I found this guy Cohen late in life. I was drawn to his work because I respect that he only sings what he writes and considers himself a poet before a songster. He's gotten up there in age and is only performing minimally. His presence is abundant on YouTube, so when you search for him you get a lot of playlists and other related postings in the right margin. many of the cuts have been monetized, I think with his OK. Some folks think of him as Europe's (+Canada) Dylan. I dig Cohen even more because I can't understand Dylan anymore. To get a flavor re Cohen (if you already don't know of his works), try this one called Chealsea Hotel that is prelogued by an interview on the matter that he wrote the song after a hook-up with janis Joplin in the Chelsea in NYC. Halfway thru he sings the song he wrote. A few racey lyrics and brutal poetic license re the relationship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cp_4r2kUPM&feature=related link to "R" lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohenimyourman/chelseahotelno2.htm
No way, was just listening to 'Waiting for the Miracle'. I don't know him well at all, I'm said to say. Except that he wrote Hallelujah (which was so wonderfully covered by Rufus Wainwright) and less than a handful of songs from soundtracks. I want to get more into him so bad. He makes me think of a cross between Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. What should I check out first? It doesn't have to be "starter level", love blues, like folk love experimenting.
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q Top Comments Brilliant. It saddens me, how real music is fading away. Auto tuning, sex appeal, they take one look at you and decide weather to put millions into making you a star. THIS, is music of substance. Heart, soul, raw reality. It's what the music industry lacks, what it needs. ToxsickEntertainment 6 days ago 69 Reply Share Remove Flag for spam Block User Unblock User this song means something different to everyone who sings it and hears it, truly a masterful song Hallelujah in Shrek movie (with mature lyrics sanitized): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llYUEmok2lA&feature=related Gotta watch this one when the middle school kids ask if they can sing it at the Spring recital. "Hallelujah" I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you She tied you to a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Baby I have been here before I know this room, I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you. I've seen your flag on the marble arch Love is not a victory march It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah There was a time when you let me know What's really going on below But now you never show it to me, do you? And remember when I moved in you The holy dove was moving too And every breath we drew was Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Maybe there’s a God above But all I’ve ever learned from love Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you It’s not a cry you can hear at night It’s not somebody who has seen the light It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you And even though it all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah
Duck: just click in on the Chealsea Hotel YT and check out the right margin for other stuff. On of my favs is his Tower of Song that gets into the pecking order of the songster racket. At concerts, sometimes he'll just read select song lyrics and skip the music. Here it is: Tower of Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJf4J7VBaY "I ache in the places I used to play." - that's me, alright. "They don't let a woman kill you in the tower of song."
So Long Marianne - break-up song, - L. Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVD_Lfk1fA&feature=related "I see you've gone and changed your name again."
From L. Cohen's web page of poems: http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/poem.html#onlytourist The only tourist in Havana turns his thoughts homeward from "Flowers for Hitler" Come, my brothers, let us govern Canada, let us find our serious heads, let us dump asbestos on the White House, let us make the French talk English, not only here but everywhere, let us torture the Senate individually until they confess, let us purge the New Party, let us encourage the dark races so they'll be lenient when they take over, let us make the CBC talk English, let us all lean in one direction and float down to the coast of Florida, let us have tourism, let us flirt with the enemy, let us smelt pig-iron in our back yards, let us sell snow to under-developed nations, (It is true one of our national leaders was a Roman Catholic?) let us terrorize Alaska, let us unite Church and State, let us not take it lying down, let us have two Governor Generals at the same time, let us have another official language, let us determine what it will be, let us give a Canada Council Fellowship to the most original suggestion, let us teach sex in the home to parents, let us threaten to join the U.S.A. and pull out at the last moment, my brothers, come, our serious heads are waiting for us somewhere like Gladstone bags abandoned after a coup d'état, let us put them on very quickly, let us maintain a stony silence on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Havana April 1961
Cohen is over 75 yrs. old and not going so strongly on the concert circuit. He is still active writing and making limited appearances. He is very up to date in his old age, with a Facebook fan club page @ http://www.************/home.php#!/leonardcohen Here's a documentary they did while he was emerging in Canada during his early life as a poet/performer. I'm going to put it all on one post. The segments are about 15 min. each. He's older than Dylan and was probably crowded-out of the USA market because he was both ahead of the game re bohemian posture, late musical rendition of his works and just a general aversion to anything not American during the '60's. So, working out of Montreal, he played well in Canada and Europe where he's almost revered as a poet laureate for the tumultuos 20th. This is a playlist splicing 5 Parts of the documentary posted on Youtube. You can watch it on part at a time by going over to the right margin were they usually show up in numeric order. Each part is about 10 minutes: Here's the playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_p-RrAULfE&list=PLE1C0E4443BC9E29B Hope you enjoy. Test next monday at 11:00PM.
It seems everyone is rushing to give Cohen awards in his later years. I hope it's not only because of that, but because they finally have recognized he truly is a legend in his time without the benefit of immense success in the U.S.A. Here's a few of his award ceremony speeches, starting with the most prestigious, the Prince Of Asturias Award. Leonard Cohen's Prince Of Asturias Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIR5ps8usuo Leonard Cohen Saluted at Grammy Awards, Jan 31, 2010 (x4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHSfAUJ_TUE&feature=related LEONARD COHEN GIVES MOVING HALLELUJAH FOR SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfpsXUGT36A Leonard Cohen's Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7IuCKfA0PM Enjoy.
Leonard Cohen´s best reply ever to question: "Why do they come to see me." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvj1WSzFgyQ&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hiEXwyto4k&feature=autoplay&list=FLFKOz7YfYIWaSUxTA3f_4aw&lf=plpp_play_all&playnext=5"]Leonard Cohen - Here it is - YouTube this one my favorites...
Leonard Cohen is a man of great talent. I love that fucking Jew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUrPzqVadNQ"]Leonard Cohen - Seems so long ago, Nancy - YouTube
Thanks, orison. I overlooked this one. After watching LC's early video biography I understand more of why he's the way he is and why he got started late with putting his poetry to music. As I get on with life, his messages not only appeal to me, begad, I've lived them. I can't tell you the number of chords he strikes when it come to my puzzlement with "relationships," and inane authority. I got this sneaky suspicion he's going to go down in literature somewhere on the order of E.E. Cummings: she being Brand she being Brand -new;and you know consequently a little stiff I was careful of her and (having thoroughly oiled the universal joint tested my gas felt of her radiator made sure her springs were O. K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her up,slipped the clutch (and then somehow got into reverse she kicked what the hell) next minute i was back in neutral tried and again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg. ing(my lev-er Right- oh and her gears being in A 1 shape passed from low through second-in-to-high like greasedlightning) just as we turned the corner of Divinity avenue i touched the accelerator and give her the juice,good (it was the first ride and believe I we was happy to see how nice and acted right up to the last minute coming back down by the Public Gardens I slammed on the internalexpanding & externalcontracting breaks Bothatonce and brought allofher tremB -ling to a:dead. stand- ;Still)
