About the artist: Tori Amos (1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, and one of the most successful women in her genre. To date she has released 15 studio albums, many of which have received high praise. Tori Amos currently has eight songs in my list of about 200 best pop/rock songs of all time.
About the song: Amber waves is the first track of her phenomenal 2002 album Scarlets walk, a concept album of an imaginary travel through America after the disaster of September 11th. It is a great song about a porn star who accompanies Scarlet (Tori) on the first part of a voyage through the USA. Tori characterises Amber perfectly in one simple line "from ballet class to a lap dance straight to video". The melody is haunting, with many submelodies, and especially fine in the "tell the Northern lights to keep shining" segment. Run time 3:39.
