Fiona Apple - “Jonathan”

Every year, my friend Erin puts on a mixtape/CD/card with a download link on it party (it’s mostly CDs). The mix can be any theme of our choosing. Music is listened to, drinks are drank, awards are given out. This year, I won “most bookish” or something for including a letter detailing my song choices for this mix of songs written for/about other musicians/lovers/exes/friends/enemies/etc (by the way, thanks to no one for even attempting to guess the theme when I posted it :((((( ) (also, if there’s an actual name for this kind of song, I’d like to know — it’s probably pretty obvious, right?). Anyway, I wish the new Fiona Apple album was out then, or at least this song, which is about Fiona’s ex. If this song was on the mix, it would be the most “difficult” track, not only musically (it reminds me of Björk’s Selmasongs), but because it’s a bit harder to grasp what she’s on about, at least compared to the rest of the songs listed on my mix, which are mostly a lot more straightforward lyrically. I’m finding the rest of Fiona’s album a bit difficult too, it’s a big step forward for her musically, she’s experimenting with form, and the lyrics are a lot less easy to understand too, although I don’t know if someone who once sang, “my pretty mouth will frame the phrases that will disprove your faith in man” (one of my favorite lines ever, by the way), was ever simple. Anyway, long story short, Fiona Apple’s new album is stranger than I expected but I still like it a lot and I’m willing to give it a million more listens to let it sink in, to invest time in it, and that’s not something I give to any artist. She deserves it.

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  1. strictlyalright posted this

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