Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Iron & Wine cover Leonard Cohen
Matthew AvignoneFor an establishment with the history and mythology that it has, the Chelsea Hotel in New York City really isn’t all that expensive – rooms can be had for as little as $129 a night which, for Manhattan, is kind of dirt cheap. Of course, it’s far from opulent and you’re probably not guaranteed the sort of time Leonard Cohen immortalized in his song, “Chelsea Hotel No 2”.
It’s one of Cohen’s finest compositions and certainly one of his most-covered, Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam one of hundreds who’ve committed a version of it to tape, this recording dates back to around 2002. But though it’s both old and rare, it doesn’t appear on his forthcoming double-disc collection of rarities, Around The Well. Perhaps it was too obvious, considering the covers that did make the cut include songs originally by The Flaming Lips, Stereolab and The Postal Service.
Around The Well is out on Tuesday, the same date that Leonard Cohen plays Copp’s Coliseum in Hamilton. Me, I saw him on Thursday. More on that forthcoming.
MP3: Iron & Wine – “Chelsea Hotel No 2”
Video: Leonard Cohen – “Chelsea Hotel No. 2” (live in San Sebastian, 1988)
Tags: Iron & Wine, Leonard Cohen
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.chromewaves.net/images/interface/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
5/18/09 10:50 am
This is actually Carissa’s Wierd covering the song. Mat Brooke’s voice is fronting it, with Sam Beam backing him up. You can find it on “Scrapbook.” Such a good cover!