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Viktor and Rolf Fashion Show
Fall/Winter ready-to-wear collection
presented in Paris, France
March 2, 2005

Tori Amos live performance



Tori performed a specially-commissioned 17-minute composition for Viktor and Rolf.

"Take Me with You" / "Song of Solomon"



Lyrics by Tori Amos

you have come
you, yes, even you have come
my sister, my bride
my sister, my bride

I sleep but
my heart waketh
I sleep but
my heart waketh, I said
I sleep but
my heart waketh

I wake
I wake

I sleep but
my heart waketh

oh, oh, take me with you
I don't need shoes to follow
bare feet running with you
somewhere the anger ends, my dear

oh, oh, take me with you
chase jackals into their burrow
bare feet running, running with you
somewhere the anger ends, my dear

and he is here
my love is there with his
locks and curls
black as a raven

and you have come
my sister, my bride
you have come
you have come

you, daughters of Jerusalem
you, daughters of Jerusalem
you, sons of Lebanon
my heart is sick
sick with love
I need this potion
I need this potion
this flower balm

oh, oh, take me with you
I don't need shoes to follow
bare feet running, running with you
somewhere the anger ends, my dear

oh, oh, take me with you
chase jackals into their burrow
bare feet running, running with you
somewhere the rainbow ends, my dear

the Watchmen
that go about the city
they smote me
they warned me
these keepers of the walls
that took my mantle from me
you took my mantle from me

oh, daughters of Jerusalem
oh, daughters of Jerusalem
we need those sons of Lebanon

I ask you
oh, oh, take me with you
I don't need shoes to follow
bare feet running with you
somewhere the anger ends, my dear

oh, oh, take me with you
chase jackals into their burrow
bare feet running with you
today, even the rain
even the rain
even the rain

you come in my garden
I know you are my sister, my bride
in this Song of Solomon, I said
my sister, my bride
you come into my garden
and you fed me
when I was lovesick, lovesick

I sleep but I now wake up
I sleep but I must wake up
I sleep but I wake up
oh, oh, take me with you
I don't need shoes to follow
bare feet running with you
somewhere the anger ends, my dear

oh, oh, take me with you
chase jackals into their burrow
running with you
somewhere the rainbow ends
the anger ends right here

you have, you have come for it
you have come
you, daughters of Jerusalem
you, sons of Lebanon
feel my pillow
until the war is gone

I sleep but heart waketh
but do you have one
I said, do you have one
do you have one now
do you have this thing inside your bones
do you have it or is it too old
I said, do you have one of those
do you have one of those
you said, a part

bare feet running with you
somewhere the anger ends right here
the anger ends right here
I sleep but now I wake up
I sleep but my heart waketh
waketh

oh, daughters of Jerusalem
and sons of Lebanon
I hold these two in my heart
and I wake up


Tori Quotes

Viktor and Rolf, the designers from Holland, called and asked me to do a piece for them (in 2005). They're quite subversive in their way and, being Dutch, they're very liberal and their viewpoint comes from a place I think of as closer to where I am. They had just made this perfume called Flowerbomb, so when they asked me to do it, the first thing I thought of was the war in the Middle East and "There Is a Bomb in Gilead" (rather than "Balm" as in the hymn). So I thought, let's go back to the Old Testament.

I'd been immersed in the bee culture, of the Bee Masters and the Bee Mistresses when I was making The Beekeeper. Some of them had shown up at my door before anyone knew about the album. I met this one Bee Master and he talked to me about the Song of Solomon and how important that was for the feminine side, and how Christianity and Judaism and Islam were trying to kill the Goddess archetype.

It's a sacred verse to the Bee Mistress and the Bee Masters in their ceremonies, where women marry their sexuality and their sacredness. So I thought I'm going to take some of the words of the Song of Solomon and this song just came. And it was "Take Me with You." I retained the chorus I had written in 1990, then I wrote many verses that talked about now. It was an improv piece. I've done it once in my life. I went into a trance, I studied the verse and I had the melody. I had to trust that it would be a one-off piece for Viktor and Rolf. [Record Collector - November 2006]


Viktor and Rolf Fashion Show photos
March 2, 2005 - Paris, France




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