I got a letter from a guy named Greg. He’s a fan, and this lettre just happened to get to me, because a lot of times I don’t get them. But he’s from the north of England and he drew this picture, a self-portrait of himself. It was a pencil drawing and Greg had glasses and long hair and he was really, really skinny. He had this drooping flower in his hand. And he wrote to me this letter that touched me to the core about how at twenty-three, it was all over for him. In his mind, there was nothing. He just couldn’t seem to catch the kite by the tail. You know, sometimes you see that kite flying and bloody hell, you just have to grab the tail, bring it down and see what’s on the kite. Well, he just couldn’t find a way around putting his desires and his visions into anything tangible, except this lettre. Many people today, before they even reach thirty, feel this way-it’s a functional exercise waking up, brushing your teeth, going through your day. People have just numbered themselves. I don’t know the answer why. I think there are loads of answers. It’s not my job to come up with an answer. Nobody wants to hear an answer from me. The point is, what I tried to come up with is the feeling we all feel. Shaking us out of this numbness. I was just telling Greg’s story and Greg affected the singer so much that it brought my own stuff into it, and that was kind of a neat surprise.
-Tori Amos

-from the book In Their Own Words:Songwriters Talk About The Creative Process written/compiled by Bill DeMain