In her song “Me and a Gun” (Little Earthquakes) Amos sings about being raped. This horrible experience inspired her to cofound the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN); a twenty-four hour toll-free hotline for survivors of sexual assault. This is arguably her most powerful and emotionally moving song. I think part of its effect is contributed to, not just the gripping lyrics, but also how Amos sings/performs the song. She sings it acapella and her voice alone is heart-breaking. With this song especially, it is crucial for the reader to hear Amos sing it, and even better if she can be seen performing it.
As mentioned in the introductory blog, there were two articles that tried to describe an Amos performance. Bonnie Gordon describes Amos singing “Me and a Gun” in her article, “Tori Amos’s Inner Voices.” Although she does a fine job describing it, it is impossible to truly get the effect or impact of the performance without seeing it. Gordon states: “In her 1992 video album Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos performs ‘Me and a Gun’ on an empty stage. She sits on a barstool wearing an orange sweater that clashes with her red hair. Since a dark background engulfs the performance space, viewers see only her face until a backdrop of an eye comes into focus- sometimes closing and sometimes disappearing. Meanwhile her solo voice fills the soundscape, assaulting and mesmerizing the silent audience with blunt gripping words and haunting music. She sings about her experience as a rape survivor, self-consciously turning a potentially victimizing experience into a powerful performance. The text is graphic and to the point…This performance context renders her naked voice disturbing- its timbre and texture defy expectations of popular music and force its audience to confront the grotesqueness of a voilent rape” (187). Although this is an accurate description of the performance, its effect does not even compare to the effect of actually seeing the performance. Some things need to be experienced through the medium which they were designed for. This is one of those examples where part of the effect is lost if it is experienced another way. Also, we are only able to picture what Gordon describes. Maybe she omits an aspect of the performance that someone else may think is a crucial part. To illustrate the different effect, we will now watch the performance.
An important aspect that Gordon points out in her description is that she describes Amos as “a rape survivor, self-consciously turning a potentially victimizing experience into a powerful performance” (187). On many occassions, Amos has called herself a “rape survivor” rather than a “rape victim.” This distinction alone is powerful; it shows how she has taken back the power that has been robbed from her- the power over herself. As a sruvivor, she was able to overcome the experience and reclaim herself. If she were to remain a victim, she would continue to give the power to the rapist, giving him continued control over her.
In Amos’s latest album, American Doll Posse, Amos created four ficitional female characters which were supposed to represent different parts of herself, and of every woman. During the tour promoting this album, she dressed up as one of the “dolls” each night. At one concert, when Amos was performing as the character Pip, she did an unconventional performance of “Me and a Gun.”
This performance is extremely differnent from the first one, which was filmed in 1992. They are, though, both quite powerful, just in different ways. I’m not going to argue which one is more effective, I think it can be argued either way. What I will argue is that both performances have to be experiened. In other words, you need to see both performance to get their full impact. It does not do either one justice to just read a desription of it. Therefore, it is necessary to write about them in a form, such as this, rather than a traditional paper that does not allow for media.
