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Cover of Boys for Pele by Tori Amos — Cover: Boys for Pele

Song · Tori Amos

“Caught A Lite Sneeze” by Tori Amos

From the album Boys for Pele (1996)

“Caught A Lite Sneeze” by Tori Amos appears on 22 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1996 and 2023. It was first released in 1996 on the album Boys for Pele. Its best result is #41 on the WBER Listener Countdown 1996. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #80 alternative song of 1996 and #1,603 alternative song of all time.

22countdowns

13stations

#41best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1996–2023years charted

Watch

Tori Amos - Caught a Lite Sneeze (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (UPROXX Indie Mixtape). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Caught a Lite Sneeze" was the first single from Boys for Pele, Tori Amos's third album, released at the start of 1996. Amos wrote it, produced it and played both piano and harpsichord, with George Porter, Jr. on bass and Bob Clearmountain mixing, and the harpsichord gives the whole thing a jittery, baroque edge.

The song is about clinging to a relationship you already know is finished, willing to do anything to keep it breathing, and it tips its hat to Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine along the way. Atlantic put it up for streaming on its website in December 1995, one of the first major labels to try that. Oddly, it's missing from her 2003 best-of Tales of a Librarian, and on tour in 1996 and 1998 she'd often stitch lines from Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" into it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1996	94	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1996	107
1996	91	Q101 Chicago, IL	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1996	101
1996	60	WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD	WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1996	99
1996	84	107.7 The End Seattle, WA	The End Top 107 Songs of 1996	107
1996	84	WBCN Boston, MA	WBCN Top 104 Songs of 1996	104
1996	41	WBER Rochester, NY	WBER Listener Countdown 1996	100
1996	80	Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart)	Radio & Records Top 96 Songs of 1996	96

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	794	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	675	107.7 The End	The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1077
1999	943	CFNY 102.1 The Edge	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)	1002
2005	289	99X	99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005)	1000
2007	663	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	666	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	692	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	711	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	733	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	802	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013
2019	978	WYEP	WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019	1017
2019	978	WYEP	WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019	1099
2021	608	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s	908
2023	479	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s	893

Also listed as: Caught a Lite Sneeze.

Charting alongside it in 1996

Best songs of 1996 →

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