One of the hardest lessons I had to learn, and am still learning, is that I can’t save anybody. Not really. I can’t take their pain and make it better. I can just be there.
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go”
“You’ll never forget them, not even after years. But one day, you’ll go a whole minute without feeling the pain. Then an hour. A day. That’s all you can ask for, really.” His voice drops. “You’ll heal. I promise.”
I’ve learned an Honors English course worth of 20-dollar words from Fiona Apple’s music over the past 16 years. Since I was just a woebegone queer pariah listening to Tidalsullenly in my room in high school, the elegiac chanteuse has never capitulated in necessitating that I break out a dictionary with each new album. Here’s an index of words Ms. Apple has taught me in order of album including her latest, The Idler Wheel… (there’s one!)
TIDAL
Abide - Sleep to Dream
Sullen - Sullen Girl
Reverence - Shadowboxer
Shadowbox - um… Shadowboxer
Adagio - The First Taste
Contusion - The First Taste
Undulate - Never Is A Promise
Appease - Never Is A Promise
Carrion - Carrion
Divination - Carrion
WHEN THE PAWN…
Imbue - On the Bound
Rigadoon - To Your Love
Desideratum - To Your Love
Lidded - Love Ridden
EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE
Kingcraft - Not About Love
Folderol - Better Version of Me
Rubicon - Better Version of Me
Stentorian - Oh Well
Hypnic - Oh Well
Paramour - Oh Sailor
Belie - Parting Gift
THE IDLER WHEEL…
Idler-wheel - album title
Oritund - Left Alone
Moribund - Left Alone
Reticulate - Left Alone
Guff - Anything We Want
Ok, so I’m kind of old now and have heard a lot of words since Tidal (maybe if she put out more albums I could’ve learned more from her!) but here are some honorable mentions off the new album that I probably wouldn’t have known if I were still 14 years old:
