"A Sorta Fairytale" is a song written and performed by singer-songwriter

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

. It was released as the first single from her 2002 album '' Scarlet's Walk''. The song reached number 14 on the ''Billboard''

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chart, and number two on the Triple A (

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) chart. The song has since been featured in episodes of the television shows '' Nip/Tuck'' and ''

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''. There are three commercially released versions of the song: the album version (5:30), the 101 Mix (4:00) and the original single version (4:01). It was released as a CD single (UK/Canada) with "Operation Peter Pan" as the B-side (which marked her final B-side to date), and as a DVD single (US) with the music video, co-starring Adrien Brody.

Song information

From the promotional CD ''Scarlet Stories'': In a 2009 interview, Amos was asked about the meaning of one of the lines:

Reception

"A Sorta Fairytale" is widely regarded as one of Amos's best songs. In 2014, ''

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'' ranked the song number five on their list of the 10 greatest Tori Amos songs, and in 2023, ''

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'' ranked the song number six on their list of the 20 greatest Tori Amos songs.

Music video

The music video, directed by Sanji, features Amos, as a head attached to a disembodied leg, falling in love with another head attached to a disembodied arm (played by Adrien Brody). The two creatures show signs of romantic interest in one another, until the arm accidentally hurts the leg's feelings by laughing at her crooked fifth toe. The leg then flees by jumping onto a passing

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, and ends up alone on a deserted beach. The arm finds her and they consummate their love with a deep

kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

. The act of kissing causes the arm and leg to suddenly start swelling up and grow their extra body parts—they finally become complete, "whole" humans by realizing their love.

Track listing

Maxi-CD single (UK and Canada)

# "A Sorta Fairytale" (101 Mix) # "Operation Peter Pan" # "A Sorta Fairytale" (original single version)* # "A Scarlet Story" (Enhanced CD multimedia)

7" single (US)

# "A Sorta Fairytale" (single version)* (on both sides) *The "single version" and "original single version" are identical though titled differently. Issued with a picture sleeve. Disc has small center hole

DVD single (US)

# "A Sorta Fairytale" music video (digitally mastered) # Tori Amos biography # Making of "A Sorta Fairytale" # Interview segment (with Amos)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

Tori Amos songs Tori Amos video albums Songs written by Tori Amos 2002 singles 2002 songs 2003 video albums Music videos directed by Sanji (director) Epic Records singles 2000s ballads {{2000s-pop-song-stub