Putting the Damage On

“Um, this I started writing in Australia. Um, during the end of the tour. And I couldn't finish it. This is one of those ones that, she just came and I had to like, keep getting to know her, every day, a little bit more. She would come and visit me every day, but sometimes no music would come. I mean, I'd just take a walk with her, I would sit around with her, I'd see movies with her, and she forced me to see things from a different perspective. And that's how I finally understood, "oh my god, that's the only way that I can write this, if I start seeing him as beautiful. That he's beautiful after all that happened. He's still beautiful, even after no matter what he does." Now that can say a lot about me, or that can say a lot about him.” [WHFS Just Passin' Through - February 12, 1996]

“And of course Damage speaks for itself. The song, being herself damaged, it’s trying to teach myself about graciousness, and I have such a hard time with that. I have a very hard time. Damage was so essential for me to sing, it’s one of the most difficult ones for me. I can look and have love and feelings for some of these people but...” [B-Side – May/June 1996]

Additional info from a Neil Gaiman interview

Neil Gaiman has said things to Tori which, unknown to him at the time, would later appear in her songs. The example he gave was when he once told her a story about how Groucho Marx had told his daughter to go out shopping. She blatantly refused but, he insisted that she should go shopping. Eventually, under protest, she conceded and headed for the stores. Some hours later Groucho's daughter returned with a poodle and a Corvette and he vowed never to send her shopping again. This story stayed with Tori as it later appeared in the lyrics to Putting the Damage On from Boys for Pele. This seems to prove that while Tori's lyrics may appear baffling to some, they all have meaning and reason. Some just need a little more research. [Take to the Sky – November 1996]