Left Alone

Apple told Pitchfork why she sings about having hardened her feelings on this plea to be left alone. She explained: "There is a song on the new album, 'Left Alone,' where I say, 'I don't cry when I'm sad anymore.' There was a period of time when I was not feeling things. It was terrible. Sometimes it's good to grow a tough hide - for press stuff, maybe. But when I hear people say that they won't get a dog because they had one when they were a kid and it died, or that they don't want to fall in love because it hurts too much, I'm like, f--k you."

Apple explained to Interview Magazine how a phrase from this song launched the creative process for The Idler Wheel. She said: "I think the first phrase that I wrote of for this album was at the beginning of the song 'Left Alone.' I wanted to use the phrase 'moribund slut,' which led me to use the phrase 'orotund mutt.'"