"Headlights" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in ...

, released as her debut single in 1993 by The Making of Americans. The song is a

first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...

that tells of a girl dying on the road after a car accident. The photograph featured on the front cover of the single was taken by photographer

Emmet Gowin Emmet Gowin (born 1941) is an American photographer. He first gained attention in the 1970s with his intimate portraits of his wife, Edith, and her family. Later he turned his attention to the landscapes of the American West, taking aerial photogr ...

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The city is located in the Southside (Virginia), Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River ( ...

in 1969, titled "Nancy." The single received a limited 500 pressings on 7-inch vinyl.

Composition

The song was written by Marshall, with the addition of Bob Bannister (guitar, violin) and Glen Thrasher (drums). The lyrics are a

about a young woman dying on the side of a road after a car accident. It alternates between the scene of the woman dying as her friend stands over her, and the conversation that took place moments prior to the accident. Marshall later revealed that she wrote the song about a friend of hers who had died.Marshall, Chan. Interview with KCRW (2003)
YouTube
/ref> The song was re-recorded by Cat Power in December 1994 with guitarist Tim Foljahn and drummer

Steve Shelley Steven Jay Shelley (born June 23, 1962) is an American drummer. He is best known as the longtime drummer of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, for whom he played from 1985 until their 2011 disbandment. Biography Shelley was born in Midland, ...

, and was placed on her debut album, ''

Dear Sir ''Dear Sir'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power, released in October 1995 on Runt Records. Recorded in New York City in December 1994 during studio sessions with Tim Foljahn and Steve Sh ...

'' (1995). The version of the song featured on the single includes an untuned violin in addition to guitar and drums, whereas the later version of the song that appeared on ''Dear Sir'' was recorded with guitar and drums only, and featured more

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

Track listing

Personnel

*Chan Marshall – vocals, guitar *Bob Bannister – guitar, violin *Glenn Thrasher – drums *Craig Flanagin – producer *Don Fury –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

References

{{authority control 1993 songs Cat Power songs Songs written by Cat Power