"Parting Gift" is a song written by American singer

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...

and recorded for her third album ''

Extraordinary Machine ''Extraordinary Machine'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, released by Epic Records in the United States on October 4, 2005. Produced by Jon Brion, it was expected to be released in 2003 but was delayed several ...

'' (2005). It was produced by

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

and

Brian Kehew Brian Kehew (born September 22, 1964) is an American, Los Angeles-based, musician and record producer. He is a member of The Moog Cookbook and co-author of the ''Recording The Beatles'' book, an in-depth look at the Beatles' studio approach. Li ...

and is the only song from ''Extraordinary Machine'' not to have been originally recorded during the

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

-produced sessions. Apple was able to record it on her first take.

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

described the song as "a characteristically bitter breakup song", and its protagonist chastises a former beau (calling him a "silly, stupid pastime") whilst lamenting their failed relationship: "It ended bad but I loved what we started". On August 15, 2005 (see

2005 in music 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

), ahead of the album's release in early October,

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

made available for

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

both "Parting Gift" and "

O' Sailor "O' Sailor" is a song written by American singer Fiona Apple and recorded for her third album ''Extraordinary Machine'' (2005). On August 15, 2005 (see 2005 in music), ahead of the album's release in early October, Epic Records made available for ...

" on Apple'
official website
The following day, the songs were released for digital download at the online

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Music Store. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Parting Gift" was directed by Spencer Maggart (Apple's brother), and it premiered on

LAUNCHcast Yahoo! Music Radio (formerly known as LAUNCHcast) was an Internet radio service offered by Clear Channel Communications' iHeartRadio through Yahoo! Music. The service, formerly offered by LAUNCH Media, and originally developed by Todd Beaupré, ...

on August 23, 2005.http://www.beyondtherubicon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=214

Formats and track listing

US Acetate promo CD single:
1. Parting Gift (3:34)

Notes

References

* Perez, Rodrigo
"Fiona Apple's Long-Delayed LP Slotted For October 4 Release"

. August 15, 2005. Retrieved August 31, 2005. * Cohen, Jonathan
"Fiona Apple fashions a different 'Machine'"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. August 15, 2005. Retrieved August 28, 2005.

External links

''Extraordinary Machine'' press release from Epic Records
— August 15, 2005

Songs about parting Fiona Apple songs 2005 singles Song recordings produced by Mike Elizondo Songs written by Fiona Apple {{2000s-pop-song-stub es:Parting Gifts