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Post by Mary on Feb 24, 2005 16:17:35 GMT -5
Ahhh, I'm really liking the bridge part towards the end (at about 2:47):
Love, let me breathe, breathe you in
melt the confusion
until there, there is you- union.
Mmmm.
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Post by fearscape222 on Feb 24, 2005 16:23:27 GMT -5
Ahhh, I'm really liking the bridge part towards the end (at about 2:47): Love, let me breathe, breathe you in
melt the confusion
until there, there is you- union.Mmmm. That is pretty much the only part I like. I really especially love her voice during that part, too.  |
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Post by Mary on Feb 24, 2005 16:27:27 GMT -5
That is pretty much the only part I like. I really especially love her voice during that part, too. Well, yay for that! It's like the way the only part of Cs&Gs I like is the "keep on driving". Hey, this part of STS that we like reminds me of some Scarlet song with a similar bridge... can you think of what I might be thinking of? Because I can't, lol... maybe the 'Zion/vortex' part of Pancake or something... or... something? I can't put my finger on it. Tori is famous for doing this to me. |
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Post by fearscape222 on Feb 24, 2005 22:42:18 GMT -5
If I can't have sex without thinking about a scorpion tail, Tori is getting hate-mail personally handed to her by moi.
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Post by DaturaFae on Feb 24, 2005 23:16:48 GMT -5
If I can't have sex without thinking about a scorpion tail, Tori is getting hate-mail personally handed to her by moi. ROFL!!!! |
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Post by *Herry* on Feb 28, 2005 1:10:16 GMT -5
Ok, I'm listening to the album for the first time (I'm on Barons of Suburbia) right now. I feel strongly enough about Sweet the Sting already...to post that I dislike it immensely. Oh, Carly.... I just had a listen, and, ahem, I have to say for now that I too, am disliking it. I felt immense dislike for it after the first few bars. I thought I was lost in a Santana song! I felt like knocking on the speakers and asking them what happened to Tori.... Then I told myself to calm down and keep listening. I'm not gonna be too harsh just yet. The bridge is quite yummy. I can see the sexy, sultryness of it all, though I think the proximity of that and 'Ribbons Undone' is making me all protective-like! Somebody throw me a scorpion!
 : Ribbons Undone ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~
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Post by talulad on Mar 1, 2005 18:16:52 GMT -5
This is fast becoming one of my favorite flowers in the garden. Funny thing is, the first time I heard it I was like "...what? What the hell is this? This is not Tori." But upon a few more listens, I think I started to hear the sexiness that I missed during the first pass. Not even sexy, I think sultry is more appropriate. Anyway yeah. I'm really liking it now. It's got a groove to it, but I can still hear an edge of Tori's defiance in that sting. This has become one of the songs I flip to when I'm not listening straight through. Of course, Parasol[/b] comes first so there's no flipping necessary if I start from the beginning.
: Sweet The Sting[/b]
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Post by elizabeth on Mar 1, 2005 20:53:26 GMT -5
Does anyone else think they've heard Tori sing a lot more vociferously about sex? I think this song is a little tame, even demure.hmm
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Post by orfeo on Mar 5, 2005 3:02:49 GMT -5
{Wrote this somewhere else, bringing it here 'cause it belongs!}
Bear with me here, I will get to the point eventually.
Ballroom dancing seems to be undergoing yet another revival here in Australia in the last couple of years. There are currently two shows of it regularly screening on television. I'd like to think that someone finally noticed that Baz Luhrmann's film 'Strictly Ballroom' creates a spike of interest in dance classes every time it's shown, although the more cynical side of me fears the revival has more to do with the appalling Richard Gere remake of a Japanese film on the same subject (please, casting him in the role of a socially awkward man who takes up dance classes?).
Anyway, the effect of this revival on me is that I get to hear quite a bit of music for the different kinds of dances. They often use pop songs, and it's quite enlightening to realise that Song X has the rhythm of a particular dance. Over time, I've become a lot more familiar with the essentials of some of the more frequently shown dances.
Which is why I'm pretty darn sure that "Sweet the Sting" is a rumba.
Absolutely everything about it screams rumba, actually. The kind of percussion used (I think this is what the press releases meant by "Afro-Cuban"), the tempo, even the lyrics with their hints of double meaning (when's the last time you heard someone was wearing a hat "cocked sure", for goodness' sake?!). Over and over again both the shows on TV have reminded me that the rumba is known as 'the dance of love', and I'd say this is precisely what Tori was aiming for.
It's a damn good rumba. I have half a mind to write to 'Strictly Dancing' to tell them there's a new song to add to their repertoire.
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Post by orfeo on Mar 5, 2005 3:48:52 GMT -5
Does anyone else think they've heard Tori sing a lot more vociferously about sex? I think this song is a little tame, even demure.hmm Yes, I agree she's certainly been a lot more in-your-face about it. But wouldn't you say that hints and innuendo are a lot more, well, fun? I reckon this one's about being sexy, not about sex. Little Earthquakes has lots of sex but it isn't sexy. |
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Post by Mary on Mar 5, 2005 3:51:29 GMT -5
Yes, I agree she's certainly been a lot more in-your-face about it. But wouldn't you say that hints and innuendo are a lot more, well, fun? I reckon this one's about being sexy, not about sex. Little Earthquakes has lots of sex but it isn't sexy. Well, I think it's about sex.  (and I refuse to copy/paste-copycat at the moment, lol) Ok, wait. Let me modify my comment. I think it's about SEXY sex. LOL Yep. edit: Ok, here were my comments about the song (and specifically, what I responded to orfeo with): ------------------------------------------------------- Oh, yes, definitely a rumba. And definitely exploring a concept of love with sex, I think. The idea of "the dance of love" playing into it makes perfect sense. Just like Bachelorette was the 'twisted tango' (defying the 'it takes two to tango' attitude with a song about a single girl). I'm really enjoying this song lately. And the more I think about the lyrics the more they seriously crack me up sometimes. I love Tori for pulling that off. |
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Post by elizabeth on Mar 5, 2005 15:20:05 GMT -5
I don't know, I find it just a little sexy...but imagine singing about sex and sexy while 2 other guys are accompanying you and your husband's watching!
hmm.
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Post by orfeo on Mar 5, 2005 15:50:25 GMT -5
I don't know, I find it just a little sexy...but imagine singing about sex and sexy while 2 other guys are accompanying you and your husband's watching! hmm. LOL. That's the price of being an internationally renowned singer. |
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Post by Leonie on Mar 7, 2005 16:27:49 GMT -5
If I can't have sex without thinking about a scorpion tail, Tori is getting hate-mail personally handed to her by moi. LOL!!!!  |
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Post by Mary on Mar 7, 2005 20:04:31 GMT -5
I've been completely obsessed with this song. I agree that this song, while totally and obviously about sex to me, is written well with complete innuendo. Not only that, but I think I'd even label it as a really good erotic poem if you just look at the lyrics (which are bothering me much less now because I'm appreciating the poetry.) This song is reminding me of how I felt about Your Cloud, poetically, when I just looked at the lyrics. Anyway, I'm researching the mating behaviors of scorpions now. That obsessed. So, I've always known about the cannibalistic tendencies of some female scorpions to eat the male after mating with him (Carly, if you eat a guy afterward, THEN I'll be worried. And I'll write to Tori, too!) but I read some interesting things about the courtship dance of mating scorpions: The scorpions mating ritual is enacted when the male uses his pedipalps to grasp the female's pedipalps in order to lead her on a courtship dance. The details of courtship vary from species to species, with some even exhibiting a deliberate and prolonged "sexual sting" by the male. The male sweeps his pectines over the ground surface to help locate a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore, which contains the sperm. The male pulls the female over the surface where she draws the sperm into her genital pore that is located near the front on the underside of her abdomen.(gross!) took that from here. Also: Fabre (1907) gives a fascinating account of the curious and elaborate mating behaviour of scorpions from observations on a southern European species, Buthus occitans. He noted that in male and female encounters, the two scorpions initially stood face to face with raised tails which they intertwined. The male, using his pincers, would then grasp the pincers of the female and proceed to walk backwards with the female following. This courtship dance, the two animals 'hand-in-hand' so to speak, lasted an hour or more, during which time the scorpions turned and circled several times (see sketches below, adapted from Fabre). Then, whilst still holding the female and when in the neighbourhood of a suitable stone, the male would excavate a nuptial chamber into which both scorpions retreated. Fabre also noted that after mating, male scorpions were often devoured by the females. This kind of post-coital cannibalism - the male being eaten by the female after mating - is by no means confined to scorpions. Similar cannibalistic behaviour is known amongst spiders and in a few insect carnivores such as praying mantids. Mating is clearly a precarious business for the males of these predatory arthropods, and interestingly, like male scorpions, the males of many spiders, and perhaps to a lesser degree those of some mantids, also indulge in elaborate courtship rituals as a preamble to mating - no doubt to ensure that they are recognised by the female as a potential mating partner and not immediately attacked and eaten by her as potential prey, at least not before mating has occurred. However, once mating has been accomplished, whether a male is then eaten by the female, or manages to escapes unharmed, is perhaps just a question of chance and may be relatively unimportant, since in either case the courtship ritual apparently enables the male to better survive his initial encounter with a female, mate successfully and hence pass his genes onto the next generation, which may be all that matters in the longer-term processes of natural selection and evolution.took that from here. I have mentally broken down every line of this song to have double meaning and it's perfectly adherent to both a scorpion mating story and a human desire-for-sex story while having yet a third straightforward on-the-surface presentation about relationships in general, as told through the story of the girl and the guy with the hat. Here's a good example of what I mean in this line: "I laid my weapons down, with my pistol fully loaded, a hunted man to my root will it end or begin in your cinnabar juice?"...Ahem. See? You can take that all kinds of ways. Scorpion lays down his sperm and maybe dies after sex; Dangerous virile guy is wanted by woman who has been hurt and will sex be the beginning or end to the relationship? And I think there's all kinds of interesting ways to take the female "character" in this song, and think about how Tori wrote her to fit with the theme of this album. What's particularly impressive to me is that she doesn't come right out and tell us much directly about the female. We have to learn about her in relation to the male and what HE wants and what SHE can give him but also what she fears and is seeking. That "shake, shake, shake me sane" part totally sounds like it's imitating coital "thrusting" noise to me. LOL (Sorry, Carly.) But I think it works well with the scorpion metaphor because during the "courtship dance" the female is in the male's pinchered grasp. So in the song, I think the female is questioning whether to stay in the 'grasp' of this guy and proceed further to the next level (sex) or not (be shaken free, sane). But she's got some questions she wants answered first. She wants him to prove himself, just as the female scorpion wants the male scorpion to woo her and prove to be worthy of mating with her and passing on his genes. In other words, I think the female in the song wants more than just sex. She wants a mate. Tori throws the word "Love" in at the end and I think she's referring to the female calling the male "Love", but she could be referring to just love in general and the idea that this union might give it to her; that the courtship dance (aka, "The Dance of Love", Trevor) might result in what it's designed for. Part of my little brain thinks that maybe the song could even be about fertility. About finding a mate that's more than just a sex partner, one who's got what it takes to 'heal where others have failed' and provide a future. A sweet sting. I'm sure you're all tired (if your still reading, lol) of hearing me say "I think, I think", but I seriously think the lyrics-writing of this song is brilliant. |
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Post by fearscape222 on Mar 7, 2005 20:33:55 GMT -5
Aw, man...  Uh, I'll be back with more...maybe. |
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Post by Mary on Mar 7, 2005 20:42:48 GMT -5
Aw, man... Uh, I'll be back with more...maybe. LOL. Um, ok... I think. ? |
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Post by fearscape222 on Mar 7, 2005 21:21:23 GMT -5
LOL. Um, ok... I think. ? hehe... Sorry, I was just speechless for awhile. Ok, I'm going to start out with this: My List Of Creatures That I Am Disproportionately Disgusted By:
~squirrels
~bees
~the majority of sea creatures (seriously, even starfish)
~scorpions
~armadillosIt's not that I didn't enjoy reading your interps. It's just that, after reading your interps, I don't find the song any more "poetic." I think I might dislike it even more now. lol... Don't worry, I'll take all the blame for that. I can't even disagree with this because I'm sooooo far away from even seeing STS's lyrics as poetry. However, I have always loved "Your Cloud" because the lyrics could easily pass as a poem, I think. Oh, and I listened for the coital thrusting noises and I really just don't hear that.  |
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Post by Mary on Mar 7, 2005 21:24:14 GMT -5
Oh, and I listened for the coital thrusting noises and I really just don't hear that. LOL. Good. And I'll take all the blame for myself hearing it as that. I did remember that you don't like scorpions, btw. While I was typing all that up I was thinking of you. Sort of. Not like that! lol |
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Post by Julie on Sept 5, 2005 1:37:31 GMT -5
I LOVE "Sweet The Sting"...what a sexy, groovy song, I tell ya! *snaps fingers sassily* mmmhmmm! The melody is just so saucy and delicious. I love when she sings "he said I, I have heard that you can plaaaaayyyyyy the way I like it to be played." - so flirtacious. And excuse my, um...Samantha from Sex And The Cityness but the part where she says, "'cause I am inching ever closer to the tip of this scorpion's tail." could make a person climax!  I also really like that she went back to "Cruel" and changed "shock me sane" to "shake me sane" in this song. |
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