Video: Cat Power – “A Pair Of Brown Eyes”
Directed by Jim Jarmusch. From Covers, out now on Domino.
I originally heard the Pogues on tapes that a friend had dubbed for me. With no liner notes, I had no idea which songs were originals and which were traditional. I assumed most of the material was punked up versions of Irish standards. It was a thrill to find a Clancy Brothers record in the 99-cent bin, and their version of “Whiskey You’re the Devil” made great mixtape fodder, especially followed up by the Pogues’ “Streams of Whiskey” (a Shane MacGowan original, it turns out).
MacGowan has always written material that sounds like it’s been around forever, like he’s plucked timeless material out of the ether. Chan Marshall has a similar ability to make her covers her own and to write original songs that seem like they could be interpretations of classics.
And now beloved indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has directed the video for Cat Power’s latest single.
Jarmusch says, “As someone who deeply loves Cat Power’s music, getting to collaborate with Chan on this video was like a dream come true. She’s so inspiring to me, of course as an artist, but she’s also just such an extraordinary person.”