you for a while

Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos

Instrumentation: Vocals, Bose, Electric Keyboard, Drums, Bass, Guitars, Background Vocals

Brief Summary: Spark represents the myriad of emotions that fall out from a dramatic loss–a miscarriage in this instance. Tori has suffered several miscarriages and the writing of Choirgirl Hotel was her way of coping with this trauma. Tori is hard on herself in this song (she’s convinced she can hold back a glacier, but she couldn’t keep baby alive…doubting if there’s a woman in there somewhere). The lyrics of Spark are almost a stream of consciousness…the hundreds of random and intense thoughts that pass through ones mind during the most painful moment of their life. For instance, Tori asks if her baby is now trusting her soul to the ice cream assassin (God) instead of her.

Tori’s Comments: “Spark is about when I miscarried, in 1996. I was three months pregnant and very excited. All of a sudden I woke up one morning and started to feel bad…the songs started coming soon after. I was really angry at God. Going into a shopping mall and seeing some woman knock the head off her child! I’m going - ‘So this is fair?’ I don’t know where the spirit went…whether she picked another mummy. Like, “OK, choose her then! Hope you’re tone deaf!”

Fan Comments/Interpretations: Tori fans empathize with their heroine as she struggles to deal with her miscarriage. They (well, we) can actually feel her pain as she contemplates the implications of not being a mother. Most people interpret the spark to be the child. The 6:58 do you know where your spark is line is a play on the popular public service ad “Its 11:00 do you know where your children are?” Tori contemplates that line and says, no. Its 6:58 and I don’t know where my child is. She’s supposed to be inside of me, but she has traipsed off somewhere and now I’m left all alone. There is not a fan on any interp forum who doesn’t feel something powerful when they listen to Spark, whether its sadness, sympathy, guilt, or fear.

China2Ny’s Comments: Spark reminds me of a very exciting time in my life. I had just listened to Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink, and Boys for Pele for months straight and I frothed at the mouth just thinking of the “new album” coming out. I drove to the record store early that morning of the new release (I had just started driving on my own…another indication of how special this moment was), came home (alas, no CD player in my car), fumbled with the packaging, stuck the CD into my parents stereo, set the volume to high and BAM! The dramatic keyboard entry to Spark. Still sends chills up my spine thinking of it. My 15/16 year old brain was on FIRE!