Tori Amos' "Waitress" and Death Note

[labingi]

I have been rediscovering Tori Amos lately through Venus Orbiting, which has a fantastic re-visioning of the song, "Waitress." And it came to me that this song is just about the perfect L and B song, that is, B's POV of L.



(Lyrics from Hereinmyhead.com. No copyright infringement intended; I just wanted to post the whole idea of this post in one place.)

so i want to kill this waitress
she's worked her a year longer than i
if i did it fast you know that's an act of kindness

but i believe in peace
i believe in peace, bitch
i believe in peace

i want to kill this waitress
i can't believe this violence in mind
and is her power all in her club sandwich

but i believe in peace
i believe in peace, bitch
i believe in peace

i want to kill this killing wish
they're too many stars and not enough sky
boys all think she's living kindness
ask a fellow waitress
ask a fellow waitress

[© Sword & Stone]

IMPROVS

(bridge --)
hang ten, hang ten honey
i'm gonna go where she goes
hang ten, hang ten honey
i'm gonna - give me give me one of those
hang ten, hang ten honey
i'm gonna go where she goes
hang ten, hang ten honey
i'm gonna, give me give me
hang ten, hang ten honey
i'm gonna go where she goes
hang ten, cuz i know just where she is
because i believe in peace yes
i believe in peace, i said
but believe that she's a devil bitch
i believe in her something
i believe in her something
i believe in that girl
i believe in her goodness
i believe in her darkness
but i believe that she's a devil bitch
wai-he-he-he-he-he-he-he-tress
wai-he-he-he-he-he-he-he-tress-he-he-he-he-he

***

Now, given that B ends up as a serial killer, he doesn't quite get there, does he? To embracing the idea that he actually believes in L (in a potentially positive way). But I think that's why I like this song so much for B; in fact, it probably explains why I like B and perhaps find his dynamic with L (and Watari) more engaging than L's with Light. B's tragedy is that he was a person vast but failed potential, not just potential detective genius, but the potential that belongs uniquely to the loser, the underdog, to learn those deeper lessons about how to live in this world. B had that potential, but instead of using his underdog status to become a wiser person, he let it drive him into moral dementia. I like this song because it expresses what B might have been (and maybe was in his best moments). And it's also a nice take on L:)

As a side note, not long after contemplating this song in terms of B and L, it struck that it would apply very well, too, to Mirage of Blaze: Naoe's POV of Kagetora, broadly speaking, across their 400 years. Following that reasoning, if B and L had the occasion to be stuck together for 400 years...