you for a while

Hey Jupiter

Music, lyrics, and commentary by: Tori Amos

“Jupiter is this story that I thought had a tragic beauty element. Kevyn Aucoin was on make-up and we talked about the fact that this is a story which needed to express where this woman was in her understanding of a relationship.”

“So now its getting played out in an allegory. The little girl means different things to different people. To me, I always saw her as an angel. Tori has made a choice here, and, well, the angel is taking her to her next place. Now there are people who will argue with me and say the little girl is saving Tori and getting her out of there. Which I kind of think is the same thing that I’m saying, but instead the angel is taking her to, hm, a different dimension…another reality. And that’s why there was an understanding, on the set with the cast, that this woman that they knew (some knew better than others) is in a fire. If you see it as an emotional fire, well, maybe its someone who can’t get out of a relationship or an addiction or another type of a situation. And there is really nothing you can do except watch them burn.”

“The pyro guys, um, they made me laugh. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for pyro guys. They get paid, really, um, they’re arsonists, and um, they are allowed to do this and, um, they are all out of their minds. But, you know, the thing is…it has been suggested to me that you don’t want them lighting the candles on your birthday cake.”

“I happen to, um, be cold in L.A. And so, I was warmed by the fire. There were real firemen, naturally, on set. And I was really fascinated by the dynamic between the arsonists and the firemen. So, I was, um, I was living two stories which is…um, but both of them were around fire.”

“I kept hearing music in my head–Prokofiev, great Russian composers…the tragic beauty they could both write and create. What I found, what is essential to this is while friends of Tori are coming to an understanding, a realization that their friend is, maybe, becoming a butterfly…transformation. Its not always how we want our friends to transform, but I don’t see this as Tori choosing to die or to commit suicide. I see this as an angel that’s happy and an angel that believes that they are going to a really good place.”

~ Tori Amos on Hey Jupiter (from Fade to Red)