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

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

cherokee had 2.1 million views, is that the closest she came to a hit?

Looking at her Spotify page, the 10 popular songs are all over 2 million listens, and two songs are are in the tens of millions (I'm guessing they were included on soundtracks).

As for her YT vids, "Stay" has 1.3M (Rihanna obvs), "Manhattan" has 2.3M, and "Woman" has 4.9M (LDR obvs).

that version of metal heart is actually quite good. but i still prefer the first one. i also prefer the rolling stones "satisfaction" by hers. i heard the originals first which might be one reason.

this one should have been higher tho, imo

I'm here for this. I love how exultant the Jukebox version is, so much catharsis! She doesn't really let loose like this with her vox anymore, does she? So that makes it kind of special in terms of her latter-day discography.

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

24. Sea of Love, 94 points, 5 votes

Youtube

Her most ukuelele-ready song, for better or worse.

xp. in any case metal heart is suffering in this poll due to split voting.

that is a perfect image for Metal Heart (Jukebox version) because her voice sounds so baked on it, every time I hear it I am still floored by the grizzling. idk if it needs to be said but i love this version -- we all experience a grizzling as we get older and life wears on us; her grizzling is front and center and backed by some top notch jammers. hi 5 to the three people who voted for it.

https://i.imgur.com/7mGyn3L.png

23. Good Clean Fun, 100 points, 4 votes

Youtube

good clean fun may be my favorite image so far!