Amber Waves

[huginn]

Yeah, I was thinking of Oprah Winfrey last winter with Traci (they broadcast it with a delay here in Sweden) I read about the Traci Lords autobiography on RDT. (Hasn’t read it yet)
But it doesn’t matter I was pleased to be informed that Tori had a chat with a porn star, so that it wasn’t just the movie, it means something, and I didn’t understand the healing machine. Thanks!

[Julie]

Amber Waves

Well He lit you up
like Amber waves in his
movie show
A porn movie director video taped Amber doing pornographic things

He fixed you up real good
till I don't know you anymore
The porn movie director changed Amber's self-image and worth until Scarlet didn't even recognize her anymore.

from Ballet Class to a Lap Dance
straight to video
She started out with a dancing ambition and it turned into the porn industry.

And the pool side news
was that he would be
launching you
Everyone's talking about Amber being a porn star for everyone to see.

Into every young man's
Bedroom -- you gave it up
on DVD and magazine --
you gave it up
a private rite of passage --
you gave it up
to every boy's sweet dream
with their paper cuts
Amber is showing herself doing pornographic things to everyone.

You said "he's got a
Healing Machine
it glows in the dark
glows in the dark"
You say "there's not a lot
of me
left anymore --
just leave it alone
This porn movie director took away a lot of Amber's worth and she feels she doesn't have a lot left of herself anymore.

But if you're by, and you have
the time, tell the Northern
Lights to keep shining - Lately
it seems like they're drowning"
Life is getting really hard for Amber now.

He could light you up
and summon every swan
to the the Lakeside
He could sway anyone who is trying to be something into this situation of selling yourself.

Off to Cabo San Lucas
for some optical stimulus
Then you started to guess
there was someone else
through His flint glass
seeing all of you
immersed in His sepia
All these people saw of Amber was a body.

Into every young man's
Bedroom -- you gave it up
on DVD and magazine --
you gave it up
a private rite of passage --
you gave it up
to every boy's sweet dream
with their paper cuts

You said "he's got a
Healing Machine
it glows in the dark
glows in the dark"
You say "there's not a lot
of me
left anymore --
just leave it alone.
But if you're by, and you have
the time, tell the Northern
Lights to keep shining -- Lately
it seems like they're drowning"

So I went by
cause I had the time,
and told the Northern Lights
to keep shining
they told me to tell you --
they're waving
Life can get better once she gets out of this situation.

Here's Tori's description of it:
Scarlet's Walk begins on the West Coast, where she visits AMBER WAVES, a phrase found in America The Beautiful and also the name of a porn star in the movie Boogie Nights. Amber's in trouble. "She had arrived in the city of angels with a dream of being someone. But from ballet class to lap dance and straight to video", her soul has been slowly eroded. She's still a young woman, perhaps in her late 20s. But the porn baron who made her a star has moved on to the next ingenue. The public has eaten her and spat her out and she has nobody who cares". So Scarlet and Amber undertake a journey, which eventually leads Scarlet to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. "There she's given the message to tell Amber they're not drowning, but waving."
-- Scarlet's Walk bio

"You find so many stories in Los Angeles. You see especially where all the movies come from - and how the game of chess works. Amber Waves is part of it - if she represents America or if she's a woman, everybody decides for his- or herself. There's this anthem with "amber waves of grain" in it - and then there is this porn star in Boogie Nights. She notices at a certain point that she has to learn to appreciate herself. L.A. doesn't appreciate unconventional personalities. Too many [there] are standardized."
-- Tori; Rolling Stone (German), Oct 2002

"My character, Scarlet, gets a call from Amber. Amber Waves. And it's clear that there's something going on with her. That, um, makes me wanna go to be with her. I think there's certain people in your life that when they call you go. They don't call often and they don't ask alot. I don't even know if she asked, um, for very much. But there was something in her voice that said to me that it was time to put everything aside and go be with her. Once I started spending time with her, I started to let things happen on the spur of the moment, maybe, watching her, keeping my eye on her. And realizing that I had to get her out of the places, and get her away from the people that were making her see herself in a certain way. Where she wasn't a person anymore, she was an object. And this is compounded by the fact that we're going to the Porn Awards. (laughs) Amber is so in over her head at this point. Because, you know, her spirit's not in it anymore. She can't convince herself that there isn't a piece of her soul being taken away now."
-- Scarlet Stories CD

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: Hoochie Woman - Tori Amos

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