• Voto:
To cover, coprire, quasi si stesse parlando di una coperta calda, che avvolge, proprio come sa fare la voce di Chan Marshall (nome all'anagrafe di Cat Power), indolente come non mai, discreta come mai altrove. Eppure, basta quel tocco leggero, quel tono di voce, proprio quello, per riuscire a donare ad ogni melodia, ogni canzone, lo stile proprio e riconoscibilissimo della cantautrice americana.
Sì perché pare che in questo caso ci sia una esse di troppo nella coperta: non è cover, ma covers, e allora si parla di rifacimenti di canzoni altrui per quelle che compongono questo disco. I Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone li piega Chan, quasi fossero fuscelli, sradicandoli, decontestualizzandoli, come accade in apertura ad una irriconoscibile “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction” dove l'energia esplosiva dei Rolling Stones improvvisamente implode, dilatandosi, mentre il cantato quasi annoiato, reitera in continuazione le strofe che compongono il “bridge” che seguirebbe il ritornello (per intenderci quando Mick Jagger canta “…When I'm driving in my car… etc etc.”) senza, peraltro, mai esplodere nel liberatorio “I can't get no…”.
È tutta compressa l'energia di Chan, sempre sul punto di esplodere, come spesso capita dal vivo (e chi ha avuto la fortuna o, dipende dai punti di vista, sfortuna, di vederla live sa a cosa mi riferisco), umorale come pochi, emozionale quasi da far scoppiare il cuore come fa in “Troubled Waters“ o “Wild is the Wind”. Disco in sottrazione questo, il primo dove la cantante si presenta davvero sola, senza musicisti di supporto, a nudo, nonostante la sua fragilità, ed è forse questo anche il senso della copertina: abiti gettati in terra, sgualciti, la cantante è completamente svestita di qualsivoglia orpello o abbellimento di sorta, pronta anche ad indossare panni altrui per farli aderire a sé. Ma l'eleganza non è solo un abito, è soprattutto il modo di indossarlo, ed in questo Chan Marshall, non ha nulla da invidiare, a nessuno.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (03:05)
I'm driving in my car
And a man come on the radio
He's tellin me more and more
Bout some useless information
Tryin' to mess my imagination
I'm watchin' my T.V.
And a man come on to tell me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man
Cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me
When i'm riding around the globe
And i'm doin' this and i'm signin' that
And i'm tryin' to meet some boy
Baby, baby, baby, come back
Can't ya see i'm on a losing streak
When i'm riding around the globe
I'm doin' this and i'm signin' that
And i'm tryin'
And i'm tryin'
04 Naked If I Want To (02:47)
Would you let me walk down your street
Naked if I want to?
Can I fire fireworks on the fourth of every single July?
Can I buy an amplifier, oh, on time?
My sweet time
Well I ain't got no money
I will pay this time
And I ain't got no money
But I will pay you before I die
And would you let me walk down your street
Naked if I want to?
Can I fire fireworks on the fourth of every single July?
Can I buy an aeroplane while i'm high in all the sky?
And I got no mercy
I will pay this time
And I got no mercy
I will pay you before I die
05 Sweedeedee (03:53)
You wash them clothes
Swee dee dee
And hang em on the line
I can see by the way
You wash them clothes
Your cookin' must be fine
I'm with you in the morning
'Til the break of day
And I know everybody
Has a little hard luck
Sometimes
And I know lately
I've been havin' mine
We used to live
In a fleabag apartment
You know the kind
And he come home and he'd say to me
We gotta leave, leave, leave the city
You wash them clothes
Swee dee dee
And hang 'em on the line
I can see by the way you wash them clothes
Your cookin' must be fine
I'm with you in the morning
Unill the break of day
I know everybody
Has a little hard luck
Sometimes
I know lately
I've been havin' mine.
06 In This Hole (04:26)
In this hole that we have fixed
We get further, and further, and further
From what
We must do
I saw you asleep beside a wall
Your skull inside a wall
Your eyes blackened by the sound
And the thought of God
Where should I hang my head?
Where would you like for me to hang
My head?
One absence of truth
The one horrible thing I saw:
What you truly wanted to become
And who you thought I was
The fall, the fall
Afraid the love
Runs deeper than the brain
Goes all the way down those tracks
Everybody bow your head
For the greatest inspiration
A complete contradiction
Of ways
In this hole that we have fixed
We get further and further
From what we must do
I know this, I know this
You know this, you know this
In this hole that we have fixed
We get further, and further, and further
From what we must do
I saw you outside that wall
Your skull outside that wall
Your eyes christened by the sound
And the light of God
10 Paths of Victory (03:24)
( Bob Dylan, outtake from "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Sessions )
The trail is dark and dusty
The road is kinda rough
But the clearer road up yonder
With the cinders on the side.
Trails of troubles
And your roads of battle,
They lead paths of victory
We shall walk
I walked down to the valley
Turned my head up high.
Seen that silver linin'
That was hangin' in the sky
Trails of troubles
And your roads of battle,
They lead paths of victory
We shall walk
The mountain was a movin'
The hummin' of its wheels,
Told me of the new day
it was coming across the fields
Trails of troubles
And your roads of battle,
They lead paths of victory
We shall walk
The gravel road is bumpy,
It's a hard old road to ride,
But the good road is a-waitin'
And the boys it ain't far off.
Trails of troubles
And your roads of battle,
They lead paths of victory
We shall walk
Carico i commenti... con calma
