Valentine

Album: The Idler Wheel... (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Apple taking on two voices to convey her feelings about the fallout from a broken relationship. While the first one is brusque and dangerous to herself, the second is more innocent and childlike. "I stand no chance of growing up," she sings as we hear her tearfully try to cope with a dinner date with her ex.
  • Apple sings first with a self-destructive voice:

    While you were watching someone else
    I stared at you and cut myself


    Speaking with Interview Magazine, she expressed her concerns about that lyric: "I was a little afraid of putting that line in because I didn't want to make it sound cool," Apple said, "because I don't cut myself… I used to be somebody that would cut themselves, and it is about wanting to feel something. But something that I do... I mean, this is totally from an actual situation of me watching someone watching someone else being really alive - not quite in the way it seems in the song - but after a while I realize that I've dug holes in my palm with my fingernails. I just tend to do things to myself that I don't realize I'm doing. Sometimes I bite my lip so that it splits and hurts, and yet I can't stop. And sometimes I'd play shows on the last run, I'd scratch my neck while I was singing, and I'd horrified to see these red streaks of blood after. I'd go back after meet-and-greets, and I would look in the mirror and be horrified because there would be, like, just streaks, like I'd gone like this." [Mimes scratching her neck.]

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Oliver Leiber

Oliver LeiberSongwriter Interviews

Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.