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: a track from the 2001 concept album Strange little girls, in which Tori covered twelve songs written by men about women, and in most cases in quite a different style. She had done this before with some isolated songs, sometimes with intriguing results (Nirvana's Smells like teen spirit comes to mind), but a whole album without own songs was rather controversial. Indeed, it did not get a warm reception, neither from the fans nor from the critics. Personally, I think the album is uneven, but worthwhile, with a number of interesting tracks. Her version of Eminem's 97 Bonnie and Clyde is chilling , and it is interesting to hear her deconstructed version of the 10CC classic I'm not in love. On the other hand, she totally screwed up Neil Young's Heart of gold. Perhaps closest to the original version is her cover of Tom Waits' Time. The original was great, but Tori's version is magnificent. Run time 5:22.
