I'm looking for the meaning of the lyrics to Tori Amos' Cornflake Girl
song.

I'm not particularly interested in a discussion about the
authenticity, just the meaning of the symbolism and the words.

For your convenience, I copied the lyrics here:

01 Never was a cornflake girl
02 Thought that was a good solution
03 Hanging with the raisin girls
04 She's gone to the other side
05 Givin us a yo heave ho
06 Things are getting kind of gross
07 And I go at sleepy time
08 This is not really happening
09 You bet your life it is

10 Peel out the watchword
11 Just peel out the watchword

12 She knows what's goin on
13 Seems we got a cheaper feel now
14 All the sweetcaze are gone
15 Gone to the other side
16 With my encyclopedia
17 They musta paid her a nice price
18 She's putting on her string bean love
19 This is not really happening
20 You bet your life it is

21 Peal our the watchword
22 Just peel out the watchword

23 Never was a cornflake girl
24 Thought that was a good solution

25 Rabbit where'd you put the keys girl
26 And the man with the golden gun thinks he knows so much
27 Thinks he knows so much
28 Rabbit where'd you put the keys girl

Hello spurious-ga,

Thank you for asking this question; I always wondered what this song
meant!

Here are two collections of quotes by Tori Amos that discuss most of
the words and images in Cornflake Girl.

"Under the Pink: Cornflake Girl"
~Deciphering the Message~
http://members.aol.com/morgang658/utp.html#Cornflake

"Cornflake Girl"
never enough
http://never.inmyhead.net/girls/gcornflake.html

For the most part, these quotes are pretty consistent as to her
intended meaning.  I should note that, in one of the quotes, she gives
a different interpretation of "rabbit" (as a Deadhead) and a confusing
interpretation of "the man with the golden gun" (as someone who is
"dreams" and who "never was a contender"); but I suspect that she was
just kidding (or a little tipsy) in that interview, and is more
serious when she describes these images as representing fear and God,
respectively.

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"tori amos" "alice walker" "cornflake girl" "string bean love"

[I tried several other combinations of search terms as well, but this
combination of terms resulted in the pages I have cited.]

Thanks, justaskscott-ga.  I guess that's about as coherent an
explanation as I I could get from the author herself.

There has been a lot of discussion of this song in various newsgroups.

Here's an interesting post:

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=4r3jm6%24t74%40newz.oit.unc.edu&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

Thanks pinkfreud-ga.  That's interesting reading.

Can anyone explain the imagery?