Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998) Part 2 ‘Cruel’

“A song like ‘Cruel’ came to me out of my anger”

Moving forward to track 2 from the album – Cruel. Click here to listen to the album version.

There are two decent live versions available, one from Live with Jools Holland and another one from Glastonbury festival. There’s also a more recent extended live version from her 2007 tour, video quality is low but the sound is ok and it’s totally worth watching. And to make the Cruel listening experience complete, check out this live mellow version from 2001 – voice and keyboards only. An extremely sensitive and touching version of the song, highly recommended. Listening to this version reminds me of Alexandrina Hristov, a female singer/songwriter from the Republic of Moldova, pointing out towards where she probably gets some of her inspiration and influences. Here’s a sample of Alexandrina’s work, a great song and video entitled ‘Printre flori’.

Musically, the album version of Cruel sounds very differently from the opener, Spark. The electronic/industrial sound of the drums, percussion touches (I’m hearing marimba and bongos) and distorted bass carve up towards the chorus, which brings a more melodic feel, with its haunting keyboard lines.

Lyrically, Cruel is again tied to Tori’s miscarriage, this time dealing with other people’s reactions. In an interview, Tori said: “When you start talking to people who have that kind of loss, somebody piping up, going ‘Well, the angels were there for us during this time.’ Well, that’s beautiful. But people have to understand that they’re not there for everybody all the time. They get lost on the way. That’s why in “Cruel”, when I say, ‘I don’t know why’ I really don’t know why the angels aren’t there for everybody, but they’re not.” The lyrics are pretty cryptic and can be interpreted in multiple ways. If you want, you can follow and join the discussion here.

Once again, give this song the proper treatment and listen to it with headphones on or on a good set of speakers, following the lyrics, listening for all the instrumental and vocal details. They’re all over the song and I’m sure you’ll hear new details and delicate touches that you have been missing so far.