Tori Amos released Little Earthquakes

Little Earthquakes Tori Amos

Released: January 6, 1992 Peak: 54 US, 14 UK, 49 CN, 14 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.1 UK, 2.26 world (includes US and UK) Genre: adult alternative singer/songwriter

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Crucify [4:58] Girl [4:06] Silent All These Years [4:10] Precious Things [4:26] Winter [5:40] Happy Phantom [3:12] China [4:58] Leather [3:12] Mother [6:59] Tear in Your Hand [4:38] Me and a Gun [3:44] Little Earthquakes [6:51] Total Running Time: 57:11 2015 Deluxe Edition, 2nd Disc: Upside Down [4:22] Thoughts [2:36] Ode to the Banana King (Part One) [4:06] Song for Eric [1:50] The Pool [2:51] Take to the Sky [4:20] Sweet Dreams [3:27] Mary [4:27] Sugar [4:27] Flying Dutchman [6:31] Humpty Dumpty [2:52] Smells Like Teen Spirit [3:17] Little Earthquakes [6:58] * Crucify [5:19] * Precious Things [5:03] * Mother [6:37] * Happy Phantom [3:33] * Here in My Head [3:53] * live from Cambridge Corn Exchange, 4/5/1992 Other Songs from the Era: Angie [4:25] Thank You [3:49]

Rating: 4.533 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: “The most accessible work in Amos’ catalog…also the most influential and rewarding.” – Steve Huey, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes: The 30th Anniversary. It debuted January 4, 2022, at 7pm CST.

Return of the Singer/Songwriter “It may be cliché to insist that American trends repeat themselves every twenty years…but it’s hard to ignore the coincidence.” CS “The late 1980s, like the late 1960s, rang the ears with a dizzying clatter. Los Angeles hair-metal bands ruled the airwaves and overblown dance pop dominated the charts.” CS “The singer-songwriter club was about to take over again, re-ignited by artists like Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, and the Indigo Girls” CS as well as “similarly minimalist singer-songwriter, adult-alternative fare” JD from “Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, k.d. lang, [and] Sinéad O’Connor.” PF They delivered “well-crafted, character-driven stories that touched their audiences.” CS But it was Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes that “carved the template for the female singer/songwriter movement of the ‘90s.” AM “As both a classically trained pianist and a singer with “the attitude of an alternative rocker,” JD she was “a sometimes spacey, new-age chanteuse with a flair for cynical satire, and a raging punk who could also play the flighty faerie princess.” JD Her “delicate, prog rock piano work and confessional, poetically quirky lyrics invited close emotional connection.” AM Tori Amos’ first effort at an album was rejected by a label president unimpressed with “a female Elton John.” HL She relocated to London in 1991 and started over. That autumn, the record label hosted a lunch for British music journalists. An “inoffensive-looking girl sitting cross-legged on her piano stool” HL was the center of attention. She was about to become a star. “Her widely publicized independent spirit and her deeply personal songs helped further the growth of the indie music community and its legions of female singer-songwriters trying to break into the mainstream.” CS As the cover art for Little Earthquakes “evocatively illustrated, [Tori] Amos would never be an artist who could be pigeonholed, stereotyped or walled in in any way. She proudly flaunted the many conflicting sides of her artistic persona.” JD Fierce Feminism and Delicate Topics Amos became “a symbol for true female power – not the manipulative sexuality of Madonna that came years earlier or the empty rhetoric of the Spice Girls’ ‘girl power’ campaign that followed down the road, but true ownership of one’s self esteem.” CS Little Earthquakes was “a watershed movement for women in music, inspiring countless female folkies to assert themselves.” CS It even led to “the successful female-oriented musical festival Lilith Fair, founded by McLachlan in 1996.” CS Amos “opened up a new chapter in intimate revelations in music” CS “by virtue of her sexual intensity and subject matter.” PF It “was nothing less than a bare-bones exploration of Amos’ search for herself, more stark and confessional than nearly anything produced by her 1970s forebears.” CS The “intimacy is uncompromising, intense, and often far from comforting” AM as “Amos tackles hot-button topics such as gender stereotyping, religious conservatism, male hegemony and rape.” JD Her “musings…were just as likely to encompass rage, sarcasm, and defiant independence as pain or tenderness” AM and she did so “in a frank, unflinching, and alternately poignant and heartbreakingly funny manner;” JD “sometimes, it all happened in the same song.” AM Background Myra Ellen Amos “grew up in Baltimore, the outspoken daughter of a Scottish Methodist preacher and a mother who was part Cherokee.” JD As Amos said, she was raised “with a peace-pipe in one hand and cross in the other.” RD She was entranced with music early on, becoming the youngest-ever student – at age 5 – to enroll at Johns Hopkins’ University’s Peabody Institute. She “was kicked out at age eleven for her unconventional style.” CS By 13, she was performing at piano bars in Washington, D.C. In 1988, her “Pat Benatar-esque” PF “leather-and-metal project called Y Kant Tori Read” (which included future Guns N’ Roses’ drummer Matt Sorum) “instantly flopped.” PF The cover represented her as “a sword-wielding, flame-haired metal vixen.” PF As she said, “I had come from child prodigy to vapid bimbo.” RS 1990 Demo Tape She moved to England in 1990 and, inspired by “heroines ranging from Kate Bush to Patti Smith” JD started writing “confessional, piano-driven tracks exploring the complexities of finding one’s voices and throwing off the shackles of religion.” RS In December 1990, Amos submitted a 10-track demo tape to Atlantic Records. They rejected it, although “Crucify,” “Happy Phantom,” “Leather,” and “Winter” would eventually end up on Little Earthquakes. “Take to the Sky (aka “Russia”), “Mary,” Sweet Dreams,” “Song for Eric,” and “Flying Dutchman” would get released as B-sides on singles in support of Little Earthquakes in 1991 and 1992. That album also included the unreleased song “Learn to Fly.” The video below was assembled by a fan to approximate that 1990 demo tape. Amos says she was asked to write and record a new track. She said, “No. I’ll do four. I can’t do one because there’s too much pressure for that one to be it.” RS She pulled in Eric Rosse, her then-boyfriend, as a co-producer. He helped her keep “the sound spare but tuneful, mostly focusing on her fluid piano playing and soaring vocals.” JD She said, “We’re sort of like spiritual brother and sister.” RS They developed the songs “Girl,” “Precious Things,” “Tear in Your Hand,” “Mother,” and “Little Earthquakes,” which would all end up on the Little Earthquakes album. She also recorded “Take Me with You,” which was released in 2006 with re-recorded vocals. The Impact It wasn’t just that Tori Amos became the new face of the revitalized singer/songwriter movement. She managed to release an album that packed “as powerful a wallop as Nirvana’s crushing guitar, bass and drums.” JD Little Earthquakes was released when Nirvana’s Nevermind was atop the charts and, although “it was rarely talked about this way, was similarly radical – an alternately flirty and harrowing work that juxtaposed barbed truths against symphonic flights of fancy.” PF While both albums shared an unflinching need to expose raw nerves, Nevermind pummeled its listeners with angst and frustration while Little Earthquakes tempered its approach. “For every moment of brutal directness there was a poetic and consoling metaphor; for every angry eruption of drums and guitars, a breathtakingly beautiful piano solo.” RD “Amos draws strength from her relentless vulnerability” AM and “the constantly shifting emotions of the material never seem illogical – Amos simply delights in the frankness of her own responses, whatever they might be.” AM “Like a great, soulful blues artist, Amos finds catharsis from personal pain in her music. But like the best rock ‘n’ rollers (Cobain among them), she entertains, inspires and energizes while she’s doing it. And the impact of her songs is indeed like the ‘little earthquakes’ referenced in the title.” JD “Though her subsequent albums were often very strong, Amos would never bare her soul quite so directly (or comprehensibly) as she did here, nor with such consistently focused results. Little Earthquakes is the most accessible work in Amos’ catalog, and it’s also the most influential and rewarding.” AM My Personal Charts In the ‘80s and ‘90s, I made my own personal charts. With Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos had one of the most successful albums in my chart’s history. Throughout 1992 and well into 1993, she charted over and over. By the time the album finished its run, all twelve of the songs reached my personal top 10 and 11 of the B-sides managed the feat as well. The album obviously became one of my favorites of all time and Tori Amos and Pearl Jam became my favorite acts of the ‘90s. Notes: The 2015 deluxe edition added a second disc with eighteen B-sides and live cuts. It includes all of the B-sides from singles released in support of Little Earthquakes from 1991 to 1992 with two exceptions. While “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” from the Crucify UK EP is included here, the other two cuts – covers of the Rolling Stones’ “Angie” and Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” are not here. The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Crucify Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 5/12/1992 (single), 6/8/1992 (UK EP), Little Earthquakes (1992), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) B-Sides of single: “Winter,” “Angie,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Thank You” B-Sides on UK EP: “Mary,” “Here in My Head” Peak: 52 CB, 22 MR, 15 UK, 73 CN, 83 AU, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 19.49 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: As the opening song on Little Earthquakes, “Crucify” kicks things “into high gear immediately (kudos to percussionist Paulinho da Costa and mandolist John Chamberlain for igniting the fireworks.” LT-25 “Tori punches in the furious lower tones…and her vocals are packed with personality.” LT-26 “The bullet-point lyrics come across as accusatory, bordering on paranoia” ‘Every finger in the room is pointing at me.’” LT-26 It “is a brutal look in the mirror of self-examination.” JD “Despite the cynicism, there’s an element of mercy…a promise of hope and escape.” LT-26 Amos “won’t find her savior” LT-26 but “while there’s no precise formula for a happy ending, you’ve still got to hang in there.” LT-26 The song was released as the fifth and final single from Little Earthquakes. Once again, Amos released a single which included non-album material – in this case, three cover songs. In addition to offering up her renditions of the Rolling Stones’ “Angie” and Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You,” she boldly tackled Nirvana “with her own striking cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.” JD

Girl Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), Still Orbiting (live, 1999), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.22 streaming About the Song: “’Girl’ chronicles the never-ending search for a strong feminine identity.” JD “ Tori’s gut-punch honesty recalls John Lennon’s plaintive rendering of ‘Norwegian Wood.’” LT-26 “’Girl’ goes beyond confessional; it’s tearfully relatable, and the pathos – which extends beyond the struggle for young, female self-acceptance – bears a wider application.” LT-27 “Instrumentally, ‘Girl’ is a strong, radio-friendly ballad. The programmed drums contribute to the clean sound. The Kurzweil synth patterns add significant tonal color.” TD-27

Silent All These Years Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 10/21/1991 (as B-side of “Me and a Gun”), 11/18/1991 (single), 8/22/1992 (UK EP), Little Earthquakes (1992), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006), Gold Dust (re-recordings, 2012), Diving Deep (live, 2024) B-Sides on single: “Upside Down,” “Me and a Gun,” “Thoughts” B-Sides on UK EP: “Ode to the Banana King (Part One),” “Song for Eric” Peak: 65 BB, 26 A40, 26 UK, 27 AR, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 14.46 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: After the failure of 1988’s Y Kant Tori Read, Tori Amos did some self-reflection and wrote “Silent All These Years,” a song about “submerging oneself in the creative process despite a fear of rejection or retribution.” LT-27 She told Rolling Stone she thought, “I’m only in my twenties and it’s over.” SF She was inspired by reading Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid to her niece, Cody. Amos said, “I realized that when she had no voice, that just completely took me to the place where I needed to go to reclaim it.” TA Before she’d reclaimed her music, she tried writing songs for others, including Cher and Tina Turner. TA According to VH1 Storytellers, she wrote “Years” with Al Stewart in mind. When Eric Rosse, her then-boyfriend who was producing her songs, heard it, he said, “You’re out of your mind. That’s your life story.” WK Amos said, “I think this song became my mantra. As a child…I had been silenced to my ambition to have a career beyond the bar rooms.” SF The song can be interpreted to have an even wider meaning. “Fans have equated the backstory with not only the suppression of human rights but also a searing proclamation by a trauma survivor.” LT-28 The song was first released as the B-side of “Me and a Gun,” but the decision was made to release it as a single on its own after it was named “Song of the Week” by BBC Radio One in the UK. It was released several times in different formats. Most notably, a UK cassette version saw the inclusion of her cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a B-side. The song was a minor hit, reaching #26 in the UK and only #65 in the U.S., but it would become the song that launched Tori Amos’ career. “Yet even in the singer’s most accessible song, idiosyncrasies abound: From intro to opening verse, the tempo slows drastically and remains irregular. Her right hand on the piano doesn’t always sync with what her left is doing and often accentuates different beats, while her lyric references Satan and menstruation.” PF The video reflected themes from the song by literally putting Tori in a box and showing a little girl – likely a representation of Tori as a child – who runs free. It was shot over two days by Cindy Palmano, who was a first-time director who’d worked as a British stills photographer. SF Tori said, “Cindy helped me to put my vision out into the world and without her it would have never been interpreted the way that it was. She has such a pure eye that she was able to…capture my soul on film.” TA Rolling Stone ranked it one of the top 100 videos of all time.

Precious Things Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), Still Orbiting (live, 1999), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006), Gold Dust (re-recordings, 2012) Peak: 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 8.32 streaming About the Song: This was one of the songs Amos wrote after Atlantic Records rejected her 1990 demo. She came up with the riff for “Precious Things” while on vacation in the Rocky Mountains. She said she wasn’t even near a piano, but the song started building in her head. She said it was about “these core parts of the self…getting discovered. I was seeing what my structure was made of.” RS “Everything about ‘Precious Things’ is intense: the painful relationships, the physical degradation, the wish to diminish the ills of puberty.” LT-28 “Amid this rubble of childhood cruelty, there’s a lingering sadness, a sense of inconceivable loss.” LT-29 “She doesn’t hold back her vocally; plus, the instruments circle back with equal intensity.” LT-29 “Tori’s anguished wails – especially during the final measures – are supported by Steve Caton’s thrashing blues-soaked guitar.” LT-29

Winter Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 3/9/1992 (single), Little Earthquakes (1992), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006), Gold Dust (re-recordings, 2012) B-Side(s): “The Pool,” “Take to the Sky,” “Sweet Dreams” Peak: 25 UK, 49 AU, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 21.83 streaming About the Song: The album’s fourth single was “Winter,” “perhaps the song which most completely defines Tori’s early career by way of expressive, linear lyrics.” LT-37 She told Rolling Stone the song was about “roads that you thought you would go down and haven’t experienced, and all these potential experiences are gone now. Those doors are closed.” RS She talked about teenagers losing their imaginations and “they don’t know how to get back anymore because in trying to become an adult you feel like you have to circumcise the magical world.” RS The song “has become an anthem for fathers and daughters, or perhaps any parental figure and child.” LT-30 Tori said, “I…had a close relationship with my father…I wonder how [he] felt about his younger daughter growing more independent, whether he grew despondent thinking about their ultimate separation.” LT-31 She continued, saying, “To me, it’s about watching your parent age, and feeling utterly helpless in the process. It’s about facing mortality.” LT-31 The song “is a striking example of the role Tori’s classical background has played in her instrument scoring.” LT-30 “Tori illustrates her efficiency as an all-around arranger; with just a few well-placed accented notes she creates powerful phrasal statements.” LT-30

Happy Phantom Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.07 streaming About the Song: “Half-way into Little Earthquakes, Tori might have “suspected that we needed a breather” LT-31 from “getting uncomfortably intimate” LT-31 and delivered “Happy Phantom,” “a saloon-style pleaser.” LT-31 “Tori has a ball singing ‘Oo-hoo’ while stomping out syncopated chords that would titillate the iconic Thelonious Monk.” LT-32 “The progression marches merrily along like a John Philip Sousa anthem, yet the story begins with: ‘And if I die today…’” LT-32 “When Tori ruminates about the afterlife, she envisions a Dorothy-in-the-poppies surrealism, where Judy Garland, Buddha and Confucious comically intersect.” LT-32 Regarding Happy Phantom, Amos said, “To talk about death was really important on Little Earthquakes because there was a part of me had to die. The image that I had created for whatever reason, had to die.” RS

China Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 1/20/1992 (EP), Little Earthquakes (1992), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) B-Side(s): “Sugar,” “Flying Dutchman,” “Humpty Dumpty” Peak: 51 UK, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.82 streaming About the Song: “China,” originally called “Distance” when it was written back in 1987, was the first song Tori wrote for Little Earthquakes. LT-32 It was released as the third single from the album. “Geography acts as a metaphor for romantic detachment.” LT-32 The song focuses on “loneliness and getting too close and backing away and how challenging that can be.” LT-32 Amos told Rolling Stone “there’s been a side to me that’s always been drawn to heart-wrenching love songs. And sometimes I find that you don’t get those necessarily in the contemporary singer-songwriter world, but also with musical theater, Gershwin, classics. I think that ‘China’ probably came after a big bout of listening to Barbra Streisand. Because you know, if anyone can break your heart, she could.” RS

Leather Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.58 streaming About the Song: “’Leather’ provides comic relief but it’s also a metaphor for playful sensuality.” LT-32 Tori has said the song’s story is not about having a wild time LT-32 but it does follow Madonna’s lead by putting “earthly passions on display not necessarily to seduce her congregation, but to empower herself—and, by extension—her fans.” PF Amos said she was stopped by someone once who said, “I teach pole dancing classes to your music.” RS

Mother Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.33 streaming About the Song: “Mother” “evokes a dream state, through sustained end-of-phrase notes and jagged tempos.” LT-33 “The lyric imbues a perplexing push-me-pull-you: an ambiguous tension that muddles many familial relationships.” LT-33 Amos says that “Winter” represented her father and grandfather – “the positive male energies in my life.” RS To tap the other side, she wrote ‘Mother’ about the idea that “God is not just male, but of the Creator being female and male. So this is the feminine story coming down to earth, leaving this soul space and saying goodbye to Mother Creator as I go to Mother Earth.” RS

Tear in Your Hand Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.72 streaming About the Song: “The most inviting part of this…song is not just Tori’s breathy delivery and the whirling-dervish riff, but the sense conveyed of going back in time.” LT-34 Tori explained that the song is a nostalgic look back at that age when “you’re not so far away from leaving your parents’ house to have your own life, separate from all those people you went to high school with.” RS

Me and a Gun Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 10/21/1991 (single), Little Earthquakes (1992), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) B-Side(s): “Silent All These Years,” “Upside Down,” “Thoughts” Peak: 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.24 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “The harrowing ‘Me and a Gun’” AM was released as the first single in support of the upcoming Little Earthquakes album. It set the stage for the unconventional and bold style Amos would apply throughout her career. Musically, she delivers a completely a cappella performance on “the album’s most striking track, and the one most indicative of the artist’s honest-at-all-costs approach.” JD Lyrically, Amos “confronts the listener with the story of her own real-life rape; the free-associative lyrics come off as a heart-wrenching attempt to block out the ordeal.” AM She said, “When I started writing it…I knew exactly what I wanted to say…I was almost in a trance writing that song.” SF Singer/songwriter Billy Bragg said, “It’s a great song, and she delivers it perfectly…If you do it right you can silence an audience.” HL Of the a cappella recording, The rape she sings about in the song happened when she was 21 in the early 1980s and living in Los Angeles. After she finished a performance at a bar, one of the patrons asked her for a ride home. Years later, memories of the event were stirred up when she saw the film Thelma and Louise in London. WK She addresses the myth that women somehow are responsible for rape if they wear revealing clothing. She discussed the attack in an interview in 1994, saying that the man raped her at knifepoint and not gunpoint. However, she did actually sing hymns during the incident (as referenced in the song) because he told her to. She said the night was “about mutilation more than violation through sex…I was psychologically mutilated that night and…now I’m trying to put the pieces back together again.” WK “Recording this track was a brave move on Tori’s part” LT-35 as it could cause “fans to feel invasive as if they were voyeurs.” However, “Tori’s stark and earnest presentation created a forum through which fans could discuss post-traumatic effects.” LT-35 Not surprisingly, the difficult topic of the song paired with its stark delivery made it a challenge for radio stations. They gravitated instead toward “Silent All These Years,” one of the B-sides from the single and another cut from the Little Earthquakes album. That song delivered and made Amos a star.

Little Earthquakes Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: Little Earthquakes (1992), Still Orbiting (live, 1999), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.27 streaming About the Song: The album’s title cut grew out of Amos’ reflection on, she says, “the kinds of people that I wanted in my life” and being with “somebody else who I could give what they needed. This was a real turning point in claiming what kind of life I wanted to live.” RS “This phenomenally complex closer is structured like a classical suite with several formidable parts.” LT-36 “There’s exceptional chemistry between Steve Caton’s electric guitar and Tori’s shimmering synth. Eric Rosse exceeded expectations with his over-the-top programming ideas, and bassist Will McGregor simply tore up the bottom.” LT-36 “Nancy Shanks…sang backup along with Steve Caton, Tori and Eric Rosse. This rich spectrum added a lasting sparkle to the grand finale.” LT-36

Upside Down Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 10/21/1991 (“Me and a Gun” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.69 streaming About the Song: “This pretty, slow-moving ballad sounds like it needs a musical to go along with it.” LT-39 “With raw emotion, and against a meandering, melodic accompaniment, Tori recycles the thought, ‘Any kind of touch is better than upside down.’ This melodic ballad includes sharp touches: church bells, courtesy of Davitt Sigerson, and John Philip Shenale’s woozy Mellotron. Bassist Jeff Scott provided bold outlines.” LT-39 Tori regretted excluding it from Little Earthquakes. LT-39

Thoughts Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 10/21/1991 (“Me and a Gun” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.43 streaming About the Song: “A shuttle through fierce times where ‘burning witches’ and ‘burning books’ were the norm.” LT-39

Sugar Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 1/20/1992 (“China” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), Still Orbiting (live, 1999), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.58 streaming About the Song: “Against an extraordinary sea of effects, Tori’s voice exudes warmth. The lyrics of the verse of this quietly-stated love anthem suggest an entirely different story, btu the chorus can’t not pull you in, as Tori sings, ‘The robins bring me many things, but Sugar, he brings me sugar.’ Verse to verse, her voice grows incrementally sweeter.” LT-40 The song “was inspired by the memory of a childhood suitor. Hoping to win her affection, the shy lad asked how many sugars she likes in her tea. Although the earnest suitor lost his dream girl, he’s got fun stories to share.” LT-40

Flying Dutchman Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 1/20/1992 (“China” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006), Gold Dust (re-recordings, 2012) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.35 streaming About the Song: The title spawned Comic Book Tattoo: a graphic novel collection inspired by Tori’s discography. ‘They say your brain is a comic book tattoo,’ but in Tori’s world vision, even nerds become heroes.” LT-41 “The arrangement conflates other-worldly effects, a futuristic theme and deep dives into the universal search for human potential. “ LT-41

Humpty Dumpty Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 1/20/1992 (“China” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015) Peak: 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.22 streaming About the Song: Based on the nursery rhyme of the same name, Tori’s “Humpty Dumpty” features “fat, bluesy riffs.” LT-39 “Excitement builds, along with a zigzag of emotion.” LT-39

The Pool Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 3/9/1992 (“Winter” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.36 streaming About the Song: “Be prepared for a sonic paradox, as the instrumental portion employs both a meditative and unsettling vibe. But to be clear, Tori’s vocals are enchanting.” LT-40

Take to the Sky Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 3/9/1992 (“Winter” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.76 streaming About the Song: “Tori punches her right fist against the baseboard; her left tears off an ostinato. Lyrics suggest early career woes: ‘This house is like Russia, with eyes cold and grey.’” LT-40

Sweet Dreams Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 3/9/1992 (“Winter” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.45 streaming About the Song: “Incandescent vocals float over cantankerous beats and swooning harmonies. There’s a lot of personality in each verse. ‘Your house is on fire – come along now,’ she incants, echoed by a riveting chorus and bright piano.” LT-40

Mary Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 5/12/1992 (B-side of “Crucify”), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), Tales of a Librarian (compilation, 2003), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006) Peak: 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.32 streaming About the Song: “Bridging the gap between folk-rock and Americana, this guitar-driven song takes no prisoners.” LT-40

Angie Tori Amos

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Released: 6/8/1992 (“Crucify” EP) Peak: 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.09 streaming About the Song: On the “Crucify” EP, Tori Amos delivered covers of Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones. “Tori sets precedence, as female artists hadn’t always covered songs written by men about women. She replaced [Keith] Richards’ acoustic guitar with titillating, gospel-spiked piano. Her vocal performance is sultry and magnetic.” LT-37 Sadly, this song was one of the few Tori Amos B-sides from 1991-92 omitted from the Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) in 2015. Read more about the original version of the Stones’ “Angie” here.

Smells Like Teen Spirit Tori Amos

Writer(s): Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic Released: 6/8/1992 (“Crucify” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015) Peak: 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 25.36 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: This is the way cover songs should be done. Tori Amos takes Nirvana’s guitar-crunching grunge anthem and turns it into a sensitive piano ballad without losing any power at all. “Fans and critics applauded her crisp, clear enunciation, as opposed to the somewhat undecipherable vocals of the original.” LT-37 Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain hailed Amos for her “creative reimagining of his song.” JD Read more about the original here.

Thank You Tori Amos

Writer(s): Robert Plant, Jimmy Page Released: 6/8/1992 (“Crucify” EP) Peak: 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.19 streaming About the Song: For the “Crucify” EP, Tori Amos delivered a stunning reinvention of Nirvana’s iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” However, Amos wasn’t done there. While her takes on the Rolling Stones’ “Angie,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” were closer to the original versions, they still made bold statements that no artist – no matter their superstar credentials – was beyond Amos’ capabilities. “Tori retains the raw, vocal humility that lead singer Robert Plant conveyed in the Led Zeppelin classic. Clearly intent on making the lyrics evocative, Tori creates an intricate arrangement that echoes and shades her vocals.” LT-37 Sadly, this song was one of the few Tori Amos B-sides from 1991-92 omitted from the Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) in 2015.

Here in My Head Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 6/8/1992 (“Crucify” EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015), A Piano: The Collection (box set, 2006), Diving Deep (live, 2024) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.47 streaming About the Song: Tori calls this “one of my special heart songs.” LT-60 Her “phrases are divinely poetic…Slowly and methodically, she sketches out a genteel blueprint sure to make romantics swoon. Don’t ignore the innuendo: ‘Thomas Jefferson wasn’t born in your back yard.’” LT-60 The song was published in her 20087 anthology Comic Book Tattoo as a short story. LT-60

Ode to the Banana King (Part One) Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 8/22/1992 (“Silent All These Years” UK EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.36 streaming About the Song: “Over a heavy-handed bassline, Tori breathlessly stretches out a Middle Eastern melody.” LT-39

Song for Eric Tori Amos

Writer(s): Tori Amos Released: 8/22/1992 (“Silent All These Years” UK EP), Little Earthquakes (Deluxe Edition) (2015) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.34 streaming About the Song: “This plaintive ballad…with a circuitous melody is about pining for and dreaming about one’s true love. It’s about Eric Rosse, with whom Tori shared a seven-year relationship and co-produced Little Earthquakes.” LT-39

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Steve Huey JD Jim DeRogatis (2006). “The Great Albums” RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 696. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Pages 78-9. PF Pitchfork (4/16/2015). album review by Barry Walters RS Rolling Stone (12/18/2009). “Tori Amos’ Track-by-Track Guide to ” by Robert Maril CS Chris Smith (2009). 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. Pages 219-21. SF Songfacts page for “Me and a Gun” SF Songfacts page for “Silent All These Years” TA ToriAmos.Fandom.com LT Lisa Torem (2021). Tori Amos: Every Album, Every Song. Sonicbond Publishing: United Kingdom. WK Wikipedia page for “Me and a Gun” WK Wikipedia page for “Silent All These Years” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 2/13/2008; last updated 5/2/2026.