Anyone ever encounter a good discussion / interview / notes on the Tori Amos song “Pretty Good Year”? This song continues to jolt me when I hear it, not least because there is no plentitude of Tori Amos songs singing out concerns for a specifically male partner. The combo of cheerfully upbeat yet condescending recitation of Greggie’s accomplishments juxtaposed with the angry upset “what’s it gonna take till my baby’s all right” is effective and chilling. I keep wondering if there’s a known subtext.
Greg was a boy who wrote letters to Tori about how his life was over. I read an article about it a loooong time ago.
Here it is…
Someone on SongMeanings posted a few quotes from Tori suggesting that there is a person named Greg, that he wrote her a letter, and that it all has something to do with the idea that for some guys, the best years of their lives are already over by the time they’re in their twenties. In the quotes, she also mentions furniture polish and biking in the mud, so make of it what you will.
WHOOPS! Thank you! 
Damn you folks are good.
Thanks!
well, i hope that song has the catchiest tune ever written… 'cause those (alleged) lyrics have got to be the next best thing to the crap spammers string together to get past the anti-spam filters. doesn’t something have to actually make sense in order to do any interpreting?
'course, i’m a living fossil, so feel free to ignore me.
Um, that’s kind of mean. I mean, a lot of us like Tori quite a bit. Her lyrics are pretty dense, and yeah, she takes enough chances that she does stuff that doesn’t work sometimes. (This, however, is not one of them.) But if you are looking for straight-forward, look elsewhere. And please don’t shit on threads where others are trying to discuss something they like.