Cross Bones Style

"Cross Bones Style"
Song by Cat Power from the album Moon Pix
Published	September 22, 1998 (1998-09-22)
Recorded	January 1998
Genre	Indie rock
Length	4:32
Label	Matador
Writer	Cat Power (lyricist/composer)
Producer	Matt Voigt

"Cross Bones Style" is a song by the American singer/songwriter Cat Power (also known as Chan Marshall). It is the tenth song on her 1998 album, Moon Pix.

Background

According to Cat Power: A Good Woman by Elizabeth Goodman, Marshall wrote "Cross Bones Style," along with five other songs from Moon Pix, one night in the fall of 1997, after awaking from a hallucinatory nightmare while alone in the South Carolina farmhouse she shared with then-boyfriend, Bill Callahan. "My nightmare was surrounding my house like a tornado," she explained. "So I just ran and got my guitar because I was trying to distract myself. I had to turn on the lights and sing to God. I got a tape recorder and recorded the next sixty minutes. And I played these long changes, into six different songs. That's where I got the record." ^[1]

Music video

Though never released as a single, a music video directed by Brett Vapnek was made for the song. Marshall has cited the video for Madonna's "Lucky Star" as an influence. In a 1998 interview with Index, she explained, "I'm thinking of making that the single and doing a full-on "Lucky Star" style video. Like Madonna, dancing in a white room. I'm sure I'll chicken out though." ^[2]

Reception

In 2008, the song was included in Pitchfork Media's The Pitchfork 500. In 2010, it was ranked #129 in Pitchfork's "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s" ^[3]

In 2006, the music video was ranked #44 in Stylus' top 100 music videos of all time list. ^[4]

References

1. ^ Goodman, Elizabeth (2009). Cat Power: A Good Woman. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-307-39636-5. 
2. ^ "Index Magazine". Index Magazine. http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/chan_marshall.shtml. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
3. ^ "Staff Lists: The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 150-101". Pitchfork. 2010-08-31. http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7850-the-top-200-tracks-of-the-1990s-150-101/3/. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
4. ^ "Stylus Magazine’s Top 100 Music Videos of All Time - Article". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/stylus-magazines-top-100-music-videos-of-all-time3.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-10.