Back in 1997, my friend Edie told me that her favorite albums were Beggars Banquet by the Rolling Stones and Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos. I immediately bought both albums because that’s the sort of thing a 23 year old does when an incredibly hip 35-year-old woman from Brooklyn gives him insight into her music tastes.
Beggars Banquet remains my favorite Rolling Stone album, and I often think of Edie whenever I hear “Parachute Woman.” It sounds like it was written for her — even if she was only six at the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3oZAPde_o
Edie was almost 30 and older than Amos herself when Little Earthquakes was released. It intrigued me that hte album had cross-generational appeal. The video for “Silent All These Years” was an unavoidable MTV “buzz clip” in spring of 1992. Tori didn’t register with me then, but I was hooked on her voice as soon as I listened to the album in full five years later. So, thanks, Edie.
My favorite Tori Amos song is actually not on Little Earthquakes, though. It’s a single she recorded with electronica artist BT called “Blue Skies.” It, along with “Parachute Woman,” has turned up on more than a few mix tapes/CDs I’ve made in the 15 years since that first conversation with Edie.
I lost touch with Edie a few years later (in those pre-Facebook days), but wherever she is, I’m sure she’s “laying a solid rhythm down.”
serhasacomplaint 