The Greatest

Producer

The title song from Cat Power’s blockbuster record The Greatest opens the album with the same halting, thick-fingered piano style Marshall has relied on since 2000’s The… Read More

Jan. 20, 20061 viewer70.7K views

The Greatest Lyrics

[Chorus]
Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
Stars at night turned deep to dust

[Verse 1]
Melt me down
Into big black armor
Leave no trace of grace
Just in your honor
Lower me down
To culprit south
Make 'em wash a space in town
For the lead
And the dregs of my bed
I've been sleepin'
Lower me down
Pin me in
Secure the grounds
For the later parade

[Chorus]
Once I wanted to be the greatest
Two fists of solid rock
With brains that could explain
Any feeling

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[Verse 2]
Lower me down
Pin me in
Secure the grounds
For the lead
And the dregs of my bed
I've been sleepin'
For the later parade

[Chorus]
Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
Stars at night turned deep to dust

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About

The title song from Cat Power’s blockbuster record The Greatest opens the album with the same halting, thick-fingered piano style Marshall has relied on since 2000’s The Covers Record, but here it’s swathed in Henry Mancini strings, teary delay effects, gently nudging drums, and Marshall’s own multi-tracked voice echoing her lead vocals like Mary and Flo on the Supremes' loveliest ballads.

The Greatest, with its evocative lyrics of nostalgia and regret is, like Colors and the Kids and Good Woman before it, bleakness at its most pristine.