"The Apple Stretching" is a song by American recording artist

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

, released as a single in 1982.

Background

"The Apple Stretching" was written by

Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ( ...

for his 1982 play '' Waltz of the Stork''. The song describes

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in the early morning. It was included on Jones' sixth album ''

Living My Life ''Living My Life'' is the autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, who became internationally renowned as an activist based in the United States. It was published in two volumes in 1931 (Alfred A. Knopf) and 1934 (Garden City Publ ...

'' and also released as a double A-side single with "

Nipple to the Bottle "Nipple to the Bottle" is a single by the Jamaican singer, model and actress Grace Jones, released in 1982. Background "Nipple to the Bottle" was the lead single from Jones' sixth studio album, ''Living My Life''. The song was released in some te ...

", written by Jones and

Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a band called ...

(which also got a separate single release in certain territories). The original 7-minute song's single edit was just the album version, faded out at 3:33. "The Apple Stretching" was simultaneously released as a 12" version, clocking in at 8:40. It included a second verse of the song, which had been omitted on the album version, where Jones sings together with a bass guitar only along with funky percussion. This version remains unreleased on CD. Van Peebles said of being able to do the song, "I couldn't have done hat track before because people weren't used to aying attention tomusic and words simultaneously." He performed the song on his own album, Ghetto Gothic in 1995.

Track listing

*7" single :A. "The Apple Stretching" – 3:33 :B. "

" – 4:22 *12" single :A. "The Apple Stretching" – 8:40 :B. "Nipple to the Bottle" – 6:59

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apple Stretching, The 1982 singles Grace Jones songs Songs about New York City 1982 songs Song recordings produced by Chris Blackwell Song recordings produced by Alex Sadkin