Trouble needs a home, girls
Trouble needs a home
She fell out with Satan
now she's on the run
But I have found her quite straight forward
in her contracts and her deals
she warns me when Danger
is loose behind his wheels
and he is loose behind his wheels
Don't cry baby
Trouble got evicted
from the devil's lair
I wager she got betrayed
by her friend Despair
Now the flames from Satan's tongue are charged
and licking at her heels
she whispers, "hey ginger, Danger's loose behind his wheels
and Satan knows how danger makes you feel"
What will be will be, baby
You don't, you don't need to cry
there are no tears in my eyes
If Danger wants to find me
I'll let him in
he can find me
Trouble needs a home, girls
a covert abode
from Tuscon to Ohio
back through Tobacco Row
And she is armed and will fight for the souls
of girls around the world
standing up to Satan
dancing on Saint Michael's sword
I'm on her side in this brutal war
Don't cry baby
You don't, you don't need to cry
there are no tears in my eyes
If Danger wants to find me
I'll let him in
he can find me
Trouble needs a home, girls
Trouble needs a home
Troubles needs a home, girls
Will you give her one?
Trouble needs a home
Trouble needs a home
Tori Quotes
This song has been something that has really driven, driven itself, because of the story. And that Trouble being personified, being chased by Satan -- whatever he looks like, to some people, um... I found him to be quite elusive in some ways, that we didn't want to really meet him vocally, character-wise. We wanted to have a feeling of him chasing her, so we wanted it there, but there was something quite sexy about it that we felt the track had to, um, encapsulate as well as we needed this whimsy that was happening between the narrator, who was my character, and Trouble. And Trouble can be anybody; I guess I've been Trouble in my life. Most women feel like they've been that. So I was holding two positions: that understanding and, um, what goes with that, as well as the narrator, that seems to have a relationship with Danger. And therefore, we were trying to make sure that the instrumentation was representing all these different detailed relationships. [Spotify commentary - 2014]
"Trouble" is in all of us. Any gal knows that. I have run from Satan a few times in my day! Satan can be in a very nice suit in a very nice corporate office. It can be your boss, or it can be someone you are working with or fell in love with or both. You weren't looking at what you were allowing yourself to be involved in. Maybe you do? Maybe you put your head in the sand? I don't know -- it's different for different women. But then at some point, you recognize it and realize it's becoming destructive. Extricating yourself from it is not all that easy. In that song, Trouble is on the run and the question is whether or not she will find friends to help her along the way.
In my mind, I have pictures in my head, of crossing states quite a few times in buses, in cars, crossing America. I saw Trouble crossing America in my mind's eye. Crossing it and jumping in a car. There were times when I saw myself in a car, giving her a ride for awhile, because I have been her. I have been there, I know what that adventure feels like -- the panic, the desperation, the danger, all those things. I have a picture in my mind for that one. For others, there are other images." [Time - May 13, 2014]
Is the line in "Trouble's Lament" -- "I wager she got betrayed by her friend Despair" -- a reference to the character from his Sandman series?
Yeah, that's a reference, without question. "Her friend Despair!" After all these years, she's still my friend! Neil's one of my best friends. [Radio.com - June 6, 2014]
Unrepentant Geraldines contains your most direct calls to overthrow the patriarchy in some time -- almost in a maternal sort of way on "Trouble's Lament" and the title track.
Hopefully not in a condescending way! Maternal... you know, yeah. Or older sister. Nobody wants that [waggles finger], that's not the spirit of it. You know how it upbraids. It's more like... you know Satan, and I know Satan too. It's just that I've known him a little longer. Personifying Trouble was important. It's seen as a pejorative, but it isn't necessarily. [The Quietus - June 19, 2014]
Live Versions
"Trouble's Lament"
April 8, 2014 - Berlin, Germany
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
