You Have Seen Some UnbelievaPOLL Things - ILM Artist Poll #99 - Cat Power Results

"Keep On Runnin'" is American Gothic horror, such an arresting and harrowing listen.

Last one for today!

https://i.imgur.com/C8bcxBE.png

41. (tie) Top Expert, 46 points, 2 votes

Youtube

Nice. On the weekend I found a copy of Jukebox, which I never bought, in the card foil sleeve with the second disc of extras, mint condition for $2. I'm taking it as a sign so it's in my car CD player until I learn to love it.

i love the guitar strumming on top expert, my #9. the chords seem to be hanging in the room. a stark song where she is haunted by the supernatural, quite characteristic of her early period.

Ended on one half of a tie, now here's the other half (excuse the incorrect rank in the image):

https://i.imgur.com/1AvFpgV.png

40. Evolution, 46 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdgkYFEQTjE

https://i.imgur.com/fAr1rZ8.png

39. Willie Deadwilder, 47 points, 2 votes1 #1 votes

Youtube

https://i.imgur.com/v0WOgpZ.png

38. Ruin, 48 points, 3 votes

Youtube

evolution is such a fragile beauty of sadness. i hardly dare to breathe when i listen to it. it could be blown away by one careless breath.

lol at the evolution image.

I listen to willie deadwilder for an hour or more sometimes - its one of those songs that's a self-contained world I just want to stay inside & i feel so perfectly happy listening to it. I am a sucker for a good looping finger-picked guitar tune & it's almost like henry flynt. she has such a deep warmth & generosity towards the characters in the song and you can hear it all in her voice, such a beautiful tone to it here - and that yawn at the start !

kinda wishing i voted now just to throw some points at her cover of the hot boys' 'i feel'

https://i.imgur.com/rwtXD7j.png

37. Water & Air, 57 points, 3 votes

Youtube

god that song is just brutal

I forgot to upload the image for #36, but here it is:

36. Moonshiner, 63 points, 4 votes

Youtube

an amazing song. how the guitars draw the music like pointillist splashes of black and white. how they slow down after half of the song as if they are running out of steam and it is all over, the drinking has drowned the singer. there is a power to this song of which i didn't know that it was an ancient folk tune but which totally makes sense. there is another old folk song about alcohol which also totally gives me the shivers. it is called "john barleycorn must die" .

btw i think it was this song that made me a fan when she played it with mick turner and jim white on the moon pix tour in 1999. i hardly knew anything by her before. the openers were quasi and elliott smith who was totally incomprehensible and low key, cat power totally overshadowed them with her hypnotic singing behind her bangs.

The Covers Record is an easy #2 to Moon Pix for me. And the CR version of In This Hole is one of my favorite songs evah

As I've said, I'm not a Moon Pix fan but "Moonshiner" is amazing, easily among her best songs, and I'm surprised it's this low.

https://i.imgur.com/n51K0Vh.png

35. What Would the Community Think, 66 points, 4 votes

Youtube

https://i.imgur.com/c3Mk02P.png

34. Bathysphere, 67 points, 4 votes

Youtube

https://i.imgur.com/YbcojEd.png

32. Wild Is the Wind, 70 points, 4 votes

Youtube

https://i.imgur.com/TZB4h1T.png

32. (tie) The Moon, 70 points, 4 votes

Youtube

"The Moon" crept on me till I listened to The Greatest again for this poll, and now it's possibly her prettiest song for me.

https://i.imgur.com/aKCGonp.png

31. Love & Communication, 71 points, 3 votes

Youtube

Mean beat, Chan's run-on lyrics, such a swaggering stomp of a song. My fave off of that record.

The strings on that song

haha A+ image

I'm very late to this thread. I'll be quietly readin' and learnin'. (Didn't feel sufficiently well-informed to vote.) Interesting that the top 3 albums are exactly the ones I already have in the house.

love all of the cat pictures!

I couldn't help myself: a Spotify playlist to aid with learnin'. Collaborative, if anyone is into that sort of thing.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Zq74kywCbVRkjdZwzOWlq

To be totally honest I think 90% of my motivation for this poll was the cat pix.

Interesting tidbit is every ballot that voted on albums included WWTCT, Moon Pix, The Greatest, and YAF.

I think that "Evolution" is maybe the most Moon Pixy track on You Are Free.

And the "Moonshiner" banner:

https://i.imgur.com/79wSsEA.png

https://i.imgur.com/IwALtyg.png

30. In Your Face, 72 points, 4 votes

Youtube

I love the melody playing with the rhythm there, this particular combination being so un-Chan but she pulls it off beautifully.

https://i.imgur.com/hVyEVgN.png

29. Woman, 78 points, 5 votes

Youtube

"in your face" is a dance where you turn around yourself. first i thought it was a waltz but it isn't. which dance can it be? the lyrics are pretty cryptic like in most cat power songs. i like the first line "you never need, you're american". is she talking to herself? my #5. i don't want to imagine where the song would have ended without my vote. it is obviously about 20 places too low.

my #5. i don't want to imagine where the song would have ended without my vote.

No need to imagine, it would've ended in a tie for #44.

at least it would have made the top 50!

Another tie, but I forgot to upload the image for one of them. :(

https://i.imgur.com/kmdecqx.png

27. (tie) Names, 80 points, 4 votes

Youtube

27. (tie) I Found a Reason, 80 points, 4 votes

Youtube

god, names is her saddest song. i have always troubles listening to it.

Her name was Naomi
Beautiful round face, so ashamed
Told me how to please a man
After school in the back of a bus
She was eleven years old

Agreed, it's an emotional holocaust.

no, that is not correct. the song is about abuse of children and children taking drugs and destroying themselves. it is physical. no holocaust or emotions involved.

I'm not referencing the historical WW2 Holocaust, I'm using a more generalized definition of the word:

a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire

let's change the subject. cat power lovers seem to be very discreet people. i wonder why.

https://i.imgur.com/1v76Mku.png

26. Cherokee, 88 points, 6 votes

Youtube

(Explanation for the banner image.)

I actually remember converting more than one person to Cat Power with "Cherokee" when it first came out.

https://i.imgur.com/Lq24X0s.png

25. Metal Heart (Jukebox), 93 points, 3 votes

Youtube

WILL THIS BE THE ONLY VERSION OF "METAL HEART" TO PLACE? ONLY TIME CAN TELL!

"Cherokee" has one of Chan's most urgent and dramatic choruses that makes the song's kitschier elements forgivable. I still love it to bits, and it's my favorite from Sun.

xp. cherokee had 2.1 million views, is that the closest she came to a hit? i quite like this song as the tune is slowly evolving and it has got a lot of punch like most good cat power songs.

it will not, in fact, be the only version of metal heart to place

this one should have been higher tho, imo