I’m so glad I stumbled across this on YouTube… it’s Fiona Apple and Elvis Costello performing the latter’s great song ‘I Want You’ on a VH1 special from a couple years back.
This clip encapsulates what I love about Fiona Apple as a performer… not just the technically impressive vocals, but the extraordinary passion she puts into every song. She is always, to use an acting term, entirely in the moment. So much so she can be uncomfortable to watch sometimes, in a good way.
Meet Me In Montauk 
Indeed. We saw that special some months ago (as Dana has Tivo pick up any random Elvis Costello appearance). I thought then, as I’m sure I would think now if I were to rewatch the train wreck, that she was ruining one of my favorite Elvis songs 🙂
In a good way? Not so much.
Oh my, you are so wrong! Click over to YouTube and read the 600+ comments to see how very wrong you are!
If 600 people were to jump off the Empire State Building, should I follow suit? No, my friend. I would simply watch them with pity in my eyes.
There are none so deaf and blind as those who will not hear or see.
By the way, if you do go to You Tube and search for the “best performance ever,” you get everything from Bon Jovi to Michael Jackson to Celine Dion on the first page. So clearly you don’t want to go with the strength of numbers on this one.
You’re like one of the commenters on IMDB who says “What was this crap? BOORING!” on the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind message board.
Entitled to your opinion, but oh so very wrong…
Let’s see what Elvis Costello thinks:
When Costello was asked what he thought the highlights of the concert were, he responded “…Fiona’s incredible job on ‘I Want You.’ For me, that was musically the high point of the evening, in terms of how much you can reach within a song and come up with something that was for you.”
Exactly right. That’s his very nice way of saying it was a self-indulgent piece of nonsense, but he wants Fiona’s fans to buy his new album 🙂
Look, Amy doesn’t care for Fiona (Apple). As for me, I think the performance mathced the obsessive paranoid intensity of the song…and so, as performance art is worked. Now, having said that, it is hard to argue that it was a great “performance” when, from what I have seen, she “performs” this way at all times. I suspect her version of “Good Day Sunshine” would make McCartney jump off the London bridge. Now, if Laurie Berkner delivered that performance of “I Want You,” THAT would be the best “performance” ever!
Well, first, that’s kind of like saying that because Sean Penn is an “intense” performer, we shouldn’t give him credit for any of his intense performances. “Wasn’t he great in Dead Man Walking?” “Nah… he’s always that dramatic.” A great performance is a great performance.
And second, how many live performances of Fiona Apple’s have you seen? I poked around YouTube and found several light-hearted songs that she sings in a very light-hearted fashion. I also found several dramatic songs that she sings with much drama. That’s my point… she “performs” each song to the fullest, and to the song’s particular style.
‘I Want You’ is perhaps the pinnacle of obsessive paranoid intensity (as you put it) and she delivered that in spades. I don’t think Laurie Berkner could have pulled that off (though I’d love to see that!). I don’t think anybody, even Elvis himself, could perform that song any better.
Holy mackerel, Andy.
I’m not a Fiona Apple fan but she delivered a great ‘performance’ and sounded perfect. It’s a fairly scary song, lyrically, and she handled it in a way that definitely should impress Elvis. I had goosebumps throughout the song. End of discussion. 😉
End of discussion?! You simply jumpstarted this tired old thread again 🙂
Goosebumps are often caused by the body’s nerves being irritated beyond reason. I can certainly understand how Fiona’s performance could cause such a reaction in the listener.