Double treble octaves and the unglamorous peek into New York City life. Two reasons why “Manhattan” is one of my favorite Cat Power songs. It came from an album that seemed to be deliberately minimalist in production. It’s a paired down sound for one of the most real songs ever written about New York—and it came from a non-New Yorker. The transience. The furtiveness. The New York we know well, but rarely sing about.

“The hotel above and the street below. People come and people go. All the friends that we used to know.”