Leonard Cohen: First we Take The Hall of Fame Casey Dorrell

On sunday, february 5th, Leonard Cohen was inducted into into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He shared the honour with dubious others such as Anne Murray and Gilles Vigneault who are both responsible for a collection of pretty absymal songs (with the exception of Murray's "Snowbird" of course). Cohen made a short acceptance speech saying, "If I knew where the good songs came from, I'd go there more often," pausing before adding, "So it is that we shuffle behind our songs into the hall of fame — shuffle awkwardly, not quite believing that we wrote them but happy that [we did]. You have been so good to me over the years, my heart is full of gratitude." Leonard Cohen, of course, is a Canadian born singer-songwriter, and also a novelist and poet, though he hasn't published much in the latter two mediums for some time. A long-time citizen of L.A., Cohen is known for his deep, almost spoken-word delivery which is typically accompanied by ample synth and sometimes cheesy cabaret-style female backing vocals. While his musical arrangement is, at times inferior, his lyricism on his early work is rarely short of brilliant. This is what's made his songs so frequently covered, particularly the song "Hallelujah". So, in addition to Cohen's personal induction, five of his songs were also given the honour: "Ain't No Cure for Love", "Hallelujah", "Bird on a Wire", "Everybody Knows", and "Suzanne". Manhattanites must have some pull with the Hall of Fame voters. As part of the big CBC sponsored event (oxymoron?), three of Cohen's songs were covered live. k.d. Lang performed her great, but now tiresome, cover of "Hallelujah", Willie Nelson (inexplicably) covered "Bird on a Wire" as he did on a pretty atrocious Cohen tribute album about a decade ago, and Rufus Wainwright delivered an awesome cover of "Everybody Knows". The show is set to be on CBC television tonight, but Mocking Music being great as we are, have mp3s of the performances so you don't have to watch it. A new documentary by Lian Lunson entitled "I'm Your Man" features several new covers, mostly from a tribute performance in Sydney, last Australia Day (January 26th). Artists who paid tribute included Beth Orton, Nick Cave, Bono, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, and Antony Hegarty (Of Antony and the Johnsons). I've included a few notable covers along with the Hall of Fame performances and the original Cohen songs. Willie Nelson's cover is interesting merely as an oddity, and k.d. Lang's cover won't please most of you much, but I do recommend Wainwright's great version of "Everybody Knows". Download: Leonard Cohen's induction in typical CBC overblown superlative Leonard Cohen - Bird on a Wire Willie Nelson - Bird on a Wire (Live @ Songwriters Hall of Fame) Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah k.d. Lang - Hallelujah (Live @ Songwriters Hall of Fame) Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows Rufus Wainwright - Everybody Knows (Live @ Songwriters Hall of Fame) Bonus: Pixies - I Can't Forget (Leonard Cohen) Dead Boy and the Elephantmen - The Night Comes On (Leonard Cohen) Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) Bob Dylan - Hallelujah (Live 1988 Leonard Cohen cover) Buy: Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man Various Artists - I'm Your Fan