Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001.
The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female point of view.
Amos created female personae for each track (one song featured twins) and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin.
In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun",
"Strange Little Girl",
"Time",
and "Raining Blood".
A fifth cover of the "I Don't Like Mondays" character was also issued in the UK and other territories.
Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by novelist Neil Gaiman.
The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things.
Additionally, Amos later acknowledged that she had attempted to reinterpret four other songs that she "couldn't find her way into."
They were
"Fear of a Black Planet" by Public Enemy,
"Hoover Factory" by Elvis Costello,
"I'm Sick of You" by Iggy Pop
and "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy.
These tracks have not been released.
She also mentioned later in a 2012 interview that, with drummer Matt Chamberlain, she had recorded "Growin' Up" by Bruce Springsteen for this album, but it has also not been released although she has played it live.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "New Age" | Lou Reed | The Velvet Underground | 4:37 |
| 2. | "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" | Marshall Mathers, Jeff Bass, Mark Bass | Eminem | 5:46 |
| 3. | "Strange Little Girl" | Brian Duffy, Dave Greenfield, Hans Wärmling, Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel | The Stranglers | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Enjoy the Silence" | Martin Gore | Depeche Mode | 4:10 |
| 5. | "I'm Not in Love" | Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman | 10cc | 5:39 |
| 6. | "Rattlesnakes" | Lloyd Cole, Neil Clark | Lloyd Cole and the Commotions | 3:59 |
| 7. | "Time" | Tom Waits | Tom Waits | 5:23 |
| 8. | "Heart of Gold" | Neil Young | Neil Young | 4:00 |
| 9. | "I Don't Like Mondays" | Bob Geldof | The Boomtown Rats | 4:21 |
| 10. | "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | The Beatles | 9:55 |
| 11. | "Raining Blood" | Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King | Slayer | 6:22 |
| 12. | "Real Men" | Joe Jackson | Joe Jackson | 4:07 |
| Total length: | 62:09 | |||
