Vale Leonard Cohen

[hardtack 10,537]

Just when you thought 2016 couldn't get any worse...title says it all. 

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

One of the greats. 

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

Do ya reckon the angles sang 'Hallelujah' as he went up?

[hardtack 10,537]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

Do ya reckon the angles sang 'Hallelujah' as he went up?

There are no angels, but I'm sure we will be hearing a lot of that song in days to come.

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

My day has just taken a deep dive.  One of my heroes.  Saw him live in concert and realised that despite some of my friends saying to me at the time that his music was to slash your wrists by, seeing him live, you got to understand the real humour in many of his songs.

A man who was a standard bearer for several generations.

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by iv'a worn smith

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

Perhaps these lyrics could find a place on another and current hot topic on this forum.

 

Quote

Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess.
Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is Yes.
Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine,
I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline.
And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice,
a singer must die for the lie in his voice.
And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty,
you keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty.
Your vision is right, my vision is wrong,
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song.

 

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

5 minutes ago, iv'a worn smith said:

My day has just taken a deep dive.  One of my heroes.  Saw him live in concert and realised that despite some of my friends saying to me at the time that his music was to slash your wrists by, seeing him live, you got to understand the the real humour in many of his songs.

A man who was a standard bearer for several generations.

 

About five years ago one of my then students and a friend did a version of 'The Gypsy's Wife' and put it on YouTube. Cohen contacted them a while later to say how much he liked what they'd done. They walked on clouds for the rest of the year.

 

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

1 minute ago, Dr John Dee said:

About five years ago one of my then students and a friend did a version of 'The Gypsy's Wife' and put it on YouTube. Cohen contacted them a while later to say how much he liked what they'd done. They walked on clouds for the rest of the year.

 

What a great story Dr.  Is it still on youtube? Can you post it? Or PM me if you prefer.

 

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

On 11/11/2016 at 3:14 PM, iv'a worn smith said:

What a great story Dr.  Is it still on youtube? Can you post it? Or PM me if you prefer.

 

Can't quite pick it up, iv'a, coz I've forgotten the scratch band name they used but I've sent her a Facebook message. Will let you know.

Edit: can be found with a youtube search on The Maidens + Gypsy Wife. I tried to post the url here but all it does is post the clip and I'm not sure it's appropriate to do that.

[Damo 3,356]

I am so down today. I have followed Leonard closely.

Two weeks he commented that giving a Noble prize to Bob Dylan (his good friend BTW) was like pinning a medal on Everest. In that interview he jokingly said he planned to live forever.

[monoccular 17,431]

So soon after his latest album, You Want it Darker, at the launch of which he said he intended to live forever.  Maybe he actually knew more that he was letting on.

Will be sadly missed.  

 

[Sir Why You Little 37,046]

He is now in "The Tower of Song"

[nutbean 8,838]

Very sad. Saw him a couple of times. Mesmerising. I saw henry wagons last night and he did about 5 or 6 of leonard songs as a mark of respect.

[bing181 9,240]

One artist I regret that I never saw live. My loss. One of the last of the bards, not too many around like him any more - at least for the moment.

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

6 hours ago, bing181 said:

One artist I regret that I never saw live. My loss. One of the last of the bards, not too many around like him any more - at least for the moment.

Nor did I. What really turned me on to Cohen in the first place wasn't the music but reading Beautiful Losers. Haven't read it since about '69 but there are scenes in that that are still with me. That he was a novelist and a very good (formal) poet in the first place has tended to be buried under all those brilliant songs.

The CDs will have to do now. I still find a way to play 'The Traitor' at least once a week. Extraordinary song where the poet and the lyricist are indistinguishable.

[Whispering_Jack 30,173]

I would argue that Cohen deserved to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature along with Bob Dylan.

An enormous loss.

[nutbean 8,838]

15 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

I would argue that Cohen deserved to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature along with Bob Dylan.

An enormous loss.

Quite interesting.

As an example - Paul Kelly's lyrics are taught as a unit in VCE English as Poetry. ( or "was" when my kids were doing VCE 6 years ago)

[Yossarian 1,820]

Any favourite songs?

Diamonds in the Mine was important to me as a young, angry teenager. Suzanne was the first I heard.

In later life, with a different mind, Famous Blue Raincoat and I came so far for beauty were on repeat up until the day he died. Has been odd being affected by a famous person passing away for the first time. Sad to see you go, Leonard Cohen.