David Bowie Cover of the Week: Canary Covers “Lazarus”

Well, the fix was in. I have been looking forward to Canary’s cover of “Lazarus” since Josh Slifkin and Helena Nichols mentioned they were working on it for their annual Bowie cover during my interview with the band members last year. The Pittsburgh duo has an album’s worth of excellent Bowie covers from different eras, and this time they selected possibly the most appropriate song to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Bowie’s passing. So, I knew I wanted to designate this one “cover of the week,” and it’s well worth that designation.

I write this less than a day after seeing Gail Ann Dorsey perform the song with Donny McCaslin on sax, backed by a band of Bowie alumni at the annual Sound and Vision of David Bowie concert in New York. It’s the emotional climax of the show. Gail cried and seemed to struggle with the opening line—“Look up here, I’m in Heaven.” Donny’s sax is every bit as essential to the song as the words or anything else, and his performance summons the spirits. It’s a religious experience, and the only song of the show’s 31-song set that would have been impossible to see Bowie perform in concert.

Neither Canary, nor anyone else, can top that. They don’t even try. Perhaps the boldest decision in creating this cover is that Josh doesn’t even attempt to create a sax sound, or a substitute sax sound. Instead, the music is characterized by what Canary does best—an electric sound set against Helena’s understated vocals. The video, which incorporates ghostly images of Bowie, features an almost still Helena vocalizing in an undramatic deadpan, letting the lyrics hold onto the drama that can’t be stolen.

“Lazarus” is an amazing song in several respects. It was, in a sense, a song written for others to sing. Obviously, it is the title track of the play. The public first heard Michael C. Hall, who starred in the play as Newton, perform the song. Bowie’s version and video came later. But just as several actors, including Bowie, have portrayed Newton, knowing that “Lazarus” would be associated with a play that others could perform, it’s worth noting that Bowie intended for this song, perhaps more than others closely associated with him, to be covered.

It’s also significant that nearly 50 years after “Space Oddity,” Bowie would write a song (and not just one) that would become very much as essential a part of his legacy. Among the many, many reflections on Bowie I read last week, I recall one writer making the point that he couldn’t name a song recorded by some of Bowie’s contemporaries like The Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney from the past thirty years (which is a bit unfair—I can, but I get his point). But “Lazarus,” and the larger Blackstar album, has become not just Bowie’s last recorded work, but the essential end of his story. I have spoken to educators whose students know of Bowie through Blackstar, and “Lazarus” is probably the best-known song from the album.

So, Canary is doing with the song what was meant for it—they are bringing their own interpretation to a piece meant to be interpreted. They do it well in their own way and thus contribute to the legacy. I look forward to whatever song they choose for next year.