Cactus Practice

Album: Night of Hunters (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • Night of Hunters is a 21st century song cycle in which American singer-songwriter Tori Amos tells the story of a woman who finds herself trying to understand why love has gone wrong for her. One of the inspirations for the album was "The White Goddess," Robert Graves' essay on poetic myth-making. Thus, the female protagonist and a shape-shifting being named Annabelle journey back into the mythic past in her search for clues. A peyote ritual, as explored on this track is a key part of the quest.
  • The song finds Amos dueting with her 11-year-old daughter Natashya, and is based on Chopin's "Nocturne op. 9 no. 1."
  • Amos told UK newspaper The Independent that she read Graves' work again and again during the making of Night of Hunters. "The book assimilates different European myths and explains how they interact," she explained, "so that was percolating in my brain."
  • This was Amos' first album recorded using only acoustic instruments.

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