当一个小兵 (1999)

When the Pawn... is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. It was released on November 9, 1999, through Epic Records. The recording was produced by Jon Brion. It is noted for its original 90-word title—then a record for the longest album title—which Apple wrote as a poem in response to a negative cover story published by Spin.

The album received positive reviews and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. In 2011, Slant Magazine named When the Pawn... the 79th-best album of the 1990s, and in 2010 Spin named it the 106th-best album of the preceding 25 years. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it at number 108 on its updated list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Background and recording

Album conception

When the Pawn… followed the success and controversy of Tidal, Apple's debut album. She had faced public scrutiny, specifically for her 1997 VMA speech, where she stated, "this world is bullshit". The speech urges viewers to be themselves and not compare or change themselves because of the media they are consuming. This outburst came as a response to backlash from her "Criminal" music video. She would continue to have a negative attitude towards the media. Fiona stated that writing music began as a response to fighting with her parents but became cathartic in her life. Apple writes her own music about past experiences she has dealt with. Many songs on the album speak about tumultuous relationships with others as well as with herself. The tumultuous relationship that inspired many of the songs on this album is thought to be with Paul Thomas Anderson. The two were together from 1997 to 2002. The couple began doing drugs together, where Apple would then start a long road of addiction and later recovery which affected later albums. When the Pawn… reflected all these circumstances around the production.

Title

The full album title is:When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a kingWhat he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fightAnd he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ringThere's no body to batter when your mind is your mightSo when you go solo, you hold your own handAnd remember that depth is the greatest of heightsAnd if you know where you stand, then you know where to landAnd if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right

The title is a poem Apple wrote in response to unfavorable reactions from readers to a Spin cover story about her. Apple said: "It came from being made fun of, and then, of course, it becomes a thing I'm being made fun of for." Richard Harrington of The Washington Post called it Apple's version of the Chumbawamba lyric "I get knocked down, but I get up again" from their 1997 single "Tubthumping".

When the Pawn... broke the record for longest album title at 444 characters (previously held by a volume in The Best... Album in the World...Ever!), though this record was subsequently broken.

Composition and lyrics

According to Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork: "When the Pawn… is about knowing your patterns, knowing the rubble they’ve made of your life—and knowing you’ll do it again." Asaph also said: "[Apple's] vocal roles are larger-than-life: precise and unsingably fast, fit for a technical rapper, or open-throated and dramatic, like a stage diva commandeering an encore."