Various Artists' I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Ray Padgett
Various Artists' I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Ray Padgett
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Ray Padgett’s deeply-researched, passionately written book did what the very best tribute albums do: Recontextualized and deepened the source material. In the same way that John Cale made listeners hear “Hallelujah” anew, this book made me hear tribute albums like I’d never heard them before.
Ray Padgett’s deeply-researched, passionately written book did what the very best tribute albums do: Recontextualized and deepened the source material. In the same way that John Cale made listeners hear “Hallelujah” anew, this book made me hear tribute albums like I’d never heard them before.
If you read Ray Padgett’s book, and you really should, I guarantee that, if you have the album he’s writing about, you’ll be digging it out to listen with fresh ears. If you don’t have it, you’ll be hitting the internet to check out the album and the covers therein.
Using the famed Leonard Cohen covers collection as its jumping-off point, Ray Padgett’s I’m Your Fan digs into the weird, ever-expanding world of the tribute album. We get a detailed account of how I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen came together via revealing interviews with its curators and performers. We learn how the album kickstarted Cohen’s then somewhat-flailing career and—for better or worse—helped turn the then obscure 'Hallelujah' into the ubiquitous standard it is today. We discover that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ version of 'Tower of Song' originally clocked in at over a half-hour. It’s all great stuff. But even more interesting are the various side-trips Padgett takes the reader on: like a chat with the late/great tribute album pioneer Hal Willner ('It’s all my fault isn’t it?' he asks wearily); or a lengthy digression with Juliana Hatfield, a tribute album mainstay who doesn’t really like tribute albums. Like most of the 33 1/3 books, I’m Your Fan is a quick read, but you’ll want to savor this one.
I’m Your Fan changed Cohen’s career from a mid-tier, well-regarded songwriter to someone rightfully considered among our finest musical poets. Not many, if any, tribute discs can make a similar claim on their impact. Padgett’s deep dive into the how’s and why’s of that claim make for a quick yet engrossing read.
A smart and lively look at a project that was oddly significant in Leonard Cohen’s career – but, beyond that, a long-overdue examination that (partly) redeems the much reviled format of the tribute album.
I’m Your Fan uses a specific tribute album to explore multiple aspects of music fandom and record culture—how artists channel their influences, how a song’s meaning can change over time, the way formats shape our understanding of music history. A marvelous entry in the 33 1/3 series, even for those who’ve never heard the album in question.
Ray Padgett is the founder of Cover Me, the largest blog devoted to cover songs on the web, and author of Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time (2017). His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, SPIN, The AV Club, Vice, and MOJO, and he’s been interviewed as an expert on cover songs by NPR, The Wall Street Journal, SiriusXM, and dozens more. He lives in Burlington, Vermont and also works as a publicist for Shore Fire Media.
Ray Padgett’s deeply-researched, passionately written book did what the very best tribute albums do: Recontextualized and deepened the source material. In the same way that John Cale made listeners hear “Hallelujah” anew, this book made me hear tribute albums like I’d never heard them before.
If you read Ray Padgett’s book, and you really should, I guarantee that, if you have the album he’s writing about, you’ll be digging it out to listen with fresh ears. If you don’t have it, you’ll be hitting the internet to check out the album and the covers therein.
Using the famed Leonard Cohen covers collection as its jumping-off point, Ray Padgett’s I’m Your Fan digs into the weird, ever-expanding world of the tribute album. We get a detailed account of how I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen came together via revealing interviews with its curators and performers. We learn how the album kickstarted Cohen’s then somewhat-flailing career and—for better or worse—helped turn the then obscure 'Hallelujah' into the ubiquitous standard it is today. We discover that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ version of 'Tower of Song' originally clocked in at over a half-hour. It’s all great stuff. But even more interesting are the various side-trips Padgett takes the reader on: like a chat with the late/great tribute album pioneer Hal Willner ('It’s all my fault isn’t it?' he asks wearily); or a lengthy digression with Juliana Hatfield, a tribute album mainstay who doesn’t really like tribute albums. Like most of the 33 1/3 books, I’m Your Fan is a quick read, but you’ll want to savor this one.
I’m Your Fan changed Cohen’s career from a mid-tier, well-regarded songwriter to someone rightfully considered among our finest musical poets. Not many, if any, tribute discs can make a similar claim on their impact. Padgett’s deep dive into the how’s and why’s of that claim make for a quick yet engrossing read.
A smart and lively look at a project that was oddly significant in Leonard Cohen’s career – but, beyond that, a long-overdue examination that (partly) redeems the much reviled format of the tribute album.
I’m Your Fan uses a specific tribute album to explore multiple aspects of music fandom and record culture—how artists channel their influences, how a song’s meaning can change over time, the way formats shape our understanding of music history. A marvelous entry in the 33 1/3 series, even for those who’ve never heard the album in question.
Ray Padgett is the founder of Cover Me, the largest blog devoted to cover songs on the web, and author of Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time (2017). His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, SPIN, The AV Club, Vice, and MOJO, and he’s been interviewed as an expert on cover songs by NPR, The Wall Street Journal, SiriusXM, and dozens more. He lives in Burlington, Vermont and also works as a publicist for Shore Fire Media.