Post 2- Tori Amos

I'm a fan of Tori Amos. In fact, I know "Home on the Range" quite well. I havenҀt listened to the song in a while and it was nice to revisit it because I heard and thought differently about it this time around. Basically, thereҀs the contrast in the lyrics between the sad commemoration of the ӀTrail of TearsԀ with the skies never being cloudy - And the skies are not cloudy all day. To me sadness is usually heightened by rainy and miserably cloudy skies. In this song it seems that Amos is providing a glimpse of hope through her interpretation of the song. She shows how the Cherokee were forced to travel closer to the range, but through their plight there were still unclouded skies up above. The Cherokee bride lives on under unclouded skies, now that there home is far from their point of origin.

Amos weaves in her own version of what the Cherokee perspective of such a celebrated and American historical song could be. She takes something that has been masked as happy and beneficial and reveals a realistic and more honest version of what Home on the Range can really mean to Americans. AmosҀs sarcasm is similar to that of Sarah VowellҀs. What I remember the most from the podcast as it relates to this paradoxical version of AmosҀs is when Sarah and Amy are in Georgia still, at the beginning of their trip. They pull over to a Mexican man selling Indian items. The man says that the Georgians love Indians. Then Sarah puts it to him and says something along the lines of ӀYou mean the Indians they kicked out of Georgia?Ԁ This is similar to Tori AmosҀs paradoxical and truly creative voice. Sarah has found her voice and so has Tori Amos in regards to the oftentimes contradicting and American story and perspective.