Song 176 - Three of the Greatest Leonard Cohen Songs

The word sadly says goodbye to the talented Leonard Cohen today, who died at the age of 82. Born in Canada; Cohen was not only a singer but a poet and novelist and leaves the world with an incredible legacy of songs that will be part of the worldwide musical history. I first came across the music of Cohen as a student studying in Edinburgh in the 1990s. The person who introduced me to his music loved to claim such a broad range of music taste, but, sometimes, I thought that the musical tastes where his dad's and like me, his parents' tastes became his own and he past Cohen on to me. 

The one song I associated most with Cohen, mainly because it is one of the only songs where I heard his original version first is I'm your man. Taken from his 1988 album of the same name,  I absolutely love Cohen's lyrics throughout this song, it is a love song but without all the shoulder pads and glam rock of the 1980s. When I listen to this song I remember a Soul Club in the West end of Edinburgh where we used to go and just chill out and enjoy music until the small hours.  The song lyrics are a loose translation of the poem Pequeno Vals Vienes by Federico Garcia Lorca, one of Cohen's favourite poets. 

The album itself was hailed as a return to form for Cohen and remained number one in Norway for 16 weeks and topped the charts in the UK. When asked to vote on the favourite Leonard Cohen songs of all time, readers of Rolling Stones put I'm you man" in the top ten along with two other tracks on this album.   

Listen to I'm your man by Leonard Cohen

My second Cohen song is "Favourite Blue Raincoat", which he wrote in 1971 and released as part of his third album, Songs of Love and Hate. Written as a letter, the lyric tells the story of a love triangle between the singer, a women named Jane, and the male addressee, who is identified only briefly as " my brother, my killer". I was first introduced to the cover version that Toris Amos did in the late 1990s. Amos is one of my favourite songwriter and her style on covering this song blew me away.  

It strikes a lovely melancholic image of a well- loved jacket that symbolised a person. Cohen said that he was the owner of the famous blue raincoat but claimed as a composition he was never satisfied with the song. Thinking the Cohen wasn't happy with the song makes me wonder what he would have like to have changed it! As to me, the song is perfect.

Listen to Famous Blue Raincoat
Listen to Tori Amos' Version

The last song, which is probably the most widely known out of my choice of three is Hallelujah which was first released in 1984 on the studio album Various Position. The song itself at the time of release had very limited commercial success, to begin with. However, in the 1990s, people started covering it, with the most famous being Jeff Buckley and the song has become an international hit, covered by many. I think Jeff Buckley's version stays with people because of his untimely death and the fact that he never saw how much of an impact his version of Cohen's classic would have on the world. 

Hallelujah is another song which Cohen struggled with and there is a suggestion put forward that he may have written as many as 80 versions before recording it for his album. The album itself was nearly never released. Another song that I can now not imagine life without and the different version evoke different memories for me.

Listen to Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
Listen to Jeff Buckley's Version
Listen to Rufus Wainwright's version

There is a line from a poem that I read that says "Death is nothing at all, I have only stepped into the next room." Cohen joins a wealth of pop royalty that has left the world stage for heaven's this year and all we have left are the wealth of their sweet lyrics to comfort us in dark times. RIP Leonard Cohen, thank you for your music.

Song 175 - Mad World by Gary Jules

There is not a lot to be said about this song choice but the words President Elect Donald Trump. 2016 has been a year of situations where we have said it will never happen only to watch our world change overnight.

Orginally written by the British Pop Band Tears for Fears, the song first charted in the UK in 1982, when it reached no. 3 in the UK Chart. Being 5 at the time, I don't really remember the original version but I fell in love with the song when it was covered by Gary Jules in the film Donnie Darko in 2001. This version reached number one and would earn Roland Orzabal his second Ivor Novella Award in 2003.

The lyrics and melody of this song are beautiful and I think describes our world perfectly today 

Mad World by Gary Jules

Song 174 - Revolver by The Beatles

   The first Friday album for a while and today's album is celebrating its 50th birthday today. Yes of course, I'm talking about  Revolver, the 7th studio album of the Beatles. It spent 34 weeks in the UK album chart, with 7 of these being at the top of the chart. With a noticable progression in terms of style and experimentation from Rubber Soul, this 50th year old hearded the band as studio innovators and has inspired musicians throughout the world.

The Beatles started recording Revolver in April 1966 and recorded contintually for three months. Paperback Writer and Rain were released as their 12 single in June, a gap of six months from their last release which was their longest gap between releases since the band started. But anyone who knows this album and the quality of music coming from the Beatles at this time knows it was worth the weight. Paperback Writer & Rain never made the album; which contains14 tracks.

Recording started with the song Tomorrow Never Knows, which started the revoluntion in recording techniques as the song introduce many of the new studio technique the band together with George Martin and Geoff Emerick put together. The techniques included the incorporation of tape loops and backwards recordings of guitars, the use of a classical oct, indian-music backing, varispedding, reversed tapes and close music miking. The album is also credited with the invention of automatic double tracking (ADT), a technique  invented by the engineers in Abbey Road and was adopted throughout the record industy. It's not surprising that the album took over 300 hours to record and produced.

The album opens up with Taxman written and performed by George Harrison. Hearlded as the Beatles' first topical issue song and uses the Indian guitar played by Paul McCartney.It is an upbeat tempo that has lyrics normal people can relate to, and as we know from reading the news over the last year, there has been many a celebrity who have found a way to avoid the taxman character that Harrison sings about.

This is followed up by, prehaps, one of the saddest Beatles song written by Lennon and McCartney, Eleanor Rigby. Who was Eleanor Rigby?  A name on a grave that the band didn't now, but the lyrics address the theme of loneliness, which is something every generation can relate to. All four Beatles play a part in the lyrics to the song, but George Martin made the decision to put strings behind the lyrics.  One music journalist at the time said  "the corruption of 'Taxman' and the utter finality of Eleanor's fate makes the world of Revolver more ominous than any other pair of opening songs could."

I'm only sleeping increases the tempo once more and uses the clever technique of Varispeeding and ADT on Lennon's voice. This track was one of three tracks that was cut from the US version of Revolver and has been described as half acid dream half latent Lennon laziness personified by Barry Miles. The songs were cut due to an earlier release of the tracks by Capitol,  It is a perfect song to listen to if you are on holiday or even having a well derserved day off and know that whilst the world spins, you can enjoy life at a more gentle pace. This is followed on nicely by Harrison's first foray into Hindustani classical music with "Love you to". The Beatles had already started using Indian music in their songs as Lennon brought in an Indian sitar for Norwegian Wood. My interest in India and Indian culture has been sparked this week as I've discover that I have ancestors who were born in India.

As we nearly reach the middle of the album, here comes a song that was inspired by the Beach Boys' God Only Knows. McCartney's beauty ballard Here, there and everywhere is a beautiful lyrics journey of a heart in love. Love is very much a theme throughout this album (and every album they wrote) but perhaps these tracks show the maturing style of not just the song writing of the band but the emotional growth. Love and the meaning of love changes with the experience you have. If I was a Rock DJ on air, I would dedicate this track to my in-laws who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this week.  I feel there is something more romantic about old love as the longer two people are together the more entwinded they become. I am a romantic at heart.

Often described as the coffee break from the drama of their song writing, Yellow Submarine was written with Ringo's voice in mind and again the work achieved on this track to create a nautical atmosphere to accompany the lyrics. It would be four years before the film of the same name would be released. Good pub quiz knowledge.

Before you get gidding from the sea, the tone of the album changes again with the song She said She Said. This song only features Harrison and Lennon as there was an argument in the studio and McCartney stormed out. The lyric "I know what it is like to be dead" comes from a conversation with Peter Fonda, who remember nearly dying during an operation as a child.  The track recording went right up to the wire taking nine hours to produce, with just 24 hours before the album had to be finalised. If you were listening to the original recording of this, this is where the record would need to be turned over.

Side 2 for those who know what sides are starts as bright as any album with the track Good Day Sunshine. A song for anyone who can't help but smile about life. Followed up with And your bird can sing there are signs of Dylan's inspired  composition and a nod to Frank Sinatra with this number. This was another track omitted from the US album version.  

Talking about love, I wonder what it is like for Jane Asher who is said to be the inspiration for For No One, to hear this song now and whether she listens with fondness for the memories or regret. No one will probably ever know.  Keeping the theme of being inspired by people the next song, Dr Robert celebrates a New York physician known for dispensing amphetamine injections to his patients. On the recoding, the hard-driving performance is interrupted by two bridge sections where, over harmonium and chiming guitars chords, the group vocals suggest a choir praising the doctor for his services. Dr Robert was the third track not to make the US album. 

Harrison said he wrote I want to tell you about "the avalanche of thoughts" that he found hard to express in words. The song opens with a descending guitar riff as the recording fades in, similar to the start of the Beatles' 1964 track Eight days a week. This song is quickly followed up with Got to Get you into my life and was described by McCartney as a ode to pot.

Perhaps it is the last track which was their first track to start recording for the album which was the band's greatest achievement in studio recording at this time. This song is one of the earliest example of the emerging counterculture genre of psychedlic music. Some of the production on this track along is why this album often top of the best albums of all time.

I think and perhaps it is just me but one of the lovely things about this album is that you can see the development of the Beatles from the early days of Hamburg and Beatlemania to four very talented musicans who built on their roots. Their music evolves from what has gone before and the fact that they commissioned Klaus Voormann to design the (now) iconic album cover shows that they didn't forget their friends. For those who don't know Voormann becames friends with the Beatles when they first did gigs in Hamburg and was involved with the start of their careers

I could talk about this record for hours but perhaps it is better for you to listen it to understand why this album is only 50 years young and will be listen for another 500 years.

Written by Lennon, McCarney & Harrison
Album: Revolver
Released: 5 August 1966.

Song 173 - Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

 When I was going through my Kylie Minogue fan phase in the late 1980s, my sister was listening a different kind of music, which I am very grateful for as it helped keep my music tastes wide open. I am trying to avoid using the phase my sister listened to cooler music then me, but you can take it any way you like.

Released in 1988, Fast Car was Chapman's lead single from her debut album named Tracy Chapman. It reached number 5 in the UK chart. The lyrics together with Chapman's unmistakeable voice speaks about the idea of an uncomplicated world of being able to jump in a car and keep on moving, and although it is clear that Chapman is taking about life in America, I think we all understand that urge of being able to jump in a car and run from the  daily rountine of life. 

Chapman performed Fast Car at the televised 70th birthday concert for Nelson Mandela in 1988. Mandela was still in prison at this point and the pressure was building on the South African Government to release him. He would be released in 1990 after 27 years in prison. I think I remember my sister having a recording on tape of Chapman performing at this concert.  VH1 said of Tracy Chapman that she helped usher in a period of political correctness with bands like R.E.M and 10,000 Maniacs  

When I heard this song on the radio today, it took back to a place of positivity and hope and no matter what happening in the world just now, we have to believe that somehow, somewhere, there will be a way through all this violence that keep happening around the world. But the first thing we need to make sure is that people feel they belong somewhere and feel as though they are going to listen to.

Song 172 - Dear Mr President by P!nk

 

When the news broke that Donald Trump had secured his nomination to run for President of the United States, P!nk's song, featuring the Indigo Girls popped into my head as a concept that once I laughed at has the potential of being a reality and the news is somewhat terrifying . Then I thought the world at the moment is a very scary place and there seems an uncertainty hangs over the world on what is going to happen next. All we can hope is that the leaders and future leaders of this world will remember not to group people together and tarnish them all with the same brush because humans are individuals and although there are some horrible humans; it is simply not fair to judge people because they share things in common with others. Sorry this has become political but too much has happened this year in the world not to sit on the side lines.

Originally, P!nk wrote this for her fourth album, I'm not dead and was an open letter to President Bush's administration at the start of the noughties. The song itself needs very little detail analysis but speaks for itself about how P!nk thought about Bush and what was going on her country. Maybe it is a bit soulful for a Saturday afternoon in July, but sometimes in the heat of madness, you need a change of gear and something more reflective so here's it is

Dear Mr President by Pink

Written by Pink and Billy Mann

Released December 2006

Album: I'm not dead

Song 171 - Man on the Moon by R.E.M.

Having quickly placed one of their song into the jukebox on Friday, I wanted to come back to R.E.M, as they deserve more than a fleeting mention. Song choice from them today is Man on the Moon, which was their second single from their 1992 Album Automatic for the People. The lyrics of the song are a tribute to Andy Kaufman, the American Actor and Entertainer that died in 1984, with the chrous playing up to the moon-landing conspiracy which was mirroring the idea the Kaufman's death had been a hoax.  The lyrics makes reference to the career of Kaufman including his famous Elvis impersonation.

 The lyrics were written by R.E.M's front man Michael Stipe, with the melody written by Bill Berry and Peter Buck and for me it is a beautiful song.  R.E.M, first came into my life when I was in high school and was one of those bands that I religiously taped off the Top Forty on a Sunday night. I was out with friends at the weekend and we were reflecting that the youth of today don't know the fun of taping music off the radio and trying desperately not to get the voice of the DJ onto your mixed tape. Although I think with the Top 40, I would always be called for tea before the end of Top 40 so I would have to keep the tape running.

Formed in 1980, R.E.M.'s music spans 30 years up until the band's split in 2011. Automatic for the People was one of two of their most commercially successful albums, with Out of Time being released two years after. For me, they were a stable diet of high school years and music camps adventures. I will always remember that they played Murrayfield in Edinburgh just after I had finished high school. A concert, which alas, I missed, but I remember that it became a significant event in meeting two of my best friends from University as we all discussed R.E.M. on the first day of our course. They both are more dedicated fans of R.E.M. than me so hopefully I will have got my facts right today and they had huge posters of Michael Stipe on their bedrooms wall.

The song itself was a critical success reaching number 18 in the chart, and going on to be the main song on the soundtrack of the film about Andy Kaufman starring Jim Carey. Described by the New York Times as "Shining with a wit that balances R.E.M. more somber tendencies",  it speaks to the girl inside of me that always wanted to travel around space and go to the moon. Reach for the stars has always been one of my beliefs.

Have a listen and see if you believe what the New York Times reporter said:
R.E.M's Man in the moon

Written by R.E.M
Released: 1992
Album: Automaticc for the People

Song 170 - Two songs for this mind blowing day

Don't really believe that I am currently in the world, I was in yesterday after hearing the results of our vote on staying in the UK, but it has made me think of three songs that describe some of the comments I have seen on Facebook today. Both songs are from bands that I really respect. Sorry music followers, but I was rudely awoken this morning with the news that the UK is leaving the EU. Not what I wanted and not what I would have imagined today to be like.

It is the end of the world as we know it by REM

Mad World by Gary Jules

Back to normal tomorrow