Tori Amos - The Chase

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Night of Hunters intro by tori

The Chase

variation on: Mussorgsky, The Old Castle (from Pictures at an Exhibition)

Lyrics by Tori Amos

tori:
Out there are Hunters

Anabelle:
Let's say Predators

tori:
I have weapons
that could destroy them

Anabelle:
You must out create
it's the only way
I am the Hunter and the Hunted
Joined together

tori:
you create duality

Anabelle:
and neutrality
I must leave you
with the Fire Muse
show her the riddle
It is serious if you lose
out there

tori:
I'll be the Hare

Anabelle:
Then I'm the Greyhound
chasing after you

tori:
Then I'll change my frequency
to a Fish that thinks

Anabelle:
Then you will find yourself
in the paws of the Otter
near her jaws

tori:
Then I'll grow my wings
as a Flying Thing

Anabelle:
Flying Thing
you be warned
I'm the falcon

tori:
Watch me change
to a Grain of Corn

Anabelle:
A Grain of Corn?????
Hear the Alarm in your head?
I'm the Hen

tori and Anabelle:
black and red

Anabelle:
And You're In My Barn,
They would have won
Use your head
or you'll be dead

Tori Quotes

With that understanding of how she really feels, during "The Chase," Anabelle announces she must go and leaves Tori with the Fire Muse. The Fire Muse reveals herself through an actual flaming life-size fire that Anabelle dances around getting Tori to show the Fire Muse the riddle she has been taught. Anabelle explains that she, in her fox/goose form, is the hunter and the hunted which carries the force of duality and neutrality. Although a different kind of hunter/predator force seems to be closing in around them, Anabelle must continue on her mission of calling all forces to wake and to use their powers to out-create the forces who have chosen to use their power for destructive purposes. The riddle Anabelle has taught Tori is old magic and is teaching her the skill of shapeshifting from the hunted to the hunter, Anabelle's power. She warns Tori that "out there," in order to survive the predators, she must out-think them, out-create them, and apply everything Anabelle has taught her, or she could literally lose her head. [Night of Hunters commentary - July 2011]

Over the years, I've had to create and allow it to live out in the world. We can all get into a destructive place, and the only way to deal with destruction is to out-create it. That's something I think quite a few of us have learned over the years. Once you start becoming destructive back towards somebody or something, nothing positive happens. [Spinner - September 20, 2011]

The lyrics reference the story of Taliesin, a 6th century Welsh poet and bard.

from Wikipedia:

In the mid 16th century, Elis Gruffydd recorded a legendary account of Taliesin which resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail and the salmon of wisdom in some respects. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version by John Jones of Gellilyfdy (c. 1607). A composite version based on these accounts is given below:

Taliesin began life as Gwion Bach, a servant to the enchantress Ceridwen. Ceridwen had a beautiful daughter and an ugly son named Morfran (also called Avagddu), whose appearance no magic could cure. Ceridwen sought to give him the gift of wisdom as compensation and cooked a potion granting inspiration (Awen), which had to be constantly stirred and cooked for a year and a day. A blind man named Morda tended the fire beneath the cauldron, while Gwion Bach stirred. The first three drops of liquid from this cauldron would give wisdom; the rest was a fatal poison. Three hot drops spilled onto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, and he instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, instantly gaining wisdom and knowledge. The first thought that occurred to him was that Ceridwen would kill him, so he ran away.

All too soon he heard her fury and the sound of her pursuit. He turned himself into a hare on the land and she became a greyhound. He turned himself into a fish and jumped into a river: she then turned into an otter. He turned into a bird in the air, and in response she became a hawk.

Exhausted, he turned into a single grain of corn and she became a hen and ate him. She became pregnant. She resolved to kill the child, knowing it was Gwion, but when he was born he was so beautiful that she couldn't, so she threw him in the ocean in a leather bag.

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