:: multitrivia eBook :: Leonard Cohen (e1.

0)

Introduction
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian poet,
novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is among the English language's most distinguished and influential songwriters
of the twentieth century. His musical career has largely overshadowed his prior work as a poet and novelist,
Introduction
although he has continued to publish poetry sporadically after his breakthrough in the music industry.

Musically, Cohen's early songs are based in folk music, both for melodies and instrumentation, but, beginning in
Biography
the 1970s, his work shows the influence of various types of popular music and cabaret music. Since the 1980s he
typically has sung in a deep bass register, with synthesizers and female backing vocals.
Early life
Cohen's songs are often emotionally heavy and lyrically complex, owing more to the metaphoric word play of
poetry than to the conventions of song craft. His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sex, and
Development as complex interpersonal relationships.
a poet
Cohen's music has become very influential on other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand cover versions
of his work have been recorded. He is iconic in his native land, having been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall
Music
of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian
honor.
Recent activity
Contents: [Introduction] [Biography] [Early life] [Development as a poet] [Music] [Recent activity] [Family life] [Themes] [Titles and honours] [Quotations] [Quotes
Attributed to Cohen] [Lyrics] [Poetry] [Quotations About Cohen, and Other Media References] [Works] [Albums] [Compilations] [Books] [Soundtracks] [Tribute albums] [Cover
Family life songs] [Film] [Fans] [External links] [General sites on Cohen] [Sites about specific albums and works] [Articles, conferences, academic papers] [Foreign-language sites]

Themes video clips

Click thumbnails to launch video, streaming content opens in web browser.
Titles and
honours

Quotations

Quotes
Attributed to
Cohen

Lyrics

Poetry

Quotations
About Cohen,
and Other Media
References

pictures and wallpaper

Works
(will open in a new browser window)

Albums
Compilations

Books

Soundtracks

Tribute albums

Cover songs

Film

Fans

External links

General sites on Biography

Cohen

Sites about
specific albums Early life
and works

Cohen was born to a middle-class Jewish family of Polish ancestry in 1934 in Montreal, Quebec. He grew up in
Articles,
conferences,
Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store,
academic papers died when Leonard was nine years old. Like many other Jews named Cohen, Katz, Kagan, etc., his family made a
proud claim of descent from the priestly Kohanim: ``I had a very Messianic childhood,`` he told Richard Goldstein
in 1967, ``I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest.``
Foreign-language http://www.webheights.net/speakingcohen/craw375.htm As a teenager he learned to play the guitar and formed a
sites
country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. His father`s will provided Leonard with a modest trust income,
sufficient to allow him to freely pursue his literary ambitions for some time without risking economic ruin.

other Cohen idealized his father and his death threw him into a deep depression. As he grew older he began taking the
categories then legal drug LSD as a treatment. Cohen has said that he believes the drug opened his awareness to the
``hypocrisy`` and ``self-delusion`` that are ``common traits of humanity,`` ideas which are prominent themes in his
celebrities songs. His depression did not lift until the late 1990s. His mother Masha Cohen, from whom he inherited his love
football
music for songs and poets, died in 1978.
people
sport
art
cartoons Development as a poet
tv
pop culture In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he was president of the McGill Debating Union and pursued a
career as a poet. His first poetry book, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), was published while he was an
in this undergraduate. The Spice-Box of Earth (1961) made him well-known in poetry circles, especially in his native
category Canada.

Bruce Springsteen Cohen applied a strong work ethic to his early and keen literary ambitions. He wrote poetry and fiction through
Kelly Clarkson much of the 1960s, and preferred even as a young man to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances. After moving to
Goo Goo Dolls
Hydra, a Greek island, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The
Snow Patrol
ZZ Top Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). The Favourite Game is an autobiographical bildungsroman
Charlie McMahon about a young man finding his identity in writing. In contrast, Beautiful Losers can be considered as an
Shakira `anti-bildungsroman` since it — in an early postmodern fashion — deconstructs the identity of the main characters
Alice In Chains
Chris Isaak by combining the sacred and the profane, religion and sexuality in a rich, lyrical language. Reflecting Cohen`s
Mariah Carey Québécois roots, but perhaps unusually for someone from a Jewish background, a secondary plot in Beautiful
Nickelback Losers concerns Tekakwitha, the Roman Catholic Iroquois mystic. Beautiful Losers, greeted initially with shock by
Carlos Santana
Enrique Iglesias
Canadian reviewers who berated it for its explicit sexual content, is today considered by many critics to be among
Sarah McLachlan the finest literary novels of the 1960s. For a good early survey of Cohen`s written work, see Leonard Cohen by
Paul Simon Steven Scobie (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1978).
Neil Young
Limp Bizkit
Kayne Taylor
Kayne Taylor
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Dr. Dre
Music
Jimi Hendrix
Taking Back In 1967, Cohen relocated to the United States to pursue a career as a folk singer-songwriter. His song
Sunday ``Suzanne`` became a hit for Judy Collins, and after performing at a few folk festivals, Cohen was discovered by
Gorillaz
John H. Hammond, the same Columbia Records representative who discovered Bob Dylan and Bruce
Green Day
Bon Jovi Springsteen, among others.
Arctic Monkeys
Ice Cube The sound of Cohen`s first album Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) was much too downtrodden to be a commercial
The Spazzys success, but was widely acclaimed by folk music buffs and by Cohen`s peers. He became a cult name in the UK,
Leonard Cohen
Dannii Minogue where it spent over a year on the album charts. He followed up with Songs from a Room (1969) (featuring the
oft-covered ``Bird on the Wire``), Songs of Love and Hate (1971), and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974).

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cohen toured the United States, Canada and Europe. In 1973, Cohen
toured Israel and performed at army bases during the Yom Kippur War. Beginning around 1974, his collaboration
with pianist/arranger John Lissauer created a live sound almost universally praised by the critics, but never really
captured on record. During his time, Cohen often toured with Jennifer Warnes as a back-up singer. Warnes would
become a fixture on Cohen`s future albums and recorded an album of Cohen songs in 1987, Famous Blue
Raincoat.

In 1977, Cohen released an album called Death of a Ladies` Man (note the plural possessive case; one year later
in 1978, Cohen released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title, Death of a Lady`s Man). The album was
produced by Phil Spector, well known as the inventor of the ``wall of sound`` technique, in which pop music is
backed with thick layers of instrumentation— an approach very different from Cohen`s usually minimalist
instrumentation. The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty; Spector reportedly mixed the album in
secret studio sessions and Cohen said Spector once threatened him at gunpoint. The end result is often thought
gaudy and ostentatious, and Cohen`s songwriting on this album is also thought to be some of his weakest.

In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs. Produced by Cohen himself, and Henry Lewy
(Joni Mitchell`s sound engineer), the album included performances by a jazz fusion band, introduced to Cohen by
Mitchell, and oriental instruments (oud, Gypsy violin and mandolin). In 2001, Cohen referred to Recent Songs as
his best album, releasing the live version of songs from its 1979 tour on record .

In 1984, Cohen released Various Positions, featuring the oft-covered ``Hallelujah,`` but Columbia declined to
release the album in the United States, where Cohen`s popularity had declined in recent years. (Throughout his
career, Cohen`s music has sold better in Europe and Canada than in the U.S.—he once satirically expressed how
touched he is at the modesty the American company has shown in promoting his records.)

In 1986 he made a guest appearance in an episode of the TV series Miami Vice.

In 1987, Jennifer Warnes` tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat helped restore Cohen`s career in the U.S., and
the following year he released I`m Your Man, which marked a drastic change in his music. Synthesizers ruled the
album, although in a much more subdued manner than on Death of a Ladies` Man, and Cohen`s lyrics included
more social commentary and dark humour. It was Cohen`s most acclaimed and popular since Songs of Leonard
Cohen, and ``First We Take Manhattan`` and the title song became two of his most popular songs. The use of the
album track ``Everybody Knows`` (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped
to expose Cohen`s music to a younger audience.

He followed with another acclaimed album, The Future, in 1992. The Future is his most political album to date,
articulating a politics to urge (more often than not in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and
even hope in the face of prospects ranging from the grim to the dire. Three tracks from the album - ``Waiting for
the Miracle``, ``The Future`` and ``Anthem`` - were featured in the controversial movie Natural Born Killers.

In the title track Cohen prophesies impending political and social collapse, reportedly as his response to the L.A.
unrest of 1992: ``I`ve seen the future, brother: It is murder.`` Some describe it as anti-abortion due to the lyrics
``destroy another fetus now, We don`t like children anyhow. I`ve see the future, baby, it is murder``.

In ``Democracy,`` Cohen, criticizes America but says he loves it: ``I love the country but I can`t stand the scene.``
Further, he describes his own politics as: ``I`m neither left or right/I`m just staying home tonight/getting lost in that
hopeless little screen.``

Cohen`s humility also shines through ``Waiting for the Miracle`` (co-written with Sharon Robinson), where he
lampoons his own severity (along perhaps with his religious austerity and even his instrumentation), singing:
``There ain`t no entertainment and the judgments are severe/ The maestro says it`s Mozart but it sounds like
bubble-gum/ When you`re waiting for the miracle to come.`` And in ``Closing Time``, Cohen gives the dire
prophecies of ``The Future`` as forgiving and humble a reworking as is perhaps imaginable, observing biblical,
personal, and political ``end times`` from the perspective of an old guy being kicked out of a sleazy but jubilant bar.
The album also contains ``Anthem``, where in perhaps the album`s best-loved and most-often-quoted passage,
prophecies of ``The Future`` as forgiving and humble a reworking as is perhaps imaginable, observing biblical,
personal, and political ``end times`` from the perspective of an old guy being kicked out of a sleazy but jubilant bar.
The album also contains ``Anthem``, where in perhaps the album`s best-loved and most-often-quoted passage,
he urges perseverance and faith in the face of broken Liberty: ``Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your
perfect offering/ There is a crack in everything/ That`s how the light gets in.``

In 2001, following five years` seclusion as a zen Buddhist monk at the Mount Baldy Zen Center, Cohen returned to
music with Ten New Songs, featuring a heavy influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson. With
this album, Cohen shed the relatively extroverted, engaged, and even optimistic outlook of The Future (the sole
political track, “The Land of Plenty,” abandoning stern commandment for yearning but helpless prayer) to lament
and seek acceptance of varieties of personal loss: the approach of death and the departure of love, romantic and
even divine. Ten New Songs cohesive musical style (perhaps absent from Cohen`s albums since Recent Songs)
owes much to Robinson’s involvement. Although not Cohen’s bitterest album, it may rank as his most
melancholic.

In October 2004, he released Dear Heather, largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse (and current
Cohen partner) Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returns to collaborate on three tracks (including a
duet). As light as the previous album was dark, Dear Heather reflects Cohen`s own change of mood - he has said
in a number of interviews that his depression has lifted in recent years, which he attributes to the neurological
processes of aging. Dear Heather is perhaps his least cohesive, and most experimental and playful album to date,
and the stylings of some of the songs (especially the title track) frustrated many fans. In an interview following his
induction into the Canadian Songwriters` Hall of Fame, Cohen explained that the album was intended to be a kind
of notebook or scrapbook of themes, and that a more formal record had been planned for release shortly
afterwards, but that this was put on ice by his legal battles with his ex-manager.

``Blue Alert,`` an album of songs co-written by Thomas and Cohen, is scheduled for release on May 23, 2006. It is
sung by Thomas, who on the album reportedly ``sounds like Cohen reincarnated as woman. . . . though Cohen
doesn`t sing a note on the album, his voice permeates it like smoke.``http://www.anjani-music.com/music.html

Recent activity
In 1994, following a tour to promote The Future, Cohen retreated to the Mount Baldy Zen Center near Los
Angeles, beginning what would become five years of seclusion at the center. In 1996, Cohen was ordained as a
Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and took the Dharma name Jikan, meaning `silent one`. He left Mount Baldy in 1999.

Cohen has been under new management since April 2005. He recently wrote and produced the album Blue Alert
for Anjani Thomas, scheduled for release May 23, 2006. Cohen`s new book of poetry and drawings Book of
Longing was published in May 2006; in March the Toronto publisher offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders
placed online, which saw the entire amount sold within hours. On May 13, 2006, Cohen made his first public
appearance for thirteen years, at an instore event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up
for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. He sang two of his earliest and
best-known songs: ``So Long, Marianne`` and ``Hey, That`s No Way To Say Goodbye``, accompanied by the
Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith. Also appearing with him was Anjani (his current partner), the two promoting
her new CD, along with his book.http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/05/14/cohen-toronto.html Cohen`s
new album meanwhile is also slated for late 2006, with subsequent touring.

This recent activity has been necessary—Cohen states—because his financial resources, including the publishing
rights to his songs, reportedly have been gutted, leading him to file suit against his longtime former manager,
Kelley Lynch, for gross misappropriation of funds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1587691,00.html?gusrc=rss. Cohen stated that he has been
deprived of over US$5 million placed in a fund for his retirement, leaving only $150,000. Cohen was sued in turn
by other former business associates. These events have put him in the public spotlight, including a cover feature
on him with the headline ``Devastated!`` in Canada`s Maclean`s magazine. In March of 2006, Cohen won the civil
suit, and was awarded US$9 million by a Los Angeles County superior court. Lynch, however, had completely
ignored the suit, and did not respond to a subpoena issued for her financial records
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060302/leonard_cohen_060302/20060302?hub=Canada
. As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the cash
http://www.nme.com/news/leonard-cohen/22406.

Family life
Cohen has never married. In the 1960s, during his stay at Hydra, Cohen befriended the Scandinavian novelists
Axel Jensen and Göran Tunström. Leonard lived there with Axel`s wife Marianne Jensen (now: Ihlen) and their
son Axel after they broke up. The song ``So Long, Marianne`` is about her. For a long time it was believed that the
character Lorenzo in Jensen`s novel Joacim (1961) was based on Cohen, but Axel told him it was influenced by
Tunström.
He fathered two children with artist Suzanne Elrod. A son, Adam, was born in 1972 and a daughter, Lorca, named
after poet Federico García Lorca, was born in 1974. Adam Cohen began his own career as a singer-songwriter in
the mid-1990s.

Contrary to popular belief, ``Suzanne``, one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of
his friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, rather than Elrod.

Around 1990, Cohen was romantically linked, and by some accounts formally engaged, to actress Rebecca De
Mornay. He is now seeing and working with Anjani Thomas.

Themes
Recurring themes in Cohen`s work include love and sex, religion, psychological depression, and music itself. He
has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so.

Love and sex are common enough themes in popular music; Cohen`s background as a novelist and poet brings
an uncommon sensibility to these themes. ``Suzanne,`` probably the first Cohen song to gain broad attention,
mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in ``Joan of Arc.``
``Famous Blue Raincoat`` is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken (in exactly what
degree is ambiguous in the song) by his wife`s infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to
that friend, to whom he writes, ``I guess that I miss you/ I guess I forgive you … Know your enemy is sleeping/ And
his woman is free``, while ``Everybody Knows`` deals in part with the harsh reality of AIDS: ``… the naked man
and woman/ Are just a shining artifact of the past.`` ``Sisters of Mercy`` evokes of genuine love (agape more than
eros) found in a hotel room encounter with two Edmonton women, whereas ``Chelsea Hotel #2`` treats his Janis
Joplin one-night stand rather unsentimentally, and the title of ``Don`t Go Home with Your Hard-On`` speaks for
itself.

Cohen comes from a Jewish background, most obviously reflected in his song ``Story of Isaac`` and in ``Who by
Fire,`` whose words and melody echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th century liturgical poem recited on Rosh
Hashanah. Broader Judeo-Christian themes are sounded throughout the album Various Positions: ``Hallelujah``,
which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the biblical king David composing a song that
``pleased the Lord``; ``Coming Back to you`` and ``If It Be Your Will`` are clearly addressed to a Judeo-Christian
God. In his early career as a novelist, Beautiful Losers grappled with the mysticism of the Catholic/Iroquois
Katherine Tekakwitha. Cohen has also been involved with Buddhism at least since the 1970s and in 1996 he was
ordained a Buddhist monk. However, he still considers himself also a Jew: ``I`m not looking for a new religion. I`m
quite happy with the old one, with Judaism.``
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1305765,00.html

Having suffered from psychological depression during much of his life (although less so with the onset of old age),
Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and suicide. The wife of the protagonist of
Beautiful Losers commits a gory suicide; ``Seems So Long Ago, Nancy`` is about a suicide; suicide is mentioned
in the darkly comic ``One of Us Cannot Be Wrong``; ``Dress Rehearsal Rag`` is about a last-minute decision not to
kill oneself; a general atmosphere of depression pervades such songs as ``Please Don`t Pass Me By`` and
``Tonight Will Be Fine.`` A reviewer once remarked tongue-in-cheek that Cohen`s albums should be sold with
razor blades.

As in the aforementioned ``Hallelujah``, music itself is the subject of many songs, including ``Tower of Song``, ``A
Singer Must Die``, and ``Jazz Police``.

Social justice often shows up as a theme in his work, where he seems, especially in later albums, to expound a
leftist politics, albeit with culturally conservative elements. In ``Democracy`` lamenting ``the wars against disorder/
… the sirens night and day/ … the fires of the homeless/ … the ashes of the gay,`` he concludes that the United
States is actually not a democracy: A specifically (and classically) leftist position, as is his practically Chomskyan
observation (in ``Tower of Song``) that ``the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there`s
a mighty judgment coming.`` In the title track of The Future he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: ``I`ve seen
the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love`s the only engine of survival.`` In ``Anthem,`` he promises that ``the killers in
high places say their prayers out loud/ … gonna hear from me.`` In ``The Land of Plenty,`` he characterizes the
United States (if not the opulent West in general) of benightedness: ``May the lights in The Land of Plenty/ Shine
on the truth some day.`` And in ``On That Day,`` in a sincere and genuine lament for the 9-11 tragedy, he
nevertheless, startlingly, raises (and takes an agnostic position on) the question of whether ``It`s what we deserve/
For sins against God/ For crimes in the world.``

War is an enduring theme of Cohen`s work which in his earlier songs, as indeed in his early life, he approached
ambivalently. In ``Field Commander Cohen`` he (perhaps metaphorically) imagines himself as a soldier/spy
socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba, where he had actually lived at the height of US–Cuba tensions in 1961
War is an enduring theme of Cohen`s work which in his earlier songs, as indeed in his early life, he approached
ambivalently. In ``Field Commander Cohen`` he (perhaps metaphorically) imagines himself as a soldier/spy
socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba, where he had actually lived at the height of US–Cuba tensions in 1961
—allegedly sporting Che Guevara-style beard and military fatigues. This song was actually written immediately
following Cohen`s front-line stint with the Israeli air force, the ``fighting in Egypt`` documented in an (again
perhaps metaphorical) passage of ``Night Comes On:`` In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to Jerusalem to sign up
on the Israeli side in the 1973 war with Egypt, had instead been assigned to a USO-style entertainer tour of
front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, at one of which he both came under fire and reportedly shared
cognac with an unlikely self-professed fan, then-General Ariel Sharon. Disillusioned by encounters with captured
and wounded enemy troops, and having expressed ambivalence from the start about the causes of the conflict, he
eventually left, but not before beginning to write his song ``Lover Lover Lover,`` as he later claimed, ``for the
soldiers of both sides.``http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pilgraeme/lover_lover.htm

His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the ``beautiful loser,`` whether the WWII
French resister of Anna Marly and Hy Zaret`s The Partisan (which he covered) or the royalist of his own ``The Old
Revolution,`` although Cohen`s fascination with war is often as metaphor for more explicitly cultural and personal
issues, as in New Skin for the Old Ceremony, by this measure his most ``militant`` album.

Several of Cohen`s songs apparently oppose abortion. ``Story of Isaac`` leaves completely unclear whether those
``who build these altars now/ To sacrifice these children`` are sacrificing young soldiers, or the unborn, or neither
or both. But ``Diamonds in the Mine`` explicitly and infuriatingly declaims, ``The only man of energy/ Yes the
revolution`s pride/ He trained a hundred women/ Just to kill an unborn child,`` and in ``The Future``, Cohen sings
sarcastically ``Destroy another fetus now/ We don`t like children anyhow.`` Also, Cohen`s song ``Dance Me to the
End of Love`` contains the lyric, ``Dance me to the children who are asking to be born.`` Some manner of social
conservatism may be a subtext in ``Stories of the Street,`` where ``The age of lust is giving birth/ And both the
parents ask/ The nurse to tell them fairy tales/ From both sides of the glass,`` and in songs where Cohen and
various women seem to be on either sides of a war: as in ``There is a War,`` and ``First We Take Manhattan.``

Cohen blends a good deal of pessimism about political/cultural issues with a great deal of humor and (especially
in his later work) gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analyses, as his songs are often verbally
playful and even cheerful: In ``Tower of Song,`` the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings ironically that he was ``…
born with the gift/ Of a golden voice``; the generally dark ``Is This What You Wanted?`` nonetheless contains
playful lines ``You were the whore and the Beast of Babylon/ I was Rin Tin Tin``; in concert, he often plays around
with his lyrics (for example, ``If you want a doctor/ I`ll examine every inch of you`` from ``I`m Your Man`` will
become ``If you want a Jewish doctor …``); and he will introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or
poem (for example, introducing ``Leaving Green Sleeves`` by paraphrasing his own ``Queen Victoria``: ``This is a
song for those who are not nourished by modern love``).

Some of his songs, such as ``Ballad of the Absent Mare`` and ``Hallelujah`` are simply beautiful, and
``Democracy`` looks at a future as hopeful as that of ``The Future`` is bleak.

Cohen has also covered such love songs as Irving Berlin`s ``Always`` or the more obscure soul number ``Be for
Real`` (originally sung by Marlena Shaw), chosen in part for their unlikely juxtaposition to his own work.

Titles and honours

>> In 1968, Cohen refused Governor General`s Award (in category for English language poetry or drama) for
Selected Poems 1956–1968.
>> In 1991, Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
>> In 1996, he was ordained a Rinzai Buddhist monk.
>> In 2003, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada`s highest civilian honour.
>> In 2004, Beautiful Losers was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2005. It was selected and originally to be
championed by singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright; however, tour commitments meant that Wainwright had to be
replaced by singer Molly Johnson.
>> In 2006, Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Quotations
(Also see the external references section below)

Quotes Attributed to Cohen

>> ``Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win `Vocalist of the Year`.``—first words of his speech
accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992)
>> ``I don`t consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I
>> ``I don`t consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I
feel completely soaked to the skin.``—from interview with The Daily Telegraph (1993)
>> ``Now, I don`t want to give you the impression that I`m a great musicologist, but I`m a lot better than what I was
described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five.``—from
interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)
>> ``I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I`ve had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to
have written one word that I didn`t want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was
not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work—just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has
been an enormous privilege.``— (same interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994))

Lyrics
>> ``It`s true that all the men you know were dealers / who said they were through with dealing / Every time you
gave them shelter / I know that kind of man / It`s hard to hold the hand of anyone / who is reaching for the sky just
to surrender``—from ``The Stranger Song`` (1966)
>> ``So the great affair is over/ but whoever would have guessed/ it would leave us all so vacant/ and so deeply
unimpressed/ It`s like our visit to the moon/ or to that other star/ I guess you go for nothing/ if you really want to go
that far``—from ``Death of a Ladies` Man`` (1977)
>> ``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.`` - from
``Hallelujah`` (1984)
>> ``Everybody knows that you love me baby/ Everybody knows that you really do/ Everybody knows that you`ve
been faithful/ Ah give or take a night or two/ Everybody knows you`ve been discreet/ But there were so many
people you just had to meet/ without your clothes/ And everybody knows …``—from ``Everybody Knows`` (1988).
>> ``Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your perfect offering/ There is a crack in everything/ It`s how the light
gets in.``—from ``Anthem`` (1992)
>> ``Well, we`re drinkin` and we`re dancin`/ but there`s nothin` really happenin`/ and the place is dead as Heaven
on Saturday night.`` from ``Closing Time`` (1992)
>> ``I’m stubborn as those garbage bags/ That time cannot decay/ I’m junk but I’m still holding up/ This little wild
bouquet/ Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.`` from ``Democracy`` (1992)
>> ``And sometimes when the night is slow/ The wretched and the meek/ We gather up our hearts and go/ A
Thousand Kisses Deep.``—from ``A Thousand Kisses Deep`` (2004)

Poetry
>> ``It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your
face or your conversation.`` —from The Energy of Slaves (1972)
>> ``Rust rust rust
in the engines of love and time`` —from ``Front Lawn`` in Flowers for Hitler (1964)
>> ``and you kissed me
shy as though I`d
never been your lover`` —from ``Song`` in The Spice-Box of Earth (1961)

Quotations About Cohen, and Other Media References

>> ``Give me Leonard Cohen afterworld/ So I can sigh eternally`` — from ``Pennyroyal Tea`` by Nirvana (1993)
>> ``I don`t want, no I really don`t want/ To be John Lennon or Leonard Cohen/ I just want to be my Dad.``—from
Rufus Wainwright`s ``Want``
>> ``What if I had to/ Live here without you/ Oh, I don`t really want to know/ Where you goin`, Lenny Cohen?`` —
from ``l.c.`` by Adam Again (1995) -- possibly referring to Cohen`s 1994 retreat to Mount Baldy Zen Center
>> In the Canadian film Hardcore Logo, a Canadian punk rocker suggests ``Faster, Leonard Cohen! Die! Die!`` as
a possible band name. This also refers to the film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
>> ``Rainy Night House`` by Joni Mitchell is her account of her and Cohen`s flirtation with romance.
>> ``I tell you who I also think is wonderful is a chap called Leonard Cohen … do you know him?`` he comments.
``He`s remarkable. I mean, the orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and everything, he`s a
remarkable man, and has this incredibly sort of laid back gravelly voice, it`s terrific stuff I think. I enjoy jazz and
things ...`` - from a 2006 interview with Prince Charles.
>> The Jeffrey Lewis song, ``The Chelsea hotel oral sex song`` makes reference to and is largley based around
Cohen`s song about the infamous New York hotel.

Works
Albums
>> Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
>> Songs from a Room (1969)
>> Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
>> Live Songs (1973)
>> New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974)
>> Death of a Ladies` Man (1977)
>> Recent Songs (1979)
>> Various Positions (1984)
>> I`m Your Man (1988)
>> The Future (1992)
>> Cohen Live: Leonard Cohen in Concert (1994)
>> (2001)
>> Ten New Songs (2001)
>> Dear Heather (2004)
>> Blue Alert (2006) (co-writer, producer)

Compilations
>> The Best of Leonard Cohen (1975) (also known as Greatest Hits)
>> More Best of Leonard Cohen (1997) (including two new tracks)
>> The Essential Leonard Cohen (2002), double CD

Books
>> Let Us Compare Mythologies (poetry) 1956
>> The Spice-Box of Earth (poetry) 1961
>> The Favourite Game (novel) 1963
>> Flowers for Hitler (poetry) 1964
>> Beautiful Losers (novel) 1966
>> Parasites of Heaven (poetry) 1966
>> Selected Poems 1956–1968 (poetry) 1968
>> The Energy of Slaves (poetry) 1972
>> Death of a Lady`s Man (poetry and prose) 1978
>> Book of Mercy (prose poetry/psalms) 1984
>> Stranger Music (selected poems and songs) 1993
>> Book of Longing (poetry, prose, drawings) 2006

Soundtracks
Cohen`s music has often been used in film soundtracks.

>> McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) uses three songs from his debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen: ``Stranger
Song`` is McCabe`s theme, ``Winter Lady`` is Mrs. Miller`s, and ``Sisters of Mercy`` is the theme of the prostitutes
who work in their establishment. He also composed some incidental music for the movie.
>> Fata Morgana (1969) also uses songs from Cohen`s first album to highlight the themes of post-apocalyptic ruin
in the central section of Werner Herzog`s desert-set documentary.
>> Bird on a Wire (1990) uses ``Bird on a Wire`` sung by The Neville Brothers.
>> Pump Up the Volume (1990) uses ``Everybody Knows`` frequently, as well as ``If It Be Your Will``. A Concrete
Blonde cover of ``Everybody Knows`` is also heard in the film and appears on the CD of the soundtrack.
>> Natural Born Killers (1994) uses ``The Future,`` ``Waiting for the Miracle,`` and ``Anthem,`` all from the album
The Future.
>> Exotica (movie) (1994) uses ``Everybody Knows`` from the album I`m Your Man.
>> When Night Is Falling (1995) uses ``Hallelujah.``
>> Basquiat (1996) uses ``Hallelujah`` performed by John Cale.
>> Breaking the Waves (1996) uses ``Suzanne``.
>> Wonder Boys (2000) uses ``Waiting for the Miracle.``
>> Shrek (2001) uses a slightly censored version of John Cale`s recording of ``Hallelujah.`` The soundtrack
>> Shrek (2001) uses a slightly censored version of John Cale`s recording of ``Hallelujah.`` The soundtrack
album, however, replaces this with a version by Rufus Wainwright.
>> The Good Thief (2002), directed by Neil Jordan, features ``A Thousand Kisses Deep.``
>> Secretary (2002) uses ``I`m Your Man.``
>> The Life of David Gale (2003) uses ``The Future.``
>> A Home at the End of the World (2004) uses ``Suzanne`` from Songs of Leonard Cohen.
>> Nathalie... (2004), a French movie by Anne Fontaine, uses ``Boogie Street.``
>> Lord of War (2005) uses ``Hallelujah`` performed by Jeff Buckley.
>> St. Ralph (2004) uses ``Hallelujah`` performed by Gord Downie.
>> Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004) uses ``Hallelujah`` performed by Jeff Buckley.

Tribute albums
>> I`m Your Fan, from 1991, features Cohen`s songs interpreted by a variety of folk and alternative rock acts,
including R.E.M., Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Pixies, The Lilac Time and Geoffrey Oryema,
>> Tower of Song, released in 1995, has a more mainstream pop-rock program that includes Sting, Jann Arden,
Willie Nelson and Elton John.
>> My Kohen, released in 2002 by Vasiliy K, most compositions are mainstream rock in Russian.
>> At least 32 tribute albums are released worldwide, mostly in non-English languages.

Cover songs
Many of Cohen`s songs have been interpreted (and sometimes translated in other languages) by other artists,
occasionally receiving more popular attention than Cohen`s own, typically minimalistic arrangements. Some of
Cohen`s most covered songs include:
>> ``Avalanche,`` covered by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.
>> ``Bird on the Wire,`` covered (often as ``Bird on a Wire``) by Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Fairport
Convention, Tim Hardin, k.d. lang, Willie Nelson, The Neville Brothers, Dax Riggs, The Prudes and Our Lady
Peace (at Live 8).
>> ``Dance Me To The End Of Love,`` covered by Madeleine Peyroux.
>> ``Everybody Knows,`` covered by Concrete Blonde, Don Henley, The Duhks and the Washington Squares.
>> ``Famous Blue Raincoat,`` covered by Judy Collins, Tori Amos, Joan Baez, Lloyd Cole, Hayden, Dax Riggs,
Jennifer Warnes and Jonathan Coulton
>> ``First We Take Manhattan,`` covered by Joe Cocker, R.E.M., and Jennifer Warnes
>> ``Hallelujah,`` covered by Bono, Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Allison Crowe, k.d. lang, Bob Dylan, Rufus
Wainwright, Elisa, Gavin DeGraw, Arooj Aftab and Jazz Mandolin Project. Cale`s version (slightly edited) was
featured in the movie Shrek, but Wainwright`s replaced it on the soundtrack album, apparently because
Wainwright was signed with Dreamworks SKG at the time and Cale was not. The Shrek theme music was also
based on ``Hallelujah.`` In addition, the American TV show Scrubs used parts of Cale`s ``Hallelujah`` (from
Fragments of a Rainy Season, not from I`m Your Fan) and it is included on the Scrubs Soundtrack. Cale`s version
also appears in Julian Schnabel`s film ``Basquiat``, about New York artist Jean Michel Basquiat. The song
appears on the Jazz Mandolin Project`s album The Deep Forbidden Lake as an instrumental. Buckley`s version is
featured in the ending scenes of the first season`s finale of The O.C., and will also be sung by Imogen Heap in the
season three finale in acapella. The Buckley version was also used in the closing scene of the season finale of
``The West Wing`` in May, 2002.
>> ``Hey, That`s No Way to Say Goodbye,`` covered by Judy Collins, Roberta Flack, Claudine Longet, and Ian
McCulloch
>> ``Joan of Arc,`` covered by Judy Collins, Allison Crowe, Fabrizio de André, and Jennifer Warnes.
>> ``Seems So Long Ago, Nancy``, covered (as ``Nancy``) by Fabrizio de André and Palaxy Tracks.
>> ``So Long, Marianne,`` covered by John Cale, Suzanne Vega and Straitjacket Fits.
>> ``Story of Isaac,`` covered by Roy Buchanan, Judy Collins, and Suzanne Vega
>> ``Suzanne,`` covered by Graeme Allwright, Judy Collins, Fabrizio de André, Neil Diamond, Fairport
Convention, Roberta Flack, Peter Gabriel, Noel Harrison, Geoffrey Oryema, and Nina Simone. R.E.M. recorded a
song called ``Hope`` which they admit was indebted to ``Suzanne;`` Cohen gets co-songwriting credit for the
song.
>> ``Tower of Song``, covered by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Dax Riggs and Deadboy & the Elephantmen,
Marianne Faithfull, Martha Wainwright and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
>> ``Who By Fire``, covered by Coil on the album Horse Rotorvator.
>> ``Song of Bernadette``, covered by Bette Midler on the album `Bathhouse Betty` and Anne Murray on the
album What a Wonderful World.
>> ``Leonard Cohen`s Day Job`` by the Austin Lounge Lizards is not a cover per se, but it alludes to and parodies
several songs, especially ``I`m Your Man`` and ``Joan of Arc.``

As of December 18, 2005, the site www.leonardcohenfiles.com had counted a total of 1105 published cover
As of December 18, 2005, the site www.leonardcohenfiles.com had counted a total of 1105 published cover
versions of Cohen`s songs.

Film
A film titled ``Leonard Cohen: I`m Your Man`` has a USA release date of Jun 21, 2006. It is a film of the 2005
tribute to Leonard Cohen ``Came So Far For Beauty`` held at the Sydney Opera House. The film was directed by
Lian Lunson, has appearances by Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Antony of Antony and The Johnsons and others and a
performance of ``Tower of Song`` by Cohen and U2.

Fans
Leonard Cohen apparently counts Prince Charles among his fans. (CBC Montreal)

Kurt Cobain was a great fan of Leonard Cohen.

External links

General sites on Cohen

>> Official Leonard Cohen Website
>> The Leonard Cohen Files – the most comprehensive Cohen site on the net; the next international convention
will take place in Berlin in August 2006
>> The Leonard Cohen Forum
>> The Leonard Cohen Webring
>> Speaking Cohen; a large archive of interviews and the ``master`` site for many of the sites about recent specific
albums listed below
>> Diamonds in the Lines (Leonard Cohen In His Own Live Words), includes Cohen`s comments on many
individual songs
>> I`m Your Live Man (Leonard Cohen Concerts and Live Recordings Database), dedicated to the research of
concerts and public recordings by Cohen
>> Leonard Cohen Nights Festival, an annual tribute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The site contains both
material about Cohen and about the history of the event.
>> Leonard Cohen Meetup groups
>> CBC Digital Archives: Leonard Cohen: Canada`s Melancholy Bard

Sites about specific albums and works

>> bookoflonging.com
>> Blue Alert Album Site
>> Dear Heather International Site
>> Ten New Songs International Site
>> The Essential Leonard Cohen International Site
>> Field Commander Cohen: Tour Of 1979 International Site

Articles, conferences, academic papers

>> Abstraction and Ambiguity in the Lyrics of Leonard Cohen
>> 70 things you may not know about Leonard Cohen
>> ``Leonard Cohen`s downbeat success``
>> A Letter Review of Cohen`s novel ``Beautiful Losers``
>> The Proceedings of Leonard Cohen Conference (Red Deer College, 1993)
>> ``Leonard Cohen: Singer of Mercy`` by Brian W. Fairbanks (Paris Woman Journal, 2003)

Foreign-language sites
>> The French Leonard Cohen site
>> The French Leonard Cohen site
>> German Leonard Cohen site
>> A Thousand Kisses Deep, a Croatian Leonard Cohen site with an English section

Leonard Cohen

news and comment from the blogosphere

SINGING FOR HER SUBWAY
W hen she left Kansas City for New York three years ago, Krystle Warren had definite plans: play in nightclubs,
busk in the streets and subway stations, arouse some interest in her music and then record an album. When she
visits her hometown this ... [read more]

Sunday Arts calendar

“ACCOMPAGNATA: A VIOLIN DANCE”: Collaboration of violin solos and modern dance by Elizabeth Suh-Lane
and Elizabeth Koeppen; Bach Aria Soloists also perform. 7:30 p.m. June 3; UMKC Performing Arts Center, White
Hall, 4949 Cherry. $19 and $40. www ... [read more]

`Prada` to Open L.A. Film Festival in Style

"The Devil Wears Prada," a satire starring Meryl Streep as the editor of a woman`s fashion magazine, will kick off
the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 22, eight days before its theatrical release, organizer Film Independent said
Tuesday. More than ... [read more]

Trailer trash or treasure

I`m not a movie critic, and watching just the trailer is no way to review a movie, but that`s what I have done with
these four movies: THE HEART OF THE GAME What it is: A documentary of a high school girls basketball team
rises from the ashes, finds ... [read more]

PREP ROUNDUP: Pointe break: GP South ousts GP North in OT

Grosse Pointe South outlasted its crosstown rival Grosse Pointe North for a 5-4 overtime victory on Thursday. The
Division 1 girls soccer district semifinal featured five lead changes. Sarah Stanczyk scored her second goal for
South with 10 minutes ... [read more]

Hot summer for indie flicks

Blockbusters are busting out all over, but every summer a number of intriguing independent films manage to steal
a screen or two from the sequels and the superheros and the movies starring Tom Cruise. Smaller, more cerebral,
films usually find their ... [read more]

Summer cinema
Now that “X-Men: The Last Stand” has posted a huge holiday opening weekend at the box office, film studios will
try to keep the trend riding high with some predictable crowd-pleasers. They include the return of Johnny Depp,
Orlando Bloom, Keira ... [read more]

Past Obits
GANJI, Alice L. JONES, Calvin N. JONES, Richard J. LEO, Thomas L. LOPEZ, Timothy D. McCORMACK,
Michael S. MIDDLETON, Evelyn NORSWORTHY, Loretta J. RHODES, Charles B. SCOTT, Daryl J. SMITH, Anna
O. THOMPSON, Paul H. Sr. TELEZINSKI, Irma M. San Joaquin ... [read more]

In the Courts
A 19-year-old without a driver`s license received a six-month jail sentence yesterday for crashing a car that his
mother initially claimed to have been driving, and threatening to murder witnesses contradicting their story. John
Francis Sullivan IV ... [read more]

This page is largely derived from a Wikipedia article on the same subject, the text of which is published under the GNU Free
Documentation Licence. Some images linked from this page are property of Amazon Web Services or other rights holders and thus
cannot be re-licenced under the GFDL. Please consider a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. Or, if you know a Wikipedia contributor,
buy her a beer. Have a nice day :-)