variation on: Granados, Orientale (from 12 Spanish Dances)
Lyrics by Tori Amos
Fearlessness blew in
with the wind
waking up to greet the sun
We sailed on like the ancient ones
into the Nine Underworlds
We knew Dangers would come
I had faith in both of us
Listen to your heart you can hear me
Listen to your heart you can hear me
Day turned night when he questioned,
"Why can't you balance the skies?"
Soulless storms have sent Watchers
with blade-less weapons to fight
Teams of Horses of the Brine
followed his cry
through the fire
Demons of the Wild hissed with the wind
did you listen?
Listen to your heart can you hear me
Listen to your heart can you hear me
Fearlessness soon reminded me,
"You must be stronger than they"
cautioning, "There are those who live
to be cruel for the fun of it."
He let in a dark companion
that orbited between us
His siren friends convinced him that Love
was no match against storms to come
Their songs inflamed by Doubt
Fearlessness drown them out
Teams of Horses of the Brine
followed his cry
through the fire
Demons of the Wild hissed with the wind
did you listen?
Listen to your heart can you hear me
Listen to your heart can you hear me
Did we begin
without knowing it
to find fault in every gift
Then that was when
the Blame began
What were once 2 forces joined
in Fearlessness
Tori Quotes
Tori collects another memory of her recent past with "him." Doubt and Blame seem to have come between the couple. Here their life on the sea comes to life. On their recent Atlantic Crossing on his sailboat from the new world to the old world Outside Forces begin to pull them apart so that by the end of the song we hear: "Then that was when the Blame began, what were once two forces joined in Fearlessness." [Night of Hunters commentary - July 2011]
The work itself was driving certain things. Sometimes, as a writer, you cock your head at certain signals and signs saying, "Well, why are we dealing with the nine underworlds of the Maya?" Why are we doing this? Little did I know at the time, but I discovered that Granados, the composer, had made a trip to the New World. He was from Spain, and this song was from Spanish dances. Originally I was trying to somehow pull Spain into this, because they have quite an influence on Ireland and landed there -- there's a whole history there from hundreds of years. The crazy thing is, they would stop there -- they've been there a long, long time -- but they went in and settled the New World.
Granados made his trip, and everything in that song was saying you have to take this to the New World. He played for the President, which made him change his passage back to the Old World. He had a great fear of boats -- water, really -- so that on the way back, they made it back to England, but on the way back to Spain their boat went down. He was rescued, but he saw his wife drowning in the distance. He dove off the boat to save her and they both died. So "Fearlessness" was being driven by the song itself, and I didn't really know the circumstances until the song was done. Dr. Buhr said to me, "Do you know the story of Granados?" I had no idea. He picked up on all the references.
This is where you get to this strange moment of who's driving who. I think the songs drive me to find them. It's a very fine line: Am I writing it, or am I just translating a consciousness that's already there? It was very clear, hand on my heart, that this wanted to be called "Fearlessness" with his melody, and it had to be about water. And them being out on the water, our couple, Tori and this guy -- it tied in with somehow the soul and consciousness of Granados. That was sort of the prerequisite. If I was going to use his melody, somehow there had to be a link with his journey and his story. [Paul Pearson blog - December 22, 2011]
Live Versions
"Fearlessness"
October 18, 2011 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
