''Speaking for Trees: A Film by Mark Borthwick'' is a DVD/CD package by the American singer-songwriter Cat Power (a.k.a. Chan Marshall), released on October 26, 2004.
Content
The DVD features footage of Cat Power singing and playing electric guitar in a forest at
West Kill Mountain
West Kill Mountain, or Westkill Mountain, is located in Greene County, New York.
The mountain is named after the West Kill stream which flows along its northern side, and is part of the Devil's Path range of the Catskill Mountains.
To the east ...
, New York, filmed by British photographer Mark Borthwick in mostly static shots lasting for approximately one hour and 40 minutes. Marshall does not sing into a microphone, but her guitar is plugged into an offscreen
guitar amp
A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which a ...
.
The DVD also contains three short films by Borthwick, set to the songs "Maybe Not", "Free" and "Half of You," from Cat Power's 2003 album, ''
You Are Free
''You Are Free'' is the sixth studio album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. It was released in 2003 on Matador Records. The album features guest appearances by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters ...
''.
The CD contains the single song "Willie Deadwilder," an 18-minute outtake from the ''You Are Free'' sessions featuring American singer-songwriter
M. Ward
Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...
on guitar. The song was reworked as "Willie", a six-minute track on Cat Power's 2006 album, '' The Greatest''.
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' described the film as "too dull...to be of much use to any but the most obsessive fans" and wrote that despite Marshall's "haunting voice and more-than-capable guitar playing," the film's true focus seemed to be "Borthwick's ingenious concept" itself. However, he praised "Willie Deadwilder" as "not just listenable but deeply intriguing," comparing it to the 1995 Sonic Youth song " The Diamond Sea" in that "every aspect of the track-- its lyrics, length, sense of performance-- conveys this idea: 'This is...our song/ And it will go on and on/ A moment in time traveling on/ Even if it is too long, I don't care.'"
Track listing
DVD
All tracks by Chan Marshall except where noted.
#" Time Is on My Side" ( Jerry Ragovoy as Norman Meade)
#"Night Time/ Back of Your Head" (
Alex Chilton
William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...
/ Marshall)
#"Rule the Islands"
#"You"
#"
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid''. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, ...
" (
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
)
#"From Fur City"
#"I Want"
#"Dream/ Blue Moon/ Try a Little Tenderness"
James Campbell James Campbell may refer to:
Academics
* James Archibald Campbell (1862–1934), founder of Campbell University in North Carolina
* James Marshall Campbell (1895–1977), dean of the college of arts and sciences at the Catholic University of Americ ...
/
Reginald Connelly
Jimmy Campbell (born James Alexander Campbell-Tyrie; 5 April 1903–19 August 1967) and Reg Connelly (born Reginald John Connelly; 22 October 1895–23 September 1963) were English songwriters and music publishers. Writing together in t ...
Harry M. Woods
Henry MacGregor WoodsIMDb bio for Harry M. Woods (November 4, 1896 – January 14, 1970) was a
#"You"
#"From Fur City"
#"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Dylan)
#"Farewell My Enemy"
#"Sad, Sad, Song" (
M. Ward
Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...
))
#"Rule the Islands"
#"Evolution"
#"Night Time/ Back of Your Head" (Alex Chilton/ Marshall)
#"
Sophisticated Lady
"Sophisticated Lady" is a jazz standard, composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington.
Background
Additional credit is given to publisher Irving Mills whose words were added to the song by Mitchell Parish. The words met with approva ...
Mitchell Parish
Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen.
Biography
Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...
)
#" I Don't Blame You"
#"Dream/ Blue Moon/ Try a Little Tenderness" (James Campbell/ Reginald Connelly/ Lorenz Hart/ Marshall/ Richard Rodgers/ Harry M. Woods)
#"The Party"
#"Funny Things"
#"Love and Communication"
#"From Fur City"
#"Sad, Sad, Song" (M. Ward)
#"Night Time/ Back of Your Head" (Chilton/ Marshall)
#"Sophisticated Lady" (Ellington/ Mills/ Parish)
#"I Want"
#"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Dylan)
#"Lord, Help the Poor and Needy" (
Traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...