Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 03:34 AM

I'm not sure about this, but my sister says back when she was in college, listening to Leonard Cohen was as good as a litmus test - if you could listen without wanting to slit your wrists, you were probably ok mental-health-wise, but if you couldn't get through a whole record without wanting to sob uncontrollably, you were possibly dangerously depressed and needed to see the counselor.

I'm listening to Leonard Cohen right now - Ten New Songs, which came out in 2001 - and I'm feeling okay, so I must not be too depressed. There have been a few times, though, when I put it on and had to take it off because I started to feel unbearably sad. Strange.

But I think his voice is incredibly sexy, in a seedy, smoky, strangely seductive kind of way. Makes my skin shiver.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 06:15 PM

...Leonard Cohen's music!


Isn't that phrase an oxymoron?

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 12:21 PM

Dylan and Cohen both have a grand sense of humour, I think.

They write songs very differently, though. Cohen can take years to write a specific lyric, till he gets it just the way he wants it. Dylan writes fast, by intuition. I tend to prefer the Dylan approach. The stuff that comes fast (for me) is by far the best. The stuff that doesn't never comes up to the same standard, because it's too mentally contrived.

Cohen's way obviously works fine for him, and Dylan's way works fine for Dylan.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 11:56 AM

The song is weird, thank God for the remote control so I can zap past it.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,lpaf
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 10:58 AM

Any thoughts on the song "Dear Heather"?

lpaf

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,username
Date: 28 Oct 04 - 12:51 AM

I just bought his brand new album "dear heather" and i really love it. Thankfully, except for the first song, the production is a lot better than "10 new songs". And there are some live intruments again. Listen to "the faith", he recorded this song with the same band he recorded his album 'recent songs" with. There is no doubt that it is one of his most beautiful songs ever.

This album is more poetry than most of hsi albums of late. Are these poems or songs? That's one of the great things cohen has acheived in his career, being able to bring poetry to the masses, making it seem less formal.

Because Of

Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
to my old age.
They make a secret place
In their busy lives
And they take me there.
They become naked
In their different ways
and they say,
"Look at me, Leonard
Look at me one last time."
Then they bend over the bed
And cover me up
Like a baby that is shivering.


Undertow

I set out one night
When the tide was low
There were signs in the sky
But I did not know
I'd be caught in the grip
Of the undertow
Ditched on a beach
Where the sea hates to go
With a child in my arms
And a chill in my soul
And my heart the shape
Of a begging bowl


Dear Heather

Dear Heather
Please walk by me again
With a drink in your hand
And your legs all white
From the winter



To A Teacher
Hurt once and for all into silence.
A long pain ending without a song to prove it.
Who could stand beside you so close to Eden,
When you glinted in every eye the held-high
razor, shivering every ram and son?
And now the silent loony bin, where
The shadows live in the rafters like
Day-weary bats,
Until the turning mind, a radar signal,
lures them to exaggerate
Mountain-size on the white stone wall
Your tiny limp.
How can I leave you in such a house?
Are there no more saints and wizards
to praise their ways with pupils,
No more evil to stun with the slap
of a wet red tongue?
Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror
and rest because he had finally come?
Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher.
I have entered under this dark roof
As fearlessly as an honoured son
Enters his father's house.


these are poems set to music for sure. The last one is actually a poem from his 1961 book of poetry called 'the spice-box of earth"

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 07:28 PM

He sounds too much like Marthe Srewart for my taste!

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 06:10 PM

I think you've ALL got it wrong - Cohen was writing COMIC songs all the time !!!
I Lit a Thin Green Candle to make you jealous of me
But the room just fillied up with Mosquitos , they'd heard my body was free

One of the best Comedy songs ever written !!!

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: frogprince
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 02:46 PM

Did anyone else like his theme in "McCabe and Mrs.Miller" as well as I did? Something about, "like he was giving up the holy game of poker"...

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: voyager
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 02:25 PM

What I like about Lenny (From the I'm Your Man/Tower of Song) lyric -

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
Tower of Song

is his understated modesty and his basso profundo attempts on songs
like this.

voyager

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 12:08 AM

I don't know how anyone can compare musicians at all. Especially those who review music professionally, I mean how lazy is that? Any fool who comes along strumming a guitar is automatically the next Dylan... which is unfair to both the artist in question and the reader. Why not just judge people on their own merits?

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Terry K
Date: 24 Oct 04 - 04:47 AM

I don't see how you can even compare Dylan and Cohen. After all, Cohen is only a fairly ordinary genius.

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: DonMeixner
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 09:50 PM

The only differences I can see between Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen is Cohen is a much better musician and he writes extremely well.

Don "Not a Dylan fan" Meixner

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 08:40 PM

I focus on the lyrics and the music as one. I find when i'm writing, that if i do the lyrics first, then the tune just comes with them, and vice versa. I think they have to go together, if you see what i mean, i think they have to match. And to my mind Cohens (and DYlans) tunes match their words, and i think their voices do too. Same goes for Waits.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Charlie Lewis
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 02:19 PM

Grab wrote: "the cheesy Casio organs and crappy drum machines started creeping in"

Hmmm, i always thought it was a Yamaha PS-6100 he made "I'm Your Man" on.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 08:24 PM

Hmmm, yeah, there is obviously a great deal more to Tom Waits than I have yet been willing to perceive. Maybe he will "click" with me at some point too.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Helen
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 07:11 PM

LH,

I bought a CD called Red, Hot & Blue many years ago - a compilation of a range of modern singers & musicians performing Cole Porter songs. I worked in a public library at the time and used to play it in the library because I chose music which wasn't too loud for the public. I loved every track on the CD except the Tom Waits, which I used to suffer through. Finally one day it clicked with me and I loved his version of the song. Now it is one of my favourite tracks on the album. I bought a recent album of his - ostensibly as a present for hubby - but actually because I wanted it for me too. The one with the song called Alice on it.

We took the tape away with us in Tasmania last year and listened as we drove around. I like it a lot. He is one of the very few singer/songwriters whose lyrics I actually "hear" and whose music and words go together well for me, in my head.

I've seen him acting in a couple of - very far out - movies, too. An interesting bloke.

Helen

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 06:37 PM

Ah. I see. I focus tremendously on lyrics (simply can't ignore them or not notice them). There's a lot of great music out there that I do not listen to by choice, because it's accompanied by lyrics I cannot relate to...or that I don't like in the least. So naturally I am drawn to Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. I do like their music too, but it's the lyrics that really hook me, backed BY the music which adds a lot to them.

I agree with you that a great deal of the modern music barely deserves the name...and I'd have to say that about most of the lyrics I hear on the radio too.

What I was saying, actually, is this: the initial "sound" of a performer can turn a person off to the point that they never bother listening long enough to find out if there's anything else there that they might like. That was how Bob Dylan affected me until I was about 20, but I loved hearing Joan Baez sing his songs from a much earlier age. I thought they were the best songs she did by far. Eventually I got to like the way Dylan sounded, and it happened quite suddenly...in one day, in fact. That was actually the first time I deliberately sat down and listened to him with real attention.

The same thing might happen sometime with Tom Waites if I were to give him a proper chance...or it might not...who knows? My present reaction to Tom Waites is based on my response to only one thing: the sound of his voice. It sounds awful to me. I know that his songs are very highly regarded by a great many fine performers, so there must be something there that I'm missing.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Helen
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 06:02 PM

Little Hawk,

Just a couple of comments about what you said.

You said: "People who can't stand either Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan always sound to me like they have fixated on one or two details about the man in question...and completely failed to comprehend anything else about him whatsoever."

I think you have made an assumption that people like me have dismissed the whole of LC's ability based on my musical discretion, i.e. the power of making choices or judgements based on my own musical preferences.

As I said in '02 "I can stand listening to Cohen's songs and Bob Dylan's songs *only when someone else sings them*. But not when they sing them themselves."

I appreciate his lyrics, his poetic ability, his humour, etc but my major focus of choice/discretion in choosing what I want to listen to is the music, above the lyrics. I can listen to the crappiest, most sexist, most non-PC garbage if I like the music. Sorry! That is true. Most of the time I don't hear the lyrics at all. I don't focus on the words I focus on the music.

Put yourself in my shoes. If you only heard LC's voice & melody and did not associate them with the words would you like listening to him?

I have started listening to the ABC Classic-FM station in Oz in the last year or so because I am so starved for music. The stuff that I used to hear on the alternative youth radio station has become unlistenable in the main, because of the *music*. I listen to the alternative station because it doesn't have the msuical equivalent of Hollywood crap-pap and they are not afraid to have open discussion - musically and in interviews and news coverage - on all sorts of controversial issues, and this is the national, government run station. (Thank God for Oz freedom of speech!)   But lately I don't even define some of the stuff they have been playing as music because it could have been generated by a musical vending machine which gives you 10 seconds of music and then plays the same thing repeatedly for 3 minutes.

Don't get me wrong. I listen to every sort of music - folk, rock, heavy metal, swing, jazz, blues, CW, world music, classical, you name it, and my favourite favourite favourite album (apart from the Complete Sacred Choral Works of Vivaldi, 6 CD set) is a techno-percussion electronic CD called Leftism by a couple of geniuses calling themselves Leftfield.

So, I evaluate my musical choices based on music and not words. As I also said in '02, I have a theory "that the people who love Leonard Cohen & Bob Dylan relate to the words and don't care so much about the music, and the people who can't stand LC & BD relate to the music and don't care as much about the words."

So, as I also said before, in my opinion it is live and let live. You like LC, I don't. I am learning more about why some people love his stuff, but I don't love it.

Helen

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 09:09 AM

Yeah. Initial delivery can be off-putting all right. I have never gotten past Tom Waites' initial delivery, for example, and I understand he is a great songwriter, according to many people who certainly ought to know.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 08:42 AM

What I would say to those who don't like him is. Try not be repulsed by the initial delivery. Its a bit like those people who say they don't like all modern art. There is substance there and it repays the attention you give it.

If you decide to skip the delights of LC, fair enough. But they are there.

Subject: Leonard Cohen's music
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 06:39 AM

Leonard Cohen's music is not depressing - it is melancholic. Melancholy can actually be quite uplifting. I also find that I like people who like Leonard Cohen. My fave is 'Songs of Love and Hate' , and look forward to the release of 'Dear Heather' on Oct 25th.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Oct 04 - 12:12 AM

"Dark Eyes" is a wonderful song. I've personally sung it a few hundred times. "Shooting Star" is another little beauty of a song, not to mention "Born In Time". (those are all somewhat lesser known Dylan songs)

Then there's "Love Minus Zero" and "Farewell Angelina" which are both so beautiful and ethereal that they really defy classification in any genre. (more Dylan songs)

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 06:16 PM

Judy Collins is one of the great interpreters of songs. Her new album Judy Collins sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy is a collection of Cohen songs, three newly recorded and ten re-mastered. I met the man from my record shop as he was walking to work and ordered it there and then!

She has also recorded a number of songs by Dylan over the years. In 1993 she released Judy Collins Sings Dylan: Just Like A Woman, an album of newly recorded Dylan songs. You'd have to go a long way to find something more beguiling than Dark Eyes.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 04:19 PM

What what?!?! Leonard Cohen depressing? No way man...:) What's wrong with the odd wrist slitter now and again? When it's three in the morning, i've got no money, the only other living creature in my bed is a cat, and i'm getting hassle from every direction- i WANT to listen to something depressing!
Apart from anything else, someone who can sing 'giving me head' without making it sound sleazy is cool in my book.
I like Cohen very much. He writes songs that communicate to me on a level that few other artists can reach, one of them being Bob Dylan who has written some amazing melodies- listen to Desire. While niether Cohen nor Dylan have conventionally beautiful voices, in my opinion this doesn't detract from the music. It may make them less accessable initially, but i think once you get past that the voice then becomes an integral part of the song, in fitting with its character. If the material's good, and is sung with passion, i could quite happily listen to a donkey on speed singing it....
I think the thing about cover versions is that everyone has their own interperitation of a songs meaning so if you want to get close to what the writer intended it's best to hear the writer singing it, and when the lyrics are as deep and personal as Cohens this is especially true.
I think it is a love or hate thing, and unforunately my dad and i are polar opposites on this. It shows a complete lack of courtesy to compell someone to listen to music they don't like- but i think it's even more discourteous to just turn it off. Why not just leave the room? :)
Sorry for warbling on, i have a tendancy to become rather verbose sometimes...like when i'm bored and someone says something interesting. Great thread, a subject guaranteed to provoke some healthy debate!:)

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: black walnut
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 09:08 AM

What with Leonard's birthday and him being Canadian and all, I've heard a lot of Cohen songs over the past few months. 'Hallelujah' is my favourite of the bunch, and every time I hear someone sing it, I think it's the best version I've ever heard of it in my life. The latest (and of course, best) version I've ever heard of 'Hallelujah' was when Lisa Moscatiello sang it last Saturday in a workshop at Octoberfolk (Brantford Ontario Canada) . As always, the whole room joined in on the chorus. It was wondrous. Her voice and that song are still echoing around in my head.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 08:54 AM

Yeah, those are great too. "Dance Me To The End of Love" is a classic.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 08:44 AM

Anyone care for my favourites, 'Various positions' and 'recent songs'?

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 08:36 AM

Hmmm. I consider "I'm Your Man" and "The Future" to be even better than his early albums, although I consider his early albums to be very good. I haven't heard the most recent one.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Grab
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 06:04 AM

LC's older stuff is certainly good, and the quality of writing is such that they make good covers too. But since the "First we take Manhattan" album (was it called "I'm your man"?), the cheesy Casio organs and crappy drum machines started creeping in, and his most recent album is a travesty. It sounds like some bloke down the pub with a keyboard doing a bad LC imitation.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Eric the Streetsinger
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 10:35 PM

Listen to John Cale's recording of "Hallelujah",
Peter Gabriel's of "Suzanne"
Suzanne Vega's "Story of Isaac"

I actually don't find his albums to be depressing-
thoughful- yes!
Moody- yes!
But never depressing!

"as the mist leaves no scar upon the grey hill
so my body leaves no scar on you, nor ever will
true love leaves no traces..."

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Peace
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 08:25 PM

"That's No Way to Say Goodbye" has gotta be one of the best-written songs ever. I agree with LH's remark about focussing on one or two aspects of performers/writers/singers/etc. Cohen is remarkable. Is everything he ever did remarkable? No. Lots? Yes.

I always found the quest for image to be fundamental to the artistic pursuit--at least it has seemed that way with good artists (in any genre) that I have met. Artists tend to use what affects them. We saw the same sorta thing with Asher Lev in the remarkable novel by Potok.

Christians step away from the trappings of their religion and embrace symbols that are outside the Christian culture. I would opine that the nuclear disarmament symbol (which has come to be called the 'peace' symbol) carries a symbolic weight out of proportion to its size, much like other symbols we incorporate into our lives. Mogen David, cross, $, etc. Man finds meaning where s/he finds it. It will ever be thus. A swastika is just some lines put together. I see one and I know my BP rises very quickly: I want to get down and dirty in a very short trice. Don't know why. Just know it's so.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 07:13 PM

And he's just had his 70th birthday: Hallelujah! (One of his better songs, even if I prefer Jeff Buckley's rendition of it!)

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Compton
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 07:10 PM

I love Leonard Cohen's Music because I don't want to be happy all the time!

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 06:49 PM

Oh, yeah, it's occurred to me. I myself am a darned good singer, with an agreeable tenor voice that would no doubt please these people who can't stand the way Dylan and Cohen sing.

When I was 15 years old, I couldn't stand the way Dylan sounded. Later I became much more knowledgable about his material, and my opinion did a complete 180 degree shift. I saw past the superficial outer form to the content...and the content is marvelous. Once you appreciate the content, you begin to appreciate the form it is contained in as well. It's like falling in love with someone who isn't technically "good looking". You see deeper than skin deep and you realize that they are something much more important than "good looking"...they are beautiful. Then something magical happens, and they start looking good on the outside too.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 01:30 PM

Little Hawk, Have you not thought to yourself that some of the so called singers on here are perhaps so good that they are in a position to judge Dylan and Cohen on their merits by their own standards.........but then again perhaps some of the so called singers on here are jealous of the fame and fortune that both Dylan and Cohen have amassed and continue to......Is there really anyone on here who is in a position to judge them???? I'm not sure!.
I have LPs of them both which I love to take out and listen to sometimes. I am no expert but there are I am sure many others who like them as much as I do.
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 01:09 PM

Leonard Cohen is about as good as it gets when it comes to songwriting. His voice has grown deeper over the years, and has tremendous atmosphere which sets off the lyrics perfectly. He has a marvelous sense of humour.

You could say all of the above as well about Bob Dylan.

People who can't stand either Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan always sound to me like they have fixated on one or two details about the man in question...and completely failed to comprehend anything else about him whatsoever.

It's as if they were evaluating New York City on the basis of a single street or something...

It works this way: there is something that initially puts them off...(the sound of the voice)...(a "depressing" song they heard). They form an opinion based on that, and they never look any further. It's as if they picked up a book, randomly opened it to a single page, read a sentence they couldn't identify with...and said, "This is crap!" End of story.

Leonard Cohen is simply marvelous, and it is totally silly to characterize all his songs as "depressing" or lacking a good tune. Ditto for Dylan. Dylan has written some of the most beautiful tunes in history, and those among you who can't stand his voice could grasp that instantly if you heard someone else (whose voice you like) doing those tunes. But...if someone told you, "That's a Dylan song." your autopilot would probably kick in right away, and you'd say, "It's crap!" :-)

Dylan is at least as much a musician as he is a lyricist, and he's a superb lyricist. So is Cohen. Listen to Jennifer Warnes do Cohen if you don't like his voice, and THEN tell me those songs have no good tune!

Just because you don't like a musician's style does not necessarily mean he's no good AS a musician.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 09:44 AM

IMHO...when you study the lyrics of Leonard Cohens songs and begin to understand the depth of feeling in them...you see the man himself.
Aside from that...When I sung "Suzanne" at a Folk Club in Lancashire around 20 yrs ago...it was so well accepted, I was asked to repeat it on a few occasions..Incidentally, why are we talking about the guy now....because he still has a following...his music/songs can still be heard on radio occasionally.......there must be something in that!!!
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 08:34 AM

yo grab,
       Agreed, it wasn't his best, but two tracks "love itself" and "Alexandra leaving" are as good as any of his earlier stuff I reckon.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Grab
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 08:30 AM

ST, I hope his new album is better than the dross he released on his last album. If you looked beyond the recording, some of the songs had potential, but they were crushed by the misuse of shitty drum machines and keyboards by some truly awful musicians. They didn't even reach the standard of mediocre, they were just crap. That album could have been put together by any monkey with 6 months practise on a Casio keyboard. Unless someone posts a review of the new album on here and says it's terrific, I'm not buying any new LC albums - frankly I think he's lost it and I don't plan on wasting my money.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 08:15 AM

One of his recent backing singers called Perla batala is also recording an album of his songs. She sang with him at The Albert Hall in 1988, and yes, I was there. Isn't life fab?

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,James
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 08:12 AM

I too love LC. I also like Norma Waterson a lot as well and I find him no less emotional in his singing than she. I am glad to hear that Judt Collins is doing an album of his songs as I think she has done far better renditions of his stuff than Jennifer Warnes has.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 07:19 AM

From 'Some of the lines in that song made me laugh out loud' to 'Songs to commit suicide to'.

He certainly provokes a response from listeners! Nobody listens to Leonard Cohen and says, "That was quite nice."

He makes me laugh too. I didn't realise there were so many people without a sense of humour.

If you don't like his voice, try listening to Judy Collins, the person who encouraged him to perform and took his songs to a wider audience. She has just released 'Democracy', a collection of his songs.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 04:25 AM

Mr Cohen is godlike! Good news too chaps, according to his website he is releasing a new album at the end of this month.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 04:19 AM

Ah Leonard Cohen .............. songs to commit suicide to ..... that's what we call them as we listened to them back in the 70's, pass that razor blade !! Some things don't change

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Lanfranc
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 04:06 AM

I have now loved Cohen's music for almost 40 years. Not to listen to 24/7, but then who is there that could take that much exposure? Listening to one album at a time can still produce an unexpected revelation. Shallow the lyrics are not; sparse the tunes, maybe; haggard the voice, OK, but usually on pitch and well accompanied.

My favourite cover versions (other than those I do myself!!) are those of Jennifer Warnes.

Hang on in there, Lenny, some of us love ya!

Alan

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 01:39 AM

I think you should always try and recognise the craft of an artist, even if it isn't for you. I found his early albums heavy going - although not without merit. His voice/singing takes some getting used to for some folks, but I can live with that too. Hearing later songs like "Everybody Knows", I am struck by his sly sense of irony and humour. Some of the lines in that song made me laugh out loud. That mixture of melancholy and irony makes him a cousin of Randy Newman in spirit if not in sound.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: GUEST,Abraham Diner
Date: 06 Oct 04 - 01:22 AM

There are two sides to him. He could be very romantic, and
then other songs are extremely depressing. As a Jew, I find
it strange that the grandson of a rabbi should be so fixated
with Christian images. Yet, he has incorporated many judaic
scenes into his songs. The " Sacrifice of Isaac" has become
an anti-war song. " Who By Fire" was inspired by the Yom Kippur
prayer, but is not a favorite of mine.
His ability to write a KLEZMER song is fantastic. In a mixture
of Hebrew/greek melodies, he created "Dance me to the end of love?".
I love his version of this song, as well as versions done by other
Klezmer Bands.
I enjoy reading parts from his novel BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, some very comical.

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: hahawa
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 11:12 AM

Virtually tuneless & depressing I'm afraid from my point of view....if you think Cohen's music is full of emotions then you obviously haven't heard anything by Norma Waterson!!

Subject: RE: Why I love Leonard Cohen's music!
From: Helen
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 05:01 PM

Catarina,

My problem with my hubby is that he seems to think that I *have* to listen to LC, and gets annoyed when I ask if we can play something else (after the first CD - one at a time is more than enough for me, and the order in the CD player is that the one I hate the most comes first - I don't mind the later one, with Famous Blue Raincoat on it, where there is a bit better guitar work and a female back-up singer) - but, I would *not* turn it off if he started playing it and didn't want to stop it. I just go outside or into my computer room and play a CD on the computer with my headphones.

But, here is the problem! When I play something hubby doesn't like, e.g. Jeff Buckley, or The Chills, or...or...or... - the list is pretty big - he just goes in and turns it off without even asking. It's an uneven battle so far, but I am working on negotiations with him. I've also just decided to change the order of the CD's to put the one I can stand first and the one I can't stand last, so that when hubby just lets the CD player go through the CD's in sequence at least I'll be able to listen to the first one without wanting to scream, and I'll have enough warning to leave the house or make alternative arrangements for the next 2 or 3.

Helen