Judy Collins and Stephen Stills are reuniting for an EP and a joint tour across the States. They’ve released their first single off the new record, and it’s a beautifully harmonised cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.” The song holds special significance for Collins especially, who worked with Cohen during the early sixties and recorded some of his most timeless songs, like “Bird on a Wire” and “Susanne”. It was Collins’ motivation that helped to launch Cohen’s career as a performer. In an interview remembering one of Cohen's first live performances, Collins recalled, "He did have a little problem. He stopped in the middle of a song and walked off the stage, which we always think is very funny. I don't think he thought it was funny at all. He was just mortified. He came off stage. The audience went crazy because they always love it when you lose it. They loved him. They were quite smitten with him already and he was only half way through the song. So I said, "Why don't I go back out with you and we'll sing it together?" That's what happened. I took him back out and we finished the song together. But that was his trial by fire. Of course he understood, he got it, that people loved him. They loved his singing, not only the songs, but that they loved him."
The new EP, Everybody Knows is the first collaboration from Stills and Collins in nearly fifty years. The duo first worked together in the late sixties, and their first collaborative song, aptly titled “Who Knows Where The Time Goes” is reproduced on the EP. Other classics to be featured are the Crosby, Stills & Nash track “Carry On” and an archived track “Judy” from one of Stills’ old demos. There’ll also be a newer Collins song titled “River of Gold.”
The new EP will launch on September 22, but you can listen to the new version of “Everybody Knows” below.