Recorded January 1998 Label Matador | Length 4:32 | |
Published September 22, 1998 (1998-09-22) Genre Indie rock, southern gothic Writer(s) Cat Power (lyricist/composer) | ||
"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.
Contents
Background
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."
Music video
"Cross Bones Style" was never released as a single, but a music video directed by Brett Vapnek was released for the song. Marshall has cited the video for Madonna's 'Lucky Star' as an influence on the video. 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."
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"
In 2006, the music video was ranked #44 in Stylus' top 100 music videos of all-time list.