MP3 Richard McGraw Covers Leonard Cohen - Sort Of...

Richard McGraw had paid tribute to Leonard Cohen on his new album Burying The Dead.

McGraw discusses the creation of “Balmville Motel”:
“It started as a joke when I replaced the words ‘Chelsea Hotel’ with ‘Balmville Motel’, a crumby run down place in my hometown of Newburgh, NY. I took it seriously when I felt there was a story that needed to be told of my teenage lust and rejection. I would describe the details of the heart ache, but from an older, more stoic, perhaps wiser perspective. It’s a similar perspective Cohen takes when recalling his incident with Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel."

"I started writing it in 2002. It would take me five years to complete. I gave up on it for a year or two because it was such a daunting task. ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’ is a concise masterpiece. I wasn’t trying to re-write the perfect song, nor was I trying to fill his shoes, but I had to at least be driving towards his ball park, or be somewhere near his neighborhood, and that was no easy task. My re-write turned out more long winded, and I used the chorus ideas from his original version of ‘Chelsea Hotel.’"

Download "Balmville Motel" here.