What if the real Slim Shady were actually a woman rapping about murdering her spouse and getting their toddler's assistance in dumping the body in Lake Michigan? Tori Amos will demonstrate that scenario by covering Eminem's horror-core jingle "97' Bonnie & Clyde" on her sixth album, Strange Little Girls.

In an innovative attempt to examine sexual politics and identity, Amos recorded 12 songs written by men to show the difference in view when they're performed by a woman. The album, due September 18, features her takes on songs by the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Neil Young, Slayer, Depeche Mode and the Boomtown Rats.

Amos, who recorded the disc in Cornwall, England, wanted the album to address violence and identity in terms of how men see women and themselves (see "Tori Amos To Explore Sexual Politics On Strange Little Girls").

"I've always found it fascinating how men say things and how women hear them," she said in a press release from Atlantic Records. "Words can wound and words can heal, and both are included on the album." When she first heard "97' Bonnie & Clyde," "the scariest thing was ... the realization that people are getting into the music and grooving along to a song about a man who is butchering his wife," Amos said.

"So half the world is dancing to this, oblivious, with blood on their sneakers. But when you talk about killing your wife, you don't get to control whom she becomes friends with after she's dead. She had to have a voice." The singer/songwriter adopted a character for every song, and she's photographed in each persona for the album jacket. The LP's first single, "Strange Little Girl" — written by the Stranglers and originally released in 1982 — will arrive at radio in mid-August.

Amos has lined up a tour to kick off in Miami on September 28 and run through November 21 in San Francisco. She will perform alone at her keyboards during the outing, marking the first time she's toured without backing musicians since 1994. Strange Little Girls will include the following tracks, according to Amos' Atlantic publicist:

  • "New Age" (The Velvet Underground)
  • "97' Bonnie & Clyde" (Eminem)
  • "Strange Little Girl" (The Stranglers)
  • "Enjoy the Silence" (Depeche Mode)
  • "Rattlesnakes" (Lloyd Cole & the Commotions)
  • "I'm Not in Love" (10cc)
  • "Time" (Tom Waits)
  • "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young)
  • "I Don't Like Mondays" (The Boomtown Rats)
  • "Raining Blood" (Slayer)
  • "Real Men" (Joe Jackson)
  • "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (The Beatles)