Space Dog
Music and Lyrics by: Tori Amos
Instrumentation: Vocals, Acoustic Piano, Bass, Drums, Guitars
Brief Summary: Several years ago, flying over Chicago, Tori had this flashing image (perhaps somehow induced) of a young boy sitting at a table in a diner with his parents, not knowing there was an entire world of possiblities for him, and a “Space Dog” messaging down to him to guide him. She took that idea and ran with it, and this song came to represent making sense out of a lot of nonsense in her life…with the help of an imaginary diety named Space Dog. Yeah, I’m confused too. But its a good song.
Tori’s Comments: (from the Under the Pink songbook) “Flying over Chicago from New Mexico I heard him — him who lives near the 7 eleven, fork in hand at a dead dinner table, staring at the peas on his plate going ‘come in Lemon Pie do you read me? Do you read me? Beam me up get me out of this place. I can’t have their genes in me. Come in, Lemon Pie’ — I read you buddy.”
Fan Comments/Interpretations: The lyrics to Space Dog make many of our heads hurt, but some fans have ventured a guess or two. Some suggest that Space Dog is a battle between a person and their brain, some say that it represents corrupt politicians, others put forth that it may be about two old girlfriends who have drifted apart. Another good one: Here is a story with a lot of mushed-up thoughts and ideas and Tori needs Neil Gaiman’s help to sort it all out.
China2Ny’s Comments: Okay, in addition to being a big Tori Amos fan, I’m also a big X-files fan…I think Space Dog fits the X-files storyline perfectly. If you are interested in hear my case, comment and I will share :p
Bring it on! “Is she pissing in the river, now?” Explain that through the X-Files! hehehehehe!
Okay…here it goes:
“Way to go Mr. Microphone” = Cigarette Smoking Man
“tells us all what you don’t know.” = Tell us what is up with this whole alien thing, man.
“Centuries, secret Societies” = The Sydicate
“he’s out commander still…Space Dog” = Should we be concerned about ‘them’ taking over?
“So sure we were on something” = Mulder and Scully are always almost there.
“Your feet are finally on the ground he said” = When Scully was returned after her abduction. He said “lets get back to work.”
“Rain and snow, our engines have been receiving your eager call. There’s Colonel Dirtyfishydishcloth, he’ll distract her good. Don’t worry so.” = Cigarette Smoking Man is always there, using Scully’s science to throw Mulder off the trail.
“And to the one you thought was on your side…she can’t understand, she truly believes the lies” = again referring to the fact that Scully has such a hard time believing in aliens.
“Lemon pie, he’s coming through. Our commander still space dog. Lines secure, space dog.” = The race between the Syndicate and the aliens to control the earth is ON.
“Seems I keep getting this story twisted so where’s neil when you need him?…somewhere someone must know the ending” = The storyline to this show is indeed complicated and we need some HELP sometimes
“Is she still pissing in the river now? Heard she’d gone
moved into a trailer park.” = This is a tough part…when I play it in my head, I think this is what would have happened to Scully and Mulder if they’d parted ways early…they would have missed each other and the work so much they would have done some silly things and never have been happy.
Then…of course…the last part of the refrain refers to Scully being back and beginning to see things Mulder’s way when she gets more and more evidence…especially toward the end of the series.
The background vocals refer to various cases they’d worked on in kind of an abstract poem format.
There you go
Absolutely nuts I know…but at one point I was obsessed with Tori and the X-files simultaneously an this just popped out.
Thanks for the challenge Kelli!
China2Ny
Nice! You can also link “Is she still pissing in the river now? Heard she’d gone, moved into a trailer park.” to some of the cases that Mulder and Scully had over the years. One of the most vivid ones that I can think of was the one with the inbred family. “Pissing in the river” is also a reference to familial inbreeding. Maybe either M or S run into one of the members of that family after they have retired?
Kelli…you are a genius. A funny genius!