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"Silent All These Years" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician
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 ...
, released as the second single from her debut studio album, '' Little Earthquakes'' (1992). It was originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1991 via
EastWest Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...
. It was released in North America in 1992 by
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
and was later used to promote awareness of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network ( RAINN). In the UK, the single was re-released on August 10, 1992.


Origins

Amos wrote "Silent All These Years" during a period of self-reflection and searching for solo album material after the failure of Y Kant Tori Read. According to ''
VH1 Storytellers ''Storytellers'' is a television music series produced by the VH1 network. In each episode, artists perform in front of a (mostly small and intimate) live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat ...
'', she originally wrote this song with
Al Stewart Alastair Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a British singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock songs wi ...
in mind to sing it.
Eric Rosse Eric Ivan Rosse is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and mixer. Rosse started playing piano at age 8, eventually studying orchestration and arranging with Joe Rotundi, Sr. His style is influenced by soul, rock, art pop, and cl ...
, who was producing some other songs Amos had composed, heard it and told her, "You're out of your mind. That's your life story." In the ''Little Earthquakes'' songbook, Amos reveals that writing the song was a slow, evolving process and that the light piano riff during the verses came first. This "bumble bee piano tinkle," as she calls it, is one of the more emblematic and recognizable parts of the song. Lyrically, Amos was inspired by reading
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...
's ''
The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...
'' story to her young niece, Cody.


Releases

"Silent All These Years" was initially a B-side of the first single, " Me and a Gun". The decision to release "Silent All These Years" came after UK station Radio One named it "Song of the Week". In the United Kingdom, it was released as the second single from '' Little Earthquakes'' in November 1991. Formats included a 12-inch and CD maxi single with the B-sides "Upside Down", " Me and a Gun" and "Thoughts" and a 7-inch backed with "Me and a Gun". It was re-released in August 1992 as the 6th and final single. The re-release included a CD maxi single Part 1 with the original track-listing and a "Limited Edition" Part 2 containing "Ode to the Banana King (Part One)", "Song for Eric", and a live version of "Happy Phantom". Part two was quite a limited edition release and is now a rare find at used record stores. The reissued 7-inch and cassette single replaced the original B-side with a cover of "
Smells Like Teen Spirit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, '' Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it i ...
". In the United States, "Silent All These Years" was released on cassette as the first single, post- Y Kant Tori Read, in April 1992. Its lone B-side was "Upside Down". It was re-released in March 1997 as a promotional single for RAINN backed with a live version from "The Concert for RAINN", recorded on January 23, 1997.


Re-release and later coverage

1997 saw the re-release of "Silent All These Years" in the United States as a CD single as a fundraiser for RAINN. The original album version is included along with a live version, significantly longer, recorded during the Concert for RAINN that was aired on
Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...
. In 1998, the song was included on the compilation ''Atlantic Records: 50 Years—The Gold Anniversary''. Another compilation, titled ''Respect: A Century of Women in Music'' and released in 1999 by Rhino Records, included this song on the last of its 5-disc set; the disc was labelled "Hip-Hop, Pop, and Passion". "Silent All These Years" appears between songs by
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
and
k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang (stylised in all lowercase), is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical pe ...
. This song was one of sixteen to get a remastering treatment for inclusion on '' Tales of a Librarian'', Amos's 2003 collection. Asian diva
Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; pinyin: ''Wáng Fēi''; born 8 August 1969) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career, she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (). Born in Beijing, she moved to British Hong Kong at the age o ...
covered the song in both
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
and
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
. Her version is called "Cold War" (冷戰). Singaporean singer
Stefanie Sun Stefanie Sun Yanzi (; born Sng Ee Tze; 23 July 1978) is a Singaporean singer and songwriter. Known for her Ballad, ballads and girl next door image, Sun made her debut with the album ''Yan Zi (album), Yan Zi'' in 2000. Featuring the single "Cl ...
also covered the original English version. Hong Kong singer-songwriter
Chet Lam Chet Lam Yat-Fung is a Hong Kong–based independent "city- folk" singer-songwriter. He is the elder brother of singer Eman Lam. Biography Lam was born at Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. He grew up in a public estate, studying at Ch ...
covered this song featuring Kay Tse in his 2006 concert album ''CAMPiNG iN Hong Kong''.


Critical reception

''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' wrote, "Noble. The way she sings the words "''boy, you better pray that I bleed real soon''" will send little shivers from the tip of your head right down to your heels." The reviewer added, "Without the screeching and the bluster, with just a piano for company, it will make you realise just how great a song it is. It will also make you feel a little stupid that you've been singing nowhere near the right lyrics for the last nine months." The magazine's Chris Roberts complimented the "genuine clever narratives" of "Silent All These Years". Ian McCann from ''
New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'' said, "Her voice makes me shiver, it's all hurt and nutty. On 'Silent' she hears it herself, she reckons, and goes on about a bloke's jeans. People like this should be locked up or given a spell in the marines. They're just too sensitive for their own good." In 2014, ''
Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...
'' ranked the song number seven on their list of the 10 greatest Tori Amos songs, and in 2023, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' ranked the song number one on their list of the 20 greatest Tori Amos songs.


Music video

The accompanying music video for "Silent All These Years" was the first of Amos's solo career. It was shot by Cindy Palmano over the course of two days. Palmano, who had been a stills photographer until this project, came up with the idea of Amos rolling inside a box, the image which is most often associated with the video. Other clips include impersonal shots of objects such as false breasts on a clothes hanger and flowing honey, which Palmano describes as having "a modern look, very clean." The video approaches a climax with shots of Amos twirling against an uneven surface, created by using a corner of a room painted such a crisp white that it's hard to tell that the wall is even there at all. For the final seconds, Amos's face fills the frame as she simply sings to the camera. The video for "Silent All These Years" was well-noted by the mass media. MTV, in March 1992, used "Silent All These Years" as a "Buzz clip". Additionally, the video was nominated for Breakthrough Video, Best Cinematography in a Video, Best New Artist in a Video, and Best Female Video at the
MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...
in 1992. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine lists this video at #98 of the 100 greatest videos of all time. The video has been released on two compilations: the '' Little Earthquakes''
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
and '' Tori Amos: Complete Videos 1991–1998''.


Track listings

The November 1991 CD and 12-inch are identical except for title to the same singles for " Me and a Gun", released in October 1991.


November 1991 U.K. release

* Cassette single (EastWest YZ 618C) / 7-inch single (EastWest YZ 618) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Me and a Gun" – 3:42 * CD single (EastWest YZ 618CD) / 12-inch single (EastWest YZ 618T) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Upside Down" – 4:22 # "Me and a Gun" – 3:42 # "Thoughts" – 2:36


April 1992 U.S. release

* Cassette single (Atlantic 4-87511) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Upside Down" – 4:22


August 1992 U.K. release

* Cassette single (EastWest A 7433C) / 7-inch single (EastWest A 7433) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "
Smells Like Teen Spirit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, '' Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it i ...
" – 3:15 * CD single no. 1 (EastWest A 7433CD) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Upside Down" – 4:22 # "Me and a Gun" – 3:42 # "Thoughts" – 2:36 * CD single no. 2 (EastWest A 7433CDX) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Ode to the Banana King (Part One)" – 4:06 # "Song for Eric" – 1:50 # "Happy Phantom" (Live) – 3:33 (Recorded at
Cambridge Corn Exchange The Corn Exchange is an events and concert venue located on Wheeler Street, Cambridge, Wheeler Street in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. The structure, which was commissioned as a corn exchange, is a Grade II listed building. History The ...
, April 5, 1992)


March 1997 U.S. release

* RAINN Benefit CD single (Atlantic 2-83001) / RAINN Benefit Cassette single (Atlantic 4-83001) # "Silent All These Years" – 4:11 # "Silent All These Years" (live version) – 5:28 (Recorded at
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
, January 23, 1997)


Charts


Release history


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1991 songs 1991 singles 1992 singles Tori Amos songs Songs written by Tori Amos Pop ballads Atlantic Records singles East West Records singles Song recordings produced by Eric Rosse