Benjamin

Album: Native Invaders (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In January 2017 Tori Amos' mother, Mary, suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak. The singer told Billboard that she experienced "a penny-drop moment" while driving to visit her, when it became clear that in the same way that her mother's body had been under attack, so also were such American ideals as freedom and liberty.

    This angry song in which Amos Tori Amos brands "the men on the hill" as "those pimps in Washington... selling the rape of America," became a central theme of Native Invader.

    "I'd been getting messages through people I know from people I don't know that were telling me that I needed to pay attention," Amos explained. "They wanted to know, did I know what as going on? Did I understand who was going to be appointed, for example, at the EPA? Those types of things. I call them the Benjamins, whether they're our lady Benjamins or the male Benjamins. That's the song 'Benjamin,' where I was getting pointed at and sent things to look at to make me aware of what was really going on. As I was sitting in the hospital with Mary, by her side for hours, I would be doing the research, and the album started to come fast and furious."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.