Cat Power

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• melt someone's brain
• stage fright
• pound out
• pull something out

• indie
• in tune
• live
• vocalist

• take shots
• cover

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

The indie singer/songwriter Chan Marshall, who performs as Cat Power, has a great voice. But what exactly what makes a voice great? It’s more than the ability to stay in tune or hit a wide range of notes. A singer can be technically very skilled and have a really sweet or powerful voice. But if they’re missing that little something extra, they’ll still only be good…even very good…but not great.

Cat Power doesn’t sound like anyone else. As soon as you hear one of her songs, you instantly know it’s her, even if you’ve never heard that particular song before. Maybe that’s what makes her voice great: it’s unique.

Devan and Beren both love Cat Power. They’ve also both seen her perform live. But their experiences were really different. Listen to them talk about one of their favorite singers.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Beren

Devan:  My all time favorite female vocalist, Cat Power.

Beren:  Oh, Chan Marshall. She’s incredible. She has a new commercial, I think it’s for a car. And she’s covering David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” It’s insanely good.

Devan:  See, and he’s my favorite male vocalist, so it’s like my favorite of two worlds coming together.

Beren:  Did your brain melt when you first heard it?

Devan:  Pretty much, yeah. I just think her voice is so unique, and if I could sound like anyone I’d want to sound like her, even though I sound like the exact opposite of her, ‘cause I’m all high and squeaky.

Beren:  I love it. Have you seen her live? She sounds exactly like she does on the record, it’s insane.

Devan:  She does, and I…Yeah, I saw her pretty recently. I didn’t get to see her back in the days when she had really bad stage fright and would run off the stage.

Beren:  I did. I saw her maybe four years ago, and she played for two and a half hours, and most of that time was spent like crying and just pounding out chords on the piano. And then she’d drink. She had a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, and she was just drinking. It was uncomfortable, but then when she would pull a song out it was amazing. It sounded so good.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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