4-Track Choirgirl Sampler
Lyrics & Comments

Updated April 7, 1998

Atlantic has produced and sent out a 4 track promo-sampler CD for Tori's new album, "from the choirgirl hotel," to some radio stations. This CD was first reported to me by Joey `Toriphile' Brymer and Robert German and reported to the rec.music.tori-amos newsgroup by Justin Goellner. The picture on the front of the sampler comes from the April 1998 issue of Q Magazine where you see Tori's back on the big scanner. The number for this item is PRCD 8520 from the Atlantic album #83095 "From the Choirgirl Hotel" The sampler has these 4 songs:

• spark (4:12)
• jackie's strength (4:26)
• raspberry swirl (3:56)
• playboy mommy (4:08)

Below, you will find some comments from people who have heard the sampler. I also have lyric guesses for all the songs, as well as the official lyrics.

Official Lyrics From This Sampler CD

Special thanks to Joey `Toriphile' Brymer for the lyrics to "Spark." These are included with the promo CD.

Spark

Go to my Spark Page.

Special thanks to Toriphile Kelly and one more anonymous source for the lyrics to the 3 songs below.

Jackie's Strength

A Bouvier till her wedding day shots rang out and the police came
mama layed me on the front lawn and prayed for Jackie's strength
feeling old by 21
never thought my day would come
my bridesmaids getting laid I pray for Jackie's strength
make me laugh
say you know what you want
you said we were the real thing
so I show you some more and I learn
what black magic can do
make me laugh
say you know you can turn
me into the real thing
so I show you some more and I learn
stickers licked on lunch boxes
worshipping David Cassidy
yeah I mooned him once on Donna's box
she's still in recovery
sleep-overs Beene's got some pot
you're only popular with anorexia so I turn myself inside out
in hope someone will see
make me laugh
say you know what you want
you said we were the real thing
so I show you some more and I learn
what black magic can do
make me laugh
say you know you can turn
me into the real thing
so I show you some more
and I learn
I got lost on my wedding day typical
the plice came
but virgins always get backstage no matter what they've got to say
if you love enough you'll lie alot
guess they did in Camelot
mama's waiting on my front lawn
I pray I pray I pray
for Jackie's Strength

Raspberry Swirl

I am not senorita
I am not from your tribe
in the garden I did no crime
I am not your senorita
I am not from your tribe
if you want inside her
well,
boy you better make her raspberry swirl
things are getting desperate
when all the boys can't be men
everybody knows I'm her friend
everybody knows I'm her man
I'm not your senorita
I don't aim so high
in my heart I do no crime
if you want inside her
well,
boy you better make her raspberry swirl

Playboy Mommy

In my platforms
I hit the floor
fell face down
didn't help my brain out
then the baby came
before I found
the magic how
to keep her happy
I never was the fantasy
of what you want
wanted me to be
Don't judge me so harsh little girl
so you got a playboy mommy
but when you tell them my name
from here to Birmingham
I got a few friends
I never was there was there when it counts
I get my way
you're so like me
you seemed ashamed
ashamed that I was
a good friend of American soldiers
I'll say it loud here by your grave
those angels can't
ever take my place
somewhere where the the orchids grow
I can't find those church bells
that played when you died
played Gloria
talkin bout
Hosanah
don't judge me so harsh little girl

Comments From Bryan

I have just heard Spark, Jackie's Strength, Raspberry Swirl and Playboy Mommy. Here's a quick run-down of what i thought of the songs:

Spark: Excellent!! I love it...i think it's most like her previous stuff with the way she uses her voice and even though there's certainly a full band in there, you can still hear plenty of piano.

Jackie's Strength: I don't see the comparison to Marianne, sorry. It's a beautiful song though with a lot of strings. A slower, pretty ballad.

Raspberry Swirl: It took me a few listens to get used to this one. It's more of a dance hit than anything else. Very "not Tori". I can hear a lot of Y Kant Tori Read influence in here too.

Playboy Mommy: My favorite!! Absolutely captivating!! Beautiful music! And I love the harmony!!! Kind of a swaying rock ballad type of song.

Comments From James in NYC

I've have the sampler CD- and of course I love it. You've gotten a ton of details on the songs already so I wont say much. Jackie's Strength sounds great- its one of her sweet songs and I can see how people compare it to Black Swan or Marianne- she sorta sings the same way as in those songs but I think we are making comparisons just cuz we fans know so much about the music- it stands well on its own and I dont think it is THAT derivitive of other tori songs.

Raspberry swirl is lots of fun- it's very thumpy- the bass thumps, the piano thumps faster and guitars screech- but the real song is in tori's singing- THINGS ARE GETTING DESPERATE overlaps itself and she goes crazy- and the whole sex thing at the end... settle down folks, she's just kinda breathy at the end which kinda makes sense because she's been screaming. I was expecting her to be screaming "YES-YES- OH MY GOD YES!" by the sounds of peoples descriptions- that part of the song is also VERY SHORT- a few seconds. SETTLE DOWN. Oh yeah- and the comparison to Portishead makes sense but the distorted TORI comes and goes, for the most part her voice is produced the same as usual- only loud.

Playboy mommie I think is the best song on the sampler- its very much like LE stuff- but this time the song sounds rich, I dont know if anyone identified the instrument in the beginning - but its a pipe organ like the one tori pumped at the end of the last tori- it sounds a little like horns at first but the higher notes give it away. ANd the electric guitar at the end is great too. Rich stuff. So I'm more excited to hear the rest of the album after hearing this stuff- I think her songs are going to be tighter overall because she's writing for a band instead of just her. THATS MY TAKE.

Comments From Kenny Hobbs

i was granted a listen to Playboy Mommy and Raspberry Swirl... both of which are simply *incredible*. Raspberry Swirl is going to take quite a few people by surprise... Tori dips heavily into the electronica/dance scene with it, and even though i only heard it for about 45 seconds, i fell in love with it. i couldn't even begin to describe what it was like.

Playboy Mommy, though, i can take a shot at. I remember it being very somber, very moving... the feeling I got from it was quite like the first time i heard Little Amsterdam. when she got to (what i think was) the chorus, i just sat there and thought about roughing the Atlantic rep up and taking the disc. it was that good. unfortunately, the guy was about 20 feet tall and had pecs that looked like Volkswagons trying to parallel park, so i just thanked him for the listen and went on.

Comments From Kerriloo

I have the four-track in my posession... but only until Monday as it is the property of our radio station and I am OBLIGATED to bring it back...I'll give you a rundown on the four songs...

-SPARK-(from the printed insert in the promo)

she's addicted to nicotine patches
she's addicted to nicotine patches
she's afraid of the light in the dark
6:58 are you sure where my spark is
here
here
here
she's convinced she could hold back a glacier
but she couldn't keep baby alive
doubting if there's a woman in there somewhere
here
you say you don't want it again
and again but you don't really mean it
you say you don't want it
this circus we're in
but you don't really mean it you don't really mean it
if the Divine master plan is perfection
maybe next I'll give Judas a try
trusting my soul to the ice cream assassin
here
you say you don't want it again
and again but you really don't mean it
you say you don't want it
this circus we're in
but you don't you don't really mean it you don't really mean it
how many fates turn around in the overtime
ballerinas that have fins that you'll never find
you thought that you were the bomb yeah well so did I
say you don't want it
say you don't want it
say you don't want it again
and again but you really don't mean it
say you don't want it
this circus we're in
but you don't you don't really mean it you don't really mean it
she's addicited to nicotine patches
she's afraid of the light in the dark
6:58 are you sure where my spark is
here

ok...next song... (I haven't had time to try to decipher the lyrics to these yet, since they aren't printed on the promo...sorry kids...I hope a description is ok...)

Jackie's Strength (4:26)

oh god is this one beautiful...reminds me of her earlier stuff...simple... talks about a girl getting married and virgins getting backstage but I think it is basically telling the story of Jackie and how she lived through it all...reference to David Cassidy is in there as well. This song brings me to tears. And the cool part is that I wasn't sure how I'd react to the band being there...the truth is you don't notice it...it's just tori in the raw...and then you realize that there are added elements to her piano playing...I thought it might distract but oh no it just makes it more powerful in a subtle way.

Rasberry Swirl (3:56)

If there is one song that tori's gonna give to BT or Armand to sample, it's this one. It's highly sensual in content, and this is where the band comes out...I SWEAR in the very final seconds of the track she literally has recorded herself well um...reaching her sexual peak, if I may say. Either that or she is faking it exceptionally well. But of course since it's tori it is beautiful and not dirty at all...it makes the song so powerful. All of her work sounds VERY medieval almost, very fantasy-like...I think it has to do with her surroundings in Cornwall, and Camelot is mentioned in Jackie's Strength. I LOVE the feel of it...but she is right...it's totally different than her older work, yet somehow familiar...like it was always there and we just discovered it somewhere. (I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this very well)

Playboy Mommy (4:08)

This is a very sad yet triumphant song about her miscarraige...I think she uses weird keyboards in this one and I'm wondering if she's got the harpsichord out anyway, contrary to public opinion. Very simple...slight embellishments from the band with her piano...but very subtle so it has the feel of LE(if u want to compare it to the past 3)

don't judge me so harsh now
so you got a playboy mommy

the last words are...

-I'll be home to take you in my arms...-

VERY powerful. Again tori has reached inside herself and given us her soul. All of it. This woman is ruthless with her compassion. I do hope you guys get to hear it soon...

Also...if by any fluke any of you are in the Valparaiso area(5-mile radius) tune in on Monday night(well tuesday morning actually) to WVUR Radio Valparaiso from 12-2 am and I'll be playing the entire promo. I guess you little wav people could scout it out if you're from the Chicago area and crazy enough...or hell just come to the station and I'd be overjoyed to have visitors...as long as they stayed to out for ice cream afterwards...

Comments From Robert German

Toriphiles had better be prepared for a wild ride...I think tori is taking us to places we've never been before...included with the promo was a card made from recycled paper with the official lyrics to spark, so I can confirm that the lyrics you have posted as the official lyrics are correct. The front of the cd has the picture of tori with her back on the copying machine. I believe it's black except it does say Tori Amos from the Choirgirl hotel 4 song Sampler on the other side...indside the cd are her club tour dates in white letters against the black background. The back has more colors on it....it almost looks like there are knobs sort of like a radio or a computer or something. I can't explain it, but the colors are sort of pastel.

I have only gotten a chance to listen to it a couple of times, but here are my lyric guesses for Jackie's Strength and Playboy Mommy. The Jackie's strength lyrics are a little bit off in a couple of places...This song starts out with just piano. The piano at the beginning reminds me in an odd way of Daisy Dead Petals. The strings come in(I believe a cello) right at the word hey. A guitar is added at "I prayed for Jackie's strength"...this song seems to me to be sort of an odd cross between Marianne, Frog on my toe, and the old typical tori we've grown to love. It's a very beautiful song and in some ways the whole "ah jackie yeah" part of the song sort of reminds me of the way her voice sounded in Butterfly.

Jackie's Strength

eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
hey
eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
hey

Movie ate till the wedding day
Shots rang out
the police came
Mamma layed me on the front lawn,
and prayed for Jackie's Strength

Feeling old by 21,
Never thought my day would come.
I'm Bride's maids getting laid
Pray for Jackie's Strength

Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
so I shout
you smoke
and I laugh
what black magic can do

make me laugh
say you know you can turn me into the real thing
so I shout
you smoke
and I land(or laugh, but it sounds like land)

Stickers licked on Lunch Boxes
Worshiping David Cassidy
I mooned him once with Donna's butt
She's still recovering
She's still recovering
Sleep overs
Been's got some pie
your only pocket love with my anorexia
I burn myself inside out
in hopes of what you'd say
oh say

make me laugh
say you know what she'll know
you said we were the real thing.
so I shout
you smoke
and I learn what black magic can do.

Make me laugh.
Say you know you can turn me into the real thing.
So I jump.
you smoke.
and I laugh.

Hey Jackie yeah
Hey Jackie yeah
Hey Jackie yeah
Strength
Hey Jackie yeah
Hey Jackie yeah
hey

I got lost on my wedding day.
Typical, the police came.
oh but virgins always get Back stabbed.
no matter what they've got to say.

If you love enough, you lie a lot
Guess they did in Camelot.
Momma's on my front lawn
I pray, I pray
I said I pray for Jackie's Strength
Strength

Make me laugh
say you know what you want
say we were the real thing
so I shout
you smoke
and I laugh

eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
Strength
eh Jackie yeah
eh Jackie yeah
hey
mmmm

This song is heavier on piano than spark and more like older Tori. The part with Make me laugh sounds like another song I can't put my fingers on...I have a feeling it was in a movie from the 80's though...Very beautiful song. Very awesome.

Playboy Mommy

There is piano in this also. It has a similar sound to the whole In the springtime of his voodoo, Samurai...sort of blues roots. There is a slide guitar in the background towards the end as is normally heard in country music. Somehow it works. There is something that sounds sort of like a saxaphone distorted and I can't tell whether it's the keyboard or what, but it doesn't sound like a real instrument. It sounds fabricated. This song is awesome. I've run out of adjectives to describe tori songs. There aren't any to express how great they are....You just have to hear them for yourself. I'm pretty sure these lyrics are exactly right. I don't think they can be very far off at all.

In my platforms, I hit the floor
fell face down didn't help my brain
Then my baby came before I found
the magic how to keep her happy

I never was the fantasy
of what you wanted me to be
just don't judge me so harsh
little girl
so you've got a playboy mommy
but when you tell him my name
you run across that bridge alone.
Little girl, they'll do you no harm.
cuz I know your playboy mommy
but when you tell them my name,
from here to Birmingham, I've got a few friends

I never was there, was there when it counts
get my way, you're so like me
you seemed ashamed
ashamed that I was a good friend of American Soldiers.
I'll say it loud here by your grave.
Those Angels can't ever take my place

Don' judge me so harsh
little girl
you got a playboy mommy
but when you tell em my name
you run across that bridge alone
little firel
they'll do you no harm because I know your playboy mommy
girl, you just tell em my name
I've got a few friends

(Piano interlude with that slide guitar thing...)

Someway where the orchids grow
I can't find those churchbells
that played when you died
played "Gloria"(this has a similar sound to "Way Down")
talking about "Hosanna"

Don't judge me so harsh little girl
You got a playboy mommy
come home
when you tell them soldiers my name
cross that bridge all by your lone
little girl, they'll do you no harm
they know your playboy mommy
but I'll be home
I'll be home to take you in my arms

Raspberry Swirl

I'll listen to Raspeberry swirl again, but the lyrics are hard to decipher. It is like no other tori song I have ever heard. It sort of sounds like sweet dreams meets "hot hot hot" from the cure and the "hanging Garden" from the cure. It is a really really cool song and drew me in like nothing I've ever heard before.

These are the lyric fragments I got, but they're very layered and overlapped, so they're hard to decipher. Let's go
I am not........
I am not from your tribe
In the garden garden

I am not......
I am not from your tribe
If you want inside the well
boy you'd better make a raspberry swirl
things are getting des- desperate
we don't know it's caving in
everybody wants a good friend
everybody wants a good man
things are getting desperate
...
...
..
let's go
...
...
..In my heart
In my heart
I've been know to cry
if you want inside the well
boy you'd better make a raspberry swirl
ra- a- a raspberry swirl
let's go

(at the end she's either saying swirl or swell. It would seem logical
for it to be swirl, but it really sounds like swell)

SWEll
Swell(Swirl)

(there's a lot more to this, but for the most part it's the same thing repeated over and over. At the end it is just her breath...panting..It sounds like she's having sex)

Comments From Joey `Toriphile' Brymer

well i got home from work and gave it a listen. it had spark, jackie's strength, raspberry swirl, and playboy mommy on it. all the songs were in the 4 to 4 and a half min range. jackie's strength is BEAUTIFUL. kinda like marianne. um, lots of strings (which i love) and piano. the strings are semi-harsh yet lush. just the sound of this song made tears well up in my eyes; as hokey as that sounds. BfP did the same thing to me. anyway...raspberry swirl...well that's something entirely different. don't get me wrong, i really like it; but's it's _rather_ different. right near the beginning she runs her voice through a sequencer/sampler/syth deal. it sticks out like professional widow kinda. it rocks; a bit of "electric" stuff going on in the background. next is playboy mommy. it starts out with something like a bagpipe or something, but i know it's not that. i think it's an accordian. it's a bit of a slow blues kinda groove song. it has a _small_ bit of a slide guitar in back too; i think. as for lyric interpretations, don't ask me. i'm not good at pulling lyrics out of songs, and i've only listened to it twice. oddly enough, jackie's strength does mention weddings prominantly.

Comments From Justin Goellner

Justin gave his thoughts to the rec.music.tori-amos newsgroup:

#1- spark. i wasn't totally excited by this track- i liked it, tori's voice is still amjazing. it has a full band alternative music kinds feel- too little piano. it's funny- in the bridge of the song (where a normal band would have a guitar solo) there's a PIANO SOLO!! hahaha. anyways.. it's not bad- i mean, tori could sing the phonebook to the sounds of a garbage disposal and i'd love it.

#2- jackie's strength. this track is so much like marianne from pele except less creative. again, her voice is kicking much ass but the lyrics are skimpy and repetitive.. starts off with mostly piano and piano remains strong throughout the track- sounds a little like older tori stuff without the flair she usually has. still pretty good though.

#3- raspberry swirl. this is SO MESSED UP!!!! it's totally like dance tori... lots of vocal distortion (the vocals reminded my friend and i of portishead on the new album), and really upbeat piano dance music.. it's kinds cool. if i didn't have such high expectations of tori, i would love this track. it's really unique.

#4- playboy mommy. this one is by far my favorite- awesome lyrics, perfect blend of piano elements and band/ other instruments.. .kinda midtempo. her voice is so calm + soothing on this track i love it. i don't know what else to say about it...

Comments From TJBREAUX

My uncle owns this radio Station 93.3 the Planet and he is a big fan of Tori's. I came to his studio one day and I listened to it. I have to say I was getting really scared with spark but after I heard Jackies strength there came the Tears. I mean everywhere for some reason it just hit me like no other Tori song ever had. I dont think it sounds like marianne at all. Its a very very beautiful song almost up thre with hey jupiter and winter. Then came rasberry Swirl. I had to listen to this one twice. It just made me wanna get up and dance. It had almost like a Techno feel to it like Tulula without the harpsichord. I liked everything until the end when she starts having sex on the mike. I mean where did that come from. It might have just been her breathing real hard but who knows. Then Playboy Mommy. This track was AWESOME!!!!! It was kinda like a cross from spacedog to voodoo. It was extremely well written and very much a sing along song bob your head in the car listening to it on the radio kinda song.

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