I heard the Cat Power song first, when the Covers record came out, and love it. I assumed it was an ancient song with contested origins, the kind of folk song that's traced across generations, and continents, that maybe always existed. I was surprised to learn it was written by a guy who lived in the Village in its folk music heyday. I heard the original once, coincidentally on happyrobot Rich's old Live365 radio stream. I think this was around 2001 for those keeping score at home. It was unexpected, eccentric, kind of severe. I heard it only the one time, as Rich rotated his play list often. The song haunted me, or better said, stuck with me, but in my particular way of never doing anything about it except mentioning it on occasion. Rich didn't know the song--said it was probably something Matt Johnson added. Anyway, I stumbled across it tonight, completely haphazard. The well-intended montage is kind of clunky, but I wanted you to hear the original, at least once.
