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March 20, 2007

Feist Video - "Sea Lion Woman"

Seems like everybody's on board with The Reminder, you guys calling it "addictive," "brilliant," and saying "her voice is even better this time around ... I don't know how that is even possible." So this clip oughta hold you over until Leslie puts together a "proper" vid from the record. Call this one a "webisode," taking the studio version of Feist's Nina Simone cover and setting it to footage from the stage, from the studio, and flashing the occasional still pic just to remind you that voice comes along with a photogenic face. You'll also see quick bits of text introducing the rest of the cast on the track (including Jamie Lidell). Enjoy.

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15 Comments

Lovely. Does anyone know where I can find her leaked album, please?

I promise to buy it when it actually comes out. I just would ilke to hear it now...

Posted by: Jesse at 03/20/07 4:59 PM | Reply
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This song is actually a "cover" that Nina Simone did of a recording that Herbert Halpert made of girls singing down south: http://www.answers.com/topic/katherine-shipp

Posted by: Josh Leo at 03/20/07 5:14 PM | Reply
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I thought it was originally called See-Line Woman.

Posted by: curby at 03/20/07 5:30 PM | Reply
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Feist! I guess I could upload it for you Jesse... Um, email me at ymouscold@gmail.com (my backup email) if you are still looking for it.

Posted by: doggie at 03/20/07 6:19 PM | Reply
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It's an awesome cover but why the hell did she change the title to "SEA LION woman"? That doesn't make sense to the context of.... like anything.
She changed up a lyric here and there too, but at least they work.

Also i'm really dissapointed in this particular version. I've heard numerous live versions that are all infinitly better than this studio cut.

Posted by: Elliot at 03/20/07 8:15 PM | Reply
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I didn't realise it was a cover.

Every time i listen to it though, I've thought how very Nina Simone it is.

Great song.

Great Album.

Great artist.

Posted by: Paul at 03/21/07 10:17 AM | Reply
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she is filming a proper video for her new single in toronto right now with the guy who did Beck & YYY's.

Posted by: cm at 03/21/07 10:46 AM | Reply
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soft.

white people always take black people music, and theres no more black people found doing soul music. Its not only that, they dont throw money to blacks, unless they play the game THEIR WAY. They dont put them behind an SSL or a NEVE console, u47 mics, etc. Cause they will outshine this soft shit like they did before since the beginning of time.

Only whites and jews run the music industry right now. And blacks running it wouldnt help, as all ofthe ones who hold the kkkeys are in the pockets of these fools, and are responsible for flooding the inner cities with bullshit rap.

Thats how you sum up all this bullshit up.

White people always support their kind, while the black soul was infiltrated on the corporate media and now its summed up to 50 cent and all that other self destructive bullshit, and there is no real hardcore soul music, ORIGINAL SOUL MUSIC, being made. Everyone who appreciates and profits off of real soul music is whites and jews right now. Sounds fucked up, but thats how it is.

White people love Jamie Lidell, thats cause he has a speck of soul in his voice, NOT MUCH, and hes white and has no competition, white people faint!!!

Posted by: ha ha at 03/31/07 11:26 PM | Reply
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You are a fucking moron.

Posted by: to ha ha at 04/06/07 6:22 PM | Reply
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this songs awesome. after hearing it on her album I regonized the song right away and looked to see who wrote it cause i couldnt put my finger on it. Later I realized it was also done by nina simone but feist doesnt credit anyone for it on her actual album but herself which is weird.

Posted by: CC at 05/15/07 5:06 PM | Reply
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On May 13, 1939, Herbert Halpert made a series of field recordings in Byhalia, MS, including several with the family of Walter and Mary Shipp. Walter, a sharecropper and minister, and Mary, a choir director, had 14 children, several of whom participated in the archival project, but the couple’s two daughters, Christine and Katherine, then 19 and 20 years old, were the real standouts, delivering several rope-skipping rhymes and rhythms that still have an intimate and haunting power all these years later, particularly the eerie and mysterious fragment called “Sea Lion Woman.” The lyrics of this song for keeping time are simple enough, mostly about drinking coffee and drinking tea, but there’s an ominous, edgy, and unsaid eeriness about it that moves beyond words and meaning. The lyric has been given several variant titles over the years, including “Sea Lion Woman,” “See Lyin’ Woman,” “C-Line Woman,” “See-Lye Woman,” “See Line Woman” (this is the title used by Nina Simone for her version), and “She Lyin’ Woman,” all of which only adds to the enigmatic nature of the recording that the Shipp sisters made that day. Greg Hale Jones looped the original field recording of the song to lengthen it, added electronically enhanced ambience, and placed two versions of the modernized version (still containing Christine and Katherine’s vocals) on The General’s Daughter soundtrack in 1999. The end result was spooky and atmospheric, but then so was the original, which continues to fascinate anyone who hears it. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Posted by: radix at 09/12/07 7:53 PM | Reply
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Though I must agree that the manner in which the Black person "ha ha" expresses herself is indeed "moron"ic, there is a great deal of sense behind the hatred. Nina Simone's interpretation of this old jump rope song, which as an older Black woman I Do remember, is by far superior to FEIST's. And the lack of recognition --almost claiming that she wrote this song -- by stating in the liner notes "Sealion contains elements from 'Sea Lion Woman' by George Bass and Nina Simone -- is absurd and totally misleading, especially when you consider the FBI Anti-Piracy warning on Feist's CD. What Feist has done is merely an interpretation, a cover. She is following in the footsteps of ALL those white poeple in the USA who've taken/stolen Black music and writing, slapped their name and voice on it and made millions, giving only a wink and a nod to the original writers/singers as if to say "this is how things are done." It IS a crime and goes unchecked because Black people are still considered inferior and sub-human, not worthy of respect and the recognition they deserve. Feist is good enough not to resort to this way of being in the world. So it's remarkable that she has elected, chosen to betray her own inadequacies. It would speak so much more highly of her if she were forth-right and claimed her debt to Nina Simone for this, Nina's signature song. Though I bought the CD for "1234" and didn't know about this cut, I now have a very reduced opinion of Feist.

Posted by: KT at 10/21/07 2:54 AM | Reply
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...Steve Legget and KT...
I have been struck with infatuation. Your musical sauve and genius leave me astonished. I can't tell you how relieved I am to find this final piece to a puzzle that has been playing over and over in my mind. The original is incredible,...

Posted by: AmJ at 10/29/07 10:18 AM | Reply
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Does everything have to be racial and an excuse for black people doing nothing for themselves anymore
Dr Bill Cosby said
"Its no longer to be blamed on white people that black people are ruinning thier future, give em 5 million dollar football contract they go to inner city Dog Fighting and get sent to prison, give em heavy wieght champ they rape woman and bite ears off, you races lack of desire to accomplish anything and maintain it is your fault. Now RAP is the fault of the man.. lol
no its your cultures fault.

Posted by: Nunya Bidness at 12/05/07 5:34 AM | Reply
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Ok, so here we go again, racism in music... First off, this is not a cover of Nina Simone's song as the lyrics are very different between versions. Second, "See Line Woman" is not a Nina Simone song, in that it was written by George Bass. Finally, the Feist album clearly denotes that the song was written by George Bass and that a splice is used from a recording by Nina Simone. If however you look at the lyrics of See Line Woman, Sea Lion Woman, and the original 1939 version Sea Lion Woman you will see that the current Feist version is an amalgamation of the two and is closer to the original than that of Nina Simone's. I see no reason to bring race or theft into this conversation other than to promote your own racist agenda. The Feist version can stand on its own, or be seen as a fitting tribute to both Nina and the more "authentic" original recording. I would guess that an artist like Nina Simone who "covered" many songs of both white and black artists would welcome this variation on her already barrowed theme.

Posted by: snafu at 01/04/08 7:19 PM | Reply
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