[levitratestimon]

From my first runthrough of NOH this was far and away my standout track. Everything about it was perfect for me, and god the 'Teams of Horses' section is stellar.

By the sounds of it am I in the minority of people who enjoyed it sped up on the tour? I think it adds such a sense of urgency which really compliments the song well, although I will say that Tori seemed to cope with the speed of the song more as the tour went on.

Songs like this are the reason that I won't ever give up on Tori.

[Sawyer]

I don't think I've read many of the lyrics to any of these songs, but I always cringed at the "listen to your heart" part. I'm glad to read the rest and find that they are very well crafted.

What always surprises me is how much the tracks sound like the original song! I guess I was expecting Tori would have expanded on some of the melodies a little more - like the piano shop video from 94 or whatever where she took Ode to Joy and made it sound sexy and playful. I guess she's held back in a lot of ways for these tracks - keeping the melodies mostly in tact as a respectful nod to their creators.

[vulikox]

I LOVE this song for different reasons both on the album and on the live shows. The album version has the more proper speed to my ears, however it has the vocals overlapping each other a little bit in some of the song, which feels a bit "produced" to me. On the live version, she sings the vocal without any production, and it struck an emotional chord. Specifically in some of the vocals ("hissed with the wind" most comes to mind) it reminds me directly of emotional vocal highlights from Pele.
The boot that convinced me of this song's greatness was Helsinki.
Maybe Star Whisperer has the best music (x10) and Shattering Sea is the most dramatic, but I find this one has the best vocal moments.
Funny but this is her first album in years and years that I avoided reading the lyrics, so it can form a deep impression on me without a logical analysis (I tend to be over-logical). So I just read the lyrics for the first time in this thread. "Teams of horses for the bride" is what I thought it was. Lol. Now I understand why she mentioned this song as being related to the sea. Ha ha.

[JRixlcvF]

Fearlessness has really great lyrics, except for "listen to your heart / can you hear me?" which just dumps a big load of Velveeta over an otherwise intriguing song.

I actually like this lyric, but not because of what is said, but how it's said. The "listen to your heart" is way up front in the mix, and the "can you hear me?" is way way in the background, as almost an echo. By the end of the song, it changes to "you can't hear me". There's something about it that was really emotionally effective for me despite being a bit cliche.

[Jerwittdergut]

Fearlessness blew in with the wind waking up to greet the sun
We sailed on like the ancient ones into the Nine Underworlds
We knew dangers would come
I had faith in both of us

Listen to your heart you can hear me
Listen to your heart you can hear me

Day turned Night when he questioned
"Why can’t you balance the skies?"
Soulless storms have sent Watchers
with blade less weapons to fight

Teams of Horses of the Brine
followed his cry
through the fire
Demons of the Wild hissed with the wind
did you listen?

Listen to your heart can you hear me?
Listen to your heart can you hear me?

Fearlessness soon reminded me,
"You must be stronger than they"
cautioning, "There are those who live
to be cruel for the fun of it."

He let in a dark companion
that orbited between us
His siren friends (I THOUGHT IT WAS "FRANCE" TIL NOW) convinced him that Love
was no match against storms to come
Their songs enflamed by Doubt
Fearlessness drrrrrrrrown them out (ALSO I THOUGHT THIS WAS "DROWNED", BUT NO, IT'S AN APPEAL, NOT A DESCRIPTION)

[big build to second bridge]

Teams of Horses of the Brine
followed his cry
through the fire
Demons of the Wild hissed with the wind
did you listen?

listen to your heart can you hear me?
listen to your heart can you hear me?

Did we begin
without knowing it
to find fault with every gift
Then that was when
the Blame began
What were once 2 forces joined
in Fearlessness

I'm not sure where to start with this one, certainly a standout NoH track to me which shouldn't be overlooked despite the proximity of Shattering Sea and Star Whisperer.

Musically it immediately conjours images of the sea for me, with that rolling piano line and the tidal underscoring from the strings.

The lyrics seem to be a blend of typically Tori-ish relationship/mythological symbolism, but it's a story being told using quite matter-of-fact phrasing. "Then that was when the blame began" is an example of a more prose-like style compared to her usually densely packed syllable counts. You could take out "that was when the" without changing the meaning.

In terms of the Songcicle, they've just fought side by side as poets defeating an approaching army in Battle of Trees, and then, sailing from the New World to the Old, only to discover they're getting on each others' tits, fighting over whose mix CD to play, who ate the last packet of crisps etc [I'm paraphasing] - more here from around 2:40 - read in her Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout "nighty night!" voice.

Anyway, Fearlessness was one of the tracks that leapt in to a brighter place played live, with more urgency than on the record. But live or not, the Teams of Horses bridge, especially on it's second lap, is brilliantly climactic (and that part isn't included in the piece that inspired the track).

The "dark companion" verse is interesting, to me it doesn't feel like a reference to a specific person, but to a mood or other internal barrier. The siren "friends" convincing him to give up could similarly be internal. I expect it's not a coincidence that Siren became a staple on this tour.

Googling the Nine Underworlds found this:

Oct 28th?? If the world HAD actually ended during the Antwerp show that would've made for a hell of a boot.


Courtesy of the NOH Classical Inspirations ThreadHere's the original piece played on the piano

And as an acoustic guitar duet


Gonna leave this here just coz I like it:

[wrewsTear]

I must confess that I listen to 2011 bootlegs much more often than I listen to NOH. So I'm mostly familiar with the live version, which I love. The really vigorous instrumental bridge and then the way the lighting comes up really made this a showpiece. That said, most versions of it seemed to all be around the same quality--I never heard a performance that I'd consider extra passionate or anything. I'm sure there's one out there I should check out to change that opinion.

Pardon me if this has already been answered, but what is the Brine in this case? Google wasn't helpful...

[appleiphoneees]

Definitely one of the best tracks on NOH. I don't think it came across as well on stage, but that's just me. I love the build up before the second "teams of horses...". Beautiful song.

[Ruiceara]

I think the lyrics are beautiful. The "listen to your heart" bit is a little cheesy but goes well in context with the line that precedes it.

This is absolutely one of my favorites off of NOH, second to Star Whisperer. This album really hit me I think because I went through a separation from my partner of nearly 11 years about the time this came out and Fearlessness really struck me. The idea that after so many years of fighting through everything, from sirens, to battling with outside forces, adversaries or "enemies" if you will that wield blade-less weapons and the main thing holding you together is the fearlessness you both share. Battling so hard to keep it together and yet still finding fault in every thing each other does. It's pretty potent. I agree with Pete about the prose of the lyrics and find it refreshing, because besides the aforementioned "listen to your heart line", it doesn't go into cheesy literal territory but instead tells a simple poetic story about two lovers trying to keep it together.

A few things:

We sailed on like the ancient ones into the Nine Underworlds Why does she obviously sing "under works"? that's a damn K sound she makes, not -lds sound.


Fearlessness soon reminded me,
"You must be stronger than they"
cautioning, "There are those who live
to be cruel for the fun of it." This line hit me the hardest because by the end of my relationship, this was my partner. He was cruel. He would say the meanest things and I think he got off on it. His passive aggressiveness and name calling finally put me over the edge. Also, that little flutter of instrumentation after the last line of this stanza is heaven. It's my favorite part of this song. Possibly one of my favorite parts of the album. I almost want to grab my stomach when I hear it as it underlines and compliments that line so well it makes me a bit emotional.

Fearlessness drrrrrrrrown them out (ALSO I THOUGHT THIS WAS "DROWNED", BUT NO, IT'S AN APPEAL, NOT A DESCRIPTION) I didn't realize that either and that changes the context of the song a little bit, doesn't it? It's a bit more heartbreaking as an appeal, especially the way it's sung.

I love the instrumentation on this song and live it was stellar. She did seem a bit out of breath because she's got to keep tempo and it is a pretty urgent piece but I think she did it wonderfully.

[JRixlcvF]

Probably my favorite Tori song in many many years. I think it captures the emotion of a failing relationship and I think musically it's pretty fucking great.

[JRixlcvF]

I actually think the lyrics to this song are pretty good. They're direct but they're not cringeworthy.

[rfceicizgm]

Great song! Unfortunately, like most of NOH, it suffers from pretty awful lyrics and so-so vocals. But still, the music is pretty captivating.

[Ruiceara]

I don't hear fori much on this record. I hear what I thought Tori Amos would be sounding like as a near 50 year old woman. But you're right Jim, it's sort of like Jamaica Inn. Fantastic lyrics and heartfelt song and then "The sexiest thing is trust".

[Suvaxal]

The more I hear the original versions, the more I wonder where she got the ideas for the songs from. The original doesn't seem sad/wanting to me, at all. The melody is pretty much lifted in most places, but the mood is different.

Also, this:

Did we begin
without knowing it
to find fault with every gift
Then that was when
the Blame began
What were once 2 forces joined
in Fearlessness ...just fits perfectly a crumbling relationship, one with a sense of history and weight behind.

Nicely done!

[aburva.org]

I actually think the lyrics to this song are pretty good. They're direct but they're not cringeworthy.

i actually LOVE the lyrics to this song!

Curiously, it's the live version that many thought was too fast which made me really appreciate it. I love the instrumental part and how it builds up as a story. yep, me too. i think the song is SO MUCH BETTER live and somewhat forgettable on the album.

[aburva.org]

well, when i listened to the song a few times in a row, i later couldn't even recall how it went. so in that way, it was forgettable to me. i should try listening to it again because i haven't listened to the album since seeing the shows.

[soonahonsefalh]

I liked this song on the album but sort of always forgot about it, though parts would get stuck in my head. Thanks to this thread I realized it was "drown them out" - an appeal indeed, and that really makes me like the song even more. When she told the original story about the composer who drowned trying to save his wife, it also made me like the song more. At the Chicago show, it was one of my favorite songs played, I thought live it really came alive.

[Ruiceara]

i actually LOVE the lyrics to this song!



yep, me too. i think the song is SO MUCH BETTER live and somewhat forgettable on the album.

Really? You find it forgettable on the album? I think it's one of the best....pretty flawless, actually. But then again, I love this album SO FUCKING MUCH

[anfuckinggs]

I'm lukewarm on this one. It's nice enough, but doesn't really stand out for me. Oh and this thread needs some sticky to it! lol

[elalmhicabalp]

Fearlessness has really great lyrics, except for "listen to your heart / can you hear me?" which just dumps a big load of Velveeta over an otherwise intriguing song. It reminds me of something from The Beekeeper, where she'd write some really great lines, and then throw in some really stupid ones. I also don't like how she says "drown" - she uses her head voice for entire song, and then chest voice on one random word. I guess it was supposed to add "ferocity" but it sounds more like an accident. Like "oops! I showed emotion there!"

Sorry. Still Fori.

[CevepBiageCefm]

This song is one of the highlights of the album for me, getting stuck in my head on a loop. The dark companion could speak to something like depression or nihlism or even substance abuse. I kind of interpreted it as the latter, because the whole verse reminded me of a doomed relationship I was once enmired in, where my partner became bitter and cynical and turned to alcohol. He had friends who were a part of it and one in particular that seemed to want the two of them to drink themselves into oblivion. It was like watching him succumb to the sirens on the rocks. He'd tell me that everything was fucked and that there was no point in trying, because life is a farce. When someone has reached a certain depth of despair, there's no breaching that. And sometimes at that point, some people see no reason not to be cruel or to even laugh at their own cruelty. Cynicism and despair can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy, where people destroy the very thing that they want.

Fearlessness asks us to look beyond that, to be strong enough to hold onto faith and hope, even when you can see the impending storm.

I feel like I've lived through this song several times over and Tori's depiction of what ensues when one or both lovers abandon hope and fall into a vicious cycle of blame and doubt is spot on. It reminds me of what I left behind and how thankful I am to no longer be in that ugly, lonely place.