On earlier Songs of the Day, commenters Amy and Dana correctly pointed out that Fiona Apple’s music is often dark and brooding. While there are certainly exceptions on her three albums, it’s true that the overall mood is one of angst and melancholy.
So I’ve decided to finish off Fiona Apple week with something completely different… a performance of the classic Christmas song ‘Frosty the Snowman’ Apple recorded for a holiday album.
Of course, in her version Frosty goes on the lam after killing a traffic cop (or maybe I’m reading too much into it… I’d actually never heard the complete lyrics before).
Apparently one of the fringe benefits of dating a world-class filmmaker is taking advantage of his talents for your music videos. During their several years together, Paul Thomas Anderson directed half a dozen videos for Fiona Apple and every one is special.
The leaked version of Extraordinary Machine caused a fan outcry. People were outraged that such a fine piece of work was being denied them by a label with no ear for art. Fans picketed the studio, sent hundreds of apples in protest and started a campaign called ‘Free Fiona.’
After When the Pawn… came out, Apple sort of disappeared. Then several years later, in a New York Times magazine interview, producer Jon Brion spoke in glowing terms about new tracks they’d recorded for an album to be called Extraordinary Machine. No release date was set.
Meet Me In Montauk 