Ron was a couple of years older than me and he lived in the village of my childhood. It was he who first introduced me to the songs of Leonard Cohen in the late sixties. We played those first albums over and over - "The Songs of Leonard Cohen" (1967) and "Songs From a Room" (1968). Later I bought "Songs of Love and Hate" (1971) and we gave it the same treatment - played over and over.
From the very start, I never thought of Leonard Cohen as a mournful, gloomy singer songwriter. There was humour there and humanity and of course an intimate affection for language. He was a poet who had lived and loved. I looked on the back of the album cover for "Songs From a Room" and saw his one time lover, Marianne, sitting in a humble room on the Grecian island of Hydra where Leonard Cohen lived for a year or two long before he became famous.
My friend Ron became a bank worker with The National Westminster Bank down in London but when his marriage broke up and he lost his job, he returned to the village of my childhood as gradually alcoholism took over his life. He lived alone in his old family home and was found sitting in his favourite armchair several days after his death. I guess that Leonard Cohen might have been inspired to write a song about Ron's death if he had only known about it.
This is partly for you Ron - in your memory - and for any blog visitors who care to listen.
Three songs
From "The Songs of Leonard Cohen"...
From "Songs of Love and Hate"...
I've always listened to Leonard. I found him a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteOne of Canada's greatest sons.
DeleteHere's to Ron. And to Leonard Cohen. If you ever travel to Montreal, visit his gravesite; it's a peaceful place and his grave marker is covered in stones.
ReplyDeleteI would love to go there and bring a stone from Yorkshire.
DeleteI must have listened to him when I was young but really got into his music and words (and humour!) later in life. I spend hours listening to him - over and over again.
ReplyDeleteIt is poetry set to music and it seems to reach out to us as individuals.
DeleteMy parents liked him, especially my Dad. I don't think he had any of his albums, but I know for sure they borrowed them from the school library where my Mum worked, and played them often (this was in the late 1970s).
ReplyDeletePoor Ron. Another life wasted "thanks" to alcohol.
And now for something completely different: I noticed your use of the word Grecian. Saying or writing "Greek island" instead of "Grecian island" is much more common, I guess; would "Greek" be wrong in that case, or are both equally correct? I am asking this from my not-my-mother-tongue perspective, as I always strive to get it right.
I agree that "Greek island" is more common and virtually means the same as "Grecian island" though the second is more poetic I think and suggestive of culture rather than mere nationality. Also, Joni Mitchell sang: "I met a redneck on a Grecian isle/ He did the goat dance very well/ He gave me back my smile/ But he kept my camera to sell..."
DeleteAs I have, it is funny but his/our generation focused on major themes of war, love and probably religion. Cohen became a monk for a time. But it didn't change the world!
ReplyDeleteHe addressed serious themes. I am not sure that he was seeking to change the world. Such aims were for Oppenheimer, Hitler, Jesus, Stalin, Einstein and currently Putin. Leonard Cohen created songs to make us feel more human, more connected.
DeleteI loved Leonard Cohen. Never got to see him live sadly. I have got most of his albums in one form or another. I never found him gloomy either!
ReplyDeleteHappily I did get to see him live back in 1970. 53 years ago.
DeleteSad to read about your friends demise YP. It can happen to anyone. I will give the Leonard Cohen tracks a good listen. John Cale does an excellent version of his "Hallelujah". Well worth a listen.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine John Cale doing that one well.
DeleteI used to play his music a lot when I was at uni
ReplyDeleteWhich university did you go to ADDY? You have probably said before but I have forgotten.
DeleteHe is not in regular rotation at my house but I do like his work. In the last decade, his Hallelujah has come up more and more often, the last being just two days ago at a funeral I was attending.
ReplyDeleteIt's an uplifting hymn-like song that will probably stand the test of time.
DeleteSorry about your loss, but you still have the memories and the connection and those will never go away.
ReplyDeleteI feel a little guilty that I did not go to see him as he declined. Such a sad way to go. He came to my wedding and later fathered two children. I wonder where they are now and how his ex is doing.
DeleteHe truly was an amazing song-writer and like some others, a part of our lives whether we really consciously listened or not. He was just THERE. I think he always will be.
ReplyDeleteI recognize several of his other songs but I don't remember hearing them sung by him so they must have been covered by other singers.
ReplyDeleteThat's sad about Ron. I enjoy Cohen's brilliant songwriting but I'm not a huge fan of his singing. I generally think others do a much better job with his songs.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very touching post about your friend. Your post got me interested in learning more about Cohen and I discovered that he was Canadian. I always thought that he was an American.
ReplyDeleteSorry to learn of your friend's sad and lonely death. I didn't become a fan of Cohen until I heard him perform Hallelujah. I agree with you that that song will live on through the years.
ReplyDeleteI've never been into music in the same way you are but I remember my cousin introducing me to Genesis and listening to their albums over and over. The repetition gives a whole different perspective on the music, i think.
ReplyDeleteI like Leonard Cohen, maybe I should put him on repeat.
Poor old Ron, what a miserable life