Cat Power Issue #34

Jukebox (Matador)

By Rebekah Meek
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 12:07am

Imagine this scene: a dingy, nameless dive bar; the air is full of stale beer; and top-40 hits thump from the jukebox in the dimly lit back corner. A woman places her forearm on the metal case and leans into the bright, neon light. In one hand, a glass of clinking ice; the other drops a handful of quarters into the machine. As the record drops, her silhouetted hips start to sway and she slowly croons along: “Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today / I’m going to be a part of it, New York, New York.” The whole room goes still.

There opens Cat Power's latest record, Jukebox, which recreates this scene with painstaking accuracy. This is not simply a covers record, it's the record of a heartbreak sung in 12 tracks, one of which, “Song to Bobby,” is an original. The covers here are not simply re-recorded; Chan Marshall and her backing band, the Dirty Delta Blues, reinvent them.

The declarative “New York, New York” is followed by a sultry version of Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ (Wo)man,” the first of many tracks that pays homage to an unsettled heart. Marshall chooses to begin the song with “I love you ba-aby, but you gotta understand, when the Lord made me, he made a ramblin’ (wo)man.”

“Metal Heart,” from Moon Pix, is also revisited on this record, this time with a full backing band and a more robust sound. In this version, Marshall’s voice is stronger and on a single track, but it loses the elemental rawness of the original recording — despondence is replaced with defiance, immediacy with polished pitch.

Jukebox’s shining star is the downtempo "Silver Stallion," originally recorded by country super group the Highwaymen. This track proves that all Marshall needs is a slide guitar and microphone because simplicity is what she does best. The hushed intimacy unfurls itself like a secret being whispered into your ear: this wandering woman is going to “chase this sky forever.”

For Jessie Mae Hemphill’s song, “Lord, Help the Poor and Needy,” Marshall added a crawling blues melody to complement her silvery voice. The sole original, “Song to Bobby,” pays better respect to Dylan than the cover of his song, “I Believe in You,” which sounds a little too sweet with its syncopated rock beat and mellifluous keyboards. Three compelling female icons — Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, and Joni Mitchell — originally recorded the last tracks on the record, the most stirring being the cover of Holiday’s “Don’t Explain.”

Then just as last call is made, the woman at the jukebox hums the last few lines, sets down her glass, and walks out into the night. You’re frozen, perched at your barstool, just waiting for another chance to press play.