Liquid Diamonds
Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos
Instrumentation: Drums, Programming, Bass, Bose, and Carbon Vox…and Vocals
Brief Summary: This is a total stab in the dark. Tori’s quote and fan comments give a much better pictures. But, Liquid Diamonds gives the impression of a lament for Tori’s lost baby. Lines such as “There’s a sea secret in me…but I must be flowing liquid diamonds” suggest the loss of of a baby as do lines like, “Calling for my soul at the corners of the world. I know she’s playing poker with the rest of the stragglers.” As Tori suggests below, there is also an element of surrendering to the pain in this song, as “I hear she still grants forgiveness, although I willingly forgot her” would suggest.
Tori’s Comments: “I don’t know of anybody who is gonna be fulfilled if they get hit by a bus. You have to surrender to that eternal need to be fulfilled. That’s very much what Liquid Diamonds was for me.”
Fan Comments/Interpretations: This Tori Amos song has many ears with feet stumped, but most believe Liquid Diamonds is another metaphor for Tori’s miscarriage. Some say that Liquid Diamonds is a phrase taken from Neil Gaiman book used to describe the entity of the child she lost. One fan, “Cloud girl,” on SongMeanings.net, had a different, unique take. I liked it so much, I’m going to steal it and quote it here. She takes the miscarriage theme and takes it a step further:
“‘I guess I’m an underwater thing…’ I interpret this as she means under water…blue, sad, stifled… she can’t breathe, she’s struggling in the depths. And also: she’s misunderstood. She says, ‘I guess I can’t take it personally.’ People are misreading her. She’s blurred by the crests of water. You know when you try to look under the water, but all you see is the surface? That’s what Tori means. people have a disfigured, distorted and unclear vision of her, and that upsets her greatly because she’s been through hell and she feels like a terrible mess.”
China2Ny’s Comments: I think sometimes you have to be in a place in your life to be able to commune with any one Tori Amos song. Liquid Diamonds was my least favorite on From the Choirgirl Hotel for a long time. Then one day…I totally got it. And its been at the top of my list ever since.
I read once another fan interpreted LQ to be about Tori’s feelings about waiting too long to try for motherhood. When she began to have problems with it she felt angry at herself for delaying the process (time running out). She wanted to forgive herself, and LQ was her responce to that achy feeling.
I don’t know if this is the actual reason the song was created. Although, I do think it fits with some of the lyrics….
Thanks Meredith! This makes total sense. Makes me more of a fan of it, given that I’ll probably be in my mid-thirties by the time I’m ready to have children.