The discography of the British singer Tanita Tikaram has more than a dozen studio albums and about twenty singles. But for most ordinary music lovers, it is a typical one-hit wonder, as in English they call performers who have achieved resounding success with one composition. Of course, we are talking about the great song Twist in My Sobriety.
The story of creation and the meaning of the song Twist in My Sobriety
The first line of the text is the verbatim title of the book All God’s Children Need Hiking Shoes by American writer Maya Angelou.
Tanita spoke about the reasons for choosing the phrase and the main idea of the song Twist in My Sobriety in an interview on one of the Polish TV channels:
I don’t know why I used it [название книги], but I thought it sounded poetic and spiritual. In fact, the rest of the song is about misunderstanding: when you’re eighteen, you have a special emotional relationship with the world, you feel very alone, and everyone else seems so indifferent and cold. I think I sang about how there are no feelings, and nothing around you cares. I think it’s a very strong feeling – when you just became a teenager.
To understand the meaning of the song Twist in My Sobriety, excerpts from Tanita’s interview to the well-known portal SongFacts will help.
First, let’s find out what she thinks about the cover version performed by Liza Minnelli:
I’m honored that Liza Minnelli sang it. But I think she understood the song in an American way. After all, in America, temperance [sobriety] is of particular importance. It’s about rehab and alcohol, isn’t it? But here I did not put such a subtext. When I wrote the song, I didn’t think about it at all.
When asked by a journalist what she meant by abstinence, Tanita replied:
Just be very serious and reasonable in your actions.
The singer also revealed where she got her inspiration from when writing the song:
As a teenager, I really loved to read, and I think many of the images are just bookish … it’s like a road song. A sincere song with a landscape, and you feel like someone is describing the landscape.
SongFacts.com
And Tanita told Q magazine that the song is “about being too scared to get involved in something.”
Release and achievements
The composition was released as the second single from the singer’s debut album Ancient Heart (1988). She achieved the greatest success in the charts in Germany and Austria, where the song climbed to the second line of the charts.
Video of Twist in My Sobriety
The music video for Twist in My Sobriety – Tanita Tikaram, directed by Gerard de Thame, was filmed in a highland Bolivian village. Let’s watch the video.
Cover versions
As mentioned above, the cover version of the track was recorded by the legendary Liza Minnelli. She included her version of the song on the album Results (1989).
Interesting Facts
- The song was featured on the soundtrack of the film Bandits (2001).
Twist in My Sobriety Lyrics by Tanita Tikaram
All God’s children need traveling shoes
Drive your problems from here
All good people read good books
Now your conscience is clear
I hear you talk girl
Now your conscience is clear
In the morning I wipe my brow
Wipe the miles away
I like to think I can be so willed
And never do what you say
I’ll never hear you
And never do what you say
chorus:
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you’ll never be
More than twist in my sobriety x3
We just poked a little pie
For the fun people had at night
Late at night don’t need hostility
The timid smile and pause to free
I don’t care about their different thoughts
Different thoughts are good for me
Up in arms and chaste and whole
All God’s children took their toll
Cup of tea, take time to think, yea
Time to risk a life, a life, a life
sweet and handsome
Soft and porky
You pig out ’til you’ve seen the light
Pig out ’til you’ve seen the light
Half the people read the papers
Read them good and well
Pretty people, nervous people
People have got to sell
News you have to sell
Lyrics Twist in My Sobriety by Tanita Tikaram Alternate
All God’s Children Need Hiking Shoes
Drive away your troubles
All good people read good books.
Now your conscience is clear
I hear you girl
Now your advice is clear
In the morning I wipe my forehead
Many miles behind
I like to think that I can be so strong-willed
And never do what you say
I never listen to you
And don’t do what you say
Chorus:
Look, my eyes are like holograms
Look, your love has bled my hands
My hands… You know you always will
Only a retreat from my abstinence x3
We just had a little fun
For the fun that people indulge in at night
Late at night there’s no point in fighting
Timid smile and release after a pause
I don’t care what they might think
I like different opinions
Ready to fight, chaste and unharmed
All children of God received their
A cup of tea – there is time to think
Time to risk your life, life, life
Sweet and beautiful, weak and fat
You eat until you see
Eat until you see
Half of the people read newspapers
Read from cover to cover
Nice people, nervous people
people have to sell
You have to sell news
- Literally, “picked the pie”, which in slang can mean a certain sexual experience.
