“The Antichrist in the Kitchen” is one of her parents yelling at her, and she is “saved by the garbage truck” because she is now exposing her emotional “garbage” or mess by confessing these experiences through song. Website design By BotEap.com“Boy, you better pray that I bleed real soon”… telling her lover that she might be pregnant. Website design By BotEap.comThe “paper cup” could be a pregnancy test. Website design By BotEap.com“Years go by, I’ll choke on my tears” may refer to the singer’s suspicion that she may live to regret an abortion later in life, even if it’s the only solution at the moment. Website design By BotEap.comWhether or not you agree with my literal and non-literal interpretations of Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” lyrics, it’s hard to disagree that it’s an intriguing and multifaceted song.
The meaning of the lyrics Silent All These Years by Tori Amos
Website design By BotEap.comTori Amos is a dynamic performer, a brilliant songwriter, an accomplished pianist, and a great, great woman. But sometimes deciphering the lyrics to her poetic songs can be a puzzle, especially her silence all these years letter.
Website design By BotEap.comI am a huge Tori Amos fan and have done my best to synthesize the silence all these years letter. Here’s a bit of history, and the lyrical analysis I came up with…
Website design By BotEap.comThe Song was released as the second single from Amos’s first studio album. small earthquakesalthough he wrote it much earlier when he was recording And I can’t read Tori. In 1992, it was picked up in the UK by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) to promote awareness of the organization, and it was republished in the US in 1997. Tori claims that the song is not completely autobiographical. because she wrote it to place it with another artist at the time. (Composers often do this when they’re starting out.)
Website design By BotEap.comIn my opinion, however, the song is biographical in a non-literal sense because it is about an artist giving up her voice or her essence as a woman. This interpretation is supported by the fact that Tori was lyrically inspired by Hans Christen Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” in which a mermaid gives up her voice to ensnare a prince. As an artist trying to “make it” by pitching songs to other artists to sing, I think it’s reasonable to assume that Tori was this token woman handing over her voice to another.
Website design By BotEap.comA more literal and completely different interpretation, but not necessarily autobiographical, could be that the singer has just found out about an unplanned pregnancy and is forced to give up her voice or essence during the agonizing decision-making process about whether or not to give up. to abort. Perhaps the singer has been on “Silent All These Years” because she feels ashamed of having aborted it, added to the shame of not having spoken about the emotional pain it caused her all these years.
Website design By BotEap.comHere are some lyrical references that I think support this interpretation:
“The Antichrist in the Kitchen” is one of her parents yelling at her, and she is “saved by the garbage truck” because she is now exposing her emotional “garbage” or mess by confessing these experiences through song. Website design By BotEap.com“Boy, you better pray that I bleed real soon”… telling her lover that she might be pregnant. Website design By BotEap.comThe “paper cup” could be a pregnancy test. Website design By BotEap.com“Years go by, I’ll choke on my tears” may refer to the singer’s suspicion that she may live to regret an abortion later in life, even if it’s the only solution at the moment. Website design By BotEap.comWhether or not you agree with my literal and non-literal interpretations of Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” lyrics, it’s hard to disagree that it’s an intriguing and multifaceted song.
“The Antichrist in the Kitchen” is one of her parents yelling at her, and she is “saved by the garbage truck” because she is now exposing her emotional “garbage” or mess by confessing these experiences through song. Website design By BotEap.com“Boy, you better pray that I bleed real soon”… telling her lover that she might be pregnant. Website design By BotEap.comThe “paper cup” could be a pregnancy test. Website design By BotEap.com“Years go by, I’ll choke on my tears” may refer to the singer’s suspicion that she may live to regret an abortion later in life, even if it’s the only solution at the moment. Website design By BotEap.comWhether or not you agree with my literal and non-literal interpretations of Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” lyrics, it’s hard to disagree that it’s an intriguing and multifaceted song.