Father John Misty – “Anthem” (Leonard Cohen Cover)
“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen wrote a lot of extremely quotable lines in his long career, but that’s one of the best of them. That line comes from “Anthem,” a song that Cohen included on his 1992 album The Future. Cohen said that it took him a decade to write the song. Today, longtime Cohen admirer and occasional coverer Father John Misty has offered up his own version of “Anthem.”
Josh Tillman recorded his take on “Anthem” a few weeks ago with his longtime producer Jonathan Wilson. Today, he’s released it on Bandcamp, using it as the main draw for a new benefit EP called Anthem +3. Today is one of the days that Bandcamp is waiving its share of the music it’s selling, so Tillman is using the new Father John Misty EP to raise money for CARE Action and Ground Game LA.
The other three covers on Anthem +3 have all been previously released in one form or another. Father John Misty’s take on Link Wray’s “Fallin’ Rain,” recorded with the Haxan Cloak for the Hulu series Castle Rock, is from 2018. Tillman recorded his version of Cat Stevens’ “Trouble” for a 2014 documentary about Hal Ashby. And his take on “One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong,” another Leonard Cohen song, comes from a 2012 Cohen tribute. Still, it’s cool to have all of them in the same place. Below, stream the Anthem +3 EP and listen to Cohen’s original “Anthem.”
You can buy the Anthem +3 EP right now at Bandcamp.