Almost Historical: Thanks for your descriptions of what the songs mean to you. I hope someday I will have similar experiences with these songs.

I WANT to love those songs so much, you know? And I'm pretty sure someday, they will click. Eventually, Tori songs I didn't like tend to become my favourites.

Some of my favourites are Ruby Through The Looking-Glass, Yes, Anastasia, Suede, Black-Dove (January), The Waitress, Hotel, Cloud On My Tongue, Blood Roses, Baker Baker, Not The Red Baron...I'm kind of all over the place with my favourites!

wiresandwood! 1000 oceans is one of my favorite songs and i'm sad you don't like it. But you got me eager to find out your fdavorite songs now!

Actually 1000 oceans' main theme evolves in a very powerful way especially at he point where she sings "i'm aware what the rules are but you know that i will run..". The transition between the main lyric point to the refrain is magical.

I too felt at first that the melody was kind of plain. Then I heard it again and again and was drawn into it.

wiresandwood... I just thought that I wanted to reply on your post, because you and I are obviously the opposite of each other when it comes to liking/disliking Tori's songs.. The 4 songs you mentioned are 4 of my favourites, and I don't know why, but I really feel like telling you about my experiences with these songs; maybe you will change your view about them - maybe not?
- I fell in love with Past the Mission when I saw the video; the video just made it for me. Now I think of summer and love and people everytime I hear the song, and I love it.
Jackie's Strength has always been a big favourite of mine because it reminds me so much of myself. Sometimes I feel weak and I need an inner strength, and Jackie's Strength is the one that does it for me
1000 Oceans - some people say it's too pop-ish, and yeah, maybe they're right, but it's a damn good one, I have to say. Tori wrote it to her husband who had lost her mother.. It just really helps me when I miss some people in my life...
As for Scarlet's Walk, I've actually considered naming one of my future children Scarlet because this song means so much to me. The passage when Tori sings, "I will follow her on her path, Scarlet's walk through the violets' made me cry the first time I heard it. I don't know why, but the way Tori sings it makes me feel so special, as if Tori sings it to me and cares for me - I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's how I feel when listening to it
However, people are different, and I may dislike some songs that you love... But I hope you liked reading my explanations, though Have a great day!!
Love, AH

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"

Past The Mission - I'm really not sure why I've never gelled with it. I mean, I realize it's a good song, but it just doesn't do anything for me. It's weird, since UTP is my favourite album (well, tied with Venus).

Jackie's Strength - It's pretty enough, but it bores me. I have to force myself to listen to it.

1000 Oceans - It feels like it never really goes anywhere.

Scarlet's Walk - I just can't get into the chorus, so listening to it all the way through is laborious.

"Professional Widow - Remix." The bass player's riff is too loud and is mind-numbing. The video for it is also pretty darn awful.

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"Last time I checked he came to light the lamp for everyone" Marys of the Seas

Don't Make Me Come To Vegas.

Hmm..Hey jupiter,but don't get me wrong is a BEAUTIFUL song and have awesome lyrics BUT i relate so much to it that i can't listen it without start crying, and Me and a gun, is just too much for me.

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God. I love the lyrics, but I just can't stand the sqeaky guitar noise.... Never been able to get used to it either.

Anette

I also agree with spacedoginebraska that there are many times where I will first hear a song that initially doesn't impress me. Then after listening to it, over time, it has a way of growing on you. However, I, like spacedoginebraska, have never had the experience of "Fat Slut" getting any better each time I hear it. Therefore, I see little value or quality to the song. All it really has is the Title (Fat Slut); which may appeal to those who are inclined towards that which has a shock value. Although, I really don't see - given the nature of society today,which has long since surpassed the age of innocence - how that would serve to shock anyone anymore.

Therefore, since shock value no longer holds any realistic meaning in our society - other than those who have somehow managed to avoid the dramatic changes that have taken place in our society over the years - that leaves one with having to simply make a straightforward assessment of the quality of the song itself. Assessing "Fat slut," on that criteria, and comparing it with soo many Tori masterpieces that have been produced; leaves it eating the dust of Tori's other works.

Steve B.

to be honest i have to say i love fat slut. i think its A!

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- so just close your eyes, son, this won't hurt a bit -

I concur, bush, I don't really get why "Fat Slut" is on this recording; It seems like it belongs somewhere else. Other than that, for me, even if I don't initially dig a new song, I find that if I go back and listen carefully, I have a whole new appreciation for that song. This has happened for me on a number of different songs, such as "Goodbye Pisces" and "Marys of the Sea". I love rediscovering her music again and again. It's one of the great joys of life.

My least favorite Tori Song is easy to pick out for me. It is from her recent ADP Album and is entitled "Fat Slut." It possesses the least substance (Lyrically) and it doesn't quite measure up to that amazing Tori standard in it musical presentation, either.

Steve B.

Okay so I want to reply to these posts...I love the idea of Toriphiles
discussing least fave songs...seems almost blasphemous and thus neccessary..
I have been listening since 1993..yup I was in the 8th grade when I heard SLTeenSpirit on Mtv..
I love all her songs and they all have something to teach at any given moment but here goes..
love LE AND pINK AND pELE...loved all the remixs and love all the B-sides...everything..
They got me safely through high school...In college I really had a hard time understanding Choirgirl...
But as I listened I really learned to love it ..but I have to say that of all the albums my least fave song is
Jackies Strength..It just seems so blah and boring to me and I usually skip it and skip the video as well..even though T is beautiful in the wedding dress...maybe one day I'll understand that song..
I really love Venus and at first I didn't like 1000 Oceans ..it seemed like a country song to me..but I really love that song now and it can make me cry..SLGs is my least fave album..covers sre fun but I really have no liking for a whole album full of them..sure I understand why she did it but It hardly gets any airplay...the Eminem cover is really too creepy for me...
LOOOVE Scarlet..may be the best modern Tori..she is so fresh and clean..just a beautiful album...
Beekeeper is also just gorgeous ...there are some songs that are a little uninspiring for me..cars and guitars...orange knickers..hoochie woman..I don't skip the songs and I like them and I love the whole concept of the album but I would have put Garlands on the album for sure..
If it were up to me I would have left Ode to my Clothes of the Piano...so many songs and this song just seems too silly..also not much of a fan of Toodles Mr jim..or Peeping Tommi..so many songs and she picks the silliest ones..oh well..
I really love ADP..so much energy and I need that in this season of my life..Digital Ghost is my least fave here though..it just kind of lays there..well there you have it...

you know i've never much been a fan of northern lad either...but lately ive been doing my full album listens...and just finished choirgirl, and i have to say, i dont hate it so much....another song, which i actually quite love right now is playboy mommy

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- so just close your eyes, son, this won't hurt a bit -

I agree with Jewelia, I've never cared much for "Northern Lad". I know many people like it (it's one of my friend's all-time fav Tori songs), but I just don't like the way it sounds, nor the lyrics. Another song I consistently avoid is "Ribbons Undone". Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's a mom and loving it, but this song makes me cringe with its syrupy saccharine lyrics. Other songs on THE BEEKEEPER are admittedly syrupy sweet, but none to the point of "Ribbons Undone".

Most other songs vary depending on my mood, but I like them all except for the above two.

For the record, I f-ing LOVE "Datura"! =)

I'm betting the first show that she plays it on, will be heavily downloaded.

--
"So now you're off, you're gonna see America.

Well, let me tell you something about America...".

That would make my day. I would love to hear Datura live. WOW. getting the chills just thinking about it. How would she do it? How would she play it? Yes... I want her to play it now so bad.

please, please, please....

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Play it again Tori...

I'm deeply in love with Datura. In fact the rumor she may play it this tour makes me a little giddy.

--
"So now you're off, you're gonna see America.

Well, let me tell you something about America...".

also dumbfounded b the not so Datura luv.... Maybe you have to drow up with Datura to understand how it could florish a whole garden in a song =)
I luv em all. Diffrent songs for different days.
A long time ago their was something about Agent Orange that put a bad taste in my mouth, but I got ovr the plam oil hands and can hang with that song on certain days now. =)

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Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind". -Friedrich Nietzsche

You guys gotta quit attacking Datura... I love that song.

"Get out of the garden..."

Just kidding. I'm set off at the moment.

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Play it again Tori...

Datura...
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"in tracking the Beakon here - is there a signal there - on the other side?"

I can't connect with most songs from this last album. I can listen to about three of them and the rest get the skip button.

Most other albums I can listen straight through.

I also love that it feels a little like something Paul McCartney would have put out in the "Wings" era.

--
"So now you're off, you're gonna see America.

Well, let me tell you something about America...".

Simy... I just have to say that "Your Cloud" may seem to sugary, but to me it's the ONLY song that can calm me down when I feel stressed out or nervous. Seriously, when listening to this song it's like I'm being born again; it just calms me down like nothing else.
Try to give it a listen when you're feeling nervous or anything similar, and maybe it'll change your view of this beautiful song
Love, AH

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"

Well the only songs that I don't connect to is She's your Cocaine and Raining Blood. Raining Blood just makes me think of horrible things like the holocaust because of the heavy music and lyrics. I love Northern Lad though because of the emotion captured in the song, it actually sounds like she is crying, and like all of her songs to me, they are very convincing.

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Nola
"remove your glove + dispel every trace of his broken word that has lodged in my vortex"

There's a little bunch of songs I cannot stand for, but identifying only one is hard to me.

I'll list some:

- The Pool always tried to understand what this is... never succeeded
- Your Cloud makes me need to ask for some insuline, the concept's really beautiful, but it sounds too sugary
- The power of orange knickers don't know why but it makes think of some Wham groove. That could be really a wonderful Wham song, but not for Tori
- Goodbye Pisces I always imagine Tash waving at little dead gold fishes as they're thrown in the WC. "Bye bye pisces! Have a good ride!"
- Ireland ok, I understand the subtle humour in it (or maybe I hope there's humour in it), but also "Mr Zebra" has a lot of humour but not one word that sounds bad as "Driving on my SAAB".
- Ribbons Undone "my little pony"?!? oh goodness, way light years far from the beautiful "Lullaby for Tash" that sang during a radio show. THAT was a good "for Tash" song.
- Programmable Soda I love the lyrics, but the cabaret/TV-commercial-like sound makes me want to cry.

I heard the same story ajtcl. About her playing by ear.

--

So on "Y Kant Tori Read," did they call it that because she doesn't read sheet music Or was there some inside joke? Anyone know?

--
Play it again Tori...

silent all these years saved me a couple of years back...it's too hard for me to listen to now, remembering the dark days....

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Y Kant Tori Still Not Read....We will remember ALWAYS

Datura, you blasted Datura.... Just kidding, I love the song, but as BC said. I'm on speaking terms with that one. I've been listening to Pink, and my present mood makes me skip almost half of it. I need to put LE back in. I want to hear Leather.

I just love the line... "I almost ran over an angel, he had a nice big fat cigar."

I do love Pink, I just am having trouble with most of it right now. A friend died recently and I've been a bit bummed out.
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Play it again Tori...

It is so strange to see favorites of mine on this list. But I guess that's the point, the very songs you cradle in your heart simply aren't on speaking terms with other people.
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WOW-Well I guess I have a few- don't like second half of Datura- way too long, don't like Raining Blood- too gloomy and slow, don't care for Mother Revolution, Ribbons Undone- pretty songs but just too drawn out for me- don't care for Smokey Joe and Code Red-just can't get into them at this point right now-
As for Rare B-sides and such I would say Dolphin Song- sounds too pop 40 for Tori, Home on the Range- not into traditional stuff sometimes, Strange Fruit- I guess that was only meant for Billie Holiday- don't like the arrangement, London Girls- just not into it, Sister Named Desire- too long and slow-

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Missred- Cowboys know the cowgirls ride on the Indian side....

"Datura". Hands down. I can actually get into the second half a bit more, but everytime this song comes on my MP3 player I immeadiately change it. I just can't stand listening to all those damn herbs and plants being rambled off. The actual instrumental/musical arrangement holds so much potential too. Just disappointing.
"Jamacia Inn" is another. I don't necessarily dislike it as much as the opening line "Can you patch my jeans Peggy Ann" just seems silly and everytime I hear it I laugh. And then I think "Well this probably isn't meant to be funny...."

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your apocalypse was fab

I guess all her songs are good,it just depends on my mood at the time i listen to them!

Professional widow and the waitress. I appreciate the lyrics, but I don't like the music in these songs...

I also have to skip 'me and a gun' it is very difficult to listen to. That is the sort of song you do not pull out very often. Though my least favorite Tori song is 'ode to my clothes' I know that it is all in good fun...and the story is cute but I just do not like the song. I also have never come to understand Tori's materialistic ways.

I know what you mean ajtcl. There are songs that I'm 'not up to' on certain days. I was thinking more of the ones that never really clicked for you. To me it is interesting how we all love her, and yet the one that lifts one person's heart is something that is always skipped by another.

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Ok, I'll go through each album:

LE - can't listen to 'Me and a Gun'. It's not that I don't like it, I just find it too painful to listen to what she went through.
Love ALL of Under the Pink!
Pele - Red Baron and Agent Orange. Intro for Red Baron is too long and I get bored, and I dislike the 'ah ah aaaaah's in Agent Orange.
Love all of Choirgirl too.
Venus - don't like the second half of Datura, it's a bit too repetitive for me.
SLG - never been able to get into 'Enjoy the Silence', 'Time' and 'Raining Blood'. I don't think it's Tori, it's that I don't like the songs themselves.
Scarlet's Walk - not my favourite album, but I do like every track
The Beekeeper - 'Cars and Guitars' is not her best song. Don't dislike it, but I tend to skip it. Took me a long time to like 'Ireland' too.
ADP - Digital Ghost sounds like it could slot right in on Venus, and for that reason I feel kinda 'over it' already. And can't get into Smokey Joe.

Some of my fave tracks are the B-sides - especially 'More Pink' as a whole. Can't believe this stuff never made it on an album!!!!

It really so depends on the mood of the situation. When I'm floating on a cloud, I don't want to hear "Me And A Gun," "Putting The Damage On" or "Fat Slut." Some of her songs can truly make me feel her deepest most inner pain and sadness so I will skip them. But if I am feeling blue, I can hear those songs, commiserate with Tori and know that as she has striven and thrived, so will I.

Please know I'm not saying these are my least-liked songs. I'm just saying that on most given days I'd rather hear "Bouncing of Clouds," "Liquid Diamonds," " Hootchie Woman" or well any of her happier more empowered songs.

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Play it again Tori...

That's so funny, Walk To Dublin & Northern Lad are some of my absolute favorites! Haha. I can't stand her version of Heart of Gold, all of the Beekeeper except Sleeps With Butterflies, and I don't really care for Mr. Bad Man. Everything else is pretty much awesome.

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When pianos try to be guitars