Progressive Wednesday

Fiona Galifianakis & Zach Apple in “Not About Love”

May 24th, 2007 by Matt

Maybe it’s only because I’ve turned 30, but I loathe MTV and VH1. There was a time, way-back-when in college, when I’d watch those channels while half-heartedly trying to read skim not-exactly-page-turners like Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra and William Langland’s practically incomprehensible Piers the Ploughman (trust me — do not bother). Or maybe it’s not that I’m 30, but rather that I only read what I feel like these days and don’t want the sonic and visual blare of contemporary pseudo-music distracting me.

But from time-to-time, thanks to my friendly friends over at YouTube, I stumble on some videos that include tunes I double-dog dig and images that make me feel like I’m watching a piece of art and not a piece of advertisement.

So, this all bring us to “Not About Love,”a new single by Fiona Apple off her latest release Extraordinary Machine. In the video, uber-comic Zach Galifianakis lip-synchs the song, while Apple plays an altogether different role: she functions as a secondary character, the one you might expect that Apple is singing about.

The video mocks music videos by pointing out the ridiculousness of pretending to sing a song sincerely, but also adds power to the tune by showing us how “Not About Love” is a song we could all easily sing. And how could we not? Check out these sweet lyrics:

But I’d like to choose right,
Take all the things that I said that he stole,
Put ‘em in a sack,
Swing ‘em over my shoulder,
Turn on my heels,
Step out of this sight,
Try to live in a lovelier light.

And this haunting and, at times, all-too-true chorus:

This is not about love,
‘Cause I am not in love.
In fact, I can’t stop falling out.
I miss that stupid ache.

Plus, for you music readers out there, there’s this: “Not About Love” is written, like too few tunes, in 6/8. (Please note: This version includes a brief introduction by Apple, but it’s the best one I could find. Watch it, yo.)