In the Lush Virginia hills
they kept her as long as they could
Cause they knew when the white brother found
white shell Beads wrapped around her
skin - a life-giving river - Her body open
as will his hand
with a "goodbye" there she goes
she may Betray
All she loves
and even wait for
their Savior to come
And in some things,
maybe he'll be right
But as always
The thing that he Loves
he will change from her
sunwise to clockwise
to soul trading
still she'll lay down her Body
covering him all the same
so Hundreds of years go by
(the Red Road carved up by Sharp Knife)
She's a girl out working her Trade
and she loses a little each day
to ghetto pimps and presidents
who try and arouse her turquoise serpents
She can't recall what they represent
and when you ask, she won't know
she will Betray
All she loves
and even wait for
their Savior to come
And in some things,
maybe he'll be right
But as always
The thing that he Loves
he will change from her
sunwise to clockwise
to soul trading
still she'll lay down her Body
covering him all the same
oh Virginia
(do you remember)
you won't, even you, oh Virginia
(when the land held your hand)
you won't, even you
(when the Land held your hand)
oh Virginia, you won't
(she will let you back in)
even you, oh Virginia
(do you remember)
oh Virginia
you can't remember your name
Tori Quotes
In "Virginia," Scarlet makes her way up to Washington and visits Jamestown, one of the earliest settlements. She wonders how a land built on the notion of freedom for the settlers could deny freedom to the native American people.
In her mind she sees the white brother coming and the young Native American girl following. The mythology of another land has been imposed on America. [Scarlet's Walk bio]
Going and visiting Virginia, there is a sweetness and a sadness because she's able to hear this voice that goes back hundreds of years, she's able to go back in time with this voice. And she's able to really see, sort of, the um, the innocence of America at that time, as a teenager. She sees some of it in "Scarlet's Walk," but it gets very mature, that voice in "Scarlet's Walk," it's all-knowing America when she talks to Scarlet about what happened. But in "Virginia," you know, she's a young girl. And I guess Scarlet is trying to go back in time and talk to America as that teenager and say, "Hey, you know, you might not wanna be so trusting," or, "Hey, you know, you might wanna think about this before you stop speaking your language here, here and here and give it all up and renounce what your soul knew as true." Oh, all those things that you want to tell somebody who's a teenager. [Scarlet Stories]
Live Versions
"Virginia"
October 2, 2002 - Paris, France Music Planet 2Night
"Virginia"
August 23, 2003 - Wantagh, New York
"Virginia"
December 12, 2007 - San Diego, California Legs and Boots
"Virginia"
October 6, 2017 - Glasgow, Scotland
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
