L eonard cohen muse skin#

( Supplied: Sony)īut only one of the two films features an interview with Vicky Jenson, co-director of Shrek.

L eonard cohen muse skin#

John Lissauer (pictured playing keyboards) first worked with Cohen on his 1974 record New Skin for the Old Ceremony. 'Look, Leonard,' Columbia CEO Walter Yetnikoff told him, 'we know you're great, but we don't know if you're any good.' (The record would subsequently be given a limited US release through an independent label, to little fanfare.)ĭan Geller and Dayna Goldfine's documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song – based on a 2012 book by Alan Light – charts the transformation of the track from deep cut to all-purpose anthem, and situates it within the broader context of the great singer/songwriter's life and career. Today, it's a staple of weddings, funerals, and – bizarrely, for a song by a Buddhist Jew – Christmas albums, and has been sung with unfettered gusto by enough Pop Idol hopefuls to make many of us never want to hear tell of David's 'secret chord' again.īut Hallelujah was no overnight hit for its gravelly, golden-voiced maker in fact, Cohen's record label, Columbia, declined even to release Various Positions in the United States, certain of its lack of commercial appeal.

What do Bono, Susan Boyle and Jon Bon Jovi have in common with Jeff Buckley? For better and for considerably worse, they are amongst the hundreds of musicians to have covered Hallelujah, the song originally written and recorded by Canadian bard Leonard Cohen for his 1984 album Various Positions.