Fiona Apple is a piano player at heart, but on Fetch the Bolt Cutters she relegates her signature instrument largely to the background. Instead, this song cycle is dominated by percussion.
That percussion comes in the form of traditional drum sets, but also all manner of found objects. Apple recorded the album in her house, and she turned her house into an instrument. She told one interviewer that she came to view the house as a member of the band. On one track, she is credited with playing a “chair.”
Apple made use of this technique on her last album, The Idler Wheel, though to a lesser degree than on Bolt Cutters. One Idler Wheel track features the repeated sound of feet walking over gravel.
This urge to hear music in the sounds of everyday life is something Apple has indulged since her childhood. As she writes in yesterday’s SOTD, ‘Shameika,’ “I used to walk down the streets on my way to school, grinding my teeth to a rhythm invisible. I used my feet to crush dead leaves like they had fallen from trees just for me, just to be crash cymbals.”
I gave you pictures and cards on non-holidays
And it wasn’t because I was bored
I followed you from room to room with no attention
And it wasn’t because I was bored
[Chorus]
It was because I was loving you so much
It’s the only reason I gave my time to you
And that’s it, that’s the kick in you giving up
‘Cause you know you won’t like it when there’s nothing to do
[Verse 2]
Check out that rack of his, look at that row of guitar necks
Lined up like eager fillies, outstretched like legs of Rockettes
They don’t know what they are in for and they don’t care, but I do
I thought you would wail on me like you wail on them, but it was just a coochie-coo-coups
[Chorus]
And meanwhile I’m loving you so much
It’s the only reason I gave my time to you
And that’s it, that’s the kick in you giving up
‘Cause you know you won’t like it when there’s nothing to do
[Chorus]
Meanwhile I’m loving you so much
That’s the only reason that I gave my time to you
And that’s it, that’s the kick in you giving up
‘Cause you know you don’t like it when there’s nothing to do
[Bridge]
And I’ve been used so many times
I’ve learned to use myself in kind
I try to drum, I try to write
I can’t do either well but
Oh well, that’s fine, I guess
‘Cause I know how to spend my time
[Outro]
(I know how to spend my time)
(I know how to spend my time)
(I know how to spend my time, oh)
(Try to drum, I try to write, oh)
(Meanwhile I’m loving you so much)
(Meanwhile I’m loving you so much)
(Meanwhile I’m loving you so much)
Meet Me In Montauk 
Looking forward to tomorrow’s song, “Pots, pans and spoons.”😜