you for a while

Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos

Instrumentation: Vocal, Acoustic Piano, Backgrounds, Drums, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Mandolin, Programming.

Brief Summary: And Cornflake Girl would be one of the other “why do women hate other women so much” songs on Under the Pink. In this song, Tori draws upon the writings of Alice Walker to tell the story of women who abuse, manipulate, and betray each other…even mothers and their daughters. While men are often portrayed as the abusers of women, in Cornflake Girl Tori transfers some of the blame onto the women themselves. As she states, “Cornflake Girl is betrayal, really, of girls.”

Tori’s Comments: (from the Under the Pink songbook) “History has recorded some pretty nasty things that have happened to people. I think we remember…I think it’s in our cells, and I think it can still hurt sometimes.”

Fan Comments/Interpretations: Cornflake Girl has been interpreted too many times to count. However, in general, people concur with the “betrayal of women” theme. Some people dissect the song more thoroughly, and believe it to tell the story of a particular girl trying to navigate her way through a sea of “mean girls” in order to find her true self…and getting lost on the way. According to fans, Cornflake Girl might simply represent the plight of someone pretending to be someone they are not.

China2Ny’s Comments: My absolute favorite Tori song ever. And I don’t have to say why…because everyone (well almost everyone) pretty much knows. Its a perfect song. I used to rewind (when I had the Videos VHS tape…thank god for DVD) the part of the American Cornflake Girl video where she was on the spinny thing playing air piano. I got such a jolt from that.