Beautiful song!
The Original
Leonard Cohen:
The Cover Songs Competition
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Nick Cave with Perla Batalla & Julie Christenson vs. Geoffrey Oryema
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Nick Cave with Perla Batalla & Julie Christenson:
Certainly some slick gyrations on the part of the Caveman. Nick is just too cool; the devil incarnate plays Tom Jones.
Geoffrey Oryema:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Also, keep in mind that if you should spontaneously self-actualize while playing a cover then you could – and probably should – nominate it for Top 10 (i.e. “Impeccable”) consideration.
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Cave!
If you had put Nina Simone’s version up against Nick Cave’s, it would have been an epic battle. (I’d have voted for Simone, though.)
Alright, Arnster, you’ve been waxing poetic over that Simone rendition for some time now. I’ll add it in at some point and we’ll have that epic clash of titans. No way Nina grooves about like Nick though. That is one smooth man!
Any other covers you want to recommend?
Interesting point on Nick’s cover. I have not verified it but my understanding is that his stage-mates, Perla Batala and Julie Christenson, are the same duo that backed Cohen on the original cut.
Agrees with the good doctor
I thought Nick was superlative. I remember Julie from singing with Divine Horsemen, an SST band back in the late 80s with Chuck D. as male frontman. He got an acting gig or two. Played a cheap hit man in a B movie. Might have been Looker. It featured gratuitous nudity hard to come by back in the old days and likely why I remember that. Oh yeah, you can tell Nick’s adoration for the song in the way he becomes overtaken by it. The flow of the song and the imagery encapsulate Cohen.