Paper Bag (song)

"Paper Bag" has been described as a cabaret inspired song with baroque elements.{{cite web | last=Lattanzio | first=Ryan | title=How Fiona Apple’s ‘Paper Bag’ Became the True Anthem of ‘The Idea of You’ | website=Yahoo Entertainment | date=May 3, 2024 | url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fiona-apple-paper-bag-became-203000784.html | access-date=December 19, 2024}}{{cite web | title=A Close Reading of Fiona Apple’s Paper Bag | website=Medium | date=September 26, 2022 | url=https://medium.com/@elizabethstimmel/a-close-reading-of-fiona-apples-paper-bag-7d0537fd6c6b | access-date=December 19, 2024}} Apple wrote the song following an experience in which she mistook a plastic bag for a dove. The event took place in Los Angeles following recording sessions for her previous studio album, Tidal (1996); Apple, reportedly upset at the time, was a passenger in a car being driven by her father.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/hiding-out-with-fiona-apple-musical-hermit.html|title='I Just Want to Feel Everything': Hiding Out with Fiona Apple, Musical Hermit |date=June 17, 2012|accessdate=January 30, 2013|first=Dan P.|last=Lee|work=Vulture}} Apple's lyrics are what she calls "extensions of her journal", many of which draw experiences from a rape and subsequent mental health problems, including disordered eating, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.{{Cite web |last=Rudulph |first=Heather Wood |date=July 9, 2015 |title=The Secret History Behind Fiona Apple's "Criminal" |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/07/90367/fiona-apple-criminal-feminist-anthem |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=Refinery29 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Handler |first=Rachel |date=2020-04-17 |title=Allow Fiona Apple to Reintroduce Herself |url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/fiona-apple-fetch-the-bolt-cutters.html |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |last=Kornhaber |first=Spencer |date=2013-10-09 |title=Reminder: Fiona Apple Is Not Insane (and Neither Is Kanye West) |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/reminder-fiona-apple-is-not-insane-and-neither-is-kanye-west/280447/ |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} The lyrics in "Paper Bag" are about minimizing different types of pain, something that is reflective of the feminine experience, and resonated with girls and women in online conversations associated heavily with trauma and eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, a different disorder than Apple's own. "Hunger hurts, but starving works" became a common, relatable slogan in disordered eating communities.{{Cite web |last=Meeson |first=Fiona |date=2020-06-20 |title=Extraordinary Machine: Fiona Apple and Female Pain|url=https://www.muse-magazine.com/extraordinary-machine-fiona-apple-and-female-pain/ |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=Muse |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |last=Orsini |first=Gisella |year=2017 |title="Hunger Hurts, but Starving Works". The Moral Conversion to Eating Disorders |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27761691/ |journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=111–141 |doi=10.1007/s11013-016-9507-6 |issn=1573-076X |pmid=27761691|s2cid=21190344 }}{{Cite journal |last=Whitehead |first=Krista |year=2010 |title="Hunger Hurts but Starving Works": A Case Study of Gendered Practices in the Online Pro-eating-disorder Community |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/canajsocicahican.35.4.595 |journal=The Canadian Journal of Sociology |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=595–626 |doi=10.29173/cjs7976 |s2cid=142904875 |issn=0318-6431|doi-access=free }}

AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald described "Paper Bag" as having a "loose, almost ragtime" melody and rhythm pattern, with an "up and down" chord pattern creating a "funky, looping feel". The Record noted the "infectious" song includes "Beatlesesque horns".{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-24683250.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216061513/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-24683250.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013 |title=Apple Sounds Alarm to Potential Lovers |work=The Record |first=Bob |last=Ivry |date=November 9, 1999 |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} {{Subscription required}} The Boston Globe classified it as a "piano ditty" that "owes equally to Kurt Weill and Paul McCartney,"{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8575450.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124559/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8575450.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016 |title=Apple Wraps Intimacy, Agony in Lush Sound |work=The Boston Globe |first=Joan |last=Anderman |date=November 9, 1999 |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} {{Subscription required}} while The Buffalo News noted that it "provides a more contemporary hip hop sound" than other songs on her album.{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23146387.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328023219/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23146387.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2016 |title=Discs |work=The Buffalo News |publisher=Stanford Lipsey |first=Anthony |last=Violanti |date=November 19, 1999 |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} {{Subscription required}}

File:Paul Thomas Anderson 2022 (1) (cropped).jpg]]

Paul Thomas Anderson directed the music video for "Paper Bag", which features a blue-and-red palette.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/09/13/paul_thomas_anderson_s_short_films_and_music_videos_the_dirk_diggler_story_cigarettes_coffee_couch_and_more_video_.html|title=The Minor Works of Paul Thomas Anderson|accessdate=January 30, 2013|date=September 13, 2012|first=Forrest|last=Wickman|journal=Slate}} Anderson and Apple were in a romantic relationship at the time.{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ta0nQqYx2t0C&pg=PA64|title=On a Wire|page=64|first=Alan|last=Light|date=February 2000|volume=16|number=2|issn=0886-3032|journal=Spin|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|accessdate=January 30, 2013}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2012/09/how-to-tell-paul-thomas-anderson-and-paul-ws-anderson-apart.html|title=The Master vs. Resident Evil: A Short Guide on How to Tell Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson Apart|first1=Gilbert|last1=Cruz|first2=Bilge|last2=Ebiri|accessdate=January 30, 2013|date=September 15, 2012|work=Vulture}} The video was filmed at Los Angeles's Union Station, specifically the Fred Harvey restaurant portion of the terminal.{{cite web | url=https://laist.com/news/food/there-are-plans-to-open-a-new-gastr | title=There Are Plans to Open a New Gastropub at Union Station's Historic Harvey House | date=15 September 2014 }}

"Paper Bag" was featured in the 2006 film The Last Kiss{{Cite web|url=http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=4142 |title=The Last Kiss (2006) Soundtrack |publisher=Soundtrack.net |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} and the 2011 film Bridesmaids.{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bridesmaids_soundtrack_features_fiona_apple_inara_george_hole_and_more |title='Bridesmaids' Soundtrack Features Fiona Apple, Inara George, Hole, Blondie & Wilson Phillips |work=IndieWire |publisher=Snagfilms |first=Edward |last=Davis |date=April 15, 2011 |accessdate=February 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813141050/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/bridesmaids_soundtrack_features_fiona_apple_inara_george_hole_and_more |archive-date=August 13, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic wrote that "Paper Bag" was one of the more accessible, "inspiring" tracks from the album. Greenwald appreciated Don Sweeney's horn arrangement, which he called "joyous". In 2012, Bob Gendron of the Chicago Tribune opined, "A midst a backdrop of gently brushed drums, 'Paper Bag' highlighted an ugly tempestuousness at odds with its breezy cabaret melody."{{Cite web |last=Gendron |first=Bob |date=March 20, 2012 |title=Fiona Apple's intense comeback show riveting at Lincoln Hall |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/03/20/fiona-apples-intense-comeback-show-riveting-at-lincoln-hall/ |access-date=February 1, 2013 |work=Chicago Tribune}} In the "Rolling Stone Special Nineties Edition," the song was ranked as the 29th.{{Cite book |title=Rolling Stone The Nineties Special Edition |publisher=The Rolling Stone |pages=86–95}} In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked it as the 382nd greatest song of all time.

The song is considered a "fan favorite".{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2005 |title=For The Record: Quick News On Fiona Apple And Jon Brion, Sean Paul, Brooke Valentine, Incubus, Tommy Lee & More |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1508096/fiona-apple-joins-jon-brion-onstage-la.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209094921/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1508096/fiona-apple-joins-jon-brion-onstage-la.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 9, 2012 |accessdate=February 1, 2013 |publisher=MTV}}{{Cite press release |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20051208005613/en/Fiona-Apple-Receives-Pop-Vocal-Album-Grammy |title=Fiona Apple Receives Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy Nomination |work=Business Wire |date=December 8, 2005 |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} It earned Apple a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the 43rd Grammy Awards (2001).{{Cite magazine |last=Reese |first=Lori |date=January 24, 2001 |title=Em Again: The staid Recording Academy courts controversy for their 43rd annual awards |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20332882_93539,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230327/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20332882_93539,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |issn=1049-0434 |oclc=21114137 |accessdate=January 30, 2013}}

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Category:2000 singles

Category:2000 songs

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Fiona Apple songs

Category:Music videos directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Category:Song recordings produced by Jon Brion

Category:Songs about eating disorders

Category:Songs written by Fiona Apple