This house is like Russia
with eyes cold and grey
You got me movin' in a circle
I dyed my hair red today
I just want a little passion
to hold me in the dark
I know I've got some magic
buried deep in my heart yeah
But my priest says,
"you ain't savin' no souls"
My father says,
"you ain't makin' any money"
My doctor says,
"you just took it to the limit"
and here I stand
with this sword in my hand
You can say it one more time
What you don't like
Let me hear it one more time then
have a seat while I
take to the sky
My heart is like the ocean
It gets in the way
So close to touching freedom
then I hear the guards call my name
And my priest says
"you ain't savin' no souls"
My father says,
"you ain't makin' any money"
My doctor says,
"you just took it to the limit"
and here I stand
with this sword in my hand
You can say it one more time
What you don't like
Let me hear it one more time then
have a seat while I
take to the sky
If you don't like me just a little
Why do you hang around?
There she goes again
wearing those purple panties
There she goes again
wearing her heart
There she does again
Why do you take it
This house
is like Russia
You can say it one more time
What you don't like
Let me hear it one more time then
have a seat while I
take to the sky
Tori Quotes
This is the first song I wrote for Little Earthquakes, and of course it didn't make the record. Nothing that's my favorite song that I ever do ever makes my records. [Atlanta, Georgia - August 18, 1998]
"Take to the Sky" was the first song that began Little Earthquakes. After Y Kant Tori Read was deep in the toilet, I was living behind this church. I started to really get into the rhythms of it all, the Catholicism, but being Protestant I must have been Catholic Channeling. [VH1 Storytellers - October 24, 1998]
That song came out of the failure of Y Kant Tori Read. I began to see how the record industry really operated -- how it worked when you were successful and how it worked when you weren't. I saw the buddy system, and the networking, and I just said, "You know what? Fuck that. I'm going to take to the sky, and all I have to do is be true to the muses. That is all I'm going to do from now forward." So the song was my prayer, and my answer to the music industry. [Rolling Stone - June 2, 2015]
Live Versions
"Take to the Sky"
September 24, 1996 - Normal, Illinois
"Take to the Sky"
November 14, 1998 - New York, New York Sessions at West 54th
"Take to the Sky"
October 12, 2001 - West Palm Beach, Florida Strange Little Webcast
"Take to the Sky"
November 14, 2002 - New York, New York Scarlet Sessions
"Take to the Sky" / "I Feel the Earth Move"
April 27, 2003 - Houston, Texas
"Take to the Sky" / "Muhammad My Friend"
September 4, 2003 - West Palm Beach, Florida Welcome to Sunny Florida
"Take to the Sky"
November 26, 2007 - San Antonio, Texas
"Take to the Sky" / "Datura"
April 8, 2014 - Berlin, Germany Unrepentant Geraldines Release Party
"Take to the Sky" / "Datura"
May 29, 2014 - New York, New York Rough Trade
"Take to the Sky" / "I Feel the Earth Move" (Carole King)
November 12, 2017 - Nashville, Tennessee
"Take to the Sky" / "I Feel the Earth Move"
July 8, 2023 - Lewiston, New York
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
