12 November 2016

Leonard

What is there left to say but "thank you"?


Leonard Norman Cohen (1934-2016)

24 comments:

  1. Leonard Cohen was part of my uni days and we would play his music endlessly. Another great bites the dust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had his first three albums and played them endlessly. I can still remember big chunks of those songs. Like they say - "the soundtrack" of one's life.

      Delete
  2. Cohen had a major influence on me when I was in my twenties and Suzanne sounds as good now as it did then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I learnt to play and sing "Suzanne" at the age of fifteen and I still remember every word. He showed me what poetry could do when married with simple guitar work. It was revelatory.

      Delete
  3. Just been watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople and right in the middle of the film up pops Leonard Cohen singing The Partisan. Coincidence or what.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Les Allemands étaient chez moi
      Ils me dirent, "résigne toi"
      Mais je n'ai pas peur
      J'ai repris mon âme

      Delete
  4. Anonymous11:13 am

    This morning when I learned that Cohen had died, I sent exactly this video to my 25 yr old son, hoping he would want to add this sond to his playlist. Do you know his answer? He wrote me back immediately, this song had been one of the first he ever added. YP, as long as young men like him listen to songs like this, there's hope for a world worth living.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Kaki. You are so right my friend.

      Delete
  5. Another superstar, gone. This has been a terrible year for celebrity deaths.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my adolescence, it was almost as if Leonard Cohen's songs were guiding me. I listened to them obsessively between 1968 and 1970 when I saw him perform at The Isle of Wight festival.

      Delete
  6. Hi have just heard the letter he event,y wrote to an old girlfriend who was dying.....a beautiful beautiful piece of prose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was his letter to Marianne - the Swedish woman he fell in love with on the Greek island of Hydra in the early sixties. Hence, "So Long Marianne".

      Delete
  7. BBC Radio 4 FM interviewed Suzanne in 1998. Here is a transcript of that interview.

    Also, everyone should hear k.d. lang sing his "Hallelujah" at least once (or a thousand times) during their life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, that isn't the right link, but you can find it on the page if you Google "Suzanne lyrics" ... sorry.

      Delete
    2. No problem Bob. Thanks for the two helpful hints. I will pursue them later today.

      Delete
    3. I agree re k.d. Lang's version of "Hallelujah"...she sings it wonderfully...I played it yesterday when I learned of Cohen's passing.

      Delete
  8. Leonard was one of my favorites. His poetry flowed and took you on twists and turns. Closing time for Leonard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Closing time for Leonard. He takes his famous blue raincoat off the back of a chair and leaves the shadowy bar, stepping out into a moonless night - hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

      Delete
  9. Yes, this is sad news. He was a man of words...and thankfully he shared those words with the rest of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some of his imagery, some of his word choices... they were both intimate and groundbreaking. In my teens he played a part in making me the man I became. His songs got into one's bone marrow.

      Delete
  10. I concur with your post and all of the comments.

    Vale Leonard.

    Alphie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sing me a song by Leonard Alphie. Which would you choose?

      Delete
  11. So sad. I came to his music late in life in you know what I mean...had always assumed I wouldn't like it..and then of course in recent years I realised what I had been missing out on....such a voice and such a poet...x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you found him. Go back and listen to "Songs from a Room" (1969).

      Delete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits