Tori Amos: Piece by Piece by Tori Amos, Ann Powers Read Free Book Online

It doesn't matter if she hasn't seen us in a year; she always acts like we're regulars. Maybe that's just the Irish way, but it pulls me back time and time again. When I was writing the song “Ireland,” I was reading some book a journalist had given me on James Joyce and I was drawn into the fabric that made up his tapestry, his life. There was a spoiled nun who taught him the names of the mountains on the moon … I figured if “Ireland” was referring to James Joyce, then it needed to have nuns, and if it had nuns, then it needed to have white-collar sadomasochists from Wall Street, and if it had that, then it needed to have Vikings, since anywhere you go around Ireland their presence is still felt. And if you hadVikings, then you needed to include the ancient Irish legends, which are usually divided into four cycles. The first one is the Mythological Cycle, whereby the Tuatha Dé Danann, who are descendants of the goddess D'Anu, known as the divine people, begin the richness of Irish mythology with stories that tell of their origins and their ways. Stories of the malevolent Fomorians, who battle the Tuatha Dé Danann for control over Ireland. Tales of the Sídh—a term for an otherworldly being, or a place—a mound where the Sídh live. The Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians by the end of the Bronze Age (circa 300 B.C.), and their otherworldly presence took the form of the Sídh in the legends. After their defeat, writes their contemporary chronicler Eithne Massey the Sídh “took refuge in the world of hollow mounds and magical islands far out to sea, but often used their otherworldly powers to help or hinder mortals.”
The Sídh's historical myth is the source of the bastardized concept of a fairy—as if anyone gives a rat's ass. But for all those fairy haters out there, at least now you'll know the origin of that which you hate.
Next up comes the Ulster Cycle, then the Fianna Cycle during the Celtic Iron Age, and then the Cycle of the Kings during the early Christian era. “Ireland” incorporates the story of Macha, a goddess of Motherhood and Blood, who was nine months’ pregnant when she was forced by her husband to race against the king's horses to fulfill a boast he had made. Macha did in fact run faster than the horses—and cursed the sons of Ulster after having given birth to her twins. Late at night in pubs in Ireland, sometimes you will hear a reference to Macha and her curse, which many believe can still befall you when you least expect it.
Queen Maeve and the warrior Cú Chulainn are the main characters in the Cattle Raid of Cooley also known as the famed Táin Bó Cuailgne. The Morrigan embodies one of the triple battle fairies. The desire menfelt for the beautiful Deirdre was what ended her life, as far as I'm concerned one of the saddest stories of all time. Eithne Massey's book
Legendary Ireland: A Journey Through Celtic Places and Myths
is where you can dive into more on this.
TORI:
     
    Okay so here I dive. I dive into my father's side. In Co. Cork I find the Irish-Scottish Rib and jump on. The whole Irish-Scottish part of my culture has never been a problem, for chrissake. I mean, come on, I bought a house in Ireland in 1995. The Irish, the Scots in the family, you know how that can be—for sure there was the usual family stuff, but not usually much of a problem. But there was one person. The Puritanical. The Shame Inducer. I was five. She was and always has been my greatest adversary and challenger. She was my grandmother. My father's mother. I think she was made a saint somewhere in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia between Fancy Gap and Galax. Galax—home of the fiddler's convention. I remember going when I was five, and there was a sign that read ACUPUNCTURE AND CHINESE MEDICINE, and my grandmother issued the edict that Chinese medicine was sent from the devil.
    Can someone not be considered evil but do harm? Harm to those who serve the Great Mother,