Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox: In interviews through the years, Leonard Cohen has mentioned a handful of specific songs he favors. Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox is a Heck Of A Guy feature playing those tunes for your edification and entertainment.
Leonard Cohen Likes How Nick Cave Tears Apart Avalanche
I never got over that thrill that someone else has chosen a song and wants to do it. I think Nick Cave’s instinct in choosing that song [Avalanche] to cover was very good because that’s just the kind of song that is made to be torn apart and I like the way he tore it apart. I like the way he went out with it.1
Nick Cave’s 1984 Snarling Version Of “Avalanche”
The Nick Cave cover of “Avalanche” on which Cohen commented was the one that led off the track list of From Her To Eternity, the debut album released by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1984.
Bonus: Nick Cave’s 2006 Tribute To Leonard Cohen
Nick Cave also covered Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche,” albeit more as homage than as deconstructionist reinterpretation, at Came So Far For Beauty, the Leonard Cohen tribute concert held at the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland on October 5, 2006.
Nick Cave – Avalanche (Came So Far For Beauty, 10/5/2006)
Video from caro8680
Other Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox Posts
All posts featured in the Heck Of A Guy Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox series can be found at the end of the Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox Page.
Credit Due Department: The photo of Nick Cave at Came So Far For Beauty is from LeonardCohenFiles.
- Leonard Cohen: The Classic Interviews (Chrome Dreams, 2009), quoted in Leonard Cohen Hallelujah by Tim Footman, Chrome Dreams, 2009. p 130 [↩]
