Cornflake Girl

Man, I haven't listened to this in ages. I wanted to show it to a friend last night, including the fantastic super-feministic video, and I realized that I was in a Cornflake Girl-mood, so now I'm in the process of mega-listening to it. I love this kind of music; the kind that just seem to make love to your ears and it's just bliss to listen, there's a streaming sensation, something that stirs your chest and your heart and all of you, pulls at you, tugs your sleeve, tucks you in, envelopes you, fills you up. I ache to learn how to play it on my piano so that I'll be able to really be inside of this spectacular song. The piano solo at the end especially. Simply gorgeous.

"The inspiration for "Cornflake Girl" came from Alice Walker's novel "Possessing the Secret of Joy", about a young African woman going through the ritual of female genital mutilation. Amos was angered by the idea that a mother could subject her daughter to such a brutal act, and the song arose as an exploration of the idea of betrayal between women. In the song two factions of women are referred to: The "Raisin Girls" are "multicultural" and open-minded, while the "Cornflake Girls" of the title are "narrowminded and full of prejudice". The reference to cornflakes and raisins comes from their distribution in a box of breakfast cereal, implying that "raisin girls" are much harder to find than "cornflake girls". Amos has spoken in interviews about being referred to glibly as "the Cornflake Girl" due to the song's title being applied to her, when she considers herself a "Raisin Girl". The confusion is likely related to her 1987 commercial for Kellogg's Just Right made before her widespread fame. Just Right includes both raisins and corn flakes, so the song and the cereal are related either through coincidence or intent."

Where'd you put the keys, girl?

~

never was a cornflake girl
thought that was a good solution
hanging with the raisin girls
she's gone to the other side
given us a "yo, heave ho"
things are getting kind of gross
and I go at sleepytime
this is not really
this, this, this is not really happening
you bet your life it is
you bet your life it is
uh huh, you bet your life

it's a - peel out the watchword, just peel
out the watchword

she knows what's going on
seems we got a cheaper feel now
all the sweeteaze are gone
gone to the other side
with my encyclopedia
they must've paid her a nice price
she's putting on her string bean, love
this is not really
this, this, this is not really happening
you bet your life it is
you bet your life it is
uh huh, you bet your life

it's a - peel out the watchword, just peel
out the watchword

and the man with the golden gun
thinks he knows so much
thinks he knows so much, yes
and the man with the golden gun
thinks he knows so much
thinks he knows so much, yes

rabbit
where'd you put the keys, girl?
rabbit
where'd you put the keys, girl?
rabbit
where'd you put the keys?
rabbit
where'd you put the keys, girl?