| Katy Rose – Lemon Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I was directed to this song by a friend who is, ironic to Norsk's comment, in love with it. She's not depressed, though she is a very understanding person, and has many friends who are depressed, including myself. I can very much relate to this song in all the concrete allusions people have mentioned for this song--eating disorders, self harm, etc; but even if Katy Rose DID write this song especially for Thirteen--which I'm not sure of--and has no relation to those problems herself--which is possible even if she DIDN'T write this for Thirteen, because, as you may have heard, "the poet is not necessarily the narrator," and the same is true of lyricists, as I'VE written poems/songs about things I haven't been through--I STILL think there's more to this than people are giving it credit for, even if it's meant to be from Tracy's (main character of Thirteen). I'd heard that this song was played during the credits of Thirteen. I downloaded it after looking at the lyrics and deciding I might like it. I didn't recognize it; when I'd watched Thirteen with my friend--rental video--we just turned it off right after the movie itself ended, so I wouldn't have gotten the chance to hear anything, anyway. Even then, knowing all about the movie and its elements, I looked at this song first from an entirely neutral point of view. I knew it'd be about depression in some ways, just from the lyrics. After I listened to it, I decided that cutting/self-harm was a possible theme, and though I did catch the "starving hurts the soul" and "I can't throw up; don't think I even wanna try" lines the first time, but I didn't automatically pin "ANOREXIA" and "BULIMIA" labels on them just because of their concrete references--and I AM anorexic. I'll give my interpretation, and sometimes, you might see that I've found double-meanings, especially for parts that SEEM to refer directly to something. "They've clipped my wings again--tore them apart and then left me." First off: I think I read here that one other person pictured the girl as an angel; I also pictured an angel, and the girl as someone who was once innocent and naive and pure as one. Has anyone ever stopped to think who the "they" in this phrase is? I don't think "they" really exist; she dealt the blows that caused her loss of freedom herself. "They" could perhaps be voices in her mind. Basically, she's got herself boxed into a corner with no way to escape. "No use to fly away to my yesterday of freedom." She's stuck, and while she can't go back, it wouldn't be WORTH it--her "freedom," there came pain and a price. "My eyes died back that day, seeing the hurt I may have done." She tries to deny the damage she's dealing to herself. No matter how she tries, though, she knows what's she's doing and how it's hurting not only herself and others--but even still, she tries to block it out. "Beat me, instead of them; pain is my only zen of fun." All right, it's double-meaning time. There could be literal beating occuring; this could literally mean, "go ahead, take it all out on me; this is how I live now, and this is what I'm here for." The "fun" comes in when you consider this conversation: "I like to watch TV and read magazines for fun; what do you like to do?" ... "I get hit. And sometimes I cut myself." The "fun" can either be taken ironically--as I like to take it--and have it sort of mean "fun? what fun? does it look like I'm having fun?" or you can take it as how inflicting harm upon herself is the only way she can relieve herself of the stress. But it doesn't have to be literal beating. I took it metaphorically when I first heard it. It was as if the girl was almost begging--though she didn't realize it-- to take the blame for something that wasn't her fault--perhaps her inner being, the voices in her mind, the ones that conduct her--so that she could FEEL, so she could hurt. She had no other way to live anymore--not without her wings. "I'll go where secrets are sold--" She'll find a way to confess the hurt she's doing herself--and get something back for it. "Where roses unfold--" Because of later lyrics, I say that it means "a place where I can become the perfect me." "I'll sleep as time goes by..." "I'll learn how to ignore these problems..." "So hurting here is where I belong, dreaming a song, blood on my hands to stay strong..." She admits that she's dealing more damage to herself than anyone else is, but that's the way it has to stay. The reference to blood on her hands seems to point directly at self-injury, but blood is also a universal sign of hurting, suffering, and dying. Therefore, the phrase "blood on my hands to stay strong" could simply refer to how she takes the blame for everything and thinks that suffering will make her strong. Self-injury is not, by any means, ruled out--I'm just trying to make a deeper point, one that will apply both with and without the self-harm theory. "The flowers in the graveyard are all gone; I don't belong ... There is no right to heal the wrong." This is why I said that the line "where roses unfold" may refer to the girl, because it sounds to me like, now that all the other flowers are gone, she doesn't belong, and therefore she IS a flower--metaphorically speaking. Flowers in a graveyard are there to show love and respect for the dead, and are also signs of mourning. The flowers are all gone, so people are done mourning and grieving. This line could refer to something, a particular event, that this girl cannot move past, especially when you consider the phrase "there is no right to heal the wrong"; either she feels guilty for something that she's never going to forgive herself for--whether it was really her fault or not--or something happened to her or someone else that struck her hard, something that left a wound that just won't heal, a scar that won't fade, a memory she can't forget. "Soup's on hot--feelin' like a do or die..." She can either keep going on the way she's going or give up living entirely. (If you want to think of it in terms of an eating disorder, she feels like she's being forced to eat it, has no choice.) "I can't throw up; I don't think I even wanna try." (Eating disorder terms: obviously, she's upset about having to eat, and knows she can't throw up.) In my perspective, it's a way of saying that she can't go back once she makes her decision, and she can't purge the feelings about whatever it is that's troubling her, and she's done trying--and THAT'S why she's only giving herself the two options; do or die, because that's all she thinks she's got, the only things she knows. "You still can't make me cry; you've pinned this butterfly down." At first I thought she was the butterfly, as it made the most sense at first... but the way it's presented, it makes it sound as though the reason she can't be made to cry is BECAUSE she's pinned down... So now I think differently. I look at the first half of this verse--this phrase and the next--are directed at herself, the inner voices, the negative muses in her head that got her into this mess and are keeping her in it. "You can't make me cry, because you've had my mentality fixed this way for a long time, and in such a way that it's fixed very WELL, in such a way that it would be very difficult to change." "My fire's burning out; kill my flame without a frown." This goes with the first phrase; it's a confession and a plea. Her resolve is weakening, her will to not cry is going to buckle, her motivation to keep living, even, is suffering--and she's admiting all this openly. Then, when she says "kill my flame without a frown," she's saying to herself, to those negative voices with whom she is constantly at war, that she wants this to end peacefully, that she wants to fall into this depression she knows is coming without any unnecessary pain. It's basically like saying, "I'm about to break, and I know it; I can see how far I've fallen--but please, please just let me break, please just let me go, please don't say 'I told you so,' please don't make me suffer just to fall!" "And starving hurts the soul when you're hungry for some love." (Obvious reference to anorexia here that makes perfect sense, in full context, as anorectics ARE often "hungry for some love." You can take it or leave it.) This basically says that it causes great, great pain to go without feeling loved, or noticed, or praised, or accepted, and it deals very severe damage if left alone long enough--as when you "starve," you die very quickly, and it "hurts the soul," which would refer to deep, psychological damage. This damage, this pain, this depression--it is very difficult to recover from, and while it is certain to leave a scar--a memory--of some sort in any case, there are some instances where some damage is irreversable--someone who was never loved through their childhood will find it very difficult to get close to someone, for example--and even worse, sometimes the pain cuts too deep for anyone to save them in time--suicide. "So if I close my eyes, I can really fly above." The "so" at the beginning of the phrase is very important and changes it drastically. It connects it to the phrase before it in a cause and effect manner. She can picture the "freedom" she had before. And as she's "starving," she's becoming lighter--anorectics lose weight and can feel light-headed, and they can also die from malnutrion (thus going to heaven). Looking at it from a non-eating disordered point of view, as she continues to be unloved and begins to lose hope, she considers, more and more often, whether or not she really wants to keep going. I think that this whole verse, looked at as a whole, is about death and suicide. At this point in the song, I believe she's become frustrated with the fact that she can't find the place "where secrets are sold" and "roses unfold," where she can "sleep as time goes by." Looking at the end of the second verse, and how it is sad yet peaceful at the same time, I think it might be possible that the girl has decided that suicide is the answer. She's tired of the "do" option; maybe she's opting for "die." Maybe she's decided that the place where "secrets are sold, where roses unfold" is death. It sounds like she's hit rock-bottom, and it's now a matter of which way she goes, whether or not someone sees how badly she's hurting and how much she needs help. |
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| Fiona Apple – I Want You Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| She just does a beautiful job with this song... | |
| Fiona Apple – The Child Is Gone Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Fiona was only seventeen by the time she'd finished all the songs on this album--do you really think she'd have had a miscarriage that early in life? I've never had a miscarriage, but I do understand how people would compare the feelings in this song to one, as it's definitely about loss. I'd never considered any of those things; I'd read up on Fiona before I really got around to listening to "The Child Is Gone," so the moment I got around to trying to find the meaning of this song, I'd instantly associated it with her experience of rape and the loss of innocence. The chorus is about how she feels about this loss. She "feels like a different person" because she's lost that innocence. "From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion"--she feels dark and depressed. "And I ran my had o'er a strange inversion; a vacancy that just did not belong"--this is, I believe, not about an actual, physical inversion, though that could apply, but rather a feeling of loss, loss of innocence and bliss that she once comparably had, but did not appreciate until now. The line "I'm trying to find a place I belong" really does not fit with the idea of this following a miscarriage theme, for those of you who think that's what this is about. She's very aware of her difference from others, especially those her age, and while she knows no one else has to know, she feels vulnerable, and doesn't know where she'll fit in, or if she'll ever fit in anywhere ever again. She feels isolated. It's a lovely song. Still one of my favorites. |
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| Fiona Apple – The Child Is Gone Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Fiona was only seventeen by the time she'd finished all the songs on this album--do you really think she'd have had a miscarriage that early in life? I've never had a miscarriage, but I do understand how people would compare the feelings in this song to one, as it's definitely about loss. I'd never considered any of those things; I'd read up on Fiona before I really got around to listening to "The Child Is Gone," so the moment I got around to trying to find the meaning of this song, I'd instantly associated it with her experience of rape and the loss of innocence. The chorus is about how she feels about this loss. She "feels like a different person" because she's lost that innocence. "From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion"--she feels dark and depressed. "And I ran my had o'er a strange inversion; a vacancy that just did not belong"--this is, I believe, not about an actual, physical inversion, though that could apply, but rather a feeling of loss, loss of innocence and bliss that she once comparably had, but did not appreciate until now. The line "I'm trying to find a place I belong" really does not fit with the idea of this following a miscarriage theme, for those of you who think that's what this is about. She's very aware of her difference from others, especially those her age, and while she knows no one else has to know, she feels vulnerable, and doesn't know where she'll fit in, or if she'll ever fit in anywhere ever again. She feels isolated. It's a lovely song. Still one of my favorites. |
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| Fiona Apple – The Child Is Gone Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Fiona was only seventeen by the time she'd finished all the songs on this album--do you really think she'd have had a miscarriage that early in life? I've never had a miscarriage, but I do understand how people would compare the feelings in this song to one, as it's definitely about loss. I'd never considered any of those things; I'd read up on Fiona before I really got around to listening to "The Child Is Gone," so the moment I got around to trying to find the meaning of this song, I'd instantly associated it with her experience of rape and the loss of innocence. The chorus is about how she feels about this loss. She "feels like a different person" because she's lost that innocence. "From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion"--she feels dark and depressed. "And I ran my had o'er a strange inversion; a vacancy that just did not belong"--this is, I believe, not about an actual, physical inversion, though that could apply, but rather a feeling of loss, loss of innocence and bliss that she once comparably had, but did not appreciate until now. The line "I'm trying to find a place I belong" really does not fit with the idea of this following a miscarriage theme, for those of you who think that's what this is about. She's very aware of her difference from others, especially those her age, and while she knows no one else has to know, she feels vulnerable, and doesn't know where she'll fit in, or if she'll ever fit in anywhere ever again. She feels isolated. It's a lovely song. Still one of my favorites. |
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| Fiona Apple – Sleep to Dream Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The verses to this song seem very self-explanitory, but there's a little more to them than you may think. I don't know where all this insomnia/practical sleep/escaping the real world stuff is coming from. It quite confused me that people seemed to be coming up with that stuff before they came up with the symbolism. The words of the first verse just fit together so nicely, and they seem so simple that people just breeze right on past them, never stop to look at the big picture. Everyone sits and overanalyzes the chorus before they really try to analyze anything else. Maybe the words aren't hard to understand, but the motivations of the character are not that obvious. The first verse tells us that she's known this guy for a while, and she's getting fed up with his shit. "I say, 'Tell me the truth,' but you don't dare"--with this line, we know he's deceitful, and though he lies a lot, he's either not very good at it or he always gets found out. "You say love is a hell you cannot bare" makes me think that the guy we're dealing with is a whiny, overdramatic asshole, and because we already know he's a insensitive, deceitful asshole, I'd like to think he's self-centered. "And I say 'gimme mine back, and then go there for all I care'" She put lots of trust into this guy, and he's screwed her over several times; so far she's taken it and been patient with the guy, but now she's pissed, and all the feelings and words she's been holding in spill out. "I got my feet on the ground, and I don't go to sleep to dream"--says that she's plenty aware of his lying and knows she deserves better, and she's very insulted that he thinks she's so ignorant as to not realize those things. "You got your head in the clouds; you're not at all what you seem"--means that he's foolish and childish, and she's chastizing him for being the ignorant one, almost mockingly. She again tells us with the second part of that phrase that she knows he's not faithful. "This mind, this body, and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways" means "I'm not so stupid as to be fooled by you for so long, no matter what you think, and I'm done submitting to you." "So don't forget what I told you, don't come around; I got my own hell to raise" is a nice way to say "get the hell out of my life; I'm not going to put up with this shit anymore, 'cause I've got a life to live, a life that doesn't include you." And I think that it may hint a bit of "I'll get you back, bastard" in that she says "I've got my OWN hell to raise." Basically, she could say, "You put me through hell, and one of these days, it should be my turn, don't you think?" In the second verse, she talks directly about her pride and how he's insulting her. "First you run like a fool just to be at my side" means that he dove headfirst into this relationship, and battered her with so many lies that he'd seem, at least, like a good person. "And now you run like a fool, but you just run to hide"--he's learning that she's not as ignorant as he thought she was, and now he's spitting out lies like crazy, like liars tend to do when they're under stress or in a panic, trying to cover his ass and claim innocence before she can really call his bluff and leave him. He doesn't really care about her, of course; he just doesn't want to be called a liar, even if he is one, and be labeled one for the rest of his life--it plays into his arrogance. "And I can't abide" is the final blow--"too bad for you, buddy; I'm leaving." "Don't make it a big deal; don't be so sensitive" is almost mocking in tone, as though she's using lines he's used on her before. She views their previous manner of relationship, all of the lying on his part and pretending she didn't notice on her part, as the "game." She says that there's no point in him getting defensive, because she's done playing this game, and nothing he says will do anything more than make him look like a bigger idiot. "Don't you plead me your case"--don't claim innocence "Don't bother to explain"--every claim you make is a lie; don't try to brush off that behavior with some excuse, either, 'cause you don't have one "Don't even show me your face, 'cause it's a crying shame"--I never even want to see you again; you make me sick, and I can't believe I ever wanted anything to do with you "Just go back to the rock from under which you came"--get out of my life--go find someone better suited for you, someone stupid and gullible "Take the sorrow you gave and all the stakes you claim"--I'm not going to let any memory of you affect me--and you can pretend that I'm the one who lies and cheats if you want. I don't care "And don't forget the blame"--you've blamed me for every little thing that's ever gone wrong; just so you know, I don't feel guilty for any of these things, and I blame YOU for all of this Overall, I think it's a song about a girl who's either spent a long time trying to build up the courage to leave, and then he did something really shitty to her, and she snapped, or it's about a girl who's trying NOT to snap from all the anger, because she's worried about him spreading rumors or something of the sort, and then one day she's had enough and let's him have it. Definitely angry in nature, and shows independence and courage, too. No matter what it's supposed to mean, I will always love this song. Musically, it's very simple, but it's got _such_ strong emotional expression, and I love that most about it. I love how there's a feeling of triumph in all the lyrics, like she's finally won a long battle. Another of my absolute favorites, second only to songs like "Criminal" or "Never Is A Promise," whether it be because of my ability to relate to it, the lyrics, the music, or just because it's so damn CATCHY. This is definitely one of the best, though. No matter what. And I like how strong the emotions she portrayed in the video were, too. Very fitting. |
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| Fiona Apple – I Know Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I listened to a downloaded interview from iTunes, and she said that she had a boyfriend actually refer to her as "his crowbar." I didn't hear much more than that, but I thought that was an interesting little fact. She's the one being cheated on. She's not the "other woman," because she says, "and I will pretend I don't know of your sins." So she knows her boyfriend's cheating on her, but he doesn't know she knows the truth. She's going to "do her thing in the backround" and not ask questions, not complicate things. At this point it's up to you to decide if her boyfriend's just going through a rough time, or if he doesn't care for her at all. I think it almost sounds like she's trying to instill a sort of false hope in herself, trying to pretend he feels the same kind of love for her that she feels for him, but she's not so certain that he does. The line "and if it gets too late for me to wait for you to find you love me and tell me so, it's okay--don't need to say it" backs me up. He still needs to "find he loves her" and tell her. She's telling herself, "it's okay. He loves you, he really does. He's just having a hard time right now. He loves you, he does; he just doesn't know it yet. So it doesn't matter if he says it or not; you know it's true." But it might not be true at all, and she fears it isn't, so she keeps carrying on the charade of ignorance. Maybe it's just my interpretation. It's different for everyone. This song could mean a lot of things. It's definitely a beautiful song, with lovely lyrics and melodies. It took me a long time to start to like it, just as it took me a while to get attatched to "Carrion," but I love it now. Beautiful, wonderful song. |
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| Fiona Apple – Paper Bag Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"Hunger hurts, but starving works" is a universally-known phrase to anorectics. This song, though, is not supposed to be "about" eating disorders. I'm sure that the talk about hunger and starving was inspired by her experience with an eating disorder, and it could be linked with rape as well; the only reason she had an eating disorder was because of that event. I read an interview. She said, "I definitely had an eating disorder, but I wasn't anorexic." The distinguishment was important to her. "For me, it wasn't about being skinny. I just figured that if there was anything on me, it would be grabbed, so I did purposely lose weight because of that." Her eating disorder was linked with OCD as well, and she was afraid of making mistakes. "It could take me an hour to pick an apple out of the drawer. I didn't want to mess up." In the first verse, she's talking about how she wishes she could just fix all her troubles. She's dreaming of a boy she knew she couldn't have. Then she thought she'd found a way around her problems, and put every ounce of faith into it; but she eventually found that it really wasn't a way out at all. In fact, it only put her in a worse place than before. In the second verse, she says that she's just gotten herself in deeper--"looking for a strand to climb, just looking for a little hope." She realizes that her relationship with this boy is falling apart because of her problems. She tries to talk to him about it, runs to him for help, but finds he isn't at all equipped to help her. "I thought he was a man, but he was just a little boy"--he's not nearly as adept at making her feel worthwile as she thought, and he doesn't know how to deal with emotional troubles. The chorus isn't really a deep part of the song at all, but rather everything else. You need to understand everything else in order to truly understand the chorus, though. This boy isn't going to save her or make her better, and he doesn't really seem to want to get involved with her problems, anyway. "Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad--oh it kills"--this can have dual meaning, if you want to look at it a certain way. If you want to believe that the way around her problems she thought she'd found in the first verse lead her to an eating disorder, you can take "hunger hurts" literally, and say that she's still clinging to this a little, seeing if maybe, just maybe it'll help, even though she knows it won't. The universal meaning is that she's "starving" herself of him and his love and pushing him away because "she knows she's a mess he don't wanna clean up." If you're going with the eating disorder theory, the hands can be literally shaky. Universally, she means that she's got to pull back and get out of this relationship. She wants to spare herself and this boy and extranious pain before her problems can tear them apart; she knows that she's too messed up to cause him more joy than pain, and she doesn't want to hurt him anymore. "Hunger hurts, but starving works, when it costs too much to love." Eating disorderly speaking, she could find starving as a way to numb her emotional pain from having no one to love. It also means that while keeping herself away from the boy she wants hurts, it will keep herself and others away from further pain in the end. If you choose to believe that this has nothing to do with eating disorders whatsoever, then to you this song is about the pain and difficulty of giving up someone you truly want for the sake of that someone, and actually, for your own as well. If you choose to believe that eating disorders might have played a role in this song's writing, then it can be about the pain of giving up someone you truly love, the eating disorder being the reason for having to do so. I think that both apply, and like the dual meanings theory. You believe what you want. I think it's very possible that Fiona was thinking about two things at once when she wrote this, or that it started out meaning one thing, but was morphed into meaning another. The fact that I myself have an eating disorder might make me biased, as I can relate to it more if there are connotations with the idea of distancing yourself from others. I'm afraid of being close to anyone, and I think that I might, at times, unintentionally distance myself from people, not wanting to hurt them or be hurt. Your personal experiences and knowledge will probably affect your views as well. No matter what, though, I love the song and the feeling of the music. This song, much like "Extraordinary Machine," does sound like something that could've come from a musical. It seems even more so if you watch the video, with its dancing and choreography and display of powerful emotions on Fiona's part. Beautifully written, as always. Kudos to Fiona. |
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| Fiona Apple – Limp Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The first commenter said that there is a "tint" of an angry tone to this song. Really? Just a TINT? This whole song is about disappointment, being hurt and let down, and most of all, lashing out with anger. I think there's more than just a tint of anger. The first verse talks about how this guy she's involved with is a bit of a hypocrite. By the chorus we learn that he's definitely abusive, be it physically or verbally, and yet he's pretending to be her guardian angel, her sole protector. He does this because he feels insignificant, hence having to "reclaim his pride." He abuses her and puts her down to make her ashamed of her inability to stand up for herself. In the chorus, she tells us about her anger. She doesn't deserve this. But no matter what she does, he just keeps on going like nothing's wrong. "It won't be long 'till you'll be lying limp in your own hands" is like saying "Just keep it up, buddy; soon I'll be gone, and you'll find the only neck left to wring is your own--then you'll be in deep shit. Good luck getting yourself out, bastard." Yes, definitely more than a "tint" of anger. She tells us in the second verse that the more he does these things, the more anger she has to keep inside. She's going to lash out at him soon, because she can't hold all of her feelings in anymore; the more he taunts her, the harder it becomes. "You fondle my trigger, then you blame my gun" is a deep line, and definitely one of my favories. It's like saying, "you really had me thinking you gave a shit; but you tricked me and left me behind when I needed you most." It could also hint sexual abuse--"you used me, and the moment you were accused you blame me." Like the load-of-bull claim rapists make--"she was asking for it." This whole song is about anger and confusion and hurt, all bundled up inside. The chorus is the best representative; we've all felt like this. We've all got those old memories, memories of times when someone did something to hurt us, and after all this time, we still don't understand, it still hurts like a fresh wound--and we still haven't gotten a chance to let all of these feelings out. Another of my favorites, one that I sing whenever I feel angry myself--that and "Get Him Back." It's wonderfully written. The piano music behind Fiona as she sings the verses, while simple, is very powerful, and I think that simplicity gives it power--it seems calm and thoughtful, and then, just before breaking into the chorus, it hints oncoming calamity. Kudos to Fiona, as always, for creating another masterpiece. |
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| Fiona Apple – Criminal Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is a REALLY long sort of essay-type thing I wrote on Blogger. The article I refer to is the one Missy Blue mentioned, the one on imagesjournal.com about voyuerism. If you go to Fiona Apple's page on Wikipedia.org, the link to it is there, I think, titled something like "Voyuerism for the 90's" or something like that, if you're curious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Something nice about this sort of song is that while the artist may have been thinking one thing while writing it, you can think something entirely different while listening, and not be entirely off. The problem with this is that people then begin to waste their time, arguing about what the song "really means," or what the songwriter meant it to say. There is no right answer to the question "what does this song mean?" in many, many cases. In the case of "Criminal," the song may seem to be terribly simple, but I think that the connotations and tone used in the video as compared to the words are simply too contradictory to accidentally send a deeper message, which only leaves room for interpretation and observation. When I first watched the "Criminal" video, I didn't notice anything. In fact, I watched it a few times before I even started to try piecing together a backstory for Fiona's character in the video. It wasn't until I stumbled across an article that I really started to analyze this deeper. It analyzed the video in addition to the words rather than the song alone. In short, the writer stated that Fiona's attitudes in the video were very contradictory, that she was addressing us, the viewers, through the entire thing. Those two theories, after I'd analyzed them a bit, began to imply two different possible stories behind the video, the first being that Fiona is actually looking back at this event and narrating to us--explaining her addressing us--and the contradictory attitudes are to show us the difference between her feelings during and after the event--enjoying herself at the time, feeling guilty afterwards--while the lyrics are presenting her feelings afterwards throughout. With this storyline, it can be assumed that she's connected with someone outside the party, this someone being the the person Fiona refers to as "the one I've sinned against" and the "delicate man." The second of the two, however, is the more interesting and overlooked possibility--that of irony and sarcasm, which almost reverses the order in which her feelings about the event took place. When Fiona sings the opening line to the bridge, which is the most emotional and revealing part of the song, she's sitting in the back of the car, looking absolutely terrified. "Let me know the way, before there's hell to pay." Next we see her over the television, this time unafraid and shameless as she sings "give me room to lay the law and let me go." She's back in the car for "I've got to make a play" and on TV again at "to make my lover stay." We see a strong mix of these two sides of Fiona's character when she sings "so what would an angel say? the devil wants to know." This part of the video along with the images of a hurt and innocent Fiona at the end of the video really break away from the normally assumed interpretation. I read one listener's opinion at songmeanings.net that said she believed this to be about gender roles; a man can go and do as he wants, and he's considered a stud. When a girl does what she wants, she's a slut. That would mean that this is merely Fiona telling us what society expects her to be saying. This is interesting, but if that's so true, why does Fiona look so goddamn scared? Why does she look so hurt if she's doing all these things of her own free will? I did read other posts, however, in which writers seemed to share my idea of interpretation. Fiona's the victim, not the attacker--the prey, not the predator, the innocent, not the criminal. But that's not what everyone else is saying to her. She's the victim of abuse, but the abuser and everyone else just hits her upside the head and calls her a slut. She's been blamed so often that she's almost beginning to believe that it really is her fault. The times in the video when she seems promiscuous are representing what she thinks she did--come on to the abuser--the times when she looks guilty represent how she feels about supposedly doing the abuser wrong, the times when she looks sad and scared show how she's feeling about all this, and those few, revealing times when she's looking hurt and innocent tell the truth. The expression on her face when she says "I've done wrong, and I wanna suffer for my sins," melodramatic and nearly mocking in nature, supports this theory. All the shots of her seemingly enjoying herself are overdramatatized, too. No, maybe Fiona Apple wasn't trying to send this message. Maybe it started out as a song that was merely about a girl doing someone wrong and regretting it; I'm not Fiona, so I wouldn't know. But I, for one, believe in unintentional symbolism. The subconscious, especially that of a writer, is capable of such things. It is the subconscious, after all, is the thing that makes you, as an adult, anxious in situations similar to one that you, as a two-year-old, were once in that scared thet shit out of you, an event you may not even remember at all. Fiona was a rape victim, so I imagine that her subconscious could've been writing a symbolic version of "Criminal" about abuse and guilt while Fiona herself was writing a song she believed to be about something entirely different. We can't be sure. Of course, it's just my opinion, and you can say that it's "just a freaking song about a girl doing shit and feeling sorry after, for God's sake!" if you want. But honestly--isn't she having just a little too much fun in the video to be taken seriously? Think about it, take it with a grain of salt if you must. You believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want. |
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| Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I'm going to sit and rant about how the "Free Fiona" thing is all based off one big misunderstanding--TearsforAffair cleared that up for us. I do remember reading in an interview, though, that when she saw all of her fans out there, demanding that Sony "free Fiona," it touched her, and that was what moved her to finish up the final touches on her album so it could be released. Fiona has said that the song is a message to her fans. We tend to feel sorry for her because of all the things that happened to her in her past, her inability to fit in as a kid, her still-troubled mentality now--her outbursts and odd behavior on stage being examples. Fiona says that she doesn't want people to feel sorry for her. She says she almost feels insulted that people feel they have to support her and hold her hand. She's independent--she likes that they care, but she'd really rather they back off. This is what she's saying in the song. The chorus is basically saying, "maybe I seem like I'm a wreck sometimes, but what I'm doing, while you might not think it's best for me, has been working for me for quite a while, and I am capable of choosing my own paths and making my own decisions. I'll take whatever life throws at me, so don't worry." The second verse says, in a nutshell, "I'm not as much of a wreck as you think I am, but you're never going to see that if you don't let me go and try doing things my way without your interference first. I know you think it's your job to worry about me, I know you think you're doing me a favor, but you really don't need to do that. Just listen." The bridge basically means what it says: "I love that you care; that's really sweet of you. But you really don't need to worry so much--I'll be fine." quitejaded--I know what you mean about her seeming like a little girl in this song. She sounds like it sometimes; when she goes into the part about being the baby of the family, you hear the extra bit of stress on the "it happens" phrase, and she seems like a weary child. And I especially love the way she sings the end of the chorus after the bridge--the first time, not the repeated time. When she says "I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine," she sounds like she's pouting a bit, and it's adorable. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I think it's a nice touch. Yes, this whole song sounds like something out of a musical, the way the instruments punctuate the music, the style of the music in general, the way she sings it. I think "Paper Bag" actually has a similar sound to it--the words don't seem to fit with that sound, but it does sound like something that could be part of a musical, and after watching the music video, what with the dancing and choreography and all, it seems even more so. I relate to this song, and I'm sure many can. The chorus and the second verse are especially similar to how I feel. We all have our ways of dealing with stress and depression and other issues in our lives; I have an eating disorder. But, like it is for an alchoholic, I cannot truly get better until I want to. And one cannot make himself want to get better, you know? That'd be why some alchoholics relapse so easily after treatment; the same goes for people like me. So, for me it means something like this: "I know this might not be the best thing for me to do, but it's working; none of this is your fault or your problem, so just let me go--I'll be okay." |
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| Fiona Apple – Fast as You Can Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Let me start off by saying, DaChronic, that education and opinion are two different things. Yes, those were shallow comments. But you can't assume that everyone shares your opinion. I think someone hurt her, and the memory of that hurt just stayed with her. Now whenever she starts to get close to someone, she wants to push them away for two reasons--she's afraid of closeness because she's been hurt, and she doesn't want to hurt anyone else like she knows she will when she has to end the relationship because she can't stand to be so close to someone. She's warning everyone to stay away; she's not worth the pain she'll cause them if they get too close. She's probably paranoid about people hurting her and betraying her, and that's what she means when she talks about how crazy she is. When she says "I let the beast in, and then I even tried forgiving him, but it's too soon, so I'll fight again, again, again, again, again," she's saying that she's trying to get over the thing that hurt her so much, she's trying to leave it behind, trying to make a relationship work for once, but she just can't handle it. She's not ready to leave that behind her. She struggles with this event, with the person who caused her such pain, and she can't let it go, no matter how she tries. This is a beautifully written song, and I can relate to it in that I have trouble getting close to people because I don't want to be hurt. I feel like I'm already so messed up that one more thing will just send me straight over the edge. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and definitely one of my favorites by Fiona, though it's hard to pick favorites when all of the songs are so good. |
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| Fiona Apple – When the Pawn... Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Yes, she wrote this in response to a review. It means, in a nutshell, that if you're aware that you know exactly what the hell you're talking about and what you mean and why you do things, anything that questions the things you're certain of should just bounce right off. "He'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring"--I know what I'm about--"There's no body to batter when your mind is your might"--so no one can touch me. "So when you go solo, you hold your own hand"--don't look to anyone else to fight your battles when you're capable--"and remember that depth is the greatest of heights"--don't sink to anyone elses level. "And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land"--You know what you're talking about, and nothing can change that. "And if you fall, it won't matter, 'cuz you'll know that you're right"--It doesn't matter if no one believes what you're saying; you know you're right, and that's all that counts. Someone misinterpreted her, or called her pretentious, I believe, if I'm thinking of the right review, and she got upset; to calm herself, she wrote this. |
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| Fiona Apple – A Mistake Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"I'm always doing what I think I should" throws it off a bit. She's questioning her instincts, and her instincts are telling her to be perfect. I think that she could be talking to herself this whole time. She's not normally the type to stray from what's good and right, what's normal, what's safe, so her mind's split in two. She wants to do something, but she can't quite let herself. As to why she'd feel this way, I think something happened to her. After people blame you for things you didn't do, label you wrongfully, or talk about you, you tend to get to wondering why the hell you're trying so hard to go against what everyone believes after this has been going on for so long, and you know it's not going to change. She's asking herself why she's doing everybody good and doing what she thinks she should. She's wondering what it would be like to go in the absolutely opposite direction--will everyone's opinion of her turn around? Will she be happier? She's thinking about doing something different, but she's just not certain if she can let herself do it. |
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| Fiona Apple – Never Is a Promise Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I don't think it's necessarily about a guy. It could be about anyone close to her. And the "you'll say you understand" and other references that appear to be in future tense are often cancelled out with present tense--"but you don't understand." It's a matter of wording, really, not tense. She's definitely talking to a patronizing person in this song. She starts by talking about how this person overshadows everyone and everything in his path, how she feels that his demeanor covers who he really is--and he's really not a great person. The first time she goes into "but as the scenery grows, I see in different lights," she's already told us about all the negative traits this person has, and now she's beginning to see a different side, or so she believes. "But as the scenery grows, I see in different lights" means "as time goes on, I'm learning to look at things differently." "The shades and shadows undulate in my perception" means "Im seeing things I've never seen before." "My feelings swell and stretch; I see from greater heights" means "I'm growing, and I can judge things better." "I understand what I am still too proud to mention to you" is a deep line. It appears that she is almost jealous of the person in that he gets the attention she needs and wants so badly, but she's starting to really need this person in her life, whether she likes it or not. "You say you understand, but you don't understand" at this point is simply her realizing this about this person. "You say you'd never give up seeing eye to eye" is about a promise he makes and has broken. "But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie"--she really, really wants the relationship with this person to work out, but her hope is starting to wane. The second verse is more about her than the first verse. This person she's talking to is too material to be good with emotions, and she admits that she's hiding "the skin of her emotions beneath her own," probably for the sake of keeping the relationship between them as simple as possible. Yet when she says "you'll never feel the heat of this soul; my fever burns me deeper than I've ever shown to you," she's saying that her emotions can't stay hidden forever, and she's got so much to say, but he's not going to listen to a word of it. She keeps it all hidden because she doesn't want to fight or argue or be hurt. "You say 'don't fear your dreams; it's easier than it seems'--you say you'd never let me fall from hopes so high" talks about how he encouraged her to do whatever she wanted to, not to be afraid, but then wasn't there for her when she needed him most. She finally showed some emotion, told him how she felt, but he let her down, didn't change anything, didn't try to make things better. The relationship between them is falling apart. By the third verse, she admits that he's not an empathetic person and probably will never feel the way that she does; she's starting to feel alone and lost. She gets a bit angry, finally and rightfully, and says "you'll never hear the message I give," which means that he's never going comprehend her feelings. "You'll say it looks as though I might give up this fight" breaks off from the normal pattern. He's got her trapped in a corner. He wants to tie her down, keep her from expressing herself, beat her with lies until she falls into submission. The fact that she doesn't follow the normal pattern and add "to you" to the end shows that she's going to resist and break off. When the "but as the scenery grows, I see in different lights" section begins again, she is still talking about how she's learning and growing and becoming a better judge, but the last phrase is different. "I realize what I am now too smart to mention to you." She's let this get out of hand, she's let her dreams and feelings and ideas been pushed away, and she no longer has control over anything in her life. Because of this experience, she knows that to try and talk to him about his breaking promises is to ask for even more trouble. She says he'll NEVER understand, and it's the first time she uses the word "never" during the chorus to imply anything other than him making promises, which shows her finally admitting her situation; things aren't going to change, sadly. She says that she'll say she'll "never wake up knowing how or why"--it's HER turn to lie; she understands how and why things are the way they are now. "I don't know what to believe in"--she's been lied to so much that she doesn't know what to think anymore. "You don't know who I am"--he pretends to know her, but her doesn't know anything at all about how she feels. "You'll say I need appeasing when I start to cry" is another deep line. She cries because she doesn't know what to do, all because of him, and he says that she needs comforting; all the "comforting" he's done has done nothing but bring more tears and confusion. It's almost as if he's doing this on purpose. "But never is a promise, and I'll never need a lie." By the end, she knows that this person isn't doing her any good, and though she may not be certain how to go about doing, she knows she needs to fix this, she needs to heal. This whole song is just beautiful... I adore it. |
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