Caught a Lite Sneeze
Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos
Instrumentation: Vocals, Acoustic Piano (Bosendorfer), Harpsichord, Drum Programming, Swells, Bass
Brief Summary: Caught a Lite Sneeze is one of those Tori songs (and there are a lot of them on Boys for Pele) that is open to quite a bit of interpretation. But, stringing together some of Tori’s quotes on the song, it appears that CALS has something to do with being in a relationship and the other person, well, not being so nice…stringing the other person along because he knows that she’ll put up with anything. The girl is trying desperately to put things back together and it doesn’t work. In hindsight, she looks back and realizes that, “Hm, that wasn’t as deep of a relationship as I thought. It was a bit on the ‘lite’ side.”
Tori’s Comments: “He was a lite sneeze, and not the flu. Guys would like to think they’re the flu, but sometimes they’re just a ‘h’achoo.’”
Fan Comments/Interpretations: Some fans are dead set on the fact that many of the songs on Boys for Pele involve Tori’s opinion on Courtney Love. In this instance, some suggest that Tori was involved in a love triangle with Eric Rosse and Trent Reznor…Eric left and then Tori had Trent, but then Courtney Love made off with Trent? I don’t know, there aren’t a whole lot of sources to back that up, but some fans find evidence in the lyrics (i.e. that she usually opens CALS with some version of “Hurt”). Other fans paint a broader picture, believing CALS to be about a woman who things so highly of a man who can never meet her expectations and when she looks back on things she realizes things weren’t as big of a deal as they seemed at the time.
China2Ny’s Comments: Great song. I don’t have any special little anecdotes other than I think CALS is a great song…and a pretty awesome video.
I posted an interpretation of this song on my website suggesting that the character is a pregnant young woman. I agree it’s about a relationship that is failing (or has failed) and she’s been abandoned. I’ve read a lot of fan comments saying the song is about Reznor, but I don’t buy it. I think it’s a fictitious character, not Tori herself.
It’s me again (obviously I love your blog!) but I got something on this song as well.
According to Tori herself (in the promotional video of the making of Boys for Pele) this song is about a Nun surrounded by men (the priests, God the father)–”boys on my left side, boys on my right side”– and she is trying to find the feminine in spirituality (”boys in their dresses and you’re not here, I need a big loan, from the girl zone…).
The background lyric is “Inanna” (the Sumerian Goddess) and Tori explains that the Nun is calling down the Goddess in the church.
That is awesome. Is that the promotional video where she seems a bit…um…more out there than usual? Love that about her.