Comic Book Tattoo came out on Tuesday but I didn't get it until today. I am slipping in my old age of 30. If this were 15 years ago and a giant book of Tori Amos's songs turned into comic "graphic novellas" came out, I would have been at a book store that stayed open 24 hours and purchasing the book at midnight.With age comes patience. Instead, I waited 3 days. I strategically set up my trip to the bookstore to coincide with avoiding traffic after work.
So, what do I think?
A story, to show instead of tell what it's like: I sat down on the bench in the magazine section with the mammoth square book (about 12" x 12" x 2") next to me. I flipped through the first two (Flying Dutchman and Bouncing Off Clouds) and then got to Girl. Whoosh.
I effing cried on the bench in the magazine section of the bookstore.
What a dork. But it was that good at capturing that song.
"Girl"
From in the shadow
She calls
And in the shadow
She finds a way
And in the shadow
She crawls
Clutching her faded photograph
My image under her thumb
Yes with a message for my heart
She's been everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own
Everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own
And in the doorway
They stay and laugh
As violins fill with water
Screams from the bluebells
Can't make them go away
We'll I'm not seventeen
But I've cuts on my knees
Falling down
As the winter takes one more cherry tree
Rushin' rivers thread so thin limitation
Dreams with the flying pigs turbid blue
And the drugstores too safe
In their coats
Anda in their do's
Yeah smother in our hearts
A pillow to my dots
One day maybe
One day
One day she'll be her own
And in the mist
There she rides
And castles are burning in my heart
And as I twist I hold tight
And I ride to work every morning
Wondering why
"Sit in the chair and be good now" And become all that they told you
The white coats enter her room
And I'm callin' my baby
Callin' my baby
Callin' my baby
Callin' everybody else's girl
Maybe one day she'll be her own
How is it that songs from sixteen years ago can still just knock you out with their prescience? I was in ninth grade when I heard this song. And now, more than ever, it is still kicking my ass. Because I always sang it to, or rather AT, my dad (not literally, but later, when alone in my room) when I was pissed off at him, which was often. Fire and ice, oil and water, all that. So, now that he's gone, this song kicks my ass a lot further than it used to. Because it reminds me of a situation I'll never be in again: pissed off at Dad after a fight.
This artist who wrote the comic for "Girl" even had the main character's father deceased. Yikes.
No wonder I cried reading a comic in the magazine section of the book store.
Anyway, I'm sure the rest will be just as engaging as the songs themselves. If you're as devout as I am, I'm sure you already have it or it's on you list. If you're in the middle, go check it out. It's really something.