Only Skin
Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
(16:49)309,848 plays (61,501 listeners)
folk, female vocalists, harp, epic, singer-songwriter… see all
Videos for this track
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Joanna Newsom - Only Skin (Part One)
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Joanna Newsom - Only Skin (Part Two)
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Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
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Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
About this track
The longest song on Newsom’s second album, it had a complicated creation. Incorporating different bits of songs and the whole of a song only played live named ‘Be A Woman’, the song took the longest to write of all of them.
Newsom talked about it’s creation;
“The evolution of the song took a long time. I knew from very early on in its life that I wanted it to be a very long song, that it would be vulgar to make it short. But it took me a long time to finish it.
I worked sectionally, I guess - I knew where each section was supposed to go, I knew the story I wanted to tell, more or less, and the order in which I wanted each piece of the story to appear. I know I’m using the word ‘story’ real loosely here, but the song is telling a story, from where I’m standing.
But some of the pieces were a long time coming. I might have had some lyrics, and some instrumental passages, and then I’d get a bit more in the way of words, or a bit more in the way of music, and I’d just kind of whittle away at the thing awhile and then wait it out again.
As far as the specifics of the verse, the “poetic devices” employed and all that - I have to say that it makes me feel uncomfortable to think too much in those terms when I’m looking at my own songs. I love looking at other people’s music real close-up, like that, but I feel like I worked hard enough writing the dang thing, and I shouldn’t really have to go back and explain what I was doing from a technical standpoint or analyze my own style - just makes me feel squeamish and claustrophobic.
Newsom talked about it’s creation;
“The evolution of the song took a long time. I knew from very early on in its life that I wanted it to be a very long song, that it would be vulgar to make it short. But it took me a long time to finish it.
I worked sectionally, I guess - I knew where each section was supposed to go, I knew the story I wanted to tell, more or less, and the order in which I wanted each piece of the story to appear. I know I’m using the word ‘story’ real loosely here, but the song is telling a story, from where I’m standing.
But some of the pieces were a long time coming. I might have had some lyrics, and some instrumental passages, and then I’d get a bit more in the way of words, or a bit more in the way of music, and I’d just kind of whittle away at the thing awhile and then wait it out again.
As far as the specifics of the verse, the “poetic devices” employed and all that - I have to say that it makes me feel uncomfortable to think too much in those terms when I’m looking at my own songs. I love looking at other people’s music real close-up, like that, but I feel like I worked hard enough writing the dang thing, and I shouldn’t really have to go back and explain what I was doing from a technical standpoint or analyze my own style - just makes me feel squeamish and claustrophobic.
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Shouts
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gwaar wrote:
I have the lyrics to this song posted on my wall. It's truly one of the best and most inspiring songs I have ever heard
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ravna_1 wrote:
hermosa!
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mouton wrote:
so much variation in one song; how her singing, the melodies alter and keep variating. Amazing.
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Whatsif wrote:
I totally agree... that's one of the most beautiful "song climaxes" I've ever heard, right there.
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KStewartRose wrote:
The part when her boyfriend at the time, the guy from Smog, sings with her gives me the chills, "All my bones are gone gone gone..."
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kerouacbuff wrote:
Very very beautiful. Brings you into tranquility.
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Denitz wrote:
Breathtaking.... in every way
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girlcontinuum wrote:
Best. song. ever.
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Confessions87 wrote:
In the running for my favourite song ever, like, fo' real, yo.
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H-chan wrote:
my preciousss :)
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tazaabha wrote:
longest. song. ever.
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Weirdelves wrote:
I wrote a little description with a quote I hope its okay.
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origamicreature wrote:
Simply breathtaking... It took a while to pop up, but now I love it! Can't get enough of it. It gives me the chills. What an amazing song!
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solidus19 wrote:
I fall in love with her every time I listen to this song.
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dgimp wrote:
Makes me weep like a little bitch, for sixteen minutes.
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khoff wrote:
clear the room there's a fiery fiery fire!
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Weirdelves wrote:
And there was a silence you took to mean something run, sing. For alive you will evermore be Every line in the song makes me wanna quote it! Its her masterpiece <3
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sprig_ wrote:
i tried to analyse this for my English assessment, i agonised over it for days and i still don't really know what it's about.
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MecasSingelo wrote:
i love how she takes a trip to the visible world and states concretly: hold on, hold on, hold your horses.
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IngridO wrote:
it really IS too much, and in the best way. it's an exhausting and beautiful journey.
Listeners
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