Music of the Day, 5 January 2025

do they really?

Today’s MotD popped up on the radio station in my mind yesterday for unknown reasons. I was busy at the time, and when it finally rolled around again, it was late in the evening … not an ideal time for me to write. I thought it would submerge again for a long time (for reasons that will be clear soon), but it returned this morning, so here we are.

I first discovered this artist via a cover of a song that was used in a pivotal scene of a very popular 2001 animated fantasy movie. My kids rewatched that movie frequently, and I eventually wondered about the entire song. That’s how I found the song’s most well-known cover and liked it so much I bought the disc that had it.

Researching the song’s provenance led me to today’s featured artist. And that’s where the clear trail ends. I started listening to one of his performances of that song and noped out of the video almost immediately. His singing was worse than the person’s I’d long considered the worst singer I’ve heard, and even the most insightful or touching lyrics and great songcraft wasn’t enough to keep me around.

So I don’t know how, when, or why I returned to his extensive discography years before his 2016 death. I just know that I did, and listened to today’s tune. His singing still grates,¹ but the songcraft is superb. I’m sure that’s why it has stayed with me.

Hearing it again after several years, “Everybody Knows” set off a cascade of musical associations. The opening chord movements remind me of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which I only know via Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise” parody. That was quickly lost in the urgent rhythm and Leonard Cohen’s entrance.

According to the Wiki page for the 1988 album I’m Your Man, it was the first on which Cohen used keyboards and synths pretty extensively. It’s all fine to my ear. What grab my attention are his lyrics, Sharon Robinson’s² lovely background vocals, and the oud, a Middle Eastern type of lute. It gives “Everybody Knows” a wistful air that adds an interesting twist to his cynical, bleak lyrics.

There was a time when I would have agreed with them: there are many things we implicitly know or understand but rarely acknowledge to ourselves, much less discuss with others. At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, fewer people seem to be thinking deeply enough to get there.

I have a complicated relationship with Leonard Cohen’s music—well, what little of it I’ve heard. His lyrics are superb and I appreciate the emotion he put into singing them, but his voice is unlistenable for me.³ Someone in my past apparently appreciated it a lot: I have albums by him that span 1968–2002. As always, suggestions are welcome, originals and covers alike.

1. this is simply an observation, not a complaint. I’m a terrible singer myself. Cohen gets kudos for keeping at it and trying to improve

2. she also cowrote this and many other songs with Cohen

3. it’s interesting that the Wiki page for this album, linked earlier, includes some of Cohen’s thoughts on his singing voice and its development