Halfway decent Leonard Cohen cover versions.

.. Because the first one I recall hearing was "First we take Manhattan" by Jennifer Earned, and the most recent being the Fred Banana Combo doing "Bird on the wire"

Maybe only pick one cover for each song (but by all means ignore mine, even though the Fred one I do like)

Jesus & Mary Chain - "Tower of Song"
To get an obvious one out of the way, k. d. lang - "Hallelujah"

Tori Amos - Famous Blue Raincoat.

http://forum.atu2.com/index.php?topic=20432.0

nina simone - "suzanne"

I prefer the John Cale - Hallelujah to the original

it was on that album of covers I'm Your Fan that came out around 1990?

yeah, the cale version is the best. still wish cohen and cale had worked on an album together, could've been something.

Coil - "Who By Fire"
To get an obvious one out of the way, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Avalanche"

Roberta Flack "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz38Vxkyow4

not halfway decent but totally stunning

Yeah love that one. Was just about to post it too.

Opal - Sisters of Mercy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ZgWwsVH50

jennifer warnes/rob wasserman - ballad of the runaway horse

Been a long time since I heard any of them, but enjoyed Judy Collins' many covers back in the day---first tyme I ever heard his songs was on her records, starting before his debut came out; fave was the live version of "Famous Blue Raincoat,"(with no background singers, so more intimate than his studio original) on her Living--didn't know it was his 'til the last line---she talks about all that here, in a passage from her autobio:
https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/cover0.html

Fave version of "Hallelujah" is Willie Nelson's, though I'm sure I've missed some; sooo many people have recorded it, seems like.

Also Marianne Faithful's version of "Tower of Song."

She also does a nice "going home" with eno doing backing vox

Lloyd Cole does excellent versions of "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Chelsea Hotel".

And Cobra Verde did a good "So Long, Marianne", with a sing-along, drink-along celebration of the chorus.

Concrete Blonde "Everybody Knows" has sentimental value.

Great use of two "Future" songs from the "Natural Born Killers" soundtrack, a key recognition of his enduring power (I know not a cover, but a different context, at least.)

The artists on "I'm Your Fan" are by and large super cool. The artists on "Tower a Song" just a few years later are generally so square. Just an observation.

Fairport Convention's "Suzanne" is pretty good.

Johnny Cash's Beast in Me

^^That's a Nick Lowe song.

The Flying Lizards' version of 'Suzanne' is amazing but I don't know how much it would appeal to Cohen fans.

here's a good recent one by myriam gendron (whose not so deep as a well LP channels cohen at times)
https://soundcloud.com/notsodeep/avalanche

Johnny Cash did do a good version of "Bird On A Wire", I think---kinda don't wanna dig through the leaves just yet----

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt03rcciRvc

'i'm your fan' was the first cohen stuff i ever heard, and i like most of those versions better than the originals

cale otm

Man, my parents played that Roberta Flack album a lot when I was a kid. That performance was immediately familiar, but I never connected it to my subsequent fandom.

Willie Nelson does a beautiful version of Bird on a Wire

Nobody's said "Sister of Mercy" yet so I'll say Beth Orton.

Yes, they have.

More from RWF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP1b2zbYMp4

Buffy Sainte Marie God is Alive, Magic is Afoot which I think may actually be her putting a poem by him to music but is pretty great nonetheless.

& I think Fairport did a few of his songs live that might not otheriwse be recorded. Not sure hwo many turn up on the bBC box set but i think I have a couple on early bootlegs.

suzanne and bird on a wire are on the heyday bbc collection.

tim hardin did a nice bird on the album of the same name from the early seventies.

at least a couple of covers by pearls before swine... not sure what's going on with that runaway conga(?) action on their version of suzanne though.

fairport's suzanne is really good -- i like the sandy denny/iain matthews vocal dynamic there ... maybe there's no such thing as a bad "suzanne"? (there probably is)

Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris did a beautiful version on the:Wailing Wall"album. Also, Emmylou did a lovely, understated version of :Runaway Horse" on Cowgirl's Prayer.

Jennifer Warnes can do no wrong,

Uh...Linda and Emmylou did a beautiful version off Sisters of Mercy.

I remember a great version of "Suzanne" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

Unfortunately, it was in a dream I had.

Jennifer Warnes can do no wrong,

mmm, 'up where we belong'

The Pixies "I Can't Forget"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojmdvJQMx8

Re: Suzanne, I always liked Françoise Hardy's version.

fairport's suzanne is really good -- i like the sandy denny/iain matthews vocal dynamic there ... maybe there's no such thing as a bad "suzanne"? (there probably is)

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

Just until a second ago I didn't know that this wasn't a song by Buckley. He made it his song.

No he didn't, John Cale did.

can't stand Buckley's voice

No way. John Cale's version is boring as hell.

I give up.

Whatever. Just listen to the first Cash American recording and get lost in that.

I take it that's the "Bird on the wire" doc on BBC4 right now.

There's a shitty bootleg of the Hal Wilner 'Came So Far for Beauty' tribute to Cohen concert (Dublin, 2006). On it, Mary Margaret O'Hara has a go at The Window. She starts off screwing up the first verse, only getting the odd line then falling off; then going again and trying to find her way inside it (from the crowd, there's some friendly laughter and some encouragement and someone shouting "Go on Mary"), and then she gets it and it's lovely. The frailty and always-almost-falling-off bring it to life for me - I find his own version a bit of a plod (despite being words-wise a magnificent bit of mystic-love business - "O tangle of matter and ghost!")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49VQ3-PTr7k

I never need to hear hallelujah again but Jeff Buckley brought it to my attention in the 1st place so

Minor fall and the major lift

That's it

R.E.M. does a nice First We Take Manhattan

Don't really like John Cale version of "Hallelujah" that much, would rather hear Cale sing one of his own, similar tunes, like "Buffalo Ballet."

Also, paging forks to thread to make a playlist. Or any other playlist-making-loving ilxor

Not a big fan of Judy Collins but her version of "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is prob my fave ever Cohen cover

Also it's a cover of a song Cohen covered but Electrelane's take on "The Partisan" is great, as long as we're in bingey mourning mode

I love Anna Calvi's instrumental version of "Joan Of Arc"

And the Suzanne Vega version of "Story Of Isaac" from the tribute album

Re: Suzanne, I always liked Françoise Hardy's version.

Buckley's Hallelujah is obviously hugely overplayed at this stage, but the way he elaborated on the original - all those delicious passages of guitar etc. - remains a model for cover versiondom, and puts it ahead of all the other versions - I like Cohen's and Cale's too.

Martha Wainwright's The Traitor is another one which I think greatly expands on the original.

Love Greg Dulli's "Paper Thin Hotel"

i was in the crowd for tom jones doing "tower of song" on Later... and i won't lie, i thought it was moving as hell despite (or because of?) his jones-ing it up

The first one received Cohen's stamp of approval:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6qWofurDg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHM1VTeeI4c

I love that!

I think the first Cohen I heard was a live Joan Baez version of "Suzanne." I think I have probably missed some big chunks of his catalog. I do think he's an extraordinary songwriter, but overall I'd rather hear other people's performances (so this thread is great).

If anyone could point me in the direction of a gravel-voiced South American diva doing 'Dance Me To The End of Love', preferably slowed down and with a mournful violin, that would be greatly appreciated.

Will this do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0asBvxkaXw8

overall I'd rather hear other people's performances

I understand that POV but I also highly recommend giving the Live in London and Live in Dublin renditions a chance if you haven't already. (Also, the banter on those albums is amazing and hilarious.)

I love that!

Both?

Will this do?

Still too fast, but it's doing very nicely.

"Bird on a Wire" by Stina Nordenstam is so mmesmerising. With the reverb it creates such an intimate atmosphere, she unveils the hidden beauty of the tune and transforms it into a misty fairy tale. She catapults the song to another level.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OLgMXiycVOc

What about a polling thread where we find out about the best covers of the most famous Leonard Cohen songs?

A general LC poll was proposed in the RIP thread, I offered to run it. Covers would be one of the categories for sure.

Jellyfishbabies, "Famous Blue Raincoat"; Basic English, "Memories".....if you're Canadian and over 40, you had, like, at a minimum three great local band cover versions of LC: but few made it to record....

I saw Nick Cave do "I'm Your Man" at one of those Hal wilner shows in prospect park, -'d he hit it out of the park easily.

And then there's one of the better thints Billy Joel has recorded:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sly0MmNQzE

Also have wondered whether Bob Seger'/ "Fire Lake" is a Michigan "Who By Fire?".

Another vote for Nina Simone's version of "Suzanne". Who would have thought that there hides such a groove behind that song.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T3B0iJQcXmk

Always thought Cohen's later live arrangements of bird on the wire took a fair amount from the Tim Hardin version

I think there was an hour long tv show of a Hal Wilner directed covers set. THink it was the Cohen one anyway. Saw at least the Cave part of it several years ago.

Was wondering about this Wilner-produced Cohen tribute concert film (show in Sydney, with a live-in-the-club bonus from the man himself, backed by U2). Says the soundtrack is actually mostly from an earlier show in Brighton (with an additional [iTunes] bonus track by Laurie Anderson, yay). Anybody seen/heard these??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen:_I%27m_Your_Man

The covers are on Spotify. Pretty respectable, definitely erring on the side of respectful. I'm partial to the Jarvis cover, but I would be.

Flamenco Hallelujah that Cohen once brought into KCRW to play:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T2j9Ps_bha4

I was at that Willner show in Brighton, it was a great night. I really like the Teddy Thompson, Handsome Family and Martha Wainwright ones.

Another vote for Jennifer Warnes, that whole album she did is sublime. I've often thought she was a bit sidelined in Cohen's post-1988 career, as that album was pivotal in rekindling interest in him. Maybe she had her reasons for not going out on tour with him, but not to be invited to perform at those Willner shows or any other shows for that matter was unfortunate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlTsET0UU4Y

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/without-further-ado-here-is-every-cover-of-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-we-could-find_us_58260923e4b0c4b63b0c63da

"Bird on a Wire" by Stina Nordenstam is so mmesmerising. With the reverb it creates such an intimate atmosphere, she unveils the hidden beauty of the tune and transforms it into a misty fairy tale. She catapults the song to another level.

― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, November 12, 2016 3:35 PM (five days ago)

otm!

I like her b.s. description of the recording process in the liner notes of that album:

Bird on a Wire [3:41]

Vocals from back in my appartment in stockholm.
Birds from outside the windows of L. Cohen's house on Hydra... But back in Copenhagen we'd had another sensational experience. I remember it as late but at some point all clocks had stopped. And he made us all wide awake, drunk, happy. John playing those drums.

Fabrizio de Andre's version of Suzanne (in Italian) is pretty good, as is Noel Harrison's (in Anthony Newleyish English). Dion's Sisters of Mercy not bad too. I really think those early songs are unruinable.

Bonus track from the 2007 20th anniversary reissue. I actually like it more than anything that made the album proper.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5qKBi7bGTaU7cWlXJ6lNgw?si=220ae1196fb04e95