The meaning of the lyrics of the song "Cloud on My Tongue" by the artist "Tori Amos"

In Tori Amos' "Cloud on My Tongue," vivid imagery and metaphors convey the complex emotions of jealousy, desire, and self-deception.

The speaker addresses a lover seemingly paying attention to another woman ("Someone's knockin' on my kitchen door… All the girls are freezing here!"). "Leave me with your Borneo" carries a double meaning. It's a sarcastic jab: "Go away with your exotic stories; I'm not interested." Yet, Borneo, as an exotic and distant island, symbolizes the other woman, her world, inaccessible to the speaker.

The speaker tries to convince herself of her independence ("I don't need much to keep me warm") but with bitterness and irony ("What are you doing, you freak?"). The image of a hundred girls hiding in her hair emphasizes the overwhelming jealousy. She recognizes its absurdity ("Wouldn't be fair if I should hate her / If I should eat her...") yet can't control her emotions.

"Cloud on My Tongue" is the central image. The cloud symbolizes unspoken words, repressed emotions the speaker can't or won't utter. It disappears, like the illusion of happiness, leaving a bitter aftertaste ("Kiss the violets that wake").

The repeated "You're already there" and the desire to "tattoo your picture on me" show the speaker's obsession; the lover constantly occupies her thoughts. She runs in circles, unable to escape the cycle of suffering and self-destruction ("Girl's going round but she ought to stop spinning"). The bridge she's "already crossed" symbolizes past relationships, but she's stuck, unable to move on.