I got around to Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man in the last week or so. I’ve got a book of Cohen’s lyrics and poems I enjoyed, and I get why this guy is so brilliant and all, but my taste-o-meter has just never swung towards much more than a few listens to Songs of Love and Hate. It’s true. I’m a Philistine.* But, I enjoy a good Cohen cover as much as the next guy. Buckley’s is my favorite version of “Hallelujah,” maybe because, aside from being the best one, it was the first I’d heard. Anyway, Teddy Thompson’s fresh and thoughtful take on “Tonight Will Be Fine” was the highlight of the show for me. Thompson’s latest, A Piece of What You Need, released just last week, and the samples I’ve heard are great. His cover of country standards, Up Front & Down Low, is all kinds of sweet slide guitar smooth. I like ‘im.
A close second was Antony’s “If It Be Your Will.” His haunting, as Bjork called it, “black woman” voice (Nina Simone meets Boy George?) is featured on Joan as Police Woman’s last record (Joan Wasser also makes an appearance in I’m Your Man, but not quite center stage). I wasn’t sure what I thought of him at first – it almost completes Wasser’s 70s-ish vibe, like he’s channeling Godspell. Kind of how Buckley’s “Lilac Wine” always made me feel, come to think of it. There’s a lot of incongruities in this image and sound, but the way it somehow holds together draws me in all the more to want to hear it again, like if I keep watching I’ll suddenly solve the mystery. Or it will solve me. Like the man says, “There is a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in” (“Anthem,” The Future, 1992). The song itself offers a prayer of such sincerity, yearning, and faith that it puts a lot of CCM to shame.
What a cool thing, music.
Oh, and I liked Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. He’s an interesting guy. Very easy voice when it comes to talking. And, if you’re not familiar with him, you can pretend it’s all made up, and Leonard Cohen is just a character played by Al Pacino.
*For the record, I enjoy a number of, shall we say, nontraditional vocalists (Tom Waits, Iris Dement, Victoria Williams, Howlin’ Wolf, Daniel Johnston, even Celine Dion). Maybe Cohen just sings in a register to which my ears don’t respond well. I have the same reaction to Cher.
I love Hallelujah, know matter who, really have enjoyed Brandi Carlile’s version lately, though other then Buckley I would have to say KD lang’s is great.. Also, Concrete Blonds “Everybody Knows” is awesome. There are some old ones I love like. Nina Simone “Suzanne” I also like Roberta’s version. and my favorite is Judy’s Collins “That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”
That’s a great list. Hey, Happy – Teddy Thompson’s Separate Ways is like a Finn family record. I’m really into it.
How dare you say Celine Dion’s name in the same sentence as Tom Waits. You must have gone through a neuron civil-war to get that out. Jeff Buckley was truly amazing. I discovered him in high school and he carried me through. What a sad world we live in when his only number one hit comes posthumously because of an American Idol performance.
Here here. I had that Waits/Dion sentence produced by an evil computer, with no conscience.
Hey Dave, I sent your chapbook out today. Thanks!
I listened to The Future some this year and I do find his voice kind of off-putting on that record. The songs are cool but some of the arrangement aren’t that good. My friend was telling my Cohen’s novel “Beautiful Losers” is great.
I can’t listen to the “original” “Hallelujah” without seeing, in my mind, C.J. running from the NYC theatre and sitting on a street bench in cruel tears after the loss of blossoming love. (TWW…Season Three, Episode 22) What an amazing song!
Teddy Thompson’s “If It Be Your Will” had me in tears. It’s a keeper. He’s a keeper…
Oops…wrong name for “If It Be Your Will” Should have said Antony. But I really liked Thompson too.
That television footage (the last bit) has me weirded out in a most redemptive way. The world, I say, is stranger than I thought.
I thank you.
Aw, shucks, Dark. You really know how to make a guy blush.