Fast as You Can

Infobox Single
Name = Fast as You Can


Artist = Fiona Apple
from Album = When the Pawn
B-side = "Across the Universe"
Released = 1999 (U.S.)
November 20, 1999 (Japan)
February 14, 2000 (UK)
Format = CD single
Recorded =
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 4:40
Label = Epic
Writer = Fiona Apple (lyricist and composer)
Producer = Jon Brion
Reviews =
* Allmusic rating-5|2 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kvfrxqtkldde link]
Chart position =
* #20 (U.S. Modern Rock)
* #29 (U.S. Adult Top 40)
* #33 (UK)
Last single = "Across the Universe"
(1998)
This single = "Fast as You Can"
(1999)
Next single = "Limp"
(2000)
Misc =Extra album cover
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Background = khaki


Lower caption = U.S. promo CD|

"Fast as You Can" is a song written by Fiona Apple, and produced by Jon Brion for her second album, "When the Pawn". It was released as the album's lead single in late 1999 in the United States and in February 2000 in the United Kingdom. It became one of Apple's most successful singles in both countries, and its music video, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, was well-received.

Background and style

Apple said that with the song, she wanted to explore different moods and the "ups and downs" of a relationship. "When you get to the middle [of the song] , that spell of confusion takes you out of the element for a minute, which is, of course, what happens emotionally. But the beat never changes."Moon, Tom. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/articles/aPhillyI1199.html "Fiona Apple has a new album to promote - and an image she'd like to change"] . "The Philadelphia Inquirer". November 8 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] Apple said the song is "really just thoughts that were running through my head that were in that rhythm". [ [http://www.neverisapromise.com/articles/vh1oct99.htm "Fiona Apple Has A Lot Of Explaining To Do"] . VH1 Online. October 30 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.]

Jon Brion said he knew "exactly" what he wanted the song to sound like. "I knew I wanted it to be Matt Chamberlain on drums", he said. "He can play all this beautiful machine-influenced stuff, but with human feel." Brion played a "very busy bass line idea" for Apple on a keyboard in his kitchen, combining the line with a "groove" in the style of Chamberlain's work. Apple became excited and said, "That's great! That feels exactly like it!" Brion and Apple stressed in interviews that it was Apple, and not Brion, who created the time-changes and structure in the song were already present when he worked on it. [Graff, Gary. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/interviews/WallofSound1199.htm "Sound Off - Fiona Apple"] . "Wall of Sound". November 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] "All I did was to heighten pre-existing things", Brion said. "In terms of the color changes, I am coordinating all of those, but the rhythms are absolutely Fiona's."Zollo, Paul. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/interviews/PS800.html "Producer's Corner - Jon Brion"] . "Performing Songwriter". July/August 2000. Retrieved December 15 2006.]

"The Philadelphia Inquirer" described the song as "slightly off-kilter, perpetually destabilized ... an intricate suite of shifting moods that starts as a '60s soul-jazz stomp, then is connected by a rueful ballad interlude to a sauntering triple-meter chorus." "The New York Times" wrote that it "signals its mood swings — love me, fight me, don't go, get out while you can — with tempo changes and unlikely interludes, from a blunt hip-hop drumbeat to [flute-like] 'Strawberry Fields' keyboards." [Pareles, Jon. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/interviews/NYTimes11799.htm "Fiona Apple's Angst, Bravado and 90-Word Title"] . "The New York Times". November 7 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] "Newsweek" characterized the song as "galloping" and "syncopated",Giles, Jeff. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/articles/newsweek118.htm "Happily Ever Apple"] . "Newsweek". November 8 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] and "Spin" magazine called it "skittery".Light, Alan. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/interviews/Spin2000.html "Girl On A Wire"] . "Spin". February 2000. Retrieved December 15 2006.]

The cover of the promo CD for the single in the U.S. was drawn by Apple. [Unknown (1999). In "Fast as You Can" [promo CD liner notes] . United States: Clean Slate Records/Epic Records. ESK46302.]

Music video

The single's music video was directed by Apple's then-boyfriend, film director Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed the video for Apple's previous single, "Across the Universe" (1998). Anderson shot the video in Pasadena, California [Corrigan, Susan. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/interviews/iD300.html "Golden Delicious"] . "i-D". March 2000. Retrieved December 15 2006.] with the crew he uses during the production of his films. " [I] t's all really fun", Apple said of the video. "I don't have to wear any makeup or anybody else's clothes — no negligees!" [Harrington, Richard. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/articles/aWPostNov2899.html "Fiona Apple: The Time Is Ripe"] . "The Washington Post". November 28 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] The video was photographed by Robert Elswit and edited by Dylan Tichenor, and it premiered in September 1999. [ [http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=1624 "Fiona Apple - Fast as you can"] . mvdbase.com. Retrieved December 15 2006.] In the video Apple is seen singing the song in and around a house, inside a garage, at a subway station and on a subway train. The video was filmed with a vintage hand-cranked camera, which is why Apple's mouth does not match the lyrics she sings. Throughout the video there are changes from black-and-white to colour and from fullscreen aspect ratio to widescreen. It was nominated for a 2000 Billboard Music Award for "Best Pop Clip of the Year", [Vineyard, Jennifer. [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/deftones/articles/story/5922640/dangelo_billy_gilman_top_billboard_music_video_awards_nominees "D'Angelo, Billy Gilman Top Billboard Music Video Awards Nominees"] . "Rolling Stone". November 1 2000. Retrieved December 15 2006.] with media sources describing it as "quirky", [Gardner, Elysa. [http://www.neverisapromise.com/articles/aUSA1199.htm "Fiona's fresh spin on life, love and 'the business'"] . "USA Today". November 30 1999. Retrieved December 15 2006.] "simple, improvised", "playful and inventive".

Chart performance

Credits

*Produced by Jon Brion
*Recorded by Rich Costey
*Mixed by Rich Costey and Jon Brion
*Programming by Rich Costey
*Vocals and piano by Fiona Apple
*All other instruments by Jon Brion
*Drums and percussion by Matt Chamberlain
*Woodwinds by Michael Breaux
*Chamberlain and wurlitzer by Patrick Warren

Track listings and formats

;UK CD1
#"Fast as You Can" (radio edit) – 3:48
#"Never Is a Promise" (live from Sessions at W.54th)
#"Across the Universe"

;UK CD2
#"Fast as You Can" (radio edit) – 3:48
#"Sleep to Dream" (album version) (from "Tidal") – 4:08
#"I Know" (album version) (from "When the Pawn") – 4:57

;UK promo CD
#"Fast as You Can" (radio edit) – 3:48;U.S./Mexico promo CD
#"Fast as You Can" (radio edit) – 3:48
#"Fast as You Can" (album version) - 4:40

;Japan CD single
#"Fast as You Can" (radio edit) – 3:48
#"Limp" (album version) (from "When the Pawn") – 3:31
#"Fast as You Can" (album version) – 4:40

Notes

References

*"Billboard". Issues dated from November 6 1999 to February 12 2000.
*Unknown (1999). In "When the Pawn" [CD liner notes] . United States: Clean Slate Records/Epic Records.