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National Post Sessions invites musicians to perform stripped-down versions of their hits or favourite songs. This week Scot rockers The Fratellis perform a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire.

Who The Fratellis



Claim to fame Despite a string of successful singles in their native Britain, the Glaswegian trio is best known to North American hockey fans as the authors of the Chicago Blackhawks goal song, Chelsea Dagger. “I never thought of it as a sports song,” singer John Fratelli says of the bouncy anthem. “I’m quite happy to pick up the royalties for it, though.”



Why they chose to cover Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire “When I was 19, possibly 20, a friend of mine arrived at my house with a bag containing his entire Leonard Cohen CD collection,” Fratelli recalls. “As it turns out, three weeks later he was dead. He knew he was on the way out and his parting gift to me was to have his Leonard Cohen collection. I’d never heard any of [Cohen’s] songs at that point and I’m not sure whyBird on the Wire was the first song I listened to because it’s not the opener on any album, but it was. As parting gifts go … it set me on a path.”

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The Fratellis’ new album, We Need Medicine, is available now. thefratellis.com