MOG

I'm in a piano mood today; sometimes it just strikes one, and you have to go with it. I have always appreciated Tori Amos; although I am not one of those fans who chases her every breathless statement and recording, I have about two-thirds of her discography, which must qualify me as a connoisseur.

Tori has a practice of releasing B-sides and singles along with most of her studio recordings; she is also a devoted performer of other songwriters. Sadly, no performers of her caliber that I am aware of have returned the favor. No matter. She has such a rich catalog of covers out there, she makes quite an interesting subject for a trio of Sunday posts.

Tori usually puts her own spin on her covers, too, which I believe my trio will demonstrate. Without further ado, our first exhibit: Bruce Springsteen's commercial ballad, I'm on Fire, a song which hindsight tells us demonstrated a new direction for Bruce that we didn't quite see coming at the time. Bruce wrote a smoldering, desperately painful song, and it's worth showing the video for that song, which to me was one of the few instances, especially at that particular time in video history, of a video enriching and expanding the emotional impact of a song. I can't embed it, so you'll have to venture over to YouTube to watch it here.

Tori's version keeps the smolder in, and the slower pace adds a growing menace, as if the object of her attention was nearby and the desperation of the narrator was spilling over into something dangerous.

I've got a bad desire.