From Garrison Keilor's wonderful site, The Writer's Almanac, this snippet about one of my favorite singer/poet/songwriters, Leonard Cohen:
It's the birthday of poet, novelist and songwriter Leonard Cohen, born in Montreal, Canada (1934). He's the author of many books of poetry, including Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956) and Death of a Ladies' Man (1978), and novels such as Beautiful Losers (1966).
He learned to play guitar at a socialist summer camp when he was a teenager, but at the time he only used the guitar to get girls. He was more interested in poetry, and by the early 1960's he was considered one of Canada's most promising young poets. Then in 1966, the folksinger Judy Collins heard some of his songs, which he had written and performed only for friends, and she persuaded him to perform in public and make a record. He's been recording music ever since.
His most famous song is "Suzanne" from Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968). It goes, "Now Suzanne takes your hand / And she leads you to the river / She is wearing rags and feathers / From Salvation Army counters / And the sun pours down like honey / On our lady of the harbour / And she shows you where to look / Among the garbage and the flowers."
Leonard Cohen wrote, "As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder."
You young folk may not even know him, but was there ever anyone with so much sorrow in his voice? Someone who made you feel a life of heartbreak and pain when he sang his often cynical, often depressing, always wonderful, songs? He was one of the muses of my youth, perfectly able to express the depths of youthful despair and degradation, longing, beauty - it was all there, "among the garbage and the flowers." I still have some old LP's of his. Imagine that. I haven't listened to him in years, but he's got an album coming out next month - he's still going strong. Check out the website link at the beginning of the quote from The Almanac. Great stuff there, if you've been missing Leonard.
2 comments:
Time for you to spend some quality time at Sam Goody Records and listen to the body of work that Leonard has created since you stopped listening. Come listen to the adult Leonard Cohen - I guarantee he'll delight with his insights and make you howl with glee at his mistakes in love and life.
An album? What's that? ;-p One of the younguns I guess. I've heard the name but I don't recall any of the music. :-) ---Robbie
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