The Story Behind The Song: The intimacy of Fiona Apple’s ‘Jonathan’
There is a long and rich history of songs named after people, some fictional, some real. A number of tracks are based on historical or cultural figures, while others intimately capture close relations or lost love. In the case of Fiona Apple’s ‘Jonathan’, the song is about a very real man.
Early on in her career, Apple was already the elusive musician we know her as today. Even back in 1999, she reportedly needed to be begged into making another album by her producer, Jon Brion. Regularly disappearing and always being a figure of mystery, Apple’s musical process is incredibly insular and isolated.
In fact, in the late 2000s, when Apple began working on a new album, The Idler Wheel, she simply didn’t tell a soul. What started as meaningless jamming with her drummer Charley Drayton quickly became album-writing sessions. The realisation was that they were, in fact, making a hit record all at once, as Apple found the perfect sound for one song in particular: ‘Jonathan’.
“On the first night of recording with Charley, we walked by this bottle-making factory. The door was open, and you could hear a machine running,” Apple told Pitchfork. “We both had our recorders with us and we agreed that the sound would be good for the song ‘Jonathan’. Juan, the guy working the night shift at the factory, let us walk through and record the sound of the machine.”
Apple had been trying to figure the song out for a while, but that night, everything fell into place. She explained: “That was the moment where I said, ‘Oh, we’re not making demos – this is going to be it. Me and Charley are going to make a record right now.’ And then it just got fun.”
But that is the song of the album. The song of ‘Jonathan’ is an entirely different one. Like all stories of relationships, it’s a wildly personal tale despite its universal relatability. The track can be summarised in one sentence: ‘Jonathan’ is about Jonathan Ames, the American writer and television show creator. When Apple penned this ode to him, Ames was her boyfriend. But by the time she released it, he wasn’t.
Apple and Ames met in 2006, a time when the writer was holding a talk at The Moth, a New York-based short story showcase event. Captivated by his work and him being captivated by hers, the pair started dating soon after.
There are very few details of their relationship outside of this song, but in the lyrics, one specific day is examined, standing out to Apple as a moment of pure love and kindness. She sings:
“Jonathan, call again
Take me to Coney Island
Take me on the train
Kiss me while I calculate
And calibrate and heaven’s sakes
Don’t make me explain”.
In the song, Apple sings about a trip to New York’s Coney Island, a location stuck in the past and located on the city’s coast. It’s a familiar scene in art; Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Taylor Swift and The Velvet Underground all have songs about Coney Island, baby. Movies like Annie Hall, Brooklyn, Requiem For A Dream, Beaches and Uptown Girl all have moments filmed on that very spot. Something about its rundown charm seems to have culture captivated, and that was no different for Apple and her lyricism.
“I was staying in an apartment in New York, and he was just starting up his show [the HBO series Bored To Death],” Apple told Interview Magazine. “I was writing this instrumental thing that I’d started after he had taken me to Coney Island,” she added. The day seemed to stand as a perfect microcosm for the relationship: Apple’s snappy sarcasm and Ames’s kindness but obsession with having a perfect relationship. She adds: “He takes all of his girlfriends to Coney Island. I was bitchy about it later on, but at the time he gave me this really wonderful day of simple joy and kindness.”
While Apple’s material is, in its nature, confessional, regularly dealing with real-life events, experiences and feelings, none of her work is quite as direct as this. ‘Jonathan’ quite literally names its source, singing directly to the man who inspired it.
As for why Apple decided to give the track such a direct name, the answer was simple: “I did it because, and I’m saying this in the most affectionate way – he loves attention,” she explained to Pitchfork.
“I had come to New York for three months to write and to take a visual perception class at the New School,” Apple continues. “I was at the piano and I started writing a musical piece that reminded me of Jonathan because he is so extreme in some ways. He is just so hilariously quiet on a day-to-day basis, but when he’s on stage or excited with a group of people, he’s just embarrassingly bombastic”.
Adding: “So I was like, ‘Hey, I’m writing this music and it reminds me of you,’ and he was like, ‘Does it have my name in it?’ I thought, ‘I’ll do that for him.’”
Her description of the song and its origins ends bluntly with Apple admitting, “But then we broke up”. By the time the musician had finished the album, right as Apple finally presented the surprise record to her label, the couple had called it a day.
No one really knows why the pair split, but the lyrics of the track felt revelatory following the demise. “I don’t wanna talk about anything,” Apple repeats in the song, like a piece of sad self-analysis or her owning up to not knowing how to handle communication in the relationship. In the wake of the split, the song felt tender.
Initially, Apple wanted to pull the track from the album. “Listen, it’s just a practical thing, because if I get another boyfriend, I don’t want to have to deal with, ‘Who’s this Jonathan guy?’” Apple explained, adding, “I honestly felt like it’s just going to be the fight that breaks up my next relationship, and it’s not worth it. But then I was like, ‘Ah, f–k it.'”
She eventually decided to keep the song, letting it live on her 2012 album, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. There is no word on what Ames thought of the track, but Apple has never performed it live, deeming it far too personal to place in front of a live audience.
“That just feels weird to do,” she explained.
