[panholio]

ebony beauty
pass this shade
the looking glass relects
then a voice calls me back,
"this is just circumstance it is not
personal", oh no it never is.
then you ram your hand in your bag
for a little friendly substance

By the time you're 25
they will say, "you've gone and blown it".
By the time you're 35, I must confide,
you will have blown them all
Right on cue just act surprised
when they invite you to take
your curtain call
you climbed China's wall
your
curtain call

I have done what I've done
and it has the ultimate consequence
then a voice calls me back,
"this is not business, no,
its more like spiritual"
is that what it is
Then you ram your hand in your bag
for a little protection

By the time you're 25
they will say, "you've gona and blown it."
By the time you're 35, I must confide,
you will have blown them all
Right on cue just act surprised
when they invite you to take
your curtain call
you climbed China's wall
your curtain call

ebony beauty
pass this shade
the looking glass reflects



I was listening to this the other day after taking a peak in the AATS thread. I have my own issues with that album. I feel like it has her best production out of the three clunkers, and I feel like it has some of her better songwriting as well, but the album itself frustrates me because never before have I thought that there was actually a great album suffocating beneath the weeds. Now, I do have my own edit of this album - and Curtain Call is most certainly a part of that.

I remember when clips of the album began to leak this was one of the tracks that got peoples attention. The piano line is so simple at the beginning, and so unfettered by guitars - it almost seemed too good to be true. I also remember in the first clip that was released that the song stopped right as the first cheese chord was struck by Mac and people started shitting themselves - how can she do this again? But when we finally heard the whole song, the guitar is surprisingly well mixed it. In fact, the guitar on this song, as well as the production makes it feel like an intentional revisiting of Little Earthquakes production - and in many ways I feel like this is the kind of music I could imagine her making at this age when I first heard something with Precious Things. The song has a lot in common with Precious Things for me, structurally, as well as musically - the tone forms a dark vignette of a woman who is recounting her experience with the music industry. Weary, tired, beaten down. This is the sort of hard boiled story I expect from 90's Joni Mitchell. Tori has written plenty of songs about her battles with the music industry but I feel like this is the most successful, if only because she lays it out with no confusing babble like she did on The Beekeeper ("well, Hoochie Woman is about my record company" - uh, right). Plus it has that killer line (killer-ish) "By the time you're 35, I must confide, you will have blown them all." Not to come off all Molly Kavanagh, but if any line was going to rival precious things in her later work it would be this one (I bring home de bakon lol).


The song isn't without its flaws, but it sounded great live and solo and she was obviously really feeling it at the time. I wish she'd had the balls to release it as a single or something, because it's really from a side of her that I don;t think we'd heard from in a while and though I don't need to hear her retread her pain in order to enjoy her music, I felt like I was actually listening to Tori Amos singing about something that had hurt her, probably for the first time in years. No sugar coating. As well as that, I love how she uses her voice in this song. She's not trying to hit the high notes, she's not trying anything that she can't deliver live, but she is still singing with a fragile intensity. I feel as if it's that moment when you're about to lose it with someone, with someones actions, and you have to use every fiber in your being becuase you know to erupt at this point will just cost you everything. The lyrics are totally straightforward - not muddled or muddied with confusing metaphors: Seeing her reflection in the piano, book ending the song - the one thing that has reflected her back (literally and metaphorically) throughout her career - the deadpan remarks from the suits "This is not personal," the references to the crutches of drugs, the noirish image of putting your hand in your bag to feel for you gun, all beautiful images that come to life without being overwritten, the reference to China (which was the first song she wrote for Little Earthquakes). My favourite part is when she sings "I have done what I have done." There's a total moment of professional self-forgiveness there that really rings out for me.


I actually think the visualette is one of the more successful ones on the album. Again, there's a complete lack of narrative, but it's one of the more visually interesting. Weird to see Pip again though. And weird to see her trying to look butch drinking a Tiger beer or whatever. The one thing I love about the visualette is the rain, and I made my own version of this with some rain sound effects and put it on my version of the album. It just takes the ambiance to a whole new level.

Anyway. That's all. I don't have a massive amount to say but I'd love to hear other people chat about it.

[panholio]

By the way, no one has chosen a song for next week, and there's still a lot of cool ones left. Just sayin'.

[VodsNittats]

I love Curtain Call. It's quite obvious, especially in live versions, that she actually connects to this song emotionally.

[anfuckinggs]

The solo version that she did at SXSW was amazing, and I was super excited about what would be released as AATS. I do love the visualette for the song, and have watched it many times.

[elalmhicabalp]

I only love the 3voor12 version of this song. The other live ones are ok except when her tongue is lolling out of her mouth ("coooootin quaawl")

This would have been such a brilliant solo-piano track for the album. I'll have to listen to the studio version again, but I never connected with it the I do that 3voor12 performance.

[GeorgeEckland]

I like this song for the most part. I've kept it on my AATS edit. However, what ruins it for me is the "then you ram your hand in your bag for a little substance/protection" lyric. Cringe worthy.

[NumsAmenniams]

Curtain Call is my favourite song from AATS.

Andy, I think that you're spot on with your song summary and I would like to add that I think the transition between the lines "this is just circumstance it is not personal" and "this is not business, no, its more like spiritual"
is possibly about something that specifically happened or was said during her professional relationship with Doug Morris;

At one stage he originally rejected "Little Earthquakes" (before she added the last 4 tracks produced by Eric and herself) because LE wasn't commercial enough and then almost 20 years later he is asking her to come back to the label he runs because he now realises that the music industry is in dire need of artists like Tori's and her "spiritual" music.

[ZIDouglas]

Curtain Call is one of my least favorite songs of AATS, but I agree with the person who said that the rain sounds benefit the song.

[vulikox]

This is actually one of my favourites from the AATS era, and I used to like it a lot. It's not that I think it's bad now, but much better things came afterwards (yes NoH I'm looking at you) so somehow it lost its edge a bit

[r5YOPDyk]

I thought the song was really exciting when it first leaked. I don't love it, but I think it's one of the redeemable tracks on the record.

[GAGNAPPEAPH]

For me this is absolutely one of the highlights from AATS, yes it's another 'Tori vs the music industry' song but this is more the kind of stuff I would expect from the creator of Little Earthquakes than say.......Police Me.

[glasscollector]

I was thrilled by it when I first heard it. I still think it's one of the best from AATS. What I love most about it is the way she uses her voice. Her lower register is fantastic and this song perfectly showcases it.

[Ruiceara]

I was blown away by this in Dallas this last tour. It was by all accounts devastating. But I actually hate the mix and production of the studio cut. It is a fantastic song, though. Very cutting.

[panholio]

I always wondered who said the quoted lyrics - business/personal/spiritual - at first I thought a suit said the first and the piano said the second, but now I wonder if she's reflecting on her own attitude entering business deals.

[mpxricyNimb]

I loved the song when I first heard it solo, and I'm still thankful for the AATS era cause I at least got solo Lady in Blue + Curtain Call, which I think are great additions to her catalogue. And I actually like the studio CC, shame I can't say the same of LIB. But anyway... love the song and the lyrics, and I agree, you can feel the hurt in this song, and that real emotion (in an album with NDT and MC and MJ... ect) was what made me think Tori still had it back then, so I didn't burn my fancard.

[wrewsTear]

Definitely my favorite visualette (though it's not much of a horse race. Also, my spellcheck does not like the word "visualette." There's a shocker.)

I love the song, the piano, and how un-ruined by Mac Aladdin it is. I actually love the way she sings the first "ram your hand in your bag."

Anyway, I DO love the song, but I'm going to give a bunch of criticism about it anyway.

This may not be a popular opinion, but I don't like the "blown them all" lyric. It seems too easy, like she's walking right into that one.

I've heard a lot of theories about the "you climbed China's wall" lyric, but I still don't think it fits.

Also, while this may sound like I'm dissing the whole song (I'm really not), there are already a lot of songs about again starlets and those who need substances to get through their stressful careers in the entertainment industry. I sort of wish Tori had put more of her own spin on it.