Came So Far For Beauty - and there she was: Mary Margaret O’Hara.
Oct 17th, 2006 by Jim Kennedy
It seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t care what you purists think - Mary Margaret O’Hara’s contribution on Hallelujah was a high point of Came So Far For Beauty, the Leonard Cohen tribute show in the Point on Thursday. I am not alone in this opinion - my mate sitting next to me agreed. Mostly everyone else, including my girlfriend, my other mates in the balcony, many Irish bloggers, much of the audience, and the Irish Times, disagrees.
I had long since given up ever hoping to see Mary Margaret O’Hara perform, and this was one of my (many) reasons for going to Came So Far For Beauty, so I might have been biased. Judging by the well-heeled crowd of a certain age, I’d imagine most people there hadn’t ever heard her music and thought she was taking the mick or something.
I’m not defending the quality of her contribution; it doesn’t need to be defended. She’s a bit like Cohen himself in that respect - you either ‘get it’ or you don’t and there’s no convincing you. I’m saying that in complaining about O’Hara’s whoops and ejaculations (or whatever the Irish Times said), you may have missed the point somewhat.
Consider the situation of all the artists heading onto that stage. What are you going to do when asked to cover songs everyone knows and loves? How can you come out ahead? Can you hope to break even? Most of the other performers (including some I love, such as the delightful Ms. Orton) played it safe and by the numbers; some (the great Lou Reed) played the songs as if they were their own - Reed’s contributions, albeit great, could have been his own compositions circa the ‘New York’ album era.
Don’t get me wrong, I think both of those are fantastic, and it was a privilege to hear the dirty rumble of that man’s distorted guitar when he kicked those pedals, but they weren’t exactly taking any chances. Some took a chance and it didn’t work - I think it was Laurie Anderson doing Dear Heather (”and your legs all white/from the winter”) through a distorted microphone, but at least she was going for it, and you have to respect that, even if, like me, you didn’t appreciate it.
Mary Margaret O’Hara and Gavin Friday were handed the toughest assignment of the evening - to cover the best-known of all the Cohen songs, the smash-hit single all the kids wanted to hear. Playing Hallelujah straight, the best they could have hoped for was a polite smattering of applause and mutterings about how it wasn’t a patch on Jeff Buckley’s version (lauded even by Cohen himself as the greatest rendition of this song).
My two cent is that, faced with this no-win situation, O’Hara and Friday, talented renegades both, decided to go for broke. He’s an irreverent punk in the purest sense of those words, and she’s a kook possessed of an otherworldly voice - they tore that song apart, turned it inside out, and held it up to the light in a way that makes you see it afresh, as a new song. It’s what Buckley did on the Grace album. It’s what Johnny Cash did with all those American Recordings albums.
That’s the true point of covering songs; if that’s not what you want from a tribute show, then go see the Australian Leonard Cohen instead. If you’re not aware of her own music, treat yourself to an early Christmas present of her only ‘proper’ album - Miss America, released way back in 1988.
Despite the brooding menacing presence of both Nick Cave and Lou Reed in the same building, the scariest part of the whole night was seeing Tori Amos walking around the foyer at the intermission and not knowing if she was on the billing for the second act. Thankfully, she was not. A little harsh you say? I agree, her voice is a little harsh.
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Oh I agree! I liked her Hallelujah, and Laurie Andersons Dear Heather the best… I came from Norway for the consert.
I agree completely Jim (apart from the Gavin Friday being a talented renegade). Mary Margaret was one of my highpoints. Without her, Friday would have been as ludicrous as he was with “Who By Fire” and “Nobody Knows”. This was no night for the karaoke pub singer with high notions. Lou Reed really threw himself and the guitar into the songs. Teddy Thomson’s “Waiting for the Miracle” and “Anthem” were for me the best interpretations, allowing space between the original version, the lyrical content and the interpreter’s voice for the light to come in. I also loved the Handsome’s Family “Famous Blue Raincoat”.
Jim, I totally agree. More here Sinéad
Thank you, me and my mates completely agree with you. But all around us people were too busy trying to impress their girlfriends by slagging Gav for being ‘Bono’s untalented friend’ instead of opening their eyes and watch the wonder. I have to say, they *did* get a thunderous applause from the audience, so there must have been more people there who agree with us. As I commented elsewhere, the other artists on the bill gave Gavin a standing ovation when he arrived at the after show for having the balls to tackle Hallelujah with MMOH.
I just re-read your post and it appears your admiration was for MMOH not GF. That’s too bad. It was his arrangement of the song.
Hey Caroline, yes I was arguing about MMOH, but I like Gavin Friday’s work also. I was unaware that it was his arrangement, but now that you say so, it makes sense. I liked his ‘Jesus Blood’ in that posh school at the top of Georges Street a while back too. Any idea where I might get a copy of the ‘Each Man Kills…’ album? I’ve long since lost my cassette, and the CD doesn’t seem to be around the web.
[…] This is not a music blog, but certain times in my perusing of music across this delectable global network I come across something that is worthy of mentioning. In Jim’s post below he defends Mary Margaret O’Hara from those ignorant critics who likened her performance of Halleluiah during the rock star packed tribute bash Came For Far For Beauty to that of a musical zombie and howled that her ‘caterwauling’ ruined the fine song and (it was inferred) insulted both Leonard Cohen and late Jeff Buckley, RIP. […]
I was not overly impressed with GF on his own, but on Hallelujah himself and MMOH created an amazing work of art.
I had never heard of MMOH before, and was riveted.
The applause after it seemed bewildered more than anything.
My badly put together thoughts on the evening here.
Lucky all ! Mary Margaret’s name came to mind and I just wanted to see what she was up to. Sounds like it was a great show. I had seen her here in Toronto not too long after Miss America came out and to hear a noisy standing room only venue come to a complete pin drop dead silence at the first notes from her mouth was an experience. She is a unique and precious talent.
@ Jim:
Sorry for the late reply. Island Records is no longer distributing the GF albums, unfortunately, though you’ll find copies in shops here and there, especially on mainland Europe. You can however find copies through mail order on www.gemm.com.
Oh, man, sorry to disagree, but, ‘Halleluljah’ aside, Mary Margaret O’Hara messed up one of my favorite Lenny songs ‘The Window’ with her wailing.
I love the LYRICS of that song, and most of them were garbled by Mary.
She’s got a great voice, when she chooses to use it.