Canada’s Sarah McLachlan is among the artists paying homage to the late Leonard Cohen on a new collection titled Here It: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen.
McLachlan covers Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah.”
(In a 2009 interview, Cohen said of the song: “I think too many people sing it." But, three years later, he said: “Once or twice I've felt maybe I should lend my voice to silencing it but on second thought no, I'm very happy that it's being sung.")
Set for release on Oct. 14, it also features contributions by Norah Jones, James Taylor, Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop, Mavis Staples and six others.
Cohen, a Montreal native, died in November 2016 at 82.
The first taste of the album, Taylor’s version of Cohen’s 1984 song “Coming Back to You,” was released Thursday.
“Like almost everyone in my generation, I venerate Leonard Cohen,” Taylor said, in a release. “As soon as I began seeking out my own musical preferences, Cohen’s songs were among my few favourites and had a major influence on my own progression as a songwriter.
“Like so much of Leonard Cohen’s writing, this lyric resonates deeply with his forlorn and hopeless take on the bleak landscape of love and attachment. So, breathe a deep sigh and, drink up…”
The collection was produced by Cohen’s longtime friend Larry Klein and includes tracks dating from his 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen to 2016’s You Want It Darker.
“It was an immensely gratifying experience to re-contextualize these poems, and shine a different light on them,” said Klein, in a release. “I hope that this musical language that we developed together, the context that we put these things in, makes the songs connect with people in a new way.”
Earlier this year, Cohen's estate sold his rights to 278 songs he wrote to Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen tracklist: