Crucify (song)

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"Crucify EP"

Single by Tori Amos
from the album Little Earthquakes
Released	1992
Format	CD, Cassette
Genre	piano pop
Length	4:18 (4:58 on album)
Label	Atlantic
Producer(s)	Eric Rosse Ian Stanley
Tori Amos singles chronology
"Winter"	"Crucify"	"Cornflake Girl"

"Crucify" is a song written and performed by Tori Amos from her album Little Earthquakes. Released in 1992, it was the fifth single from the album, and was featured on the US Crucify EP, the UK Crucify (Part 1) single, the UK Crucify (Part 2) single, the France Crucify vinyl and cassette single, and the Australia Crucify cassette single.

1 Personnel
2 Chart positions
3 Appearances of the song on television
- 3.1 Live performances
- 3.2 Music video
4 Later appearances of "Crucify"
5 Crucify EP Track listing
6 External links

[edit] Personnel

Tori Amos – acoustic piano, vocals
Jef Scott – bass
Ed Green – drums
Paulinho Dacosta – percussion
John Chamberlin – mandolin
Eric Williams – ukulele
Nancy Shanks (Beene), Tina Gullickson – backgrounds
John Beverly Jones – sound recording
Leslie Ann Jones – assistance
Paul McKenna – mixing
Davitt Sigerson – producer
Ian Stanley – producer

[edit] Chart positions

"Crucify" reached #15 on the UK charts, which caused Little Earthquakes to re-enter the album charts there. In addition, "Crucify" hit #22 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. This, despite Amos's claims of censorship:

"I've been in the alternative stations because they won’t play my lyrics. The whole Bible-belt banned me for 'Crucify' because they thought I was being sacrilegious. They felt that it was detrimental material for their children and that it was blasphemous." [Hollywood Report - September 10, 1992]

[edit] Appearances of the song on television

[edit] Live performances

Tori Amos performed "Crucify" on David Letterman's show in May, 1992, and on CBS This Morning on September 9, 1992. She also played it on Jay Leno's show on January 13, 1993, along with the song "Winter." Additionally, she played "Crucify" live on MTV in 1992, as well as on Top of the Pops.[1]

[edit] Music video

The "Crucify" video, directed by Cindy Palmano (photographer and video director) and Atlantic Records, was released in 1992 as well. It was shot using the radio edit of "Crucify" that can be found on the EP and singles, but the version used on Tori's 2006 "Fade To Red" 2DVD set is an edited version of the remastered track that is found on the compilation Tales Of A Librarian. It includes images of Tori at the piano shot using overhead cameras, twin Toris who sing together at a counter, clothing "reminiscent of Anne Boleyn"[2], and shots of Tori climbing into a bathtub fully dressed, then dancing in the wet dress.

Beavis and Butt-head riffed on the "Crucify" video, like they did to many other music videos. Much of what they said made very little sense, but there was one pointed comment that viewers, fans and non-fans of Amos alike, had to admit was true:

Butt-Head: How many videos are they going to make with chicks in a bathtub?
Beavis: Yeah... at least if they showed them naked it would be cool.
Butt-Head: Yeah. How come they never show chicks in showers?[3]

Cindy Palmano has said that Atlantic Records finished the video because "I took it to a certain stage and then the record company wanted to edit it in a different way." Yet she approves of the bathtub sequence: "I like when she steps into the bath and comes out of the bath. It all looks really Hitchcock, I love it."[4] (Palmano also directed the videos Silent All These Years, Winter, China and Pretty Good Year, this last one from Amos' second album, Under the Pink.)

You can find this music video on Little Earthquakes and Tori Amos: Complete Videos 1991-1998.

[edit] Later appearances of "Crucify"

In 2003, Tori Amos released the compilation album Tales of a Librarian, which included remastered versions of many of her most popular songs. The original LP version of "Crucify" was one of them.

Amos has performed "Crucify" differently live in recent years. The verses are a lot slower and have some degree of repetition. One example of how she plays it now can be found on the Welcome to Sunny Florida DVD.