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    Perhaps the most moving record ever

    by SeasideMan Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 23:18:09

    Jeff Buckley singing Leonard Cohen:

    I'm in tears now.

    Tom.

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42 Comments on Perhaps the most moving record ever

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  • Did you know that Jeff Buckley (son of Tim) was in a relationship with songstress "Joan as policewoman" Wasser? She has just brought out her second album.

    And Robert Plant recorded Tim's song "Song to the Siren".

  • It's a very nice version...and he's got a lovely voice like his Dad, but, sorry, Tom, it's Leonard Cohen for me singing this song...it's not often I like somebody else's version of a song sung by a singer I love to listen to so I suspected this wouldn't affect me in the same way it does you...but it's still a very lovely rendition of it...the video goes well with it too...great big hugs...XX

    • I knew you'd say that :-)

      The power of the original in everything is hard to beat. But in this case, Cohen fan though I am (and have been for over 30 years) Buckley gets my vote. His version just has bucketloads of genuine emotion, unlike Cohen's deliberately cold delivery.

      As a musician myself, I love the fact that Jeff Buckley just sat in the studio and played and sung that at the same time: what you hear is just him, with no overdubs and no studio trickery at all. He literally just sat on a stool, played the guitar and sung. Even Cohen didn't do that on his original.

      Jeff Buckley's sad early death means we'll never know how he would have developed as an artist and as a writer, and to me that adds extra poignancy to the song.

      Tom.

      • Predictable aren't I...LOL...you really think Cohen's delivery was cold!! I find nothing cold in Cohen's songs...his tonal quality can't deliver coldness...some of the songs are plaintive and heart rending but cold...no, never cold...and how sad that Jeff Buckley is dead as well...his father overdosed and now the son is dead by drowning...hmmm...both so talented too...very sad...

        • Forgot to add that Leonard Cohen used to be classified as the suicide's singer but I never found that to be so...strange how some people find a singer depressing while I found him uplifting...Phil Ochs was the closest other singer that could be said to be a depressing song writer, but again I found his songs marvellous and evocative...and unforgettable too...

          • I can see what people mean about Cohen, even though I don't agree. His deep voice and accurate dynamics mean that he comes across to many people as cold and, as you say, suicidal. Personally, I don't find him so, just as you don't. I too find him uplifting, but I think we are the minority.

            For whatever reason, deep male voices are associated with dark subject matter, and I suspect that is never going to change: Cohen will never be as popular as Johnny Cash was.

            Tom.

            • Well, I don't think we can be a minority because he would have sank like a stone at Glastonbury if the people there found him depressing...and Johnny Cash I found to be boring...not really into country and western singers on the whole more folk like Woodie Guthrie and in small doses...hmmm..forgotten his darned name...HLOL...oh, well, that's age for you...Pete Seegar...got it after googling it..in Wikepedia there's a list of folk singers and there's many amongst them that I loved...Joan Baez being one of my favourites and Janis Joplin was classed as folk too...loved her as well...

              • He wasn't that popular at Glastonbury, actually. The crowd for him was quite small for the timeslot and stage he had. I have this from 3 people who were actually in the crowd watching him.

                I think I probably prefer Country to Folk, and if I had to classify Janis Joplin, I'd put her as Jazz/Blues.

                Tom.

        • I do, I think Cohen often deliberately cultivated a cold delivery to contrast with his lyrics. I have friends who refuse to listen to him because of the coldness and bleakness of his music. When you get a lyric like:

          "Give me crack and anal sex
          Take the only tree that's left
          and shove it up the hole in your culture"

          it's hard to see how any delivery other than a cold and unemotional one could work. I think that's why he so often employs female backing singers too: they add warmth and balance the coldness of his own voice.

          Tom.

          • I think it depends on your interpretation of cold...his lyrics are very hard hitting often which is why I like him so much...I like song writers who say something....you've selected a particularly harsh example there but it's illustrating what he wanted to get across...I guess I respond to his music because there's an element of bleakness in me about this world and where it's going...but it would never make me feel suicidal...just a kindred spirit expressing some of things I feel and think about...he went down brilliantly at Glastonbury, which really pleased me...that's a young generation who appreciates him and didn't find him depressing at all...LOL...a bit of hope in an otherwise dark place...they also loved Tony Bennett, two years ago, which also pleased me as he's a great singer of a completely different ilk...

  • Me too.

    That is a great song. Brilliant and not a little soul searching. Video all too thought-provoking, eh? Have a great night. Gil x.

    • I'm glad it's not just me. I first heard this at a low point in my life and it quite literally laid me to waste. Terrible emotions, laid bare.

      Tom.

  • I feel the need to say something here, but I don't know what. Buckley, Drake, Cohen, - I love 'em all.

  • It'll always be Leonard for me. I quite like the kd lang version though.

    • K D Lang does a good job of it, I agree. But somehow Jeff Buckley's voice suited it perfectly. Leonard's original is good, of course it is, but for me it's one of those times when the songwriting idea exceeded the ability of the writer to perform it (something that happened to Bob Dylan and Lennon and McCartney hundreds of times each).

      But I know we all have different views on this, and that's a sign of a great song.

      Tom.

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