Sweet the Sting

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"Sweet the Sting"
Single by Tori Amos
from the album The Beekeeper
Released 2005
Genre Piano
Length 4:16
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Tori Amos
Producer(s) Tori Amos
Tori Amos singles chronology
"Sleeps With Butterflies"

(2005)

"Sweet the Sting"

(2005)

"Cars and Guitars"

(2005)

Sweet the Sting (US)
July 2005

"Sweet the Sting" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It serves as the second track on her eighth studio album The Beekeeper, released on February 22, 2005, by Epic Records in both the United States and Canada.

Following the trend of her several previous singles, "Sweet the Sting" was released as a promotional single only, with physical CDs produced for radio stations.

"Sweet the Sting" appeared on radio stations throughout the summer of 2005.

Background[edit | edit source]

On the limited edition of The Beekeeper, Amos explains the inspiration and correlation with one of the album's themes:

Elixirs and Herbs is a place that the passion that this woman has for her beliefs or the man that she loves, for the direction that humanity is going, is very much where she is exploring and allowing herself not only to heal what are wounds, but to allow her wounds to express themselves and this doesn't always have to be a place of victimization this sometimes is a place of being able to confront something that is out of balance and it is an ancient practice that the Bee shaman have been working with for thousands of years they work with a tradition that forces you to look at those places that may need to be stung and there's a song on this record in the Herbs and Elixirs garden called "Sweet the Sting" and in order for you or I to gain the sweetness, wisdom does not come without the sting.

You can find additional song meanings here.

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

with a strut into the room
with his hat cocked sure defiantly
he said "I. I have heard.
that you can play the way I like it to be played."
I said, I can play. anyway that you want.
But first I want. I want to know

Baby is it Sweet Sweet
Sweet the Sting
is it real this infusion-
can it heal where others before have failed?
If so then somebody
Shake Shake Shake
me sane
'cause I am inching ever closer
to the tip of this scorpion's tail.

He said "I laid my weapons
down with my pistol
fully loaded, a hunted man
to my root, will it end
or begin in your cinnabar juice?"

is it Sweet Sweet
Sweet your Sting
is it real your infusion
can it heal where others before have failed?
If so then somebody
Shake Shake Shake
me sane
'cause I am inching ever closer
to the tip of this scorpion's tail.

Love let me breathe
breathe you in
melt the confusion
until there is
there is you - union

Baby is it Sweet Sweet
Sweet your sting
is it real your infusion
can it heal where others before have failed?
If so then somebody
Shake Shake Shake
me sane
'cause I am inching ever closer
to the tip of this scorpion's tail.

Baby is it sweet, now now
Baby is it sweet, boy
Baby is it sweet

Video[edit | edit source]

Music Video[edit | edit source]

The music video for "Sweet the Sting" was recorded in 2005 and directed by Alex Smith. The sequence of the video takes place during a rehearsal with Amos's gospel choir, with whom she worked to record certain tracks on The Beekeeper, as well as at another location, showing Amos interacting with her crew, playing the piano alone in a small room, and singing without the gospel choir. Most of the video focuses on Amos playing the B3 Hammond organ and singing, making the "Sweet the Sting" a simpler, documentary-type video, compared to her other videos which often include a narrative story with elaborate props and technical camera work.

The music video for "Sweet the Sting" has been released on iTunes and subsequently on Amos's video compilation, Fade to Red (2006).

Promotional Performances[edit | edit source]

You can find the rest of the promotional performances here.

Text Interviews[edit | edit source]

This can be a place of being able to confront something that's out of balance. And it's an ancient practice that the bee shamans have been working with for thousands of years. They work with a tradition that forces you to look at those places that may need to be stung. And in order for you or for I to gain the sweetness... wisdom does not come without the sting. [toriamos.com - January 31, 2005]

Yesterday I spent hours on "Sweet the Sting"; from playing the piano riff over and over to listening to it on my crap tape recorder, to masking changes and incorporating them. The story started evolving soon after the B3 Hammond organ, whom I have named "Big Momma," was delivered. Everytime I entered the room in the morning to begin my practice time, Big Momma would be humming. Yes, of course her power had been left on, but I'm talking about the kind of humming you detect in a girlfriend after she's had a romantic evening. Turns out Big Momma has a boyfriend. Another organ, specifically another B3 organ. This romance led me to the story of two B3 players, one female, the other male, whose erotic dance revolves around each impressing the other by how well they play their own organ. [Tori Amos: Piece by Piece - 2005]

The Beekeeper, in one word, was about "Sinsuality." Really trying to marry the Biblical female archetype with the pagan archetype. So you go back to Mesopotamia, and you read about the Great Mothers that come from the line of Inanna and Lilith, and then Biblically you have the Great Mother, Eve. The Beekeeper was really about looking at religious mythology as well as classical mythology that isn't included in the Bible. The one song that I think really embodies the sovereignty of Woman in her flesh -- the physical body, her mental body, her emotional body, and her spiritual body -- for me on this record was "Sweet the Sting." I desired Afro-Cuban rhythms, the Hammond organ, as well as the gospel choir as a triad, as a pyramid shape.

It was really inspired by Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise." As a young girl I would listen to that record, naked feet reaching deep down into rich, red earth. It made a lot of sense to me to plug in through this raw essence that Stevie was able to channel when he played and composed, to really be able to harness the vortex of sexuality and spirituality. I always thought that he was very close to a raw spirituality when I would hear his music. I wanted to bring that into our assimilation of the modern woman as well as the ancient mythological undertone before it was subjugated by the patriarchy and demeaned.

It was really a marriage. I'm talking about on this record, the marriage of the Magdalene and of the Mother Mary, what I call marrying the Marys. That's what it is within a Christian context. In the Judaic or a wider sense, it would be the marrying of the Lilith and Eve, so that they're not competitive or severed, but they each become sovereign, whole. All women can embody all of these female archetypes, maybe to different degrees because of what you're drawn to. That's what The Beekeeper was really about, the secrets of the hive that have been with us but suppressed for thousands of years. "Sweet the Sting" was really an exercise in growing, learning, and becoming whole; sometimes you have to first be disembodied before you can transform these disjointed parts of the self so that they come together as a mosaic and not left eternally dismembered. [A Piano liner notes - 2006][1]

Live Performances[edit | edit source]

The song has been played 37 times live.[2]

You can listen to more live performance of the song here.

Sheet Music[edit | edit source]

You can find sheet music at the following links.

Piano[edit | edit source]

Figure Tori Out[edit | edit source]

Sweet the Sting

Released 2005.

YANTA[edit | edit source]

Sweet the Sting

Music Notes[edit | edit source]

These transcriptions come from official releases.

Sweet the Sting (P/V/G)

Guitar[edit | edit source]

Music Notes[edit | edit source]

These transcriptions come from official releases.

Sweet the Sting (P/V/G)

Covers[edit | edit source]

You can find a list of covers here.

Releases[edit | edit source]

Promo CD[edit | edit source]

Promotional CDs for "Sweet the Sting" were produced for radio stations, but dispersed sparsely, making it difficult to locate a copy of the single. Since the song was not re-mixed or edited for single release, a separate digital download of the single was not made available because the same version appeared on the previously released album.

The promotional CDs released contain only the album version of the song, with no accompanying B-sides or bonus material.

Sweet the Sting has been released both studio and live on different formats. These include the following:

XM Artist Confidential Vol. 1

Official[edit | edit source]

Unofficial[edit | edit source]

There have been no unofficial bootlegs released as of yet.

Personnel[edit | edit source]

  • Tori Amos – acoustic piano, B3 Hammond organ, vocals, producer
  • Matt Chamberlain – drums
  • Jon Evans – bass guitar
  • Mac Aladdin – acoustic and electric guitar
  • London Community Gospel Choir – background vocals

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Sweet the Sting." yessaid, 26 Apr. 2022, http://www.yessaid.com/lyrics/2005thebeekeeper/02sweetthesting.html
  2. "Tours - All Tours." Tori Amos Setlist Database, 26 Apr. 2022, https://www.toriset.org/index.php?t=0
The Beekeeper
Songs "Parasol" • "Sweet the Sting" • "The Power of Orange Knickers" • "Jamaica Inn" • "Barons of Suburbia" • "Sleeps With Butterflies" • "General Joy" • "Mother Revolution" • "Ribbons Undone" • "Cars and Guitars" • "Witness" • "Original Sinsuality" • "Ireland" • "The Beekeeper" • "Martha's Foolish Ginger" • "Hoochie Woman" • "Goodbye Pisces" • "Marys of the Sea" • "Toast"
B-sides "Dolphin Song" • "Garlands" • "Not David Bowie"
Live "The Original Bootlegs"
Related "Original Sinsuality Tour" • "Summer of Sin Tour"
Tori Amos
Studio Albums "Little Earthquakes" • "Under the Pink" • "Boys for Pele" • "From the Choirgirl Hotel" • "To Venus and Back" • "Strange Little Girls" • "Scarlet's Walk" • "The Beekeeper" • "American Doll Posse" • "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" • "Midwinter Graces" • "Night of Hunters" • "Gold Dust" • "Unrepentant Geraldines" • "Native Invader" • "Ocean to Ocean"
Compilations "Tales of a Librarian" • "A Piano: The Collection"
Live Albums "To Venus and Back" • "The Original Bootlegs" • "Legs and Boots" • "Live at Montreux 1991/1992" • "From Russia with Love"
EPs "Crucify" • "Hey Jupiter" • "Scarlet's Hidden Treasures" • "Exclusive Session" • "Flavor (Peter Rauhofer Remixes)" • "Spotify Sessions" • "Russia" • "Christmastide"
Singles "Me and a Gun" • "Silent All These Years" • "China" • "Winter" • "Crucify" • "Cornflake Girl" • "God" • "Pretty Good Year" • "Past the Mission" • "Caught a Lite Sneeze" • "Talula" • "Professional Widow" • "Hey Jupiter" • "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" • "Spark" • "Jackie's Strength" • "Cruel" • "Raspberry Swirl" • "Bliss" • "1000 Oceans" • "Glory of the 80s" • "Concertina" • "Strange Little Girl" • "A Sorta Fairytale" • "Taxi Ride" • "Strange" • "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" • "Mary" • "Angels" • "Sleeps With Butterflies" • "Sweet the Sting" • "Cars and Guitars" • "Take Me With You" • "Big Wheel" • "Bouncing Off Clouds" • "Almost Rosey" • "Welcome to England" • "Maybe California" • "500 Miles" • "A Silent Night With You" • "Carry" • "Nautical Twilight" • "Star Whisperer" • "Flavor" • "Gold Dust" • "Trouble's Lament" • "Promise" • "Flicker" • "Cloud Riders" • "Up the Creek" • "Reindeer King" • "Better Angels" • "Speaking With Trees" • "Spies"
Videos "Little Earthquakes" • "Live from New York" • "Complete Videos: 1991 - 1998" • "A Sorta Fairytale" • "Welcome to Sunny Florida" • "Fade to Red" "Live at Montreux 1991/1992" • "Live from the Artist's Den"
Tours "Little Earthquakes Tour" • "Under the Pink Tour" • "Dew Drop Inn Tour" • "Plugged '98 Tour" • "5 1/2 Weeks Tour" • "To Dallas and Back Tour" • "Strange Little Tour" • "Scarlet's Walk Tour" • "Lotta Pianos Tour" • "Original Sinsuality Tour" • "Summer of Sin Tour" • "American Doll Posse World Tour" • "Sinful Attraction Tour" • "Summer Tour 2010" • "Night of Hunters Tour" • "Gold Dust Orchestral Tour" • "Unrepentant Geraldines Tour" • "Native Invader Tour" • "Ocean to Ocean Tour"
Official Books "Piece by Piece" • "Comic Book Tattoo" • "Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage" • "Little Earthquakes (book)"
Other Books "Tori Amos: All These Years" • "Pink Earthquakes" • "Tori Amos: Images and Insights" • "Tori Amos: Cornflake Girl" • "Tori Amos: Collectibles" • "Tori Amos: Lyrics" • "Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos" • "Tori Amos: In the Studio" • "Tori Amos: Soul Searching and Uncensored" • "Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos" • "The Light Princess" • "Tori Amos: Complete Recordings Illustrated" • "Tori Amos's Boys for Pele (33 1/3)" • "Tori Amos Quotes" • "Celebrity Adult Coloring Book: Welcome to the World of Celebrities and Famous Bands" • "Tori Amos Bootleg Webring (Remember the Internet; vol. 2)" • "Tori Amos: every song, every album"
Songbooks "Little Earthquakes" • "Under the Pink" • "The Bee Sides" • "Boys for Pele" • "MTV Unplugged" • "Great Expectations Songbook" • "From the Choirgirl Hotel" "Tori Amos Anthology" • "1000 Oceans" • "Tori Amos: The Singles" • "To Venus and Back" • "Tori Amos for Fingerstyle Guitar with Tablature" • "Tori Amos for Easy Piano" • "Scarlet's Walk" • "Tori Amos Collection: Tales of a Librarian" • "The Beekeeper" • "American Doll Posse" • "Abnormally Attracted to Sin"
Related Articles "Delirium" • "Blue Skies" • "RAINN" • "Baltimore" • "The Light Princess"