Jonathan Lyrics
Jonathan, call again
Take me to Coney Island
Take me on the train
Kiss me while I calculate
And calibrate and heaven's sakes
Don't make me explain
[Chorus]
Just tolerate my little fist
Tugging on your forest chest
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
[Verse 2]
Jonathan, anything
And anyone you have done
Has gotta be alright with me
If she's part of the reason
You are how you are
She's alright with me
[Chorus]
Just tolerate my little fist
Tugging on your forest chest
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
You'd like to captain a capsized ship
But I like watching you live
You'd like to captain a capsized ship
But I like watching you live
[Verse 3]
Jonathan, call again
Take me to Coney Island
Take me on the train
Kiss me while I calculate
And calibrate and heaven's sakes
Don't make me explain
[Chorus]
Just tolerate my little fist
Tugging on your forest chest
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
I don't wanna talk about
I don't wanna talk about anything
About
Track #4 on Fiona Apple’s fourth studio album The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do.
While chatting with Interview Magazine, Fiona explained that the song is named after Jonathan Ames, the American author and screenwriter she dated:
I did that because Jonathan likes his name to be spoken. He pisses me off in so many ways, but I’m still very close with him. I felt like he deserves to have a song with his name in it.
In an interview with Pitchfork, Fiona added:
I had come to New York for three months to write and to take a visual perception class at the New School. I was at the piano and I started writing a musical piece that reminded me of Jonathan because he is so extreme in some ways. He is just so hilariously quiet on a day-to-day basis, but when he’s on stage or excited with a group of people, he’s just embarrassingly bombastic. So I was like, “Hey, I’m writing this music and it reminds me of you,” and he was like, “Does it have my name in it?” I thought, “I’ll do that for him.” But then we broke up.
About the song’s instrumentation, Fiona told Pitchfork:
On the first night of recording with Charley Drayton, we walked by this bottle-making factory. The door was open and you could hear a machine running. We both had our recorders with us and we agreed that the sound would be good for the song “Jonathan”. Juan, the guy working the night shift at the factory, let us walk through and record the sound of the machine.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning