Hail k.d.

I've never thought much of Leonard Cohen as a singer. He's of the Neil Young ilk. Great writer, but bad singer, really.

In high school, a friend and I did an English assignment on his poetry and we played some of his songs on the record player at her house. My friend's father came charging into the living room from the kitchen and said, "Who is that? How did he get in?"

We looked up at him from the floor, puzzled. We turned the record player off. He said, "That came out of a record? I thought some drunk got into the house and was crying in my living room."

As he started to go back into the kitchen, he turned to us, pointing at the album cover and said, "Did you really pay money for that?"

Despite that, Leonard Cohen wrote some of the most romantic, soul-searing poetry for the vagabond lover. In France one year, when I told people where I was from, the response was almost always, "Oh, Leonard Cohen?"

Except for the singing thing, which still makes me cringe, Leonard Cohen is still up there in my book.

But now that I've heard k.d. lang sing his songs, I get it more. I don't know how it works, but because I've hear k.d.'s strong, clear voice singing Leonard's songs, I can tolerate Leonard's singing more.

Listen to these:

Leonard Cohen - Bird On The Wire
k.d. lang - Bird On A Wire

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
k.d. lang - Hallelujah

See what I mean? It's like k.d. redeemed him.

In fact, k.d. sings Neil Young's songs better than Neil. It's like Leonard and Neil wrote their songs with k.d. in mind. I even like k.d.'s rendition of Jane Sieberry and Joni Mitchells' songs more.

I've been listening to k.d.'s Hymns Of The 49th Parallel. I nominate this the quintessential Canadian CD.