Tori Amos - Benjamin

Benjamin

Lyrics by Tori Amos

Benjamin
science whiz
my computer bat friend
tell me where
tell me when
I'll meet you ninja Ben

at the back of the record store
with tapes you secured
prove the extent of their viciousness
as they purge our scientists
my computer bat hunts for facts

campaigns
funded by
the fossil fuel industry
how many of us
will they own
to give them global mastery

sucking hydrocarbon from the ground
those pimps in Washington
are selling the rape of America
as they attack Juliana

now there is no avoiding
Necessity resurrecting herself
and her daughters
who will never be bought
not by the gods
not by the men on the hill
thread of life
measured quick
spin
then
snip

Benjamin
science whiz
my computer bat friend
tell me where
tell me when
I'll meet you ninja Ben
tell me where
tell me when
I'm in your army Ben

Tori Quotes

I think there is a lot of distraction right now, while things are happening. It shocks me that people are talking about... the erosion that's happening at the Environmental Protection Agency: protecting whom? Protecting what -- the American oligarchs? That's the shocker for me -- what's going on in the courts, Juliana vs United States [a case which inspired the track "Benjamin"], the Water Protectors for Lakota nation -- those things that we only hear snippets about now. The distractions are there. And, look, I know that people in New York are consumed with yet another tweet and, if you're a political journalist, that's fine. You have to be on the front line, you've got to know what's going on, that's your gig. But if your gig is something else and you're not doing that gig because you're being diverted, then you've taken yourself away -- you're not seeing things, you're just a consumer. [The 405 - September 5, 2017]

"Benjamin" is about the fact that agencies such as the EPA, that's the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of the Environment are supposed to be protecting the natural world but really what's happening is that they are protecting the big oil, energy and sugars companies who have no hesitation about destroying the world. There are people out there, who I call the Benjamins, although they can be male or female, who are trying to show us what is really happening. There are things happening in America behind the scenes that mean we are losing protection for basic things like clean air and water. And really whatever political aisle you align yourself to, or don't, surely we should all be fighting for and entitled to those things, it's very basic. [Boyz - September 13, 2017]

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