u/squandered_light

My ardour for these Dragonsongs, it wanes not! And I don't think it will... feels like the beginning of a long love affair. Kinda crazy (in the best way) that fifteen-year-old me and nearly-fifty-year-old me have both been obsessed with a new Tori album, 34 years apart. How is she so amazing, as my equally-obsessed friend and I used to ask each other back in '92. ❤️‍🔥

One of my favourites on ITOD, and like all good Tori songs it has some intriguing and confusing lyrics. Here is my untangling of it so far. I'm eager to hear any insights you all have! And forgive me doing it as annotations rather than the essay it deserves.

At this point in the story we are in New Orleans, and the Lizard Demon husband is getting close. The song picks up on the Dark Enlightenment theme from Shush & the title track, describing the threat he and his henchmen pose to 'Tori' personally, and more broadly to progressive society and American democracy.

Suffocating 
I cannot breathe
Choking on anxiety 
is St. Cecilia  warning me  [St Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians, so it figures that she would be looking out for T]
I could lose myself so easily

Cortisol raging 
the demise of My Cathedral he seeks [it's already established that the husband she is on the run from is a follower/founder of the Dark Enlightenment movement, and the Cathedral is a term this movement uses to refer to what it opposes, i.e. liberal society, progressive values, egalitarianism, democracy, civil liberties etc. and the institutions that it believes are causing the decline of Western civilisation by promoting these.]
Cortisol raging 
He’s ravenous to control everything

Tempest dragging me  [Shakespeare’s Tempest was a magical storm conjured up by Prospero to punish his enemies. Is there something supernatural about this Tempest, or does it just refer to the political storm her husband and his cohort are trying to bring about? Any relation to ‘the Storm’ predicted by QAnon?]
down to somewhere  He’s there
Tempest dragging Me 
down to where  he’ll watch me drown 

He segregated me from me 
Master of a quiet brutality 
with St. Cecilia  whispering 
“without a voice  he won’t hear you scream”  [double meaning here? Her voice as an artist, and the political voice of the people – she seems to be singing as the spirit of Democracy under threat as well as a woman on the run from a dangerous ex.]

Cortisol raging 
barely escaping  barely can breathe 
Cortisol raging 
I must get to Indian Country 

Tempest dragging me 
down to somewhere  He’s there
Tempest dragging Me 
down to where  he’ll watch me drown 

Soon with a knock on your door 
Father George to your eyes   [George Washington? One of the founding fathers, and a defender of the constitutional checks and balances designed to prevent despotic power.]
we are leaving 
soon, the Gasoline Girls  fully infused 
but soon will be leaving

By St. Paul’s in fast pursuit  [location in New Orleans? Any deeper meaning?]
an ancient truth 
Mirrored by Andromeda 
who timed her nurse maids  [??? these are the most obscure lines! Can't find anything about Andromeda's nursemaids]
By St. Paul’s  I spy a Bridegroom [her ex-husband? Christ?] 
who cries “She has left me -
swearing she’s ‘trapped  behind a mask 
and must be her own Man’ ”
She’s hit the road  to form her own 
Goodbye Girls 
Gasoline Girls
Electric Band 

In the Q&A with Noah Michelson Tori spoke of a friend who told her a story about how the Crazy Mountains or 'Crazies' got their name. She didn't give any details about the story, and it turns out there are several competing ones, as described in this article. The one that sticks out to me, and feels most likely to have provided part of the inspiration for 23 Peaks is this one:

>One tale that I like is about a medicine woman. Native Americans always had medicine men and each tribe's medicine man was born into the position. One day a woman rose at a tribe meeting and said "I am the medicine woman." This was unheard of and the tribe ridiculed her. Determined to prove her birthright, she went out into the wilderness of the mountains. She never returned and the tribe said, "Aye, that woman crazy. She go live in Crazy Mountains."

What do you guys think? And don't forget the 23 Peaks podcast with JPS starting soon!

Which means they're playing a different track every day this week (on Vernon Kay's show). So far we've had Gasoline Girls and Angelshark. Wonder what the remaining three will be? Radio being radio, they're unlikely to go for the longer songs, but I'm hoping for Shush at least.

I'm going to go with “I'm such a fucking rock and roll bitch.” Iconic.

Anyway, one sleep to go! 🥳🥳🥳