Waterboys and Fiona Apple Share ‘Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend’

The Waterboys have recruited Fiona Apple as the narrator of their latest single “Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend.” The record, written by Mike Scott and performed by Apple, will appear on the forthcoming Waterboys concept album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, out April 4.

“I used to say/No man would ever strike me/And no man ever did/‘Til I met you,” Apple sings on the song. “Yeah, you had the charm/Charm enough to sweep me/Took me in your arms/Swore you’d satisfy and keep me.” It plays like an emotional letter written to an abuser, penned not frantically but with careful contemplation. “‘Letter from an Unknown Girlfriend’ could be addressed to a controlling, abusive partner in any decade, any century,” the band shared via the album liner notes.

Apple appears among a staked slate of guest stars on Life, Death and Dennis Hopper. Others include Bruce Springsteen (“Ten Years Gone”), Steve Earle (“Kansas”), British artist Barny Fletcher (“The Tourist”), and Nashville singer Anana Kaye (“Katherine”). Sugarfoot, Patti Palladin, and the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine also make appearances.

“Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend” follows the previous singles “Hopper’s On Top (Genius),” “Andy (A Guy Like You),” and “I Don’t Know How I Made It” with Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith. Produced by Scott and the band’s Famous James and Brother Paul, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper marks the Waterboys’ first album since 2022’s All Souls Hill.

“The arc of his life was the story of our times,” Scott said about Dennis Hopper in a statement. “It begins in his childhood, ends the morning after his death, and I get to say a whole lot along the way, not just about Dennis, but about the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet Earth.”