Only Skin (track)
by Joanna Newsom
Only Skin appears on the following album(s) by Joanna Newsom:
- Ys (track #4) (this album) (2006)
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Only Skin ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this track. | Show all 222 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/02/2026 02:58 | stareaterogni0n | 6,691 | 69/100 |
| ! | 06/20/2026 23:14 | alexandermause | 17,992 | 85/100 |
| ! | 06/18/2026 12:24 | libbyshuss | 963 | 78/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some tracks can have several thousand ratings)
This track is rated in the top 1% of all tracks on BestEverAlbums.com. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 88.0/100, a mean average of 86.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.5/100. The standard deviation for this track is 18.1.
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Only Skin comments
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eclab 06/02/2012 01:07 | #43493
"Only Skin" is nearly seventeen minutes long, and can be very trying for the first few listens. But it's one of the best songs of all time. It's nearly a whole album about life, love, grief, pain, sorrow, and joy in and of itself.
Onater 03/18/2017 06:16 | #187605
What can someone even say about this? I legitimately sometimes find it hard to believe that a track this incredible can even exist. 17 minutes and it doesn't get boring for a second, rhythms and harmonies that are just complex enough to be technically interesting while staying beautiful and never getting pretentious or awkward, vivid, gorgeous imagery in the lyrics, and a story that I still haven't deciphered after countless listens. I might be overreacting here, but this has to be one of the most extraordinary songs ever written.
An achingly beautiful song. Joanna Newsom is the only songwriter and performer who could pull this off.
