songs | interviews | photos | tours | boots | press releases | timeline




press release | Scarlet Stories | discography | photos | tour | interviews


Operation Peter Pan

Lyrics by Tori Amos

hola, Rojo, morning to you
you always helped me chase demons away
don't know what I'll do without you
so Pan is the name of the plane

second to the right
straight on til morning
that's where I'll be waiting
second to the right
straight on til morning

hola, tick-tock
my time is up
Pedro says
I will forget him in days
in my new life
no room for a lost boy
boys can be so dumb sometimes

second to the right
straight on til morning
that's where I'll be waiting
second to the right
straight on til morning
straight on til morning
kiss Pedro for me


Tori Quotes

"It's a big country.... and there are more songs, different roads off the path and that will be on Scarlet's Web. On Scarlet's Web now, 'Tombigbee' is up, and that takes place in Mississippi, Alabama territory. Then we've got 'Seaside' that happens over on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. 'Operation Peter Pan' made it on the European B-side [of 'A Sorta Faiytale' single], that occurs in Miami. Between 1960 and 1962, I think it was, a lot of children were sent from Cuba in this Operation Peter Pan experiment. And a lot of people were separated from their families, a lot of children. That's explored in that song." [In News Weekly - November 20, 2002]

"Operation Peter Pan spanned from 1960-62 whereby over 14,000 children were sent away from their families in Cuba, some never to reunite again. Pan Am flights took the children to Miami, FL, 'Never-Never Land' and the children became known as the 'Peter Pans.' I wrote this song for my daughter, and it is sung for all the daughters and mothers, fathers and brothers who felt this pain of separation all because of governments and their politics." [A Sorta Fairytale cd liner notes - 2002]


Live Versions

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" / "Merman" / "Operation Peter Pan"
December 3, 2017 - Los Angeles, California




t o r i p h o r i a
tori amos digital archive
yessaid.com