Songs of Life and Death

With, both, “Cover Me” and “Coverville”, a pair of the world’s premiere homes for lovers of cover songs, sending birthday wishes to Allison Crowe today, it’s an invitation to explore the artist’s body of interpretive work. All music can be found linked via the “ABC List” @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/ABC.html 

A supreme interpreter and arranger of songs - traditional, Celtic, jazz, Broadway, hymns, carols and aires – Crowe’s famed for her renewal of popular songs – including those first penned by Canadian icons Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, and Atlantic coast treasures Gary O’Driscoll, Al Pittman / Ron Hynes, Wince Coles, Harry Hibbs+, alongside tunes from The Beatles, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco,Counting Crows, Lovin’ Spoonful, Phil Ochs, Annie Lennox, Radiohead, Ronnie Shannon, Patty Griffin, Kris Kristofferson, the Rolling Stones and more.

In this rich and varied repertoire, each of Crowe’s singular performances is a favourite.

Having just come off the road with Allison Crowe and Band – during our travels we learned of Leonard Cohen’s passing. Tonight, his manager released these details:

“Leonard Cohen died during his sleep following a fall in the middle of the night on November 7th. The death was sudden, unexpected, and peaceful. He is survived by his children Adam and Lorca, and his three grandchildren Cassius (Adam’s son), and Viva and Lyon (Lorca’s daughter and son).” http://cohencentric.com/2016/11/16/statement-details-leonard-cohens-death-robert-kory-president-rk-management-manager-leonard-cohen

Allison Crowe, together with countless people all over our world, shares a special bond with the bard “born with the gift of a golden voice”. This relationship intertwines with the DNA of Leonard Cohen songs – among those in her repertoire is his universal “Hallelujah”. Of this, “Cover Me” founder and editor Ray Padgett opines:

“Born in British Columbia, Crowe has amassed a loyal following in Canada and Europe. The songwriter’s songwriter pure tones sound like a bell, no show-off acrobatics necessary. The amazing thing isn’t just that she performs the best version of Leonard Cohen‘s oft-covered ‘Hallelujah’ (sorry Jeff); the amazing thing is that she does so using the same solo piano style that everyone else does. There’s nothing particularly creative about it; her voice is just that good! So throw all those other ‘sensitive’ covers. This one’s the keeper.”

The blog 'anacronyms' says:“Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction."

Thank you, sincerely, L. Cohen. We have the music.

Cover Me Covers Crowe

Cover Me, the covers blog penned New York-based music writer, Ray Padgett, (SPIN, Consequence of Sound, Mashable and others) features In the Spotlight: Allison Crowe

"There are some voices that speak (or sing) for themselves. You know the ones. Voices where it doesn’t matter what they sing. Voices where it doesn’t really matter what instruments support them. Solomon Burke has such a voice. Jeff Buckley had it. Allison Crowe has it too."

So begins a posting which well showcases a cross-section of Allison's cover work - Rolling Stones, Cyndi Lauper, Pearl Jam, The Beatles and, says Padgett, "the best version of Leonard Cohen’s oft-covered 'Hallelujah' ".



Check out Cover Me for this Allison installment, and, for lots more on the art and fun of interpretation.

Children’s Crystal Palace Marches on London, May 1, to Hallelujahs

This Saturday we’ll know how many Hallelujahs it takes to fill the Albert Memorial with sounds celebrating one of history’s great buildings and flights of imagination.

At high noon on May 1, a few hundred yards from the Marble Arch, in London’s Hyde Park, John Greatrex and his team will construct a miniature model of the Crystal Palace – out of more than one thousand empty cassette and CD cases decorated by local schoolchildren.

This event coincides with the opening day of the latest World Expo in Shanghai and commemorates the 159th anniversary of the opening of the Great Exhibition in London (The First World Expo). Handel's “Hallelujah Chorus” marked the opening back in 1851, and this weekend, it will be heard again, and joined by Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as performed by Canada’s Allison Crowe (the recording from her album/CD “Tidings”.)


The original Crystal Palace is considered the world’s first theme park, described in its day as "a fairy palace within a wall of glass and iron". The iconic structure housed elaborate fountains, fine art courts, replicas of Egyptian colossi, and, even, models of pterodactyls. It captured the world’s imagination for over 90 years while standing, and, after being entirely destroyed by fire in 1936, shines on - a crazy diamond in literature and art – gaining mention in works varied as those of: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground” and “Crime and Punishment”; Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow”; and the Tori Amos song “Winter”.


Greatrex, an historian and a founder of the Crystal Palace Foundation, was a member of the British Athletics Team in the 1970s. His goal now is to build a “Children’s Crystal Palace” exhibition for London’s 2012 Olympics to represent the “marriage of sport and art” in the spirit of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, godfather of the modern Olympics. From 1912 to 1948 medals were awarded at the Olympics for athletics, architecture, sculpture, painting, music and literature.

With an actual Olympic torch from London’s 1948 Games, which relayed the flame lit in Athens, John Greatrex is pacing things toward 2012’s pavilion. He envisions a structure in the shape of the Crystal Palace, six metres wide, 18 metres long, and 4.5 metres high. Light will stream in the many glass windows, each ‘stained’ by young people, from schools, sporting groups and/or solo to create the effect of “walking through a child’s kaleidoscope”.



Earlier this month, the New York Times’ Rob Walker reported on the trend of cassette tapes and cases appearing increasingly in today’s pop culture. The smaller-scale palace being constructed this weekend in London, England, represents an ambitious and whimsical use of the medium.

Says John Greatrex: “At 12noon on 1st May 2010 the Cubs and Scouts of the 1st Crystal Palace Patrol will be building the Children's Crystal Palace on the steps of the Albert Memorial under the watchful eyes of the larger than life golden gilded Happy Prince - Albert The Good.”


Allison Crowe, the free-spirited musician and songwriter from both of Canada’s coasts, wishes the troupe great fun right out of the blocks. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is an awesome song, loved by singers and audiences, and its global embrace, which has only intensified since Crowe recorded it for her “Tidings” album in 2003, is one of popular music’s most legendary.

Of the song’s covers, UK-based culture blog, “We Write Lists”, commented last month: “There are dozens of entries to this catalogue, and to list them all in any form of detail would fill an afternoon both for you and I. It's easy to skip over so many of the inferior versions, more difficult to ignore those by Rufus Wainwright, kd lang or Kathryn Williams. Only one version remains impossible to ignore, however.

Allison Crowe is perhaps renowned a little too much around these parts. She is considered consistently magnificent - a burden on talent nobody should be given. Nevertheless, her cover of 'Hallelujah' is simply stunning, and remains one of my favourite covers of all time. Taking, as ever, inspiration from (John) Cale's style of the song, Crowe throws in more soul and sadness than any one person should be capable of. In Crowe's hands, the song has as much majesty as Cohen could ever have conveyed, as much sadness as the (Jeff) Buckley version and as beautiful instrumentation - though completely original, and even more sparsely terrific - as (Regina) Spektor or (Rufus) Wainwright or anyone else you may care to mention. Simply, a song so beautiful has never been sung so beautifully.”

Hallelujah Leonard Cohen

With his induction tonight into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame it seems a fitting time to rise from Winter hibernation and say thanks to Leonard Cohen for his songs.

Working with Allison Crowe, I've come, particularly, to witness the power of "Hallelujah". It's not the most covered of Cohen's songs - that would be "Suzanne" or "Marianne" - though, it's certainly the most potent in today's cultural context.

Two versions have been released on disc by the writer himself, a shorter lyric on 1984's "Various Positions", and a longer version recorded in 1988 and released in 1994 on his "Cohen Live" album. It's generally acknowledged that John Cale, with his version (of the shorter lyrics "Hallelujah"), on the 1991 I'm Your Fan Cohen tribute album, established the form that most performers have since followed in their interpretations.

For the 1994 release of Jeff Buckley's album "Grace", famed mixer Andy Wallace (Run DMC, Aerosmith, Nirvana +), in the role of producer, reportedly took three of the 21 or so takes recorded by Buckley, and blended them together into a seamless whole that, for the next decade, served as the song's most public representation.

In 2002, the Hollywood movie Shrek was released, and its huge popularity brought "Hallelujah" to a much broader audience, including children. In the movie itself, one hears John Cale's rendition of the song. The movie's soundtrack CD contains a version recorded by Rufus Wainwright.

The next year, Allison Crowe first recorded the song - for a six songs, EP, version of her "Tidings" song collection. This "Hallelujah" was recorded live, in a single, first, take. Allison was recovering from ill health, and, in a darkened studio, would perform a song, then, sip warm water or tea, and record the next. It happens that the recording of the two videos online of her performing "Hallelujah" also took place in real time. The "Tidings" Fan Club video is posted earlier in this blog, so, here, now, is the live recording of "Hallelujah" made Inside Pandora's Box - a CHUM television studio in Victoria, B.C., Canada. This performance forms part of the tv special that's aired each year since 2003 across Canada during the Christmas holiday season.



"I love singing Hallelujah. It's such an awesome song. I just feel humbled, " says Allison.

I imagine that's how most feel about this glorious song. It's a gift from Leonard Cohen to artists and audience alike.

With the internet revolution, forums such as YouTube are becoming a conduit for music in the folk tradition. Lyrics and chords can now be shared and learned by people all over the globe - with immediacy. It's akin to a global campfire singalong.

Since the slow-burning, cult-status, days of "Hallelujah", the embrace of the song has been ignited, and, accelerated via mp3 blogs, podcasts, home videos and more online. Added to more recordings by mainstream, label, acts - including kd lang, Brandi Carlile, and Bon Jovi - this Leonard Cohen song, once a cabaret standard, is now a popular standard. (It's even a staple of the "Idol" pop franchise, perhaps facilitated by licensing associations - it's been performed on Australian Idol, Swedish Idol, Canadian Idol, and, just last week, by American Idol contestant Jason Castro.)

I've noticed, too, that there appears to be at least half-a-dozen performers who claim this as their "signature" song. The fans of some acts are extremely partisan and protective of their own chosen idols. Taking the big view, however, it's the song that ennobles the singer, and not the other way 'round.

Hallelujah Leonard Cohen.

(BTW, Allison includes a couple of other Cohen-penned songs in her repertoire: "Joan of Arc", and "Tonight Will Be Fine". Of the pair, so far, she's recorded only "Joan of Arc" - for her Secrets album.)