When you gonna make up your mind/
When you gonna love you as much as I do?

Tori Amos’ “Winter” is a song about a father teaching his young daughter some of the lessons of life because he knows he won’t always be around. It is not necessarily that he is ill; he is simply recognizing his role as a parent is to teach his daughter to function without him. Amos likens that to the first winter of her life.

The lessons taught in “Winter” are simple but touching: love yourself, stand up for yourself, etc. The spring of the daughter’s life comes and with it interest in boys. As we move into the next fall and summer the father begins to get old and dies. She must remember the lessons he taught her and learn to live without him. It is a touching story. The only bit I don’t get is about the white horses. I am sure it is a symbol for something, but I missed it.

You can hear Amos’ unique piano stylings in “Winter”. I think she has one of the more unique styles—in that I could pick out her playing even if I didn’t hear her singing. She plays very lightly. In Winter, the piano notes played during the verses are a unique pattern that is difficult to play and sing at the same time.

She is up there with Elton John in terms of piano ability. Her voice sounds great. She never over-emotes, yet she is able to convey strong emotions with her words. The strings go well with this song, and do a good job of bringing “Winter” to a crescendo at the proper moments. “Winter” might be Tori Amos’ best original song.

Winter Lyrics

Snow can wait, I forgot my mittens,
Wipe my nose, get my new boots on.
I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter.
I put my hand in my father’s glove.

I run off where the drifts get deeper,
Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown.
I hear a voice “You must learn to stand up for yourself”
“‘Cause I can’t always be around”.

He says when you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
‘Cause things are gonna change so fast,
All the white horses are still in bed,
I tell you that I’ll always want you near,
You say that things change my dear.

Boys get discovered as winter melts,
Flowers competing for the sun.
Years go by and I’m here still waiting,
Withering where some snowman was.

Mirror mirror where’s the crystal palace?
But I only can see myself.
Skating around the truth who I am,
But I know, dad, the ice is getting thin

When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
‘Cause things are gonna change so fast,
All the white horses are still in bed.
I tell you that I’ll always want you near,
You say that things change my dear.

Hair is grey and the fires are burning,
So many dreams on the shelf.
You say I wanted you to be proud,
I always wanted that myself.

When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
‘Cause things are gonna change so fast.
All the white horses have gone ahead.
I tell you that I’ll always want you near,
You say that things change my dear.
Never change.
All the white horses…

Songwriters: Tori Amos

God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes.

Elton John’s “Daniel” is a story about a young boy whose older brother, Daniel tells him he is going away on a vacation to Spain. In truth, Daniel is going off to the Vietnam War, but he doesn’t want to frighten his younger brother.

Daniel tells his younger brother some things that seem inconsistent with a great vacation in Spain. He says it’s the best place he’s ever seen, however, Daniel comes home with scars that won’t heal: physically and emotionally. I like the line about the clouds in his eyes. When Daniel is gone, he sees him everywhere; perhaps it is the clouds in his eyes. As he watches Daniel leave again, he begins to tear up; perhaps it is those clouds in his eyes.

While the story is great, the song would not be great without the incredible melody and performance by Elton John. As I have argued before, I think John is one of the most consistently great performers in rock history. The choice of a keyboard over a piano is one of the defining characteristics of the song. It adds to that dreamy characteristic to the song’s lyric. The synthetic flute solo is a distinctive sound as well. Overall a great song that is underrated due to it being overplayed on soft rock radio.

Daniel Lyrics

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane.
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain.
And I can see Daniel waving goodbye.
Oh it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes.

They say Spain is pretty though I’ve never been.
And Daniel says it’s the best place that he’s ever seen.
He should know, he’s been there enough.
Oh I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much, oh.

Daniel my brother you are older than me,
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won’t heal?
Your eyes have died but you see more than I.
Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky.

Oh Daniel my brother you are older than me,
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won’t heal?
Your eyes have died but you see more than I.
Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky.

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane.
And I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain.
And I can see Daniel waving goodbye.
Oh it looks like Daniel, it must be the clouds in my eyes.
Oh God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes.
Daniel

Songwriters: Elton John / Bernie Taupin / Vladimir Cort

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young created a lot of songs that were not only great, but also iconic: “Teach Your Children” is at the top of the list. This is a song that seems to transcend time. Doesn’t it feel more like a traditional song than like something that was written in the seventies? A lot of their songs give me that feeling. Another one that comes to mind is Our House.

Unique about “Teach Your Children” is that the first half of the song is advice to teach your children well and the second half is for young folks to “teach” their parents. We don’t normally think of kids teaching their parents, but Nash does an interesting thing here in trying to explain parents’ fears to the kids that at the time was his audience. Notice he doesn’t take a side. He feels we could both do better at teaching each other.

The slide guitar in “Teach Your Children” stands out as giving it that country rock vibe that CSN are so often associated with. Of course, CSNYs harmonies are amazing. The secondary singers weave in and out between singing harmony on the lead and singing backup to create a unique sound. It is a hard vocal to pull off.

Teach Your Children Lyrics

You who are on the road
Must have a code- that you can live by.
And so become yourself,
Because the past is just a good-bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh,
And know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by.
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by.
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh, and know they love you.
written by Graham Nash