It was released in 1998 by record label DreamWorks as the first single from his fourth studio album, XO.

[4] Pitchfork said, "Inside a smoky karaoke bar, a man and a woman—two people who may very well be stand-ins for Elliott Smith's mother, Bunny, and his stepfather, Charlie—select songs that thinly veil their marital strife.

She blankly performs the humiliating "Cathy's Clown", he sings the pointed "You're No Good".

Smith uses karaoke night to give us this meta novella about pop music and heartbreak.

at Joe's Pub,[6] and by Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Mangan on his 2020 covers album Thief.