But this woman scorned can take it to the limit — and we're not talking about merely being careless with a delicate man. In the scathing powerhouse "Get Gone," Apple sends the guy packing — no doubt he deserved it — but if she is the one left with cares and woes, her dignity's intact: "There's nothing left to grieve / Fuckin go- / Cuz I've done what I could for you, and I do know what's / Good for me..."
Good for her. Not so good for the miscreant in in "Limp." This little ditty of anti-mellow derision is not your mother’s school of confessional singer-songwriter sensitivity. It's a different kind of touchy-feelie emotion, more menacing and venomous, as Apple bristles:
- ...And when I think of it, my fingers turn to fists
I never did anything to you, man
But no matter what I try
You'll beat me with your bitter lies
So call me crazy, hold me down
Make me cry; get off now, baby-
It won't be long till you'll be
Lying limp in your own hand.
Ah, good times, good times...
On a much different note and slower-paced, the wondrously tender ballad "Love Ridden" engenders from separation and regret a resonance that lingers long after the last tender tendril of misgiving falls away: "I want your warm, but it will only make / Me colder when it's over." The expressive emotion in Apple's voice conveys as much heartbreak as the words, gradually recounting and revealing a scenario wherein "I stood too long in the way of the door / And now I'm giving up on you."
The last song on When The Pawn is the torchy and transcendent slow-crawl "I Know." "So be it, I'm your crowbar / If that's what I am so far," Apple begins, as if she personifies some Donne-like metaphysical conceit. But as this highly affecting song, and the album in general, is reflective of true-life troubles and transitions going on in Apple's life at the time, any artifice soon gives way to realities: "Baby — I can't help you out, while she's still around." Entreaties and expressions of solace and sorrow fill in the picture as Apple avows that "you can use my skin / To bury secrets in / And I will settle you down."
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