Tori Amos - 16 Shades of Blu
Tori Amos - 16 Shades of Blue


Tori Amos - 16 Shades of Blue Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Unrepentant Geraldines
Released: 2014

16 Shades of Blue Lyrics


Are you telling me it's over disintegrating lost and there's nothing I can do
Before you drop another verbal bomb, can I arm myself
With Cezanne's 16 Shades of Blue

As my heart is slowly ripping into pieces
Disconnecting from the circuits of my mind
You'll get over it you say in time
In time?
If the clocks are black absorbing everything but
A remembering how we made it that
Clocks are black

You say get over it if 50 is the new black,
hooray this could be your lucky day
But my cables they are surging almost
overloading as you disengage

Could your heart be slowly ripping into pieces
Disconnecting from the circuits of your mind
We'll get over it you say in time
In time?
If the clocks are black absorbing everything but
A remembering how we made it that
Clocks are black

That's it you're done.
You've screwed up your life
Before it's begun
There are those who say
I am now too old to play

See over there at 33 she fears she'll lose her job
Because they hear the ticking of her clock
At only 15 I said 15, they say her future's bleak
She should have started this at 3

As her heart is slowly ripping into pieces
Disconnecting from the circuits of her mind
She'll get over it you say in time
In time? Stop Father Time
If the clocks are black absorbing everything but
A remembering how we made it that
How our clocks are black

Before you drop another verbal bomb
Can I arm myself
With Cezanne's 16 shades of blue

Writer/s: MYRA ELLEN TORI AMOS
Publisher: SWORD AND STONE PUBLISHING CO.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

16 Shades of Blue
  • This electronically assisted song is a meditation on aging. "I turned 50 this year – and certain people really helped me to see it in a different way and grab it with both hands," said Amos. "The song '16 Shades of Blue' talks about aging from many points of view. And as I started to dive into it, I started to learn from women of all ages that age was a difficult thing for them – whether you're talking to a 15-year-old who feels pressure to choose their career path for life or a 33-year-old who fears she won't get the promotion if it is known that she is planning a family. They all felt the pressures in the aging process."
  • A lifelong art lover, it was the work of French post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne that inspired the song title. "I discovered Cezanne this past year," said Amos. "And I just never got it before. All my life I have been going to art and artists to hear. One day I was looking through a book and I started hearing when I stumbled upon Cezanne's The Black Clock. He was known to have at least 16 Shades of Blue as part of his color palette."
  • Amos told The Irish Times the story of the song. "Rhythms and music started happening in my head," she said. "Then I began reading that Rilke would say that he [Cezanne] would paint in at least 16 shades of blue at times. All of sudden, it just came together: a story about age, and what it means to turn different ages at different times."

    "I was hearing from women about their different struggles with age, and quite frankly I wasn’t prepared for it," Amos added. "So as I was staring 50 straight in the eye, that then became the song."