Don't say the morning's come.
Don't say it's up to me.
If I could take twenty-five minutes,
Out of the record books...
Sugar,
He brings me sugar.
Bobby's collecting bees and hammers.
He used one on me.
Cold war with little boys...
Get in with a bubble-gum trade.
And sugar,
Bring me sugar.
I know all the robins bring...
Bring me many things,
But sugar,
He brings me sugar.
As far as I can tell,
I've been gone for miles now.
You know and I know
I don't know me very well.
And I know me, you know.
If they found me out...
Sugar,
He brings me sugar.
I know all the robins bring...
They bring me many things,
But sugar,
He brings me sugar.
I know all the robins bring
They bring many things,
But sugar...
Tori Quotes
I've written a song called "Sugar" about those people you meet that you'll never have a relationship with, but if you could have 25 minutes alone with them, you'd have this incredible affair. There's something magical and you want to merge with it in every way possible. That's why I could imagine being a carnivore thousands of years ago; you want to merge with them so intensely you could almost eat them. Say we didn't have bodies and blood and guts, but just released these light energies like colours, then we could just merge. That's what making love is really about. Your blue connects with my pale orange; a little bit of fire-engine red with your lime green! That's what they were doing when they ate someone, like their lover or a beaten enemy. It's a bit different with the Romans buggering the guys they beat -- it all gets distorted down the line. They were merging; that's what they were doing. [Q (UK) - February 1992]
I wrote a piece called "Sugar" that's about the meetings each of us has, for several reasons, almost every day with different people. It happens often, if I like a person, that even during a short interview I can establish a feeling so intense that touches the physical relationship. [Hi Folks (Italy) - March 1992]
I met somebody that was changing my idea of relationships. Like, "Why do you have to be in just one?" And um, it was tearing me to pieces because I couldn't be in both relationships. And um, this guy made me a cup of tea and he forgot that I took sugar in it. And it really uh, hurt my feelings because after all I shared with him and, "How many cups of tea have I had with this person?" And he forgot that I took sugar in my tea. And that sounds like a little thing to you. ...But it was like, "Well wait a minute, which girl did you think I was that didn't take sugar?" Because this wasn't like I've never done this with this person before, had a cup of tea. And the English make tea, so they should know what they're doing, as far as the tea thing. If this would have been the American, we could have let him slide on this, because they don't know what they're doing with tea anyway. But he did, and he didn't know, and it made me so mad, and I wrote this song. And I recorded it like, within an hour of when this happened. And that's that song. [CFNY, Toronto - March 5, 1993]
Freddie Mercury had just died, who I totally adored. And he, all of a sudden I hear this voice in my ear... and my trolls never sounded like Freddie Mercury before so I didn't think it was them. And all of a sudden I hear this voice going... [sings] "Sugar... brings me sugar..." [in concert, Detroit - July 4, 1994]
I was in love with this boy when I was five years old and I knew we could really make it work. I was trying to convince him and he took this hammer and hit me with it really hard and, you're going to really hate me for this, but I was so stupid, I tried to get my dad, the minister, to invite them over because I wanted to see him and conquer his heart. I was going to give him bubble-gum and then he'd let me into his treehouse to play with his toy machine-guns. I just wanted to be with him so bad... He called me a nerd. [Q magazine - May 1994]
I was riding on this train to the west country in England, cause I had to make a b-side in about twelve hours. And um... usually I cheat, right, I have something already written when I'm eating like egg salad or something and I scratch things down on my light bill that I never pay. And it's always hanging around and I always have some... ya know, a cheat. I didn't have a cheat this time. So I was like going down to the West Country. And uh... you know, you try to sit on the train and write about stuff. I'd like have little trolls with me and I'd be like writing songs about my little trolls -- that ain't gonna cut it! Ya know! And um, that's when you get like delusions of serious grandeur. Nobody wants to hear about my fucking trolls! So, anyway, I'm sitting there going, ok that didn't work. And there was like nobody cute on the train, so I couldn't like get off! But what's cute to me is like sick to most people, you know. We won't touch that one. Anyway, I end up at this place, right, this house where we're recording. And nothing's coming and all of a sudden this little voice pops in my head, right here on my shoulder and Freddie Mercury had just passed the week before. And in his voice he sang this to me. I guess I really should have given him publishing, but it didn't work. [Tampa, Florida concert - August 3, 1994]
So, I had to get this song together in about two hours. And this boy really pissed me off, because I had a crush on him, right... and he'd been making tea for me for nine months. And so, the whole thing is... he would sit there and ask me... Now if you're making tea for a girl, right, for nine months, don't you think, guys. I mean, help me out here. Your noodle, it can hold a lot of information, right? But don't you think you can remember how many sugars a girl takes in her tea after nine months? [Hey Jupiter live EP - 1996]
Live Versions
"Sugar"
January 19, 1993 - Los Angeles, California KROQ, Kevin & Bean Show (radio)
"Sugar"
March 5, 1993 - Toronto, Canada CFNY (radio)
"Sugar"
April 10, 1996 - Gainesville, Florida
"Sugar"
June 19, 1996 - New York, New York
VH1 Crossroads
"Sugar"
October 15, 1999 - New York, New York Hard Rock Live
"Sugar"
October 30, 2007 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Sugar"
July 10, 2011 - Milan, Italy
"Sugar"
June 12, 2014 - Warsaw, Poland
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
