A friend of mine unknowingly introduced me to Fiona Apple back in 2005. It was in the days of Myspace, and he had a few of Fiona’s songs playing on his Myspace page (remember those little players you could put on your profile that’d auto-play music when you visited someone’s page?). I quickly fell in love with the song, “Fast As You Can” and downloaded it to my iPod. I thought it was such a quirky, smartly written song and I listened to it repeatedly.
A few weeks later, I checked Danny’s page again and he had some new songs by Fiona- songs from her (then) upcoming album, “Extraordinary Machine.” I loved those songs too, and that prompted me to buy her album when it came out. That album turned me into a fan of Fiona Apple and I haven’t looked back sense.
The thing I love most about Fiona Apple and her music is her lyrics. She’s such an amazing songwriter, and she just has this wonderful way with words. Her lyrics are often poetic, but also plainly stated and completely relatable. I couldn’t even list all of my favourite lines of hers, but two of my favourites come from the songs “Paper Bag” (“He said, ‘It’s all your head’/And I said, ‘So is everything,’ but he didn’t get it.”) and “Extraordinary Machine” (“If there was a better way to go, then it would find me/I can’t help it, the road just rolls out behind me/Be kind to me, or treat me mean/I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine.”).
In fact, the lyrics to the latter have kind of turned into my “life motto.” If I was to ever get lyrics tattooed on me (though I doubt I ever would), they would be, “I’m an extraordinary machine.” I’ve even named two of my old blogs Extraordinary Machine. Those two words just serve as a reminder to myself of how strong I really am, no matter what I go through.
Though I enjoy the song’s melodies and Fiona’s lovely alto voice, it’s always been about the lyrics for me. I love her songs; they just resonate deeply with me. Some have gotten me through bad break-ups (“Love Ridden” in particular), and some will always remind me of exes (“Werewolf” is one such song). I joked before that I can only really appreciate one of her albums if I’m suffering from a broken heart, but that’s not really true- I just love her music all of the time.
Fiona Apple is such a talented lyricist and musician, and her beautifully written songs make her one of my favourite artists.
Check out one of my favourite Fiona Apple songs below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxqtbqyoRk]