the deafening sound of silence
Silence the siren between us
now I drink back the past
back to our wedding day
we'd hang onto every
word that the other would say
Blanket on bluebell knoll
under a starry night holding us close
as jupiter winked at the earth
on that our wedding day
I run back to your arms again
back there safe in your arms again
your thoughts safely were shared
my secrets to you I gave
I swore angels were born
you said heaven can be made
above us on bluebell knoll
the laughing seven maids chased by the bull
as Virgo she danced through the dawn
on that our wedding day
I run back to your arms again
back there safe in your arms again
the deafening sound of silence
Silence the siren between us
I run back to your arms again
back there safe in your arms again
now I take off the mask
that hides all this from your gaze
as you sleep I pretend you dream
of our wedding day
Tori Quotes
"Wedding Day" is, I guess, a, uh, a reflection of a time when things were really magical between this couple, and so making sure that the track, um, was, uh, holding an arrangement space for her to look back as well as to be in the present. And in the present, there is a very, um, obvious mistress between them, and the mistress is silence, and she's the siren that is between this couple. So in order to express that, tell that story, and then to burst into what that wedding day was like those years ago, that was really part of our, um, fun -- we had a lot of fun developing that. So there was a lot of playing back and forth, jumping from the Rhodes, the electric keyboards to the Mellotron flutes to the Bösendorfer, as well as the electric and acoustics. And then the, um, the certain type of percussion was demanded because we wanted, there was a mixture: we have certain Native American drums, certain Celtic drums, but more of a non-Christian type of celebration, because it felt as if we wanted to go further than that, almost an ancient marriage that wasn't about religions, but before that. So that was all part of the development. [Spotify commentary - 2014]
In "Wedding Day," the line that jumped out at me was "We'd hang on to each word that the other would say" -- past tense.
Well, first of all, my husband is a muse for me. Mark, he's very quiet. He's British, rides a motorcycle, supports Arsenal, and the last thing I think he ever thought would be happening to him is that some woman would be talking about him, globally. It's just the worst nightmare for him. And yet, he's one of the sound engineers and hears it getting recorded. When I'm singing these songs, I'm singing to him. He's the first one to hear them. It's a strange relationship, that we work together and he's hearing these things, and they're about him. He's my boyfriend, he's the love of my life, and yet -- as you know -- to have a marriage for sixteen years, we've been together almost twenty years, you're going to experience all kinds of things. And if you love each other enough, you work through it. For many people, their wedding day happens before they've walked that dark road. Whether it's illness, or the death of a parent, or a miscarriage, or career changes. These "little earthquakes" that happen. That song was about a marriage being tested. But they do ok (smiles). [Radio.com - June 6, 2014]
Live Versions
"Wedding Day"
July 23, 2014 - Los Angeles, California
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
