Cover Songs
Acclaimed as a songwriter and live performer, Allison Crowe's reputation and audience worldwide is also based significantly on her intrerpretations of songs in the popular music canon alongside classical and traditional works, and songs from musical theatre, especially Broadway.
This unique aspect of Crowe's artistry, combining original material with a range of covers to equal praise and draw, has been commented upon extensively in print and broadcast media, including a November 2008 BBC radio documentary, "The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall". Her interpretations of Leonard Cohen songs have received particular recognition in features by BBC Radio and MOJO magazine. Crowe's single/first take recording of Hallelujah was slated to be the soundtrack to a quirky scene in the 2009 Hollywood blockbuster, Watchmen, before being replaced by a Cohen recording. "I originally had a different version of 'Hallelujah' on that scene (involving Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II) - it was the version by Allison Crowe, and it was really beautiful. Too beautiful, as it turned out..." explains the movie's Director Zack Snyder. In another interview, Snyder explained that Crowe's recording is "too romantic" and "too sexy" for the scene which is meant to come across as ironic and "ridiculous".
Some of the most artistically and commercially successful cover songs in Crowe's recorded and published repertoire include:
- A Case of You - Joni Mitchell
- A Murder of One - Counting Crows
- Angel - Sarah McLachlan
- Believe Me If All (Those Endearing Young Charms) - traditional Irish Aire (words by Sir Thomas Moore)
- Bill - Jerome Kern, P.G. Wodehouse & Oscar Hammerstein II (from Show Boat)
- Creep - Radiohead
- Darling Be Home Soon - The Lovin' Spoonful
- Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
- I Dreamed a Dream - Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schönberg (from Les Misérables)
- Independence Day - Ani DiFranco
- Indifference - Pearl Jam
- I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) - Ronnie Shannon (popularized by Aretha Franklin)
- In Love in Vain - Jerome Kern & Leo Robin
- Imagine - John Lennon
- In My Life - The Beatles
- Joan of Arc - Leonard Cohen
- Let It Be - The Beatles
- Me and Bobby McGee - Fred Foster & Kris Kristofferson (popularized by Janis Joplin)
- Playboy Mommy - Tori Amos
- Raining in Baltimore - Counting Crows
- Release - Pearl Jam
- River - Joni Mitchell
- Running for Home - Matthew Good, Dave Genn
- Shine a Light - The Rolling Stones
- Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
- 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco
- Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman
- Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters and Collectors
- Up to the Mountain (MLK Song) - Patty Griffin
- When I'm Gone - Phil Ochs
- Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel
In addition to these prominent examples of studio and live tracks there are numerous other cover songs which have been performed by Allison Crowe. Only those interpretations which have been officially released on recordings are noted here.
Read more about this topic: Allison Crowe
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