Judy Collins (Click image to enlarge)
Judy Collins On The Cover
In an interview1 tied in with her concert last night in Ottawa, Judy Collins talked about the conundrum certain singer-songwriters face in choosing whether to perform their own songs or those popularized by others, an issue addressed recently in this blog at Allison Crowe On The Cover. Given the fortuitous timing, the recurrent subject matter, and, of course, the Canadian connection, I can’t couldn’t resist spotlighting pertinent excerpts from the Judy Collins article.
Judy Collins, the iconic 1960s songstress-turned-label exec, will always have a soft spot for Leonard Cohen, the influential Canadian singer-songwriter. As music fans know, he was the poet whose songs helped define her musical identity early in her career. Her version of Cohen’s Suzanne on her 1966 album, In My Life, was a breakthrough for both of them.The pair became good friends, and Cohen used to send cassettes full of songs to Collins, with a note asking her to please consider them. Around the same time he was nudging her to record his songs, he was also the catalyst for Collins to try her hand at songwriting. “When Leonard said to me, ‘Why aren’t you writing your own songs?’ I immediately sat down at the piano and wrote Since You’ve Asked,” Collins said during a recent phone interview. “It took me about 40 minutes and I thought, ‘Oh, this is a cinch.’ Little did I know.”
Chuckling at the memory, Collins detailed the dilemma she’s faced ever since. “Do I spend the time learning new songs? Do I spend the time writing new songs? Do I learn the songs I’m crazy about and start performing them? It has to be a balance between those things,” she said.
In recent years, Collins has recorded several albums that pay tribute to master songwriters. She tackled Bob Dylan songs in 1993, Cohen’s in 2004 and Lennon-McCartney classics in 2007. While she’s highly regarded as a fine interpreter of other people’s songs, the latest project with her name on it is a tribute to Collins’ own songwriting. Born to the Breed is a star-studded collection of her songs interpreted by Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few.
Despite this renewed spotlight on Collins’ own material, her latest song crush is a Jimmy Webb tune, which she couldn’t resist performing at the recent CD-launch concert at Joe’s Pub in New York City. “You find a song, you fall in love with it, and you have to sing it. That’s the position I’m in,” she says.
Collins noticed long ago that many of the songs she loves to sing were written by Canadians. She says she’s been into Canadian music since the days of Ian and Sylvia, and one of her biggest hits was her 1960s version of Mitchell’s Both Sides Now.
“There’s a kind of freedom with the lyrics,” Collins says, attempting to explain her attraction to Canadian-penned songs, “a different, more literate view that I think is what allowed me to do something that I was capable of doing.”
Vintage Covers By Judy Collins
This is also an opportunity to spotlight performances by Judy Collins. I’ve selected two video clips of covers from the 1960s that showcase her just-right voice.
Judy Collins sings an abbreviated version of “Bob Dylan’s Dream” on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest2 (mid-1960′s)
Judy sings her cover of the Ian Tyson song “Someday Soon,” on the Smothers Brothers show (1969).
Credit Due Department
The photo of Judy Collins atop this post is from The Kerriville Folk Festival.
- Judy Collins’ Canadian Connection by Lynn Saxberg. The Ottawa Citizen. November 29, 2008 [↩]
- From Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest: “Back in the mid-sixties Pete Seeger had an educational TV show called Rainbow Quest. In 1962 the Court of Appeals had ruled that the House Un-American Activities Committee was faulty in its charges against Seeger and dismissed the case against him. With his newfound freedom, Pete was anxious to appear on TV again and promote the cause of folk music. But in spite of the court ruling, networks and sponsors were still wary. The producers of the new show Hootenany claimed that they wanted Seeger, but that the sponsors weren’t willing; and the sponsors claimed they wanted Seeger on the show, but that the public wouldn’t stand for it. Following the do-it-yourself ethic of folk music, Seeger finally decided to start his own show, Rainbow Quest. It began on UHF channel 47 in New York and had only been picked up by seven stations when Seeger began to run out of funds. During its brief run of 38 episodes, Pete talked and strummed with such guests as Elizabeth Cotten, Patrick Sky, Donovan, Judy Collins, and Buffy Sainte Marie.” [↩]
Hey man, this is a great post, thanks.
I love Seeger’s show. I wonder if there’s a website that archives all of his shows…??? I’ll search for it now.