Top 10 Tori Amos Songs

Photo: Flickr user, Spoon [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Our top 10 Tori Amos songs list takes a look at one of the most beloved musical artists of the past 30 years. When Tori Amos first came onto the scene there were many who compared her to England’s Kate Bush. Yes, many of the vocal inflections were similar but it ended there. Tori Amos was and still is a unique original artist. While she may have not had many hits in the United States she has built one of the most loyal fan bases in classic rock history.

Her albums, her songs, and her music define the word substance. Her performances have always been jaw dropping, balancing the worlds of sexuality, spirituality, and fantasy. Pain, revenge, regret, anger, hope, and love; it’s all there in her music. At times it’s hard to distinguish between them all in her voice. She’s always been mesmerizing to watch, to listen to and to let into your life. Once you do, you’ll never let her go. Take a listen to these 10 Tori Amos songs and you will understand what we mean.

# 10 – Silent All These Years

We open our Top 10 Tori Amos Songs list with the Tori Amos song that opened many eyes to her music and persona. A tale that hits home for so many who suffered abuse at a young age. The melody and lyrics are haunting in such a way that defines the personal pain the singer had gone through in her life. It’s one of the most honest and painful performances on record. It’s also one of the most important. This is the place to start when exploring the catalog of Tori Amos songs.

Tori Amos’s song “Silent All These Years,” was released on her solo debut album Little Earthquakes in 1992. She had originally appeared on vinyl on an album entitled Y Can’t Tori Read. Tori Amos had formed a rock band in the 1980s that never hit it big despite a major label contract. The music on the Y Can’t Tori Read album sounds nothing like the music that would define Tori Amos’ career.

# 9 – Taxi Ride

In 2002, Tori Amos released one of the most spectacular albums of her career. A deep album resonating with the echoes of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the record Scarlet’s Walk is a concept album written during uncertain times. September 11 2001 was a difficult tragedy to respond to as an artist. Only a handful were able to respond in a manner appropriate. Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising was perhaps the most emphatic in trying to help with the healing process. Tori’s response is more hidden, but it’s there and it is brilliant.

# 8 – Spark

Continuing with our Top 10 Tori Amos songs list we turn to the brilliant song “Spark.” Tori Amos opens the song with her voice doubled in a trance-like fashion. The counterpoint melodic line only leads to a deeper immersion. The song “Spark,” was released on the album From the Choirgirl Hotel. The album was released in 1998. “Spark,” was Tori Amos’s only top 50 hit in the United States peaking at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hard to believe that Tori Amos never reached the top 40 in the U.S., but then again who cares.

# 7 – Sweet The Sting

If there ever was a title that could define the joy of listening to the music of Tori Amos it would come from the well-crafted song title “Sweet The Sting.” This wonderful song that defines the emotional center of so much of Tori Amos’s writing was released on the album The Beekeeper. The original CD of The Beekeeper was released in 2005. The CD contained nineteen tracks.

# 6 – Bliss

The nineteen nineties was the decade of Tori Amos. But then again we could say that probably about every other decade Tori Amos released music. Nonetheless, some of her strongest work was released during the decade of the nineties. In 1998, Tori Amos released a two CD set entitled To Venus and Back. The 2 CD Set contained one CD of all new material and one live concert performance CD. The studio album’s opening track and lead single from the record was the great Tori Amos song “Bliss.”

# 5 – A Sorta Fairytale

Continuing with our Top 10 Tori Amos Songs list we once again turn to the fabulous Tori Amos album entitled Scarlet’s Walk. The album’s first single “A Sorta Fairytale,” was one of Tori’s most successful songs. While it still did not break the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, it did break the Billboard Top 10 on the Adult Contemporary charts.

# 4 – Cornflake Girl

If we had to nominate our favorite piano introduction from Tori Amos’s catalog, it would easily be “Cornflake Girl.” Tori Amos sets a groove in motion on this one that is creepy, mysterious, and completely addicting. The vocal harmonies on “Cornflake Girl.” are one of the reasons why Tori Amos was compared to Kate Bush early on. Nonetheless, they work perfectly on this track. “Cornflake Girl.” is one of Tori Amos” most memorable songs.

# 3 – Professional Widow

If you’re living in the United States and you’re not a Tori Amos fan, chances are you may have never heard of this song before. The song “Professional Widow,” never even charted in the United States when it was first released. However, if you were living in the United Kingdom and you were not a Tori Amos fan at the time of its release, chances are you still knew the song. That’s because when “Professional Widow,” was released in 1996 it hit number one on the United Kingdom music charts. A song that did not even rank in the top 100 United States hit number one in the United Kingdom. Figure that one out.

Nonetheless, take one listen to this amazing track and you will be asking yourself how radio in the United States ignored this amazing piece of music when it was first released in 1996 on The Boys For Pele album.

# 2 – Crucify

With the release of the fifth single from her debut album “Little Earthquakes,” in 1992, Tori Amos delivered one of the most intense choruses ever captured on record. It’s hard to believe that a song as brilliant as “Crucify,” was released so late as a single. Nonetheless, this one has always been one of her most haunting releases and hits hard every time one listens to it.

# 1 – Reindeer King

We close out our Top 10 Tori Amos songs list with a very recent song from Tori Amos. Defining her brilliance in so many ways, Tori Amos has continued to release music that affects the human heart challenging the interplay between darkness and light. This one pulls you in instantly and does not let you loose. It changes you for at least the moment. Her voice, her phrasing, its has you. Not many artists are capable of reaching so deep into one’s soul.

“Reindeer King,” is the opening track on the most recent Tori Amos studio album as of the writing entitled Native Invader. The album was released in 2017. Twenty five years after the release of her debut album in 1992, Tori Amos is still releasing stunning music.