Josienne Clarke has released Katie Cruel, a reimagining of the traditional folk song long associated with themes of exile, rejection and endurance. The song has passed through centuries of oral tradition, with notable versions by Karen Dalton in 1971, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on 1992’s Henry’s Dream, and more recently by Agnes Obel and Lankum.
Clarke’s version extends the song with two newly written verses. “I needed to have a point of personal connection,” she says, “to be able to imagine the song in my own voice and canon, or to be able to place myself in the narrative.” Her additions align the song’s estrangement with the realities of an uncompromising artistic life. Built around an electric guitar figure and recorders, the arrangement is spartan and resolute, adding emotional weight to the song.
The accompanying video, directed by Alec Bowman-Clarke, finds Clarke as two figures on a cold stone promontory — cloaked in a black Victorian-era mourning dress and a sheer, ghostly white veil. In a Director’s statement, he says:
“The visual architecture of my video for ‘Katie Cruel’ is built upon the concept of a temporal palindrome, reflecting the haunting duality of a life folded in half. By mirroring the vibrant desirability of youth against the ghostly invisibility of age, the film explores how time distorts our sense of self. We see the ‘young’ and ‘old’ Katie existing in the same physical spaces, separated by a veil of memory. This symmetry suggests that the song is not just a linear journey of decline, but a circular trap where the ghost of who she was constantly haunts the reality of who she has become. The result is a visual echo that mirrors the song, a story that reads the same in both directions: a woman seeking a home she can no longer find, a place she no longer belongs and a body she no longer inhabits, when, in truth, all of those things co-exist, in time & in memory. Thanks to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet for inspiring this piece.”
“I’ve always loved this song, but a personal version eluded me for years,” Clarke says. “Since turning 40 and entering a new phase of my life and career I’ve enjoyed rediscovering it.”
Katie Cruel is released as a standalone single.
The track also features in our latest Monday Morning Brew Playlist.