All the greats eventually get the full-blooded cover version treatment with singers and bands queing up to pay tribute to those who greatly influenced them. The late Leonard Cohen has had his songs covered more than most, including various compilation LPs over the years which have been commercially released or given away free with music magazines. There’s even been specially curated gigs at which some of the great and good have appeared on stage to pay tribute.
So many tracks to choose from, but I’ve gone for one which, in its original recording, is not much more than a gravelled voice and some backing oohs and aahs over a toy synthesiser with its cheap drum pattern:-
mp3 : Leonard Cohen – Tower of Song
The opposite tack was taken by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds who, in a drink and drug fuelled frenzy one day in a studio, eventually cut what became an infamous 33 minute version of the track in which all sorts of musical genres are eventually thrown in. It’s not for the faint hearted:-
mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tower of Song (full length)
An edited version was made available for inclusion of the tribute/compilation album I’m Your Fan, released in 1991:-
mp3 : Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tower of Song (album version)
Here’s two more versions worth giving a listen:-
mp3 : Lloyd Cole – Tower of Song
mp3 : Martha Wainwright – Tower of Song
And finally, the daddy of them all in which Lenny C is given the shoegaze treatment:-
mp3 : The Jesus & Mary Chain – Tower of Song
Outstanding.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
None of them hold a candle to Leonard’s original for me – one of his very best songs. I re-watched this terrific TV performance of it several times in the days after his death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirxqAn7Ck8
Nick’s version is hilarious for a while, but gets tiresome. Martha’s version on the other hand is simply wonderful.
Cohen, like his contemporary Dylan, wrote songs from such an elevated place that covering them is natural. Tower of Song, Suzanne, Bird On A Wire, Hallelujah, First We Take Manhattan, Lover Lover Lover…they cover a weight emotion, a gravity which is essential to what should be considered a classic.
I’m a big fan of Nick Cave but I don’t think there’s any way on earth I can sit through half an hour of that. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though – I never even knew it existed.