Little Earthquakes
Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos
Instrumentation: Vocal, Acoustic Piano, Guitar, Bass, Keyboard Programming, Saw, Backgrounds
Brief Summary: Tori takes a break from diary-writing and waxes poetic on the general messed-up state of the world in “Little Earthquakes.” In her Tori kind of way, she observes that everyone spends too much time getting emotional distraught over simple things when there is a while world that needs attending to. And, she comments on how we tend to lose ourselves in all of the minutiae, hence the powerful refrain, “Give me live, give me pain, give me myself again.”
Tori’s Comments: (from the Little Earthquakes songbook) “My eye twitches sometimes. I was surrounded by the thoughts I smash. They decided I would be a good dinner. I decided I wanted 3 bridges in this song.”
Fan Comments/Interpretations: Most Tori fans that endeavor to interpret “Little Earthquakes” view it from a global perspective, although there are some who believe the song centers on a couple. For instance, the “little earthquakes” could be small fights between a two people that, if allowed to accumulate, will mean the demise of the relationship. Although, if they were looking at the big picture, things are still fine.
China2Ny’s Comments: I literally played “Little Earthquakes” at top volume in my bedroom in my parents house, like, a quarter of a billion times. It still gets heavy rotation in my car, especially the morning after a televised political speech.
I always thought the little earthquakes were the little tremors that take place within a person, or that happen to your psyche. Little upsets that shake you up and gradually remove your facade so that in the end, by the time you get to “give me life, give me pain” you’ve had enough little facade-breakers that you want to embrace everything that an authentic life has to offer–life, pain, and your very self.
Beautifully put, Bea.