[Tori is shown playing "Leather" in her London apartment]
Tori Amos: It's about stripping yourself, but feeling really strong in doing it. And as you like, chip away, you find more things about yourself. I mean, I get to know myself by writing this stuff. It's like fingerpainting, really. You just get your hands all gooey and you start painting. And you can paint in any way you want. And I've just chosen to do it with songs.
[a clip from the "Silent All These Years" video]
Tori Amos: I really believe in trying to tell stories. I feel like I'm a storyteller. And you do it with sound. Every note is part of that story. And every breath, everything that you don't say, is part of that story, when you pause. I mean, you have four minutes, five minutes -- I mean, I cheat, I make songs that are like, seven minutes -- but in that time-space you can fill it up with anything, anything at all, and so I really try and make it a journey that I want to go on, 'cause I have to keep singing these hundreds and hundreds of times.
[another clip of Tori playing "Leather"]
Tori Amos: I always had a crush on Jesus. I have... I believe in other things than just the three-dimensional life. I believe in the fairies, I believe in... my mother's side was Native American, so there is an understanding of the spirits in the land, and that really isn't talked about in the Christian side of things. I believe in a spirituality side.
[Tori is shown singing "Me and a Gun" in a church]
Tori Amos: I don't think that Jesus has a whole lot to do with religion today, and I'll sit and talk to any minister about it. And the ones that are really aware, we could have a really nice conversation. Because they're so much about guilt and shame and repression and restriction. There's a lot of that going on, because if you don't have that, they're afraid you won't need the church. That's the underlying message that isn't talked about and, being a minister's daughter, you see the underlying messages. And that's what I talk about.
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
