Taxi Ride by Tori Amos

photo taken from Amazon

People listening to Tori Amos are not really listening to the music, but to the lyrics. Even though this singer-songwriter is a great pianist, who can play on two pianos at the same time, the songs are all about the lyrics. Tori Amos' poetry is not straightforward, but twisted. They are puzzles and riddles.

The beauty of her songs lies in the mysteriousness. They seem to be like a crossword puzzle, impossible to solve. It sometimes takes years to understand the lyrics. It only dawns on you how deep a song goes if you are in a certain situation that is described in a Tori Amos song.

On the internet platform SongMeanings, Fans discuss the meaning of songs very enthusiastically. By following up some of the comments, it soon becomes clear that the lyrics are so open that it can mean different things to different people.

"Taxi Ride" from the Album "Scarlet's Walk" is my personal favourite. That is maybe because it can applies to feelings I often have, especially after parties. For me this song is about loneliness.

I do not have many friends, which does not mean that I do not go out. In today's society you have to be sociable. You often have parties with people that you don't really care about, or they don't care about you. It is all fine when you get drunk and have fun with them, but when you sit in the taxi on your way home, you have got time to reflect on your night and it is then, when you realize that you are lonely.

A fan commented on the lyrics, that you can get the feeling of the song easier when you sit in a taxi in New York. She then said: "Tori songs are more feelings than real words."

Some people assume that the song is about Tori's gay friend, the make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin, who died in May 2002 due to brain cancer, as she sings: "just another dead fag to you, that's all". One interpretation is that Tori settles up with Kevyn's mother, who couldn't care less about her son. Others say it is just Tori's way to deal with the funeral and the aftermath of his death in general.

At the end of the day that does not matter. Tori's songs are written so that they fit into everyone's life. She seems to do that on purpose, which is probably an art in itself.

Tori Amos never produced a music video for this song. However, she let other people make one for her within the context of a contest called "Taxi Vision". The winner video seemed to have disappeared from the internet, but there are a lot of other films out there that did not win but are still great.

My favourite "Taxi Ride"-video is featuring an old woman in an old people's home. She seems to be really lonely and in her rocking chair - in her mind on that Taxi Ride, she realizes that she has got no one after all these years she attend this party called life. The nurse notices the old woman's sadness and takes care of her.

This is my interpretation. The video got very good comments, but people also said that it was not related to the song. I think it is. People were also mentioning that it was more an allusion to other Tori Amos videos.



Here again, it is up to the audience to decide. I have to admit that I do not even like the voice of Tori Amos and most of her songs are far too slow. But still, she is one of my favourite musicians, because she has got the ability to write magical songs. It is always so much fun to interpret so many different things in her songs.