The Fiona Apple Lyric That Reclaimed Her Image

Great songwriting can withstand any amount of drama. Fiona Apple has displayed rare brilliance in the songwriting department right from the jump. That sustained her when one of her albums nearly got lost in squabbles over production.

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The album was Extraordinary Machine. It finally earned its official release in 2005, over three years after it was begun and following the internet release of an unofficial version. On the title track to that album, Apple makes clear that her intestinal fortitude could handle whatever was thrown at her. Including, as it turns out, record-release shenanigans.

“Machine” Learning

For those who weren’t around in the early 2000s, Extraordinary Machine started making news well before it finally made its way (in official form, anyway) to the public. Fiona Apple began working on the project with Jon Brion. He had produced her previous album, When The Pawn…, in 1999.

Although the who-did-what-and-when of this story has become a bit jumbled over the years, the basic sequence of events is undeniable. Brion didn’t get the chance to finish the project. Not long after, a version of the album that allegedly included Brion’s productions (although that has long been debated) found its way to the internet.

Fans clamored for the release of the Brion version. But Apple later claimed that she had been unhappy with it. Mike Elizondo came on board to produce the version that would eventually make it to stores, although a couple of the Brion takes made it to the finished Extraordinary Machine album.

One of those Brion-produced songs was the title track. “Extraordinary Machine” featured Apple telling both her doubters and her supporters that she could take care of her business on her own. In many ways, it seemed to be a response to the image of her from earlier in her career, despite her success, as an unhappy, passive bystander in her own professional journey.

Examining the Lyrics of “Extraordinary Machine”

“Extraordinary Machine” manages the difficult balancing act of delivering its message with both tongue-in-cheek humor and deadly seriousness all at once. Fiona Apple sets up the tale as a battle between herself, always changing because of her discomfort with stagnation, and an unknown enemy who never wants her to progress or mature.

“I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day,” she exclaims. You can easily imagine that’s a reference to condescending media members or record industry types. “I mean to prove, I mean to move in my own way,” she sings over the tripping strings. “And say I’ve been getting along for long before you came into the play.”

She surveys her would-be savior with a wary eye. “Curious, you looking down your nose at me while you appease,” she rejoinders. “Do I so worry you?” she asks. After facing down Apple’s nimble wordplay, her frenemy has no real chance at winning the argument. “You need to hurry by my side, it’s very kind,” she explains. “But it’s to no avail, and I don’t want the bail / I promise you, everything will be just fine.”

In the refrain, she delivers her statement of purpose. “If there was a better way to go, then it would find me,” she insists. “Be kind to me, or treat me mean,” she says, half-dare and half-shrug. “I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine.”

With the self-confidence oozing from this song, Fiona Apple somewhat redefined her image, at least to those who were judging from afar. “Extraordinary Machine”, both the song and the album that contained it, showed her taking the reins in triumphant fashion, and leaving no doubt that she was doing so.

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