And that was called love for the workers in song

[venta]

It's Friday, and it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).

Following an overwhelming response last week (one person replied, they said yes) I've taken the file info out of the mp3, so your media player can't accidentally give the game away.

I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...

Link to cover version expired

REM covering First We Take Manhattan, originally by Leonard Cohen.

Let me say straight away that I don't hold with the whiney "OMG they, like, ruined my special song" school of cover-attitudes. No, they didn't ruin it. I think you'll find your favourite song is right were you left it. They just produced a version which isn't as good (in your opinion) as the original.

Alexandar Burke is, in my book, allowed to churn out all the Cohen covers she wants to. I don't expect that I'm going to like them much, but I'm guessing she can cope with that. I'm a big fan of Leonard Cohen, I'm probably always going to prefer his songs sung by him (with the possible exception of Mr Buckley's version of Hallelujah).

So, is this cover of First We Take Manhattan as good as the original? No, says the gospel according to Venta, it is not. It is, however, different and interesting (especially in the vocal department) and I deem it worthy of a couple of careful listens.

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I actually really like Jennifer Warnes's version, probably more than the Cohen one. Which isn't because I don't like LC - I do. But if I find myself with an earworm, it's her version I'm hearing.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm not aware of her version, but according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_We_Take_Manhattan) it was written by Cohen but originally recorded by Jennifer Warnes. Which makes her version (according to my rules :) not a cover version. I'll have to crawl about the web looking for it now, I'm curious.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

That whole album of hers is pretty good, I reckon.

[zotz]

That is exactly true, yes.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Me too, Cohen's version is quite cheesy really.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You say that like it's a bad thing :)

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

She succeeds in making the poppier middle bit fit with the rest of the song.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I recognised lovely Michael Stipe from the first syllable he uttered, whereas I didn't recognise the song until the chorus (not a huge Cohen fan).

R.E.M. do some fantastic covers: 'All I Have To Do Is Dream' is one, and I love what they've done with Richard Thompson's 'Wall of Death'.

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Despite not having not heard of the song it really wasn't hard to deduce that it was REM and 'First we take Manhattan'

The Cohen version is not at all what I'd expected. Having now heard both I'd say that I prefer REM, but that there's an awesome epic version of this song still waiting to be recorded. Unless it's the Jennifer Warne version.

Found it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvmt2TeI_2w

It's not. Although I think I do recognise this.

[zotz]

I've heard this once or twice before. I should just get the album, really,
even though it does have the Bad Seeds version of Tower of Song, which is officially the worst Cohen cover in the world, ever.

And yes, Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat is very good. I think she was his backing singer through the Seventies - even when she was selling vastly more records than him, she insisted on it. If you've ever wondered who is actually his biggest fan, now you know.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

[grin] I thought that I'd replied and asked for the tags to stay in, so that I don't have to put them back in ... but I may have forgotten. No worries!

I've got a rather fine cover of Dance Me To The End of Love - I think from the Strange Days soundtrack. I can recommend it.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I like the Ute Lemper cover of this.

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

As with Uptown Top Ranking last week, I got to know this cover version before I'd ever heard the original. Perhaps because of that, I think it's mighty fine. More!