In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
When I come to terms to terms with this
When I come to terms with this
When I come to terms to terms with this
My world will change for me
I haven't moved since the call came
Since the call came I haven't moved
I stare at the wall knowing on the other side
The storm that waits for me
Then the seated woman with a parasol
May be the only one you can't betray
If I'm the seated woman with a parasol
I will be safe in my frame
I have no need for a sea view
For a sea view I have no need
I have my little pleasures
This wall being one of these
When I come to terms to terms with this
When I come to terms with this
When I come to terms with this whip lash
Of silk on wool embroidery
Then the seated woman with a parasol
May be the only one you can't betray
If I'm the seated woman with a parasol
I will be safe in my frame
I will be safe
In my frame
In your house
In your frame
When I come to terms with this
When I come to terms to terms with this
My world will change for me
I haven't moved since the call came
Since the call came I haven't moved
I stare at the wall knowing on the other side
The storm that waits for me
Then the seated woman with a parasol
May be the only one you can't betray
If I'm the seated woman with a parasol
I will be safe in my frame
I have no need for a sea view
For a sea view I have no need
I have my little pleasures
This wall being one of these
When I come to terms to terms with this
When I come to terms with this
When I come to terms with this whip lash
Of silk on wool embroidery
Then the seated woman with a parasol
May be the only one you can't betray
If I'm the seated woman with a parasol
I will be safe in my frame
I will be safe
In my frame
In your house
In your frame
Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce
Parasol Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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...I picture reciveing tragic news that shakes you so deep in your core that you don't react, you just freeze, stare and try to find something..anything to focus on, to prevent you from breaking down.
I wonder what Tori must of been going through when she wrote this song...the death of her father maybe?
ive been reading tori's new book, and it mentions something about her brother being in a car accident or something, it was around the time she wrote this song, so she could be talking about that
Here are my 2 cents about the song.
Tori suddenly receives a phone call with extremely bad news, or anyway news which can shake her world in a definite way, and this song talks about the moments in which she refuse such a reality ("I haven't moved since the call came / since the call came I haven't moved" - the repetition gives quite well the idea of staticity she has fallen into). To do this, she stops, and starts to glare at the wall on the other side ("I stare at the wall knowing on the other side / the storm that waits for me").
On this wall, there's a portrait of a woman with a parasol, which in this song becomes a metaphore too of the construction of a protection against the menacing external world ("if I'm the Seated Woman with the Parasol / I will be safe in my frame").
Still I don't know why "may be the only one you can't Betray" - perhaps the bad news where about some kind of "betrayal"? - neither what exactly is this "silk on wool embroidery" (the "whip slash" is clearly about the bad news).
interesting song: the only way to be safe(from betrayal) is to be trapped in a frame.
"I like the idea that a modern woman of today felt a kindred spirit in the seated woman with a parasol. Because although our woman has a bank account, has a job, isn't forced to marry anybody. She's been in this relationship and she doesn't want to lose it, on one level, but realizes that she must because she's not valued or appreciated by this person. She realizes that she has to face this." -Tori Amos
Moonsine1220 said: "I wonder what Tori must of been going through when she wrote this song...the death of her father maybe?"
her father is still alive--her brother is the one who died. but that said, what you suggested could very well be the case--the emotions that you go through when hearing tragic news about the death of a loved one, for example.. or perhaps the equally soul-shaking news of someone (a lover or best friend) deciding that they no longer want anything to do with you.
I always looked at it as a woman who is being forced to leave her home for whatever reason.. standing outside of her house and just sitting for hours, trying to rationalize what's happened before actually getting up and leaving.
the perfect song for anyone going through a situation thats hard to belive...when you would rather be "safe in my frame"
i think this song is about a modern woman in a relationship and has decided that it is time to leave the relationship for whatever reason and face the truth. The metaphor of the parasol is being an old fashioned lady almost a real woman something which is very different from modern times.
"my world will change for me" means that change is coming and "I stare at the wall knowing on the other side, the storm that waits for me" that she knows what she's about to do is going to create 'a storm' with the relationship. she knows what's gonna happen.
the chorus: the Seated Woman with the Parasol may be the only one you can't Betray if I'm the Seated Woman with the Parasol I will be safe in my frame
i think this talks about being an old fashioned woman with a parasol - the parasol doubling for protection. when she talks about betrayl i think she means herself - she can't betray the real woman inside of every woman. I also think that the "frame" would be her dress and clothing with petticoats and corsets - the dress holds her up and protects her for whatever is to come
:)
this is one of my favourite TORI AMOS songs! i
I think it was written by tori when she had a miscarriage... i know she wrote playboy mommy about the same thing but I'm not sure.. She sings about how if she were the woman in the picture she is staring at then she would be safe, in her frame.
Seated Woman With a Parasol is a study for Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Both the entire painting and the study are on display at the Chicago Art Institute.