side of her instead of fearing the “crazy” side.

Stanza 2:

I watch me be this other thing, I never know
if I’m marooned or where the Purple People go.
Then lily white matricide from vicious words.
It doesn’t leave a scratch so, therefore, no one’s hurt.

This woman watches herself, her behavior, from outside of herself. Perhaps she is reflecting on her psychotic episode when out of the episode. She is scared, never knowing if life is real or if she is yet again in her altered reality (seeing Purple People is a phrase often used for “being crazy”). She says all kinds of mean things while in her episode that she doesn’t mean and she feels guilty. The “doesn’t leave a scratch” line is meant to be facetious. She knows her words hurt.

Chorus…again. Same meaning.

Stanza 3:

And on and on the nurses make it clear:
“Just when you escape you have yourself to fear.”
A restaurant that never has to close…
breakfast every hour, it could save the world.

She is leaving the hosptial, again reflecting on what she has learned over the course of her hospital stay, i.e. what the “nurses” have told her. She is no longer in a psychotic state. She has escaped. BUT, she now has to deal with herself, the consequences of her psychotic behavior, and the fact that all of this mess will probably happen again. If life were simple…if we never made it past breakfast and didn’t run head first into the stress of daily life, things would be much easier for her.

Last stanza:

So, hey, do you do Judo in your finery?
An angel’s face is tricky to wear constantly…

Clear-headed she looks around and notices that she is not alone. That everyone on this planet is “crazy” in some way. Even the ones that are all dolled up and seemingly have it together (i.e. those in their finery). Indeed, sanity is the facade, insanity reins in most of us. Sanity is hard to maintain for long.

I remember a story Tori Amos told about this song on a boot. The “I’m Betsy Brown, do you do Judo? I do Judo” story. This Betsy sounds manic to me, and futher points me into the direction of this interpretation.

Thanks for listening. Thoughts?

Filed under: China2Ny on October 17th, 2007