Various Artists' I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen

(Paperback)

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Description

When I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen hit stores in 1991, Leonard Cohen's career had plummeted from its revered 1960s high. Cohen's record label had refused to release his 1984 album Various Positions--including the song "Hallelujah"--in the United States. Luckily, Velvet Underground founder John Cale was one of the few who did hear "Hallelujah," and he covered it for I'm Your Fan, a collection of Cohens songs produced by a French fanzine. Jeff Buckley adored the tribute album and covered Cale's cover in 1994, never having heard Cohen's still-obscure original version. In 2016, Stereogum labeled the tribute album "possibly the most universally derided format in pop music." However, without a tribute album, you wouldn't know the song "Hallelujah." Through Buckley through Cale, "Hallelujah" is now one of the most often-performed songs in the world--and it wouldn't be without this tribute album. I'm Your Fan thus offers a particularly notable example of a much broader truth: Despite all the eye-rolling they inspire, tribute albums matter. They can resuscitate legends' fading careers, or expose obscure artists who never had much of a career to begin with.

Reviews

Ray Padgetts 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 Id never heard them before. * David Marchese, Columnist, New York Times Magazine *
If you read Ray Padgetts book, and you really should, I guarantee that, if you have the album hes writing about, youll be digging it out to listen with fresh ears. If you dont have it, youll be hitting the internet to check out the album and the covers therein. * Americana UK *
Using the famed Leonard Cohen covers collection as its jumping-off point, Ray Padgetts Im Your Fan digs into the weird, ever-expanding world of the tribute album. We get a detailed account of how Im Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen came together via revealing interviews with its curators and performers. We learn how the album kickstarted Cohens then somewhat-flailing career andfor better or worsehelped 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. Its 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 ('Its all my fault isnt it' he asks wearily); or a lengthy digression with Juliana Hatfield, a tribute album mainstay who doesnt really like tribute albums. Like most of the 33 1/3 books, Im Your Fan is a quick read, but youll want to savor this one. * Aquarium Drunkard *
Im Your Fan changed Cohens 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. Padgetts deep dive into the hows and whys of that claim make for a quick yet engrossing read. * Rock & Roll Globe *
A smart and lively look at a project that was oddly significant in Leonard Cohens career but, beyond that, a long-overdue examination that (partly) redeems the much reviled format of the tribute album. * Alan Light, author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah *
Im Your Fan uses a specific tribute album to explore multiple aspects of music fandom and record culturehow artists channel their influences, how a songs 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 whove never heard the album in question. * Mark Richardson, former Editor-in-Chief, Pitchfork *

Author Bio

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 hes 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.