Songfacts®:

• Fiona is sending a message in this song, which appears to be directed to a woman who is seeing a man she has a history with, warning her that he's bad news and keeping them apart.
  
  Apple wrote it instead of reaching out to this person directly, which is often how she communicates. "I would write letters to my parents because they wouldn't listen to me. I would write letters so they'd have to be quiet until the letter was over, so they wouldn't interrupt me," she told Vulture. "If I try to get in touch with somebody and talk through things, and they won't talk to me, then, sorry, I got to write a song."
• The title doesn't appear in the lyric. Apple named it "Newspaper" because that's the random name she assigned the file when she started working on the song.
• Apple's sister, the singer Maude Maggart, sings harmony vocals on this track. You can hear her on the line, "We're the only ones who know."
• Fetch The Bolt Cutters is a very percussive album with many songs, including this one, that don't have piano - Apple's signature instrument. The soundscape on "Newspaper" is more orchestral, with a timpani in the mix and also a guitar.