Songfacts®:

• In the late 1990s, Joan Wasser liked to aimlessly wander Manhattan's West Side, which was a far cry from the boutique-laden, gentrified oasis we know today with its elevated High Line and riverside splendor. Back then, it was a grittier scene, a stretch of urban purgatory bordering the Hudson River. Speaking to Mojo magazine, she described it as "a place where I could get lost which allowed my thoughts to come, during a very difficult time."
  
  "It was that beautiful era," Wasser added wistfully, "when, if you left the house, no one could contact you. They call it 'walking meditation' now."
  
  Among the images that stuck with her from those wanderings was a peculiar tableau on the sidewalk: a pile of discarded lemons, limes, and orchids. A mix of the mundane and the exotic, it left an impression profound enough to inspire not just a song but the title of her sixth solo album, Lemons, Limes & Orchids, recorded under her moniker Joan as Police Woman.
  
  At first, she hesitated. "I wondered if Lemons, Limes & Orchids was too fluffy an album title," she admitted. But as she mulled it over, the phrase grew in meaning. "Lemons and limes are tough, resilient fruits. They add tang and cut through. And the title makes me think of attraction, passion, playfulness, paying attention, our collective downfall, loss, falling in love, and loss of humanity. That should cover it."
• The song is a dreamy, evocative piece with poetic lyrics sketching an impressionistic portrait of a woman wandering the streets in a state of melancholic self-reflection. Wasser's talent for finding beauty in the overlooked shines through in lines like:
  
  Peels of lemons, limes, and orchids,
  Security tags entangled in a great weave of humanity
• The Lemons, Limes and Orchids album was recorded live with Wasser's band, featuring Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Chris Bruce on guitar, Daniel Mintseris on keys, and Parker Kindred and Otto Hauser alternating on drums. Wasser co-produced the record alongside her recording engineer Adam Sachs and mixing engineer Patrick Dillett.