Mrs. Jesus

[shetwinkles]

For weeks I thought the line in Mrs. Jesus went, "Grandma person hitched a ride with Mrs.Jesus." I thought it was a bit strange but figured, hey, it's Tori.

It wasn't until I actually read the lyrics that I realised the line was actually, "grabbed my purse and hitched a ride with Mrs. Jesus."

D'oh.

Lora xoxo

[♥Jana♥]

shetwinkles said:

For weeks I thought the line in Mrs. Jesus went, "Grandma person hitched a ride with Mrs.Jesus." I thought it was a bit strange but figured, hey, it's Tori.

It wasn't until I actually read the lyrics that I realised the line was actually, "grabbed my purse and hitched a ride with Mrs. Jesus."

D'oh.

Lora xoxo

yeah well in Little Amsterdam I thought she said
Harmony get it on the playground and it is really
Hominy get it on the plate girl...

I am a dork and cant hear.

but yeah tori can be weird sometimes..... so ya never know

[talulad]

shetwinkles said:

For weeks I thought the line in Mrs. Jesus went, "Grandma person hitched a ride with Mrs.Jesus." I thought it was a bit strange but figured, hey, it's Tori.

It wasn't until I actually read the lyrics that I realised the line was actually, "grabbed my purse and hitched a ride with Mrs. Jesus."

D'oh.

Lora xoxo

LOL

Hey at least you dreamed up actual possible lyrics. (see my copalita thread - what's a copalita, again?)

[shetwinkles]

hehe yeah! I was laughing for ages after reading your copalita post. lmao.

[venusgirl]

Okay, I really, really love this song. It is one of my favorites on this album.

Lots of lines I dont understand, of course, but I'll get to that later. Actually I probably dont understand ANY of it, but I should say 'what it means to me is...'

Hitched a ride with mrs. jesus
to me this is just like her talking to jesus, sorta praying, however you want to say that.

but in some ways I dont think it gets any easier
this to me is saying 'man, this whole trying to find my place with, not religion, but my spirituality, my relationship with god hasnt gotten much more clear as Ive gotten older.

your walking on the water bit by far my favorite one obviously this is referring to the story in the bible about jesus walking on water and getting one of the apostals to have enough faith in him until he also walked on the water with jesus when he doubted he started sinking

were drowning in a drop of water love
this may be, since it comes right after the previous line, comparing a drop of water to the whole body of water that jesus walked on. but we're drowning, so maybe its that we get caught up in the small things like how she later says "the gospel changes meaning if you follow john or paul" john and paul were both writers of books in the bible and very close to jesus but I think how shes saying there that the bible is so hard to interpret because people interpret it so differently you can get lost in that. and miss the big picture, kinda like drowning in a drop of water.

and even as Im climbing up the stairs
getting older, or getting some closure on previous problems with her own personal spirituality

I know there's heaven there and then empy arms that comes with the mornig star

I love this line. To me coming from a VERY force fed religious background this means somedays I feel a bit of closure with what I believe. feeling Ive sifted through all the religous crap I was told to believe and have come into my own on not believing alot of what I was taught but believing and trusting that god really is there. But, 'the moring star' (the sun), the next day I will sadly not feel god at all. and be confused all over again.

this is already way to long so I'll stop. Its funny. I love talking about her songs and reading other peoples opinions. This song is probably absolutely about NOTHING that I get from it. I know you all relate to that. PEACE

[Koalapupu]

Hey OurLoveGotLost, I loved your view on this song! I, too, love hearing other people's opinions and interpretations. That's the best thing about Tori's songs, people can relate to them in their own way.

The the drowning in a drop of water love - bit makes me think of something in the similar lines as what you thought."You know, my belief isn't on steady ground anymore, make me believe in you again".

I know there's heaven there and then empy arms that comes with the morning star
I'm not really sure what to think of this, because I always saw 'morning star' as Lucifer. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just have this idea in my head that Satan was also referred to as The Morning Star in the Bible. Empty arms would then make sense: he is the one making promises but never provides any good there. I'm not sure how to connect the heaven part to the morning star in my interpretation, heh.

The last verse starts with "If you get the Jones at the crossroads", and Jones was also another word for the devil, I suppose, and in the blues culture there are always these stories where people sold their soul to satan at the crossroads. She says that the personals are great there with him (in other words, she says they get along ok) but she would still rather choose Mrs.Jesus.

Babble? Babble.

[♥Mary♥]

Koalapupu said:

I know there's heaven there and then empy arms that comes with the morning star
I'm not really sure what to think of this, because I always saw 'morning star' as Lucifer. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just have this idea in my head that Satan was also referred to as The Morning Star in the Bible. Empty arms would then make sense: he is the one making promises but never provides any good there. I'm not sure how to connect the heaven part to the morning star in my interpretation, heh.

The last verse starts with "If you get the Jones at the crossroads", and Jones was also another word for the devil, I suppose, and in the blues culture there are always these stories where people sold their soul to satan at the crossroads. She says that the personals are great there with him (in other words, she says they get along ok) but she would still rather choose Mrs.Jesus.

Babble? Babble.

Hmmm, I think of the "Morning Star" as Mary, the mother of Jesus (could you ever let it be the Mary of it all?), b/c that's one of the things she was known as....since Jesus called himself "The Light of the World", Mary then is known as the blessed "Morning Star" who preceded Christ, just as the morning star precedes and announces the light of day (the sun). She is also known as Mary, Star of the Sea, b/c the morning star guides sailors safely into port after sailing stormy evening seas(which in my mind I tie into the 'walking on the water bit.....drowning in a drop of water' line in the song....but I'm weird like that).
Empty arms that comes with the morning star.... I hear that line as a hope of renewal. Every new day is a new chance..... if you can hand over what bogged you down (whatever finds you 'in a state') the day before and move on you can make peace and know that you put your troubles into Arms that will carry them for you. ("there's something everyday...") So the Morning Star brings light (hope) and empty arms (a new chance).

As for the last stanza, my mind does something completely different with it.... I think the last stanza is a finish to the early conversation we see in the first stanza where the narrator/subject of the song is riding with a Mrs Jesus and talking about things after being found in a distressed state. Maybe the ride and the conversation helped to clear things up or help things make sense for the narrator.....which I think we get a glimpse of in the middle parts of the song (her thoughts, views, questioning things and believing in things that she does).
So, I hear it as "The Jones" being a newspaper that one might find in a small town (at the crossroads) and the Personal ads in them are great.....meaning maybe the 'narrator' of the song is hinting for Mrs Jesus to read them, so that if she ever placed an ad Mrs Jesus would know about it, and she might find her if she comes that way again.....to let her love her (or 'him' or whoever Mrs Jesus might be to the person). Of course, in my mind the whole thing is metaphorical for a simple call and answer.....a prayer being heard.

This is one of those songs I'd love to ask Tori about if I ever had the chance b/c I want to know what exactly she's trying to say here. I'm inclined to think she's making some kind of statement about understanding the importance of Mary in relation to Jesus (as his mother, and that the mother came before the son).... But who knows? LOL

[Koalapupu]

Thanks Mary for pointing that out to me!

I went to do some online research on the subject, and it seems that different versions of the Bible have different use of Morning Star. Such as, in some bits it refers to Lucifer (a latin name for the Morning Star, Venus) and in some other bits it refers to the Christ.

Unfortunately my Bible interest is more or less because of my studies, literature, so I never gotten really deep into it, checking all the meanings. Our teachers always say it's important to read it because there are so many parallels and motifs in literature that stem from the Bible, and normally in these circumstances (in literature, I mean) Morning Star would refer to Lucifer (in cases I've seen). That's a bit of explanation for my interpretation, so you wouldn't think I was totally pulling it out of my hat! (uh idioms, help...)

Although I like it that Tori leaves her songs open for personal interpretations, it would still be interesting to hear what she really meant. I might've read what she has said about this song, but she never explains her lyrics metaphor by metaphor so you just get a general idea of her direction and have to figure the rest out yourself. Maybe if we're lucky she will one day publish another Librarian where she talks about what she meant by her most cryptic things!

[♥Mary♥]

Thanks Jenni.

And LOL, I would NEVER accuse YOU of pulling anything out of your hat, girl! You are one of the most intelligent people I've ever 'met' online or otherwise.
Yes, I know what you mean by the Lucifer reference. And similarly, I didn't pull my Mary interpretation out of my hat, either. Maybe it's just a Catholic culture thing, but we've got all kinds of statues and references to Mary being called all kinds of 'nicknames' and such. Morning Star is just one of many.

I agree....I love that Tori leave so many of her lyrics open to interpretation, but at the same time I sometimes wish I could be inside her head to know what she's thinking when she writes some of this stuff.
That's the beauty of her music, though....it makes me WANT that, which makes me love it all the more.

[Koalapupu]

Heheh just wanted to make sure... maybe more on the behalf of my own self because I don't like realizing afterwards that I didn't present any ground for my ideas. We're cool, Mary

[♥Mary♥]

Koalapupu said:

We're cool, Mary

Whoo, like icicles, we are.

[countvongroovy]

I took a totally different meaning out of this line:

"the Gospel changes meaning If you follow John or Paul and coul you ever Let it be the Mary of it all"

For some reason, and it doesn't fit at all within the context of the rest, I thought she might be talking about the Beatles.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not to mention the "let it be" reference.

I know that interpretation doesn't fit with anything else in the song but maybe they were the messiah's of modern music to "Scarlet"?

Just a fresh look, I doubt it has much validity.

-=-DeeJay-=-

[♥Mary♥]

countvongroovy said:

I took a totally different meaning out of this line:

"the Gospel changes meaning If you follow John or Paul and coul you ever Let it be the Mary of it all"

For some reason, and it doesn't fit at all within the context of the rest, I thought she might be talking about the Beatles.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not to mention the "let it be" reference.

I know that interpretation doesn't fit with anything else in the song but maybe they were the messiah's of modern music to "Scarlet"?

Just a fresh look, I doubt it has much validity.

-=-DeeJay-=-

LOL, when my Mom heard the song the first time (we gave her the album for her bday last year) she thought of the Beatles, too!
I never considered the 'let it be' reference.... Interesting!

[Koalapupu]

countvongroovy said:

I took a totally different meaning out of this line:

"the Gospel changes meaning If you follow John or Paul and coul you ever Let it be the Mary of it all"

For some reason, and it doesn't fit at all within the context of the rest, I thought she might be talking about the Beatles.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not to mention the "let it be" reference.

I thought of that too! I mean, in following John or Paul - that I thought being the gospels, but when Let It Be comes in and Mother Mary - that bit I took as a Beatles-reference. I never thought of it anymore deeper than Tori doing a little play on words and such different worlds. But you might indeed be onto something - after all, John Lennon once said The Beatles was bigger than Jesus, which wasn't intended to be blasphemous but was commentary directed at the audience who worshipped them more than people worshipped Jesus at churches. So maybe, in the late 60s when the Beatles were at their hugest, Scarlet was one of those "worshippers" of the band, affected by the new music.

Also, Paul and John had very different solo careers: John was more interested in politics and social issues while Paul wrote happy-go-lucky songs and sappy ballads (save his horrid Save Ireland for the Irish or whatever it was called). To overanalyze, the pop culture showed different faces whether one followed John or Paul... Ok, I think that's enough of my 1am ramblings.

Damn, probably she just thought writing this song "Hey haha hey... you know like, how John and Paul were also in the Beatles... I'll throw in a reference to them as well, heeeee".

Edit: I was trying to post this, it says too many connections to the server at the same time... so I'll try posting it again and if for some reason there are more than one of this same post, modsies can go ahead and delete the extra ones, I gotta head for bed... Well, at least today it didn't take an hour (I'm not exaggerating) to even get to press the 'post' button. Let's just hope this time the post actually appears somewhere, hehehe.

[talulad]

countvongroovy said:

I took a totally different meaning out of this line:

"the Gospel changes meaning If you follow John or Paul and coul you ever Let it be the Mary of it all"

For some reason, and it doesn't fit at all within the context of the rest, I thought she might be talking about the Beatles.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not to mention the "let it be" reference.

I know that interpretation doesn't fit with anything else in the song but maybe they were the messiah's of modern music to "Scarlet"?

Just a fresh look, I doubt it has much validity.

-=-DeeJay-=-

Oh man I totally noticed that Let It Be reference, especially since the next line is about Mary. I think Tori and Mary have a very special relationship in Tori's world... look at the song Mary and all of the references made to Marianne (whom I think might possibly in some ways be related to Mary, the Biblical person? Maybe?)

Oh poo I might as well start a whole thread about it.

[Julie]

mrs. jesus

life lines and suicide
crimes --
he found me in a state
Scarlet's savior found her in a horrific situation.

grabbed my purse and
hitched a Ride
with a mrs. jesus
Mrs. Jesus helped Scarlet escape from the horror that was going on in New York.

"how you been"
I've been cruisin'
a good invention
but in some ways
I don't think it gets
any easier
Mrs. Jesus is explaining to Scarlet that no matter where she goes, tragedy happens.

your walking
on the water Bit
by far my
favorite one,
But now
it seems
we're drowning
in a
drop of water
Love
I think 'drowning in a drop of water' is a metaphor for someone being pushed into Christianity from the day they get Baptised with a drop of water.

and even as
I'm climbing up the stairs
I know there's Heaven
there
and then Empty arms
that comes with the
Morning Star
Scarlet knows that she will find a comfort place to escape.

well, made my bed
of cut roses
by understanding
that the cause
It just comes first with
my mrs. jesus

the Gospel changes
meaning
If you follow John or
Paul
Different forms of Christianity have different values but they all have the same underline.

and could you ever
Let it be
the Mary of it all
None of the religions praise or respect women.

and even as I'm
climbing up the stairs

I know there's Heaven
there
and then Empty arms
that comes with the
Morning Star
well, Life Lines and
suicide crimes
there's something every day
and there's someone always
paging my mrs. jesus

you're walking
on the water
It is said that you can walk on water when you are in Heaven.

But
by far
my
favorite one,
But now
it seems
we're drowning
in a
drop of water
Love
and even as
I'm climbing up the stairs
I know there's Heaven
there
and then Empty arms
that comes with the
Morning Star

so if you get the Jones
at the crossroads
the personals are great
if you're my way
let me love you
mrs. jesus


Here's Tori's explaination of it:
Trying to escape from New York, Scarlet picks up a ride. "Scarlet has a lot of questions and no answers at a time when the world is in deep trouble. Everything is twisted. But MRS JESUS represents life and she takes a ride with her out of the city to try to make some sense of what has happened."
-- Scarlet's Walk bio

In a strange, strange time when the masks are down she [Scarlet] hooks up with Mrs. Jesus. And he is, uhh, quite uhh, I guess you could say, a blast from the past. But um, she needed a ride and he had one to offer. And he's very much, I guess you could say, one of those men that is probably more aware of women than alot of women. And...gentle, and fierce, and has alot of qualities that I think she would like to have in herself. Physically he's not a woman, but he seems to be able to understand women. And he's in touch with certain things. Mrs. Jesus is in a pretty good space. He's able to shed some light on religious fanaticism. And he's able to shed some light on, you know, people using Christianity for their own means - what that looks like. The Christianity that was sown in America. Some of it, um, gave people religious freedom, as we know, and some of it took religious freedoms away from the Native people. Where they weren't even allowed to speak their language for a long time. So, you know, these things that are part of our history - Her story - America's story. Is something that is imperitive for her to know, for Scarlet to know, if she's gonna to truly accept America for who she is, you know, you have to know the truth."
-- Scarlet Stories CD

---

: Cruel (live) - Tori Amos

---

[pinelopi]

I agree with Julie,
The line about
"If you follow John or Paul and could you ever Let it be the Mary of it all" for me is definitely about christianity being so patriarchal and having no respect for women. But if only you could let it be Mary. If only Mary could be allowed to just be, no interpretations about is she is a virgin or if mary (magdalene) is a prostitute... just let her be.

I also think there is a Beatles reference there, that not a coincidence.

I love tori