Cat Power, “The Sleepwalker”, off her first album, 1995′s Dear Sir.
This mysterious, angry, and sad song was officially a cover of a 1984 song by a New Zealand band called This Kind Of Punishment. I tracked down the original song. Some of the lyrics are the same, but for this cover they’ve been completely rearranged to say whatever Chan Marshall wanted to say. The original was a rather plebian “girl done me wrong” song, this, however, is something altogether more mysterious and powerful.
Chan has a new Cat Power album out. I listened to it. Chan is still hiding from herself. Her first few albums, she was still in a state where all her inner demons were exposed, nerves raw, to the world. Once she found a way to hide, her albums became crap. She deludes herself that she’s happier now. I’m not seeing it. Not with the stories going around.
- Badtux the Music Penguin
