Fiona Apple - When The Pawn...
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CD Details
Artist: Fiona AppleEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999
CD Release Date: 1999-11-09
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- On the Bound
- To Your Love
- Limp
- Love Ridden
- Paper Bag
- A Mistake
- Fast as You Can
- The Way Things Are
- Get Gone
- I Know
Music reviews of When The Pawn...
Music Review: An All Around Fantastic Album
Rating: 5 Stars
For those of you unfamiliar with Fiona Apple, her music is dark, dreary, occasionally uplifting, and always emotional. The songs have a structure more associated with pop music (maybe Alicia Keyes or Natalie Imbruglia) , but her deep voice shows that there is something more profound and disturbing under this facade. In her previous album, Tidal, with a few exceptions, Apple would sing the poetic verses that she wrote earlier in her life with piano accompaniment. This got a little tedious after a while. This follow up album corrects many of the problems of the first CD. In Tidal, it appeared as if she was holding back. There was definantly emotion and anger, but this rarely came through. In When the Pawn...we get Apple in all her anger. Tidal also suffered from a repetitious song structure and limited musical experimentation. With her second effort, Fiona experiments with long jazzy interludes and a variety of accompanying sounds to add texture to her music. The overall result is one of the most complete, powerful, and inspiring CDs ever released. With this album, Fiona really reached her potential.
When the Pawn...opens with On the Bound, which sets the tone for the rest of the album. It is a dark sound with background sounds that really give the song a driving and grating feel. Here she proclaims "Hell don't know my fury" and by the end of the album the listener will have a better understanding of this fury. Yet, the track also shows her vulnerabiltiy that will also become a theme of When the Pawn... She sings "I dont know what I'm doing,/ dont know should I change my mind, I cant decide,/ there's too many Variations to consider." She continually undermines herself throughout the CD and shows her weaknesses. She puts her heart, her mind, and her soul with others, as she repeats "You're all I need." Yet, there is a questioning of this total devotion as she ends the song with "Tell me you belong to me/ Baby that it's all gonna be alright/ I believe that it isn't." Fiona finds independence and power in her pessimism. This is the only way for her to overcome her wishful desires, which she sees as weaknesses.
To Your Love finishes up where Fiona left off. In this song she is further questioning her own feelings. She begins "Here's another speech you wished I'd swallow." Here again, she is using pessimism and sarcasm to give her self indepedence and power from her emotions. But then we hear self-doubt of even her pessimism. Her chorus "The pain is evident in my existence/
Please forgive me for my distance/ The shame is manifest in my resistance" laments that she cannot get close to somebody because of her negative outlook towards emotions. She confesses "But by the time I'm close to you, I lose" and "I just need to be reassured". The tables have turned since To your Love. Instead of a source of power, her doubts prevent her from happiness, from true friendship, and from true love. Quite a beginning to an album.
Then we get Limp. In my opinion Fiona's best song and the reason I initially bought the CD. Lyrically, the song is incredible. Musically it is a wild ride. I was always a little confused as to what exactly this track was about, but now I have my own theory, although I could be wrong. To me, this song is focusing Fiona's apprehensions towards men/ sex and showing how her being raped at an early age has distorted her images of men in general. Arguments and frustrations that she has had in other relationships take on the imagery of a rape. She writes "You'll beat me with your bitter lies/So call me crazy, hold me down/Make me cry; got off now, baby-" thus interspersing relationship troubles with the trauma of molestation. She compares her frustration towards men to her anger towards her violation "And when I think of it, my fingers turn to fists/I never did anything to you, man." And finally, she uses the image of "Lying limp in your own hand", a blatantly sexual reference, to compare the rape to the breakup of the relationship. Like the rapist who became 'limp' at the end of the act, the target of her lyrics also will eventually lose his power over her as the relationship disolves. Thus, male limpness becomes a source of empowerment, where the sexual drive is no longer a factor in binding her to the male.
Even if you don't accept this interpretation, you have to admit the song is complex and pure poetry. I should also mention that the best part of the song is the power of its delivery and the jazzy interlude that takes over midway through.
Love Ridden is a more mellow song that discusses an aftermath of a breakup.
Paper Bag is one of my favorite songs musically. Lyrically it reminds me of a scene from American Beauty.
With Mistake we get a return to the theme of equating weakness with her inability to get close to others. This time, she calls this pessimism a mistake.
Fast As You Can is another great song musically. Its fast paced delivery really draws you into the song. Apple returns to the theme of getting power from being withdrawn (in defiance of her previous song). Her procomation that she is "blooming within" says it all. Her 'craziness', her distance is what makes her what she is. She can deny that this is an important part of her self-identity.
Way Things Are is a more uplifting song. Instead of lamenting the mistakes or blaming men for her own pain, Fiona here is resolved to the "way things are." She realizes that she is perhaps "much better off" and that she is "able to move on."
Get Gone is another great sounding track. Here she shows her desire to withdraw and separate from others. Much like Limp she equates sexual conquering with the end of the relationship (how literal this is supposed to be is unclear) as she sings "You got your game, made your shot, and you got away/ With a lot, but I'm not turned-on." Sex for Apple here is neccessarily an act of powerlessness, as in a rape. She says quite simply "I'm not benefitting." Wheather or not she derives pleasure from it is immaterial, the fact is that, for Apple, sex is a way for men to force a kind of closeness that makes her weak and vulnerable.
I Know casually closes out the album. It is a bit mellower than other tracks.
I've concetrated on Fiona's lyrics only because they are amazing. Musically this album is wonderful and I apologize if I haven't got this point across. I consider this to be one of the best CDs ever. I would recommend it to anyone.
Description of When The Pawn...
(EK69195)Alternative Rock CDs
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