Leonard Cohen Rest In Peace

so inspiring. so invigorating. love to the curmudgeon. love. love. love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeuN742hNDw

http://a3.files.biography.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,h_1200,q_80,w_1200/MTIwNjA4NjMzNzc1MjI4NDI4.jpg

:-( :-( :-(

so glad i got to see him when he was out here in 2010 rip!!!

Just the worst year.

otm

A few weeks ago, anticipating a new album, I wrote an overview of his remarkable career. What a late period run. The fucker was sharp. RIP.

Oh fuck. RIP

just broken hearted. my friend says this is like when a tzadik (holy man) dies before terrible tribulations start (a trope in different jewish literatures). that only made me bawl harder

ugh. i'm sad, but at least a bit prepared for his passing, given his recent remarks on his health and readiness for death.

I've been listening to him a lot these last few weeks. There's something about those early acoustic albums that jibe with the kind of romantic melancholy of fall. And The Future was playing in my head all day post Trump. I fear he may have been on to something.

RIP

i cried when i listened to his music and he was alive. after this week and this it's so painful.

My all time favorite. Da doo dum dum dum da doo dum dum.

WTF? I guess this shouldn't be surprising because he's been saying he was ready to die, but still, now? It's like every tragedy is just piling up all at once.

listening to "Suzanne" right now, it seems appropriately somber and reflective given the times

Don't know what to say. What an amazing artist, meant so much to me.

Oh lord, I can't really handle this right now. What is happening?

this is devastating

songwriters have all kinds of opinions about artists but I don't know any songwriters who don't consider Leonard Cohen one of the best to ever take up the craft. I feel like he's one of those artists who you really remember when you got into him, and how -- for me it was Nick Cave's cover of "Avalanche," when I was 16, that set me searching for this guy. A friend sent me a dub of "Live Songs," the one with "Please Don't Pass Me By" on it, when it was a really hard one to find -- mindblowing stuff for me then. A giant. 82 is a good life. I know the Maker of All Songs will be as excited to see Leonard Cohen as Leonard Cohen will be to see Him.

Can't think of eloquent to say and anything less is just not worthy.

Er.... Can't think of anything eloquent to say and anything less is just not worthy.

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.

"...glad that I ran into you..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnvv1Lgj9zM

To me the graduation to $10 Casios, like Dylan going electric, marked an incalculable revolution in his sound: he found an aural correlative for the seventeenth century ironies of his lyrics and the deadpan delivery.

oh wow leonard

i am sad

you were amazing

I feel like he's one of those artists who you really remember when you got into him, and how

i got really into leonard around the birth of my second son. i took a lot of time off of work and spent it all with my sons and my wife at home and listened to so much of his music

Genius, genius, genius. Rest in peace, L Cohen.

I can't think of a single other songwriter who produced work of such quality at such an advanced age.

My Gateway...seeing this at 20

http://www.astortheatre.net.au/wp-content/uploads/mccabe-poster.jpg

yeah, that was the gateway for those of us who juuuust missed the '60s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-r3QcegnU

Mine was Judy Collins' "Suzanne," which I loved as a kid but had no idea who Leonard Cohen was. The real immersion was Jennifer Warnes' album, which my dad bought when I was in high school and I was fascinated with. I think he's the most grown-up songwriter ever. Everything about him always seemed adult, in the best meaning of the word -- experienced, knowing, compassionate, patient. Like he'd lived 50 lifetimes and was distilling them down to their essence.

I'm exhausted from the year taking so much and giving so little

Damn. RIP

Well, that's one way to headline an obit:

"Genius Songwriter Of Music From “Watchmen” Sex Scene Dead At 82"

I think he's the most grown-up songwriter ever. Everything about him always seemed adult, in the best meaning of the word -- experienced, knowing, compassionate, patient. Like he'd lived 50 lifetimes and was distilling them down to their essence.

― Mike Pence shakes his head and mouths the word ‘no’ (tipsy mothra), Thursday, November 10, 2016 10:19 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea!

My heart is broken. I had a lot of feelings so I wrote an uncharacteristic number of tweets. https://twitter.com/hollowmines/status/796902502545362945

Watching Cohen DVDs at 3am (I don't want to play records this late). He accompanied me on many sleepless nights, so why not this one too.

RIP

i feel bad that i didn't get around to listening to his new album until hearing this new, but i'm doing it now. it's excellent. "on the level" is an early fave.

until hearing the news, i meant.

I was lucky to see Leonard Cohen live a couple of years ago. It's amazing that he played a 3 hour set at 80 years old. His music is eternal.

You Want It Darker is great, and I said as much back when I thought he actually might have a couple more records in him, as he'd said he was planning on.

I think he's the most grown-up songwriter ever. Everything about him always seemed adult, in the best meaning of the word -- experienced, knowing, compassionate, patient. Like he'd lived 50 lifetimes and was distilling them down to their essence.

― Mike Pence shakes his head and mouths the word ‘no’ (tipsy mothra), Thursday, November 10, 2016 10:19 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there is something very comforting about listening to him at this particular moment too. it's been a rough few days, some reminder of humanity, wisdom, maturity

I was lucky to see Leonard Cohen live a couple of years ago. It's amazing that he played a 3 hour set at 80 years old. His music is eternal.

― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Thursday, November 10, 2016 10:00 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I saw him in 2010 and not only did he play 3 hours but he skipped on and off stage like a giddy child, light as a feather. Just a treasure.

like a bird on a wire
like a drunk in some midnight choir
i have tried in my way to be free

like a worm on a hook
like a knight from some old fashioned book
i have saved all my ribbons for thee

Xxxxxxpost
Alfred, I was just watching a 88 live show and they definitely weren't cheap Casio's, saw a DX7 and a Korg so it was p state of the art

weirdest irony of my adult life was getting my Mum into Leonard & now she's seen him live like 3 times and I have seen him zero times

rip beautiful old man, into the heavens with you

Had been avoiding You Want It Darker for some reason... maybe in some ways I knew it was the end, but wow this is great

oh leonard

Just rescreened McCabe &...

So many feelings.

Played the new album yesterday for the first time, the title track seemed to fit the Trump news. I did wonder if Len thought so too.

I was waiting for the vinyl release of the new album, but it seems to keep getting pushed back. I guess I might give it a listen now.

RIP L. Cohen. Been listening to 'Democracy' and 'Anthem' a lot recently.

I was only just watching Bird on a Wire, the 1972 concert documentary, last night. It's a great watch, for those who haven't seen it. Rest in peace.

I haven't seen this mentioned, but it's a great recent article about him (and tbh softened the blow - it's fairly clear in it that he's on his way out).

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker

absolutely crushed by this, but also so heartened by him and his, I don't know... his example, his music, ILX knows what I am trying to say

It's something surely everyone has been expecting for a long time but god if it isn't another kick in the teeth in a terrible week. Or looking at it from the other angle, his timing is once again perfect and poetic. I can only hope he slipped out of consciousness 70 hours or so ago.

I've been wondering which Cohen record I'd go straight to in the event of his death, for a while I'd assumed it would be The Songs of Leonard Cohen or Old Ideas, but in the end it was, without hesitating, The Future. He saw through all that end-of-history nonsense so early on, and expressed it with such piercing humour, and both the title track and Democracy have been in my head a lot this week.

Given his whole life's project was based around exploring the area around love, the body, god and death, it's unsurprising that his last trio of albums is also up there with his best. Maybe it's because he was always the old guy (even in the 60s, he was the one guy who never got to be the young firebrand), but old age suited him so well, only Johnny Cash did it better. And like Johnny, it hits all the harder when their voice is at its most potent at the end of their life.

He meant a lot to me and my wife personally, and a lot to my parents. I saw him live twice, once at Glastonbury in 2008, which was one of the all time great Pyramid Stage moments (and the corny fucker knew exactly what he was doing when he timed Hallelujah to accompany the sunset). The second time was in London three or four years ago, and he actually *jogged* onstage and then played a Springsteen-length set. In his 80s. And he smoked every day. RIP.

I can only hope he slipped out of consciousness 70 hours or so ago.

he died monday

His last words were "Thanks, Obama"

(don't worry, I'll fp myself)

RIP Leonard ;_;

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1e/25/57/1e25575fb5d122e8f0bf6c8755c90789.jpg

weirdest irony of my adult life was getting my Mum into Leonard & now she's seen him live like 3 times and I have seen him zero times

My mother's been into LC her whole life (and been to many gigs) and just posted a really lovely post on FB of all places and also managed to refer to DJT as 'that orange arseh0le' so mum otm

He was my first folk music to hear. My dad had two of his records that I found in his stack. Then I heard him on Pump Up The Volume and pulled them out again. Its been a love affair ever since. Rest in Peace

it is hard to even think of what to say. Cohen is one of those artists who can make time stand still w just a voice and an acoustic guitar. Cohen was a shining light in this godless world. he wrote about spirituality with a sense of sincerity, wisdom, and humor that you don't see much, or at all, in pop music. my favorite album of his, "Death of a Ladies Man", imo is the modern "Dark Night of the Soul".

RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirxqAn7Ck8

Always loved this speech he gave a few years ago, in which he recounts how his education as a guitarist was touched by tragedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIR5ps8usuo

RIP, Leonard, thank you ...

I especially love his acceptance speech for the R&R Hall of Fame. He recites Tower of Song, and the couplets hit like punchlines. An audience unfamiliar with the song might have thought he was just making extemporaneous observations that rhymed almost by accident. It's a testament to his stagecraft and wit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9IZfiHEgd8

obv Cohen-sceptic response: I think you'll find that was him singing

Now the clasp of this union
Who fastens it tight?
Who snaps it asunder
The very next night
Some say the rider
Some say the mare
Or that love's like the smoke
Beyond all repair

But my darling says
"Leonard, just let it go by
That old silhouette
On the great western sky"
So I pick out a tune
And they move right along
And they're gone like the smoke
And they're gone like this song

It's written on the walls of this hotel
You go to heaven once you've been to hell

A heavy burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control

I think you'll find that was him singing

Even better.

I have Cohen's whole catalog on shuffle right now. He didn't really have any bad songs, did he?

There's a lot of stuff from the 2000s onward that I'm less familiar with, it's all great

RIP (music from people who figured out how to live)

Quite long (18 page PDF) but great interview a couple of weeks ago: https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/darkerlaunchevent.pdf

In many ways his later, more recent stuff is as good or even better than the folk stuff. The cheesy synths I find fascinating in their contrast, and I think his wry humor became even more apparent. They're less heard than the "hits," but like few other songwriters his later albums produced so many songs that have the weight of classics. Even aside from "Hallelujah," which obviously was not some epochal cultural statement back in 1984, there are songs like "Dance Me to the End of Love," "The Future," "Anthem," "Waiting for the Miracle," "Everybody Knows," "Tower of Song," "In My Secret Life," etc. His "Essential" collection, in both its 2 and 3 disc iterations, doesn't include a duff track, and the more recent songs sit perfectly well with his earlier stuff. How many other '60s-associated acts could release a similar collection where the formative works and later output could cohabitant so cohesively? Or, by the standard of Christgau, where the fourth CD of the chronological box set is as good as the first?

Amazing that he was, what, already 30 when he released his first album?

Not sad. He was 82. An inspiration for the rest of my life, the lives of many generations to come. Few artists are as important to me as Leonard Cohen is. He inhabits a place so spiritual, so visceral that I can't feel like he is truly gone.

So yes thank you thank you thank you.

:)

I'm catching up properly with the thread now - I have too much to say and can't say it, but everyone otm. I've been listening to him at work all day in a constant state of emotional vertigo.

songwriters have all kinds of opinions about artists but I don't know any songwriters who don't consider Leonard Cohen one of the best to ever take up the craft. I feel like he's one of those artists who you really remember when you got into him, and how -- for me it was Nick Cave's cover of "Avalanche," when I was 16, that set me searching for this guy. A friend sent me a dub of "Live Songs," the one with "Please Don't Pass Me By" on it, when it was a really hard one to find -- mindblowing stuff for me then. A giant. 82 is a good life. I know the Maker of All Songs will be as excited to see Leonard Cohen as Leonard Cohen will be to see Him.

― though she denies it to the press, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, November 11, 2016 2:51 AM (fourteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

if you haven't seen it, it's worth searching out the Ladies and Gentleman... Mr. Leonard Cohen doc. It's a fantastic look at Cohen as a young celebrity poet in Canada, before he shifted his focus to music.

I believe that he was ready to die; but I wasn't ready to lose him, and that's why I'm sad.

I'd really love a poll for Leonard Cohen right now.

I'd love it only if every song got one vote.

In many ways his later, more recent stuff is as good or even better than the folk stuff. The cheesy synths I find fascinating in their contrast, and I think his wry humor became even more apparent. They're less heard than the "hits," but like few other songwriters his later albums produced so many songs that have the weight of classics. Even aside from "Hallelujah," which obviously was not some epochal cultural statement back in 1984, there are songs like "Dance Me to the End of Love," "The Future," "Anthem," "Waiting for the Miracle," "Everybody Knows," "Tower of Song," "In My Secret Life," etc. His "Essential" collection, in both its 2 and 3 disc iterations, doesn't include a duff track, and the more recent songs sit perfectly well with his earlier stuff. How many other '60s-associated acts could release a similar collection where the formative works and later output could cohabitant so cohesively? Or, by the standard of Christgau, where the fourth CD of the chronological box set is as good as the first?

Amazing that he was, what, already 30 when he released his first album?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, November 11, 2016 6:02 PM (forty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imagine having written "bird on the wire" and being able to do 3hr+ concerts where you get "bird on the wire" out of the way within 5 songs

I'd really love a poll for Leonard Cohen right now.

I brought this over in the rolling poll thread. Any volunteers for a runner?

I'll do it if someone can show me the ropes. Especially if someone else can handle the images.

Favourite song / favourite album / favourite cover version. NO worst anything.

Somebody just sent me this, which I saw when it was first broadcast in the 80s, on Michelob Presents Night Music, AKA Sunday Night. If it doesn't come through, try searching Leonard Cohen Sonny Rollins on YouTube---it's bracing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HUCbSb-9c

Dale Peck non--hatchet job:
https://www.facebook.com/dale.peck.773/posts/10154791854268623

His "Essential" collection, in both its 2 and 3 disc iterations, doesn't include a duff track, and the more recent songs sit perfectly well with his earlier stuff.

my go-to Cohen. The Sly Stone Essential is also uh essential.

Didn't know how I would mark this but heard the first two albums in a record store yesterday. Decided I would play some songs for my 15 year old daughter so I picked "First We Take Manhattan," "Tower of Song," "Hallelujah," and "Suzanne."

what did she think?

I played some stuff for my kids the other day, and you should have seen them light up with recognition when it got to Hallelujah. Amazing, as ubiquitous as versions of that song are, how few have heard the original.

I haven't read the book, but I'd love to read reviews of that album and see if any singled out that song as particularly special.

I'm not sure, she was quiet. It's a lot to take in.

Holy Shit at the SNL cold open...

Care to describe?

Seems odd to invoke Cohen, wasn't exactly a slow news week

SPOILER ALERT

Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton playing piano and singing "Hallelujah" (very well on both counts BTW), concluding with a message to "not give up".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lWcqbVKhCs

ugh this version kills me

I got to see his NYC comeback show at the Beacon in ... 2009? Was a pretty magical night.

No disrespect meant to McKinnon but I hated the whole conceit of that "Hallelujah" cover so goddamn much

Especially considering SNL was as complicit as anyone in normalizing/mainstreaming Trump.

xgau: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/our-man-the-sophisticate-robert-christgau-remembers-leonard-cohen

a monologue about the six stages of male sex appeal—irresistible, resistible, transparent, invisible, repulsive, and cute

ah, I guess i should hold out from my perch here on "invisible."

http://etcanada.com/news/180784/leonard-cohens-ex-fiance-rebecca-de-mornay-remembers-the-late-icon/

POLL on, my brother: The Leonard Cohen Memorial POLL Voting Thread - Ballots due Midnight ET, Dec. 1st

He was still working on a couple more albums, right up 'til the end---wonder if they'll be released? http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/arts/music/leonard-cohen-last-days.html?_r=0

Touching interview with Jennifer Warnes:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-jennifer-warnes-leonard-cohen-20161111-story.html

That xpost xgau send-off is very fine, his aim is true, almost to the end: don't agree that the voice turned back into "a husk" on You Want It Darker---he's right that if it did, it wouldn't be the first time, but I don't hear it that way. Or if he's technically right, then it's quite the textured husk, turned this way and that.

Will check the interview tomorrow; have to pace myself, with so many checking out lately.

I have Cohen's whole catalog on shuffle right now. He didn't really have any bad songs, did he?

― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, November 11, 2016 12:45 PM (six days ago)

otm, he's one of the few artists with a long recording career that you can do that with. even dylan has some stinkers (imo), but with leonard cohen you're almost certainly going to land on a decent song at the very least, every single time

I used to spot him regularly when I was in high-school, on our lunch breaks we'd go to this Portuguese chicken place that was just far enough to get take out and get back in time, and we'd see him walking up and down Saint-Laurent, always with his arms wrapped around Anjani, the two of them walking slowly, totally oblivious to the rest of the world. it was cute, i remember being surprised, he seemed to be as romantic as the guy in the old songs.

One anecdote that I love: my friend Vincent's mother put on a play about his life, around that time, and invited him to the debut. he accepted, sat in the front row, but spent the entire performance with his back to the stage, engaged in some sloppy heavy petting with Ms Thomas. lol <3

ha!! that is great

it really is. <3

with leonard cohen you're almost certainly going to land on a decent song at the very least, every single time

Except "Jazz Police". Why Leonard, why?

xxp great story

!!

I like Jazz Police. It's disconcertingly kitschy but harmonically interesting (that's what she said).

Jazz Police is great fuiud

i've been listening on shuffle a lot too. previously i kind of settled in on new skin through recent songs as my favorite period but so much of the other stuff has resonated more this time. "here it is" from ten new songs blew me away this morning

No, Jazz Police is not great, it's shit.

The only song I don't like on I'm Your Man is the title track, as it is just too musically slight.

imo "jazz police" rules

eh

I've heard it once. I skip it.

I'm a fan of Jazz Police, it's very silly, but I'm cool with that

For a song that's basically an in-joke between Cohen and the band it's a lot of fun. Guessing it did not take as long to write as hallelujah

Although I find it funny to think of him writing 80 verses

Did anyone ever edit together all extant verses, like on Youtube for instance?

a larf via the ny times copy desk

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2016/11/16/rather-unfortunate-newspaper-correction-leonard-cohen/

lol I don't need to open that to know which correction they're referring to

“I don't like what you done to my mister..."

My favorite Leonard Cohen story is the one that I think came from Rufus Wainwright. Where he goes to his apartment to meet before a collaboration, and Leonard Cohen is there basically in his underwear. He greets him, excuses himself for a few minutes, then comes back in a perfectly tailored suit.

anyone have a quote from Cohen regarding the musical choices he made (sparse, digital, dubbed) from ~Various Position onwards?

this SOS article is interesting enough but I'm curious to know what motivated him and what kind of band sounds he likes http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-leonard-cohen-slow

The Singles Jukebox pays tribute

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22642-im-your-man/

xpost to Josh In Chicago: my favourite detail in the Rufus Wainwright story is that Cohen was apparently chewing up sausages and spitting them out to feed to a baby bird he had rescued.

so my band is organizing/playing this thing
https://www.facebook.com/events/222751078134441/

this will be the Beards' first performance since Leonard's passing