Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 6, 2023: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Later Years

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

CKCU can be heard live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web. 

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/60720.html

Theme: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Later Years.

These songs were written by Leonard Cohen from about 1990 until his death in 2016, the period covered by the book Leonard Cohen – Untold Stories: That’s How the Light Gets In, the third in a series of three books of oral history about Leonard Cohen by Michael Posner.

Leonard Cohen- Waiting for the Miracle

The Future (Columbia)

Judy Collins- Democracy

Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (Elektra/Rhino)

Teddy Thompson- The Future

Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (Verve)

Art of Time Ensemble featuring Tom Wilson- Closing Time

Songs of Leonard Cohen Live (Art of Time Recordings)

Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen- Anthem

Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (Verve)

Leonard Cohen- By the Rivers Dark

Ten New Songs (Columbia)

Anne Hills- Alexandra Leaving

Points of View (Appleseed)

Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson- Boogie Street

Ten New Songs (Columbia)

Leonard Cohen- Amen

Old Ideas (Columbia)

Leonard Cohen- Born in Chains

Popular Problems (Columbia)

Jack & Amanda Palmer- You Got Me Singing

You Got Me Singing (8ft/Cooking Vinyl)

Leonard Cohen with Cantor Gideon Zelermyer & The Shaar Hashomayim Choir- You Want It Darker

You Want It Darker (Columbia)

Norah Jones- Steer Your Way

Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (Blue Note)

Barb Jungr- Happens to the Heart

Barb Jungr Sings Leonard Cohen: Live at The Crazy Coqs (Kristalyn)

Leonard Cohen- Listen to the Hummingbird

Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy)

Next week: Train Songs, Volume II.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Anne Hills -- Points of View

ANNE HILLS
Points of View
Appleseed Recordings
annehills.com

“Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne’s writing, in songs like “Follow That Road” and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.” --Tom Paxton

My old friend Tom Paxton gets no argument from me about the merits of Anne Hills as either a singer or songwriter. Almost every album she’s ever made – whether as an interpretive singer or singer-songwriter; or as a solo or collaborative artist – is a favourite of mine. And that includes Points of View, her first solo album in more than a decade devoted primarily to original material. And, like Tom says, these songs are direct, melodic and deep.

The album opens with “I Am You,” a universalist anthem, co-written with Michael Smith (another of my favourite songwriters), that describes all races, religions, genders, and orientations as part of the same human family.

Among my favourite tracks is a pair of winter themed songs. In “Pennsylvania,” Anne describes scenes from the highway as she makes her way through the state during a heavy winter snow storm. Then, in “Two Year Winter,” co-written with Bill Jones, winter storms and cold seem like a metaphor for a long period of sadness or depression. That sadness in “Two Year Winter” eventually gives way to the promise of spring and the joy of childbirth in “A Plain Song.”

Other favourites include “My Daughter & Vincent van Gogh,” which begins with Anne describing a family outing to a van Gogh exhibit that seems to dissolve into an imagining of the family as part of a van Gogh painting, and “I’m Nobody,” a song which helps to understand what it might be like for someone, particularly a child, in dire need of affirmation.

Along with these and other original songs, there are a couple that Anne didn’t write or co-write including an absolutely exquisite version of Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson’s “Alexandra Leaving.”

The CD cover is a self-portrait of Anne that’s reminiscent of van Gogh’s self-portrait in a hat and coat with his ear (or where his ear used to be) bandaged. Instead of a bandaged ear, Anne’s painting has her eyes covered by a blindfold (that sort of looks like a piece of lemon meringue pie).

--Mike Regenstreif