Comment by dylan604 8 hours ago
Leonard Cohen is one of those artists where I tend to much prefer someone else's version of his songs than I do his songs.
I wonder how many people were introduced to him in the late 90s from The Soprano's opening theme?
It’s a common mistake, but this wasn’t him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke_Up_This_Morning
His song ‘Nevermind’ was used as the opening theme for season 2 of True Detective. It has a similar mood imo.
We don't know this True Detective Season 2 that you speak of. It went from the first season to the third season. We've all agreed that season 2 never happened. You must have missed the memo. It should be pinned at the top of your Slack channel. It should definitely be listed in HN's policies.
I always thought the Alabama3 track was just a remix of Cohen's
Here’s a cover of his I like, kind of turned on its head.
At least in terms of emotive distance between original and cover, I'd say Joe Cocker's version of "With a Little Help from My Friends" beats it.
Cocker's version was so compelling they didn't even bother doing the little flat-VI coda from the original. That's the musical equivalent of going out for a coffee during Final Jeopardy because you're so far ahead.
From Wikipedia,
>Cale's version is used in the film Shrek (2001), but Rufus Wainwright's version appears on the soundtrack album.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song...
I like the Wainright cover, but I think there's a direct line from there to Hallelujah becoming a Christmas song. Not that it isn't beautiful, but the song as written is also tinged with irony and without Cohen's winking mixup of the sacred and the profane, it sounds kind of schmaltzy.
Is that pretentious? Hell yeah. Cohen brings out the pretentious side of me because he was such a brilliant writer and it bums me out when his work gets mistaken for platitudes.
> Leonard Cohen is one of those artists where I tend to much prefer someone else's version of his songs than I do his songs.
I disagree. I’m with whoever it was who said “No one can sing a Leonard Cohen song like Leonard Cohen can’t.” Especially the older and more gravelly he got.
I did enjoy his duet with Sharon Robinson on “Boogie Street”, though.