Timeline: 1991
Revolting Cocks cover "Chickenshit"
American-Belgian industrial rock band Revolting Cocks cover Chickenshit at Modernes in Bremen, Germany - January 17. They do it again on January 24 at the Astoria in London.
Dirge for the New Sunrise
Performs Dirge For The New Sunrise during a performance at the Elvehjem Museum in Madison, Wisconsin, USA - April 17. Also features artist Dennis Nechvatal (who did the cover for Artificial Intelligence) doing a painting live on the stage for the duration of the show.
Based on a poem by British avant-garde poet and critic Edith Sittwell about the horrors of the Hiroshima bombing:
Dirge for the New Sunrise
Fifteen minutes past eight o'clock, on the
morning of Monday the 6th of August, 1945
Bound to my heart as Ixion to the wheel,
Nailed to my heart as the Thief upon the Cross
I hang between our Christ and the gap where the world was lost
And watch the phantom Sun in Famine Street
- The ghost of the heart of Man.red Cain,
And the more murderous brain
Of Man, still redder Nero that conceived the death
Of his mother Earth, and tore
Her womb, to know the place where he was conceived.
But no eyes grieved -
For none were left for tears:
They were blinded as the years
"Healing Hurts" score
Writes music for Healing Hurts, a movie directed by Jim Chambers.
"Words and Music from Wrong Way Up" promo CD
Release of Words and Music from Wrong Way Up promo CD credited to Brian Eno. It is 27 minutes long and has Eno talking between and/or over six songs form the album, and he talks about Cale a lot, being very candid about how difficult and even stormy their working relationship was while making the record, but also how he is pleased with the results of their collaboration.
On the back of the insert is a colour video self-portrait of Eno along with a quote mentioning that his co-writing the one track on Words For The Dying (The Soul of Carmen Miranda) with John led to them making the Wrong Way Up album:
"I never stopped writing songs, I just stopped releasing them. But what happened is that I worked with John Cale on his record Words For The Dying and we wrote a beautiful little song together that surprised both of us quite a tot. It didn't have a character that either one of us had ever had in any of our music before. And. I thought this looks like a new territory for me. Suddenly songwriting looked exciting to me again. So I thought it was time to start singing again."
"Sanctus" in New York
He performs Sanctus with The Orchestra of St Luke's at Town Hall in New York on June 8 and 9. Also on the bill were David Byrne and Glenn Branca.
The composition - labeled as Four Etudes For Electronic Orchestra - is released on the Paris s'eveille - suivi d'autres compositions album. It was written for the Randy Warshaw Dance Company in 1987.
"Primary Motive" soundtrack
Cale writes the score for Primary Motive, a political thriller directed by Daniel Adams. Released on the Paris s'eveille - suivi d'autres compositions album. The movie hits the theatres in 1992. The critics hate the acting and dialogue.
The Marble Index reissue with bonus tracks
The Nico album The Marble Index is reissued on CD with two bonus tracks mixed by Cale in 1990: Roses in the Snow and Nibelungen. The latter is also released on his Dance Music album for the ballet about the singer in 1998.
Yo La Tengo's cover of "Hanky Panky Nohow" pops up again
American indie rock band Yo La Tengo covers Hanky Panky Nohow for the Spanish sampler The Ruta 66 Album.
This version was previously released on their Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo album in 1989.
Producing Louise Feron
He records, mixes and produces French singer Louise Feron's self-titled album and writes the music for La morte amoureuse. He plays keyboards on L'amour Monstre and Souvenirs de L'Avenir. The latter track is also released on the A-side of a single and a four song promo CD.
Paris s'eveille - suivi d'autres compositions
Release of Cale's first soundtrack album Paris s'eveille - suivi d'autres compositions.
Paris s'eveille music for the movie directed by Olivier Assayas.
Animals At Night was written for the Ralph Lemon Dance Company.
Sanctus (Four Etudes For Electronic Orchestra) was written for the Randy Warshaw Dance Company in 1987.
Primary Motive is a score for a political thriller directed by Daniel Adams.
Contains an three minute excerpt of Booker T., performed by The Velvet Underground at The Gymnasium, New York, April 1967.
The album also contains a new version of Antarctica Starts Here from the Paris 1919 album.
Paris s'eveille CDEP
This CDEP includes the same version of Paris s'eveille, the otherwise unavailable track L'Heritage Du Dragon (a traditional with an unknown singer) from the movie's soundtrack, and the full version of Booker T. (6:39).
The Soldier String Quartet covers "Paris 1919"
The Soldier String Quartet cover Paris 1919 on their Sojourner Truth album. This ensemble will perform with Cale throughout the Nineties, often using the arrangements of band leader David Soldier.
My Friend the Chocolate Ballet cover "Buffalo Ballet"
Australian folk rock band My Friend the Chocolate Cake cover Buffalo Ballet on their untitled debut album.
Blackeyed Susans cover "Close Watch"
Australian rock band Blackeyed Susans cover Close Watch on their ...Depends On What You Mean By Love EP. Also included on their Welcome Stranger compilation album (1992).
Maureen Tucker's I Spent A Week There The Other Night
Plays viola and synthesizer on Maureen Tucker's I Spent A Week There The Other Night. Tracks featuring Cale: (and) Then He Kissed Me, I'm Not and I'm Waiting For The Man. All three tracks are also included on her Waiting For My Men compilation album (1998).
Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison also play on the album, making it a Velvet Underground reunion by proxy, because the four of them never were in the studio at the same time. Cale's then wife Risé made the cover photo.
Cale sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
Cale sings Hallelujah on I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, a Leonard Cohen tribute album compiled by the staff of French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles. He used one of the couplets that Cohen had written, but had not used himself when he recorded it for his Various Positions album in 1984.
Maybe there's a God above
But all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold, and it's a broken Hallelujah
His version is the starting point of countless other artists tackling the song. It even became the subject of a documentary - Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song - in 2021. Jeff Buckley used his arrangement on his Grace album. The album itself became the subject of a book by Ray Padgett in the 33 1/3 series in 2020.
An edit of Cale's version would be used in the Shrek movie in 2001. The soundtrack album of that movie however has the Rufus Wainwright version.
"I don't consider it my music, I consider it Leonard's. I'd always regarded that song as quintessential Leonard. That version was initially recorded for an Les Inrockuptibles compilation [1991's I'm Your Fan]. There were originally 15 verses to the song, some of them intensely religious, and I felt uncomfortable singing those, so I changed them around. If you watch the DVD extras on Shrek, there's one of a long conversation between the directors, an American lady and an Australian guy, I think, discussing how certain scenes came about. When they come to that scene, the guy is obviously a fan and the lady less so. He says, you know, expansively, like, 'Oh, John Cale's voice, whenever I hear his voice I wanna cry.' And the lady responds, drily, ''Well, there were a number of times during the making of this movie when I felt like crying too!' It was very funny."
Cale/Cohen Hallelujah single
Also released on a maxi single with both Cale's and Cohen's version and The Queen and Me (aka Queen Victoria), a track co-written with Cohen, as the B-side.
La Monte Young radio broadcast
On October 22 NYC radio station WKCR 89.9 FM broadcasts a 24 hour marathon about avant-garde musician La Monte Young. Various recordings featuring Cale with the Dream Syndicate and the Theatre of Eternal are part of the programming. Listeners taped a lot of it and these recordings became the source for a wealth of bootlegs.
Sister Double Happiness
Plays Radar Blips on the Heart and Mind album of this American alternative blues rock group.
Paul Kelly & The Messengers cover "Buffalo Ballet"
Australian songwriter Paul Kelly & The Messengers cover Buffalo Ballet on their Comedy album.