Video by Arlene Dick of Arlene’s Leonard Cohen Scrapbook

Video by Arlene Dick of Arlene’s Leonard Cohen Scrapbook

Video by Arlene Dick of Arlene’s Leonard Cohen Scrapbook

The Stormy Clovers Introduce Leonard Cohen & His Songs To The Public

The Stormy Clovers, shown above on the cover of Hoot Folk Music Magazine (July 1966) were the first to perform play Cohen's songs professionally, preceding Judy Collins' and his own performances of his music by a year.

While they were also given songs by other master songwriters, such as Gordon Lightfoot and Ian Tyson, the fact that they were the first to play Leonard Cohen’s songs invests these performances with special significance.

This video comprises a 1966 audio recording of the Stormy Clovers performing Suzanne by Leonard Cohen supplemented with photos of the band, Cohen, and the Montreal waterfront. When they recorded this song, the Stormy Clovers consisted of Susan Jains - vocals; Ray Perdue - guitar;  DD Fraser - bass; and Pat Patterson - drums.

Suzanne - Performed by Stormy Clovers (1966); Written by Leonard Cohen

Credit Due Department: The second photo in the post is from a review of the Stormy Clovers by Jack Batten in the 25 June 1966 Montreal Gazette (page 49). As noted in the video, it is impractical to credit individual images used in its composition, but the majority of the photos of the band were found on the Stormy Clovers Facebook Page, which is also a rich source of information and short clips of other songs performed by the group.  Finally, Heck Of A Guy extends special thank-yous to Sally Hunter who was instrumental in finding shots of the Montreal waterfront for use in the video and Adrian du Plessis, who functions as Allison Crowe’s personable manager and who first shared information about the Stormy Clovers with me that led to this video and the associated posts.

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All material relating to the Stormy Clovers on this site can be accessed through Heck Of A Guy – Stormy Clovers.

Nope, it's not Leonard Cohen or Judy Collins singing Suzanne. A year before their first performances, the Stormy Clovers were playing Leonard Cohen's music on stages at festivals, clubs, coffee houses, and campuses in Toronto, Montreal, and other Canadian cities and towns.

And, the Clovers were more than just the first band to play Leonard Cohen's songs.  They were on TV, they were featured in the papers, they were given songs by Ian Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot as well as producing their own material. They were well-known, influencial, and helped lauch Leonard Cohen's career.

For the full story, including the upcoming video of the earliest known recording of Suzanne, see Introducing The Stormy Clovers – And Their Songwriter, Leonard Cohen

Credit Due Department: The photo atop this entry was posted on the Stormy Clovers Facebook Page by Nicholas Jennings. The second graphic is from the 1966 Mariposa Festival program.

 

As many readers here will recognize, Leonard Cohen is, of course, a prime practitioner of the Speak-Singing performing mode. Further, Old Ideas, his latest album, is an exemplar of the style. As one reviewer put it,

Old Ideas ... has all the elements you’d expect from a Leonard Cohen record: lyrics about sex and mortality and religion, cooing female backup vocalists, sparse, piano-heavy instrumentation, and Cohen’s trademark chainsmoker grumble speak-singing from beginning to end. [emphasis mine]

The Speak-Singing Debate: Just Sing The Damn Song! - the April 3, 2012  edition of NPR's All Things Considered - is an entertaining and enlightening consideration of spoken songs performed by artists ranging from Lou Reed to William Shatner to German opera soprano Christine Schäfer.

Note: The program does not focus on Leonard Cohen but its ideas are easily applicable to that portion of the  Canadian singer-songwriter's repertoire. Heck, if you enjoy music - even if you're not a Cohen fan - this is an program you should hear.

From the blurb for the program:

Few people can easily define it, but nearly everyone knows it when they hear it. Speak-singing, the murky marriage of spoken lyrics and sung melodies, can be heard in everything from 17th-century opera to The Velvet Underground and the latest Mountain Goats record. On this edition of All Songs Considered, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton argue over the pros and cons of this polarizing art form and take a look at some of their favorite (and not-so-favorite) speak-singing artists. Plus, listeners chime in with some of their own picks.

The program can be heard or downloaded at The Speak-Singing Debate

Nancy Priddy On Singing Backup For Leonard Cohen

Nancy Priddy is now probably better known as Nancy Applegate, mother of actress Christina Applegate. She was also an actress herself,  appearing on several television series, including Bewitched, The Waltons, and Matlock. She was a member of The Bitter End Singers in 1964, a short lived folksinging group along with Lefty Baker, Tina Bohlmann, Bob Hider, Norris O'Neill, and Vilma Vaccaro. In 1968, she released the album You've Come This Way Before, now  regarded as a classic of psychedelic folk.  Leonard Cohen fans, however, are likely to be most interested in her role as a vocalist on Leonard Cohen's first album, Songs Of Leonard Cohen.

A LeonardCohenForum post by Jim Williams provides the text of a letter from Nancy Priddy in response to a letter he wrote to MOJO's "Ask Fred" section inquiring about the female backing singers on Cohen's first three albums:

A friend of mine saw an Ask Fred question concerning the voices behind Leonard Cohen on his first three albums. Well I don't know about the second or third but I certainly do about the first, which contained Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye, Suzanne and So Long, Marianne. At that time I was writing with John Simon, the album's producer, who was a very good friend. When Columbia informed him that they would put no further money into the project, John told me we'd have to finish the album together. I was delighted to do that - so I provided the female voice on the record. I believe John song with me on So Long, Marianne, but I certainly did Suzanne and Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye. John and I loved Leonard's songs, and when we played our additional vocals to him he seemed to love our work in return. I often think about the first time John played Leonard's work for me in that darkish studio, late night in New York. Little did any of us know what would happen with those songs - especially the record label!

Video: Nancy Priddy - Take Care Of My Brother

 

Lines from Leonard Cohen's Take This Waltz arch across the back of Amanda Shires, who performed at  the Continental Club during SXSW. Photo taken by and used with permission of Kirk Stauffer Photography. I was alerted to the photo by a post by Hermitage Prisoner

Bonus: Amanda Shires Performs Swimmer

All photos from the Leonard Cohen On Tattoos series can be viewed at Leonard Cohen On Tattoos Collection.

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Leonard Cohen On Tattoos: In this exchange from On the road to singing sensation, a 1966 CBC TV interview, Leonard Cohen exercises the poet’s prerogative of re-interpreting and manipulating the interviewer's words and his own to distract and deflect:

Leonard Cohen: ... I thought that I would ... get a tattoo
Beryl Fox: Where?
Leonard Cohen: There’s this place on St. Lawrence Blvd.

As far as I can determine, Leonard Cohen never got that tattoo - but many of his admirers do sport inked images of and words inspired by the Canadian singer-songwriter on their bodies. Those specimens form the content of the Leonard Cohen On Tattoos photo series.

To Chuck, the Shakespeare of rock and roll, congratulations on your PEN award, that's what too much monkey business will get ya . . . Say hello to Mr. Leonard, Kafka of the blues, and Lord Byron Keith [Richards] if he shows up. In all seriousness, Chuck, congratulations on this prestigious honor. You have indeed written the book with a capital B, and congratulations to Leonard, who’s still writing it

Bob Dylan writing on the occasion of the 26 February 2012 PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award Ceremony

Note: "Monkey business" refers  to Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business."

… it’s indisputable that DrHGuy, though acutely aware of the dissonance between words and music and the miserable state of affairs described by the lyrics, still likes the damn song - a lot.

The "Build Me Up Buttercup" video below is from There's Something About Mary

Check out the full review, including a video of The Foundations performing "Build Me Up Buttercup" in 1969, at at Build Me Up Buttercup – Aberrant, Subversive, & Beloved

This post was first published at DrHGuy on January 9, 2008