you for a while

Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos

Instrumentation: Acoustic Piano, Vocals, Strings

Brief Summary: In this song, Tori admits to her emotional unavailability in relationships, particularly the romance she had with producer Eric Rosse. It is almost as if Baker Baker is a sort of apology to him. You get the feeling, listening to Baker Baker that she is truly grief stricken because, although she hadn’t committed to him 100% as he had to her, she wanted to, and was trying to…she just took too long.

Tori’s Comments: (from the Under the Pink songbook) “There’s a stream that runs up in the Rockies and it runs into a bigger stream and finally makes it’s way to a river…but never the ocean…and I was thinking about being whole again and that you don’t have to make it to the ocean to be whole again. Maybe you freeze and become a snow witch or maybe a sandwich and melt away…and that’s o.k. I think.”

Fan Comments/Interpretations: The fans who play with the Baker metaphor are most amusing. Some people say that the Baker is a close platonic friend, much stronger than herself, that she’s coming to for help. Some say the baker is her therapist. Many fans distill Baker Baker down to one word: Regret.

China2Ny’s Comments: Baker Baker reminds me of China, but this time Tori is the one who has built the Great Wall around her. Except, whereas she wanted to make it work with the guy in China, this guy in Baker Baker is fed up with the distance she is placing between them and decided to leave.

The Tales of a Librarian album is worth getting just for the remastered version of Baker Baker, imho.