Changed.
Last week the amazing Sara wanted to know what book/song/movie changed my life and why…This is a super, super hard one for me. I mean, music has been basically my whole life for years.
My first answer was to scream “Tori!!!” at the top of my lungs. You all know why. But screaming that would be so vague. It would never answer the question…
So more specifically my answer is one of two songs. Either “Baker Baker” by Tori or “Space Dog” by Tori.
I bought my first Tori record in 1988 from a little record shop that used to exist on Northwest Highway in Edison Park, where I grew up. I was nine years old and I walked out of that store with a 12″ album featuring a woman who had the hair of Stacey Q but the face of someone much more interesting. I have no clue why I picked up that record that day, but it was the first album that I purchased with my own money AND picked out all by myself. That single moment was defining for me, as it started what would turn into a lifelong Tori Amos obsession.
Her album “Under the Pink” came out while I was in high school and I remember being beyond excited to have my Mom drive me to Best Buy so I could pick up the CD. My Mom didn’t do much for me back in those days but she always seemed to understand my deep appreciation and love for music. We went, I bought the CD and listened to it on repeat for at least a good year. That’s right…at least a year.
I remember sitting on the cream colored carpet in my bedroom, back up against the side of my bed, head tilted back against the mattress and eyes closed. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I can smell my old room which was always a nice contrast against the rest of our house that always smelled like my Mom’s smoke. I can remember the feeling of that carpet against my skin.
When Baker, Baker came on, I cried. And still, to this day, I cry each and every time I hear it.
“Baker Baker, baking a cake. Make me a day. Make me whole again.”
And then comes Space Dog…That song will forever remind me of one huge day that changed my life when I was a junior in high school…The day that my first ever girlfriend and I had our first official date at a coffee house in Libertyville. The song played in her car and I realized that I never paid full attention to it until that moment.
There really isn’t more of a back story to that, as the reasons why it changed my life are pretty apparent. I still smile every single time I hear it. Quite the contrast to Baker, Baker. 
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