Music

"Left Handed Kisses" - Andrew Bird ft Fiona Apple [YouTube Official Audio Stream]

Allison Claro

by Allison Claro

Published March 1, 2016

Folk maverick Andrew Bird goes playfully meta in his new single, "Left Handed Kisses," a duet featuring the musings of Fiona Apple. Listen to the song above.

The track is off Andrew Bird's upcoming album, Are You Serious, which will be the 10th added to his respectable repertoire. In "Left Handed Kisses," Bird and Apple have a dialog about love songs while writing a love song. If you're confused by that, then you just may have found the track's purpose.

As Bird told Rolling Stone while discussing the track, "My inclination was to write a song about why I can't write a simple love song. The song began as an internal dialogue. At first it was just my voice. Then another voice came creeping in and I thought 'this should be a duet if I can find the right person.'" That other voice would be Fiona Apple. Bird would go on to say, "The session was a long whiskey-fueled night - unhinged, for sure. All worth it, of course. I can't write simple love songs. People are complex."

People, love, and life in general are all together too complicated to simply explain in a love song. Our attempts to do so may only work to cheapen the way we really feel by trying to describe the indescribable. Apple makes this argument with lyrics like, "The point your song here misses is that if you really loved me, you'd risk more than a few 50 cent words in your backhanded love song." This, of course, is in response to a string of cliche imagery put forth by Bird with lines like, "How did I ever find you drifting gently through the gyre of the great Sargasso sea, Atlantic Ocean." With this, Bird is making his best attempt at writing a love song the way anyone would expect, "With a common refrain like this one here," but realizes he's left with empty, dramatic words that could be written by anyone about anyone.

We may not have gotten a love song out of it, but the end product is fun and original.

Are You Serious is set to be released on April 1, 2016. You can pre-order the album on Amazon.

For the latest music, news, and tour dates from Andrew Bird, check out his Zumic Artist Page.

Source: Andrew Bird's YouTube Channel

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Andrew Bird Fiona Apple
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Chamber Pop Folk Folk Rock Indie Folk Indie Pop Singer-Songwriter
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