Cornflake Girl
Encyclopedia
"Cornflake Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos
. It was released as the first single from her second studio album Under the Pink
. It was released on January 10, 1994 by EastWest Records
in the UK and on May 5 by Atlantic Records
in North America. Two music videos were produced for the single as the original one was deemed too weird for American audiences.
, and was Amos' most successful international hit at the time. In Australia
, the song peaked at #19, and was #35 in radio station Triple J
's 1994 Hottest 100
poll, appearing on the compilation album of that year's Hottest 100. The song was also ranked in Blender magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born at #433.
's novel
Possessing the Secret of Joy
, about a young African woman going through the ritual of female genital mutilation. Amos was angered by the idea that a mother could subject her daughter to such a brutal act, and the song arose as an exploration of the idea of betrayal between women. In the song two factions of women are referred to: the "raisin girls" are "multicultural" and open-minded, while the "cornflake girls" of the title are "narrowminded and full of prejudice".
The reference to cornflakes and raisins comes from their distribution in a box of breakfast cereal
, implying that "raisin girls" are much harder to find than "cornflake girls". Amos has spoken in interviews about being referred to glibly as "the cornflake girl" due to the song's title being applied to her, when she considers herself a "raisin girl". (In concerts she has also said "cornfalkes" vs. "raisins" was a reference to which girls had ready access to marijuana, Tori herself being bereft of the substance.) The confusion is probably related to her 1987 commercial for Kellogg's Just Right
, made before her widespread fame. Just Right includes both raisins and corn flakes, so the song and the cereal are related either through coincidence or intent.
Atlantic released a series of cornflakes boxes with picture of Amos on them to promote this. They are now collector's items.
UK Limited Edition CD Single
UK CD 2 / Australian / German CD Single (with different artwork)
, except that Dorothy goes to Hell instead. This version was considered slightly too "strange" for American audiences and a second version was made, which was co-directed by Amos herself along with Nancy Bennett. The American video features Tori driving a truck full of girls around a typical American desert.
as a hidden track
on their self-titled 1996 album
, as well as by the band Tapping the Vein on the Tori Amos
tribute album
Songs of a Goddess. In 2007, after Amos had to pull out of an appearance on the Australian comedy program The Sideshow
, musical comedy trio Tripod
performed the song in her place.
The term "cornflake girl" also appears in the lyrics of the Billy Bragg
song "Body of Water" from his 1991 album Don't Try This at Home with the line "Oh, to become a pearl /
In the wordy world of the cornflake girl".
On March 25, 2010, British electronic musician Imogen Heap
covered the song live in Australia
. The performance was done per request by the winner of an online charity auction who paid about $4000 USD to win the item "VIP Experience Meet Imogen Heap + A Song Just For You".
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
. It was released as the first single from her second studio album Under the Pink
Under the Pink
Under the Pink is the second solo album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Upon its release in January 1994, the album peaked at US #12 and on the back of the hit single "Cornflake Girl", the album debuted at UK #1, her highest-charting UK album debut to date. It had sold around 220,000 copies in the...
. It was released on January 10, 1994 by EastWest Records
East West Records
East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:...
in the UK and on May 5 by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in North America. Two music videos were produced for the single as the original one was deemed too weird for American audiences.
Background
The song reached #4 on the UK singles chartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, and was Amos' most successful international hit at the time. In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the song peaked at #19, and was #35 in radio station Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
's 1994 Hottest 100
Triple J Hottest 100, 1994
The 1994 Triple J Hottest 100, counted down in January 1995, was a countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. A CD featuring 32 of the songs was released...
poll, appearing on the compilation album of that year's Hottest 100. The song was also ranked in Blender magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born at #433.
Inspiration and meaning
The inspiration for "Cornflake Girl" came from Alice WalkerAlice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
's novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Possessing the Secret of Joy
Possessing the Secret of Joy
Possessing the Secret of Joy is a 1992 novel by Alice Walker.-Plot summary:It tells the story of Tashi, an African woman and a minor character in Walker's earlier novel The Color Purple. Now in the US she comes from Olinka, Alice Walker's fictional African nation where female genital mutilation is...
, about a young African woman going through the ritual of female genital mutilation. Amos was angered by the idea that a mother could subject her daughter to such a brutal act, and the song arose as an exploration of the idea of betrayal between women. In the song two factions of women are referred to: the "raisin girls" are "multicultural" and open-minded, while the "cornflake girls" of the title are "narrowminded and full of prejudice".
The reference to cornflakes and raisins comes from their distribution in a box of breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
, implying that "raisin girls" are much harder to find than "cornflake girls". Amos has spoken in interviews about being referred to glibly as "the cornflake girl" due to the song's title being applied to her, when she considers herself a "raisin girl". (In concerts she has also said "cornfalkes" vs. "raisins" was a reference to which girls had ready access to marijuana, Tori herself being bereft of the substance.) The confusion is probably related to her 1987 commercial for Kellogg's Just Right
Just Right
Just Right is the name of a breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's. It was created in the 1980s for health-conscious, athletic Australians, who are the world's third-biggest cereal eaters...
, made before her widespread fame. Just Right includes both raisins and corn flakes, so the song and the cereal are related either through coincidence or intent.
Atlantic released a series of cornflakes boxes with picture of Amos on them to promote this. They are now collector's items.
Track listing
US CD Single- "Cornflake Girl" (Edit) – 3:54
- "Sister Janet" – 4:00
- "Daisy Dead Petals" – 3:03
- "Honey" – 3:47
UK Limited Edition CD Single
- "Cornflake Girl" – 5:05
- "A Case Of YouA Case of You"A Case of You" is a song by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. It is one of her most well-known songs.-Writing and recording:Mitchell recorded A Case of You in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer,...
" – 4:38 - "If 6 Was 9" – 3:59
- "Strange FruitStrange Fruit"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
" – 4:00
UK CD 2 / Australian / German CD Single (with different artwork)
- "Cornflake Girl" – 5:05 (liner notes denote "Edit" by error)
- "Sister Janet" – 4:00
- Piano Suite
- "All The Girls Hate Her" – 2:23
- "Over It" – 2:11
Music video
There were two different videos for "Cornflake Girl". The UK version was directed by Big TV!, two directors from the UK. Tori said that is based on The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, except that Dorothy goes to Hell instead. This version was considered slightly too "strange" for American audiences and a second version was made, which was co-directed by Amos herself along with Nancy Bennett. The American video features Tori driving a truck full of girls around a typical American desert.
Cover versions
The song was covered by post-hardcore band JawboxJawbox
Jawbox was an alternative rock band from Washington, D.C., U.S.. Its original members were J. Robbins , Kim Coletta and Adam Wade...
as a hidden track
Hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
on their self-titled 1996 album
Jawbox (album)
Jawbox was the fourth and final album by Jawbox. The album was released by TAG, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. In the months following the album's release, the band was dropped from TAG and thus from Atlantic...
, as well as by the band Tapping the Vein on the Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
Songs of a Goddess. In 2007, after Amos had to pull out of an appearance on the Australian comedy program The Sideshow
The Sideshow
The Sideshow was an Australian television programme that was broadcast on ABC TV in 2007. The show was a mixture of stand-up comedy, sketches, live music, circus stunts, cabaret and burlesque. The hour long show was hosted by Paul McDermott...
, musical comedy trio Tripod
Tripod (band)
Tripod is an Australian musical comedy act, specialising in improv, parody and satire. As its name suggests, the band is a trio; it comprises Scod , Yon and Gatesy...
performed the song in her place.
The term "cornflake girl" also appears in the lyrics of the Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
song "Body of Water" from his 1991 album Don't Try This at Home with the line "Oh, to become a pearl /
In the wordy world of the cornflake girl".
On March 25, 2010, British electronic musician Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
covered the song live in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The performance was done per request by the winner of an online charity auction who paid about $4000 USD to win the item "VIP Experience Meet Imogen Heap + A Song Just For You".
Charts
| Chart (1994) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 12 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 4 |
| Australia ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... Singles Chart |
19 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 41 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 26 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 30 |
| German Singles Chart | 73 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 9 |