Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

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tomsakic
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by tomsakic »

Here's my list, updated and corrected, plus Jarkko's comment after the Helsinki show.
jarkko wrote:Leonard has a lot of new songs in progress. He is working with the band on some of them at sound checks. He has not decided which songs will be on the new album and how he will do the final versions - everything is still under construction. We know, however, that "Born in Chains" will be quite different on the album (he will sing all of it or most of it himself; on stage we hear the ladies sing many parts of it). We arrived from Krakow only less than one hour before the concert and missed the sound check. So I haven't hear "My Oh My", and the only thing I know is the working title!



1. Still Into That (A Thousand Kisses Deep No. 2), with Sharon Robinson, in production after Dear Heather.

My knowledge about the existence of this song comes from our 2004 interview with Sharon, who said the rest of the verses from A Thousand Kisses Deep are still in process of making it into another song. (She also said there are few songs left after Dear Heather in "back burner". One song, Different Sides, has been revealed in her talk to Reuters in February 2010.)

The title comes from early draft of Book of Longing, which I received from the publisher in 2005. Thousand Kisses Deep, published in the book in two parts, as 1 and 2, here was separated into two separate song-poems, the 2001 album version A Thousand Kisses Deep, and another titled Still Into That. Still Into That, or "1" under the title Thousand Kisses Deep in the book (page 56), has been recited as "Recitation w/ Neil Larsen" on the current tour and released on Live in London.

2. Born in Chains - WORLD PREMIERE in Salzburg July 27, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv6aZ945StQ
Sung by Leonard, Sharon, Hattie and Charlie; the album version will be by Leonard.

Earlier known as "Taken Out Of Egypt", it started as the original version of "I Can't Forget" and was discarded in 1987-88. Also titled at one point as "Born in Chains".

The song lyrics can be recognized in the sound check performance of an earlier version of I Can't Forget in Muenster, February 1, 1985. (Thank you to Artur Jarosinski for the info.)

"[...] that song started off as a song about the exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt. As a metaphor for the journey of the soul from bondage into freedom. It started out, I was born in chains but I was taken out of Egypt / I was bound to a burden but the burden it was raised / Lord I can no longer keep this secret / Blessed is the name, the name be praised. It went on like that for a long, long time, and I went into the studio and tried to sing this song about how "I was born in chains and I was taken..." But I wasn't born in chains and I wasn't taken out of Egypt, and not only that, but I was on the edge of what was going to become a very serious nervous breakdown. So I hadn't had the burden lifted and the whole thing was a lie! It was wishful thinking. And this song, "Taken Out of Egypt," took months and months to write. Nobody believes me when I say these things but I have the notebooks and I don't fill them in an evening. And there were many of them. So it wasn't as if I had an endless supply of songs: I had to start over. And I was saying to myself, "What is my life?" and that's when I started writing that lyric: I stumble out of bed / I got ready for the struggle / I smoked a cigarette / And I tightened up my gut / I said this can't be me / Must be my double / And I can't forget / I can't forget / But I don't remember what. That was really true." (Leonard Cohen, interviewed by Mark Rowland, "Leonard Cohen's Nervous Breakthrough", Musician, July 1988

Leonard can be heard mumbling these lines "I was born in chains" etc. to the unknown melody in Lian Lunson's 2005 documentary Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. That's when I got the clue that he works on this old song again.

Out of the blue, he premiered it on the sound check in Zagreb, July 25, and in public show two days later in Salzburg, July 27. Since then the song is included in every show of the European Summer tour of 2010. I am still honoured that I was only person in the audience in the empty Zagreb Arena on July 25 afternoon soundcheck.

Versions from Sligo July 31, with recitation of the lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f37lh9LqRs, Malmo August 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBOhN0V-Ew, Goteborg August 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0fT0SH57EA, Odense August 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AfMWBuWl7U, Berlin August 18 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31fRbKyq1is, Gent August 22: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkndB4KcXtM

The song lyrics were published in April 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

3. I Know She Is Coming

Demo version played during KCRW interview in 2006, originally titled The Book of Longing, after the title poem of the book (it's basically its song version, with slightly different last lines.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_LvBbYOuQA

4. Puppets, demo aired at KCRW in 2006. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMnOG6FDls

The destiny of this spoken poetry piece is unknown since it was heard in 2006.

5. A Street, recited live in 2006, according to Leonard in an interview: music co-written by Anjani Thomas.

Published in 2009 in The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry ... poem_cohen
Also in 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

6. Blue Alert, Leonard's own version, demo discarded after he heard Anjani's version and then given to her for her album. This song is probably discarded forever, and it can't be expected to make it to the new album.

7. Lullaby, performed live in 2009, in Grand Prairie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjVhQc1aIY (sound), video from Dublin, July 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQ69VP182s

LC to Jarkko: recorded.

The song lyrics were published in April 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

In Malmo, August 2010, LC said he recorded completely different studio version for the album.
Mabeanie1 wrote:I asked Leonard about Lullaby when I met him in Malmo - that it was still on the setlist but they never seemed to play it any more and that I would love to hear it played live. He told me that he had recorded a completely different version of the song.
8. Amen, mentioned in 2009 interviews as "finished". LC to Jarkko: recorded.

The song lyrics were published in April 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

9. The Darkness, performed for the first time in Venice, August 2009, at the sound check. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr7jptm02N4
Later performed in few variations in US tour, Fall 2009: in St. Louis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg398mnGlLU, in Nashville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkWMqs67Lhw, in Las Vegas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--410yY3iHk, in San Jose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w6zbMutzTw

Performed regularly on European Summer tour of 2010. Sligo July 31: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8CVlLa-sMI, Gent August 20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5XlIPK-Hmc, Malmo August 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_aH9zGUCUs, Stockholm Aug 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmsmW6PmIO0, Goteborg August 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzbH8e3Byfg, Berlin August 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQgTWMnyzAU

LC to Jarkko: recorded.

The song lyrics were published in April 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

10. Feels So Good, performed in the US, November 2009. Video from Chicago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oamvw_WFiZc, Las Vegas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGQ1vqrto7I and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uvHKa1s2oI, Kansas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWmY-LVQeuc, Durham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnBFuFGmx5s, Asheville: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8iAKuvnHBQ, and San Jose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GihhK_TyLAI

Performed regularly on European Summer tour of 2010. Salzburg July 27: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5frYMa1aI, Sligo July 31: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtoP3jXQ1bU, Helsinki August 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZiRmVzLGs, Goteborg August 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGotRpxylE4, Odense Aug 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJlvTYZMlfQ, Gent Aug 20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcfnbq7zM8, Berlin August 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0SaN8hQufQ

The song lyrics were published in April 2011 book "Leonard Cohen - Poems and Songs" (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets).

11. Different Sides, with Sharon Robinson. Reported as finished and recorded by Sharon Robinson in Reuters' news from the Grammy Awards, February 2010.

12. My Oh My - performed on the sound checks in Ghent, August 21 and 22, 2010, and probably earlier in Helsinki. Blues song with melodic pattern similar to Feels So Good.
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tomsakic
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by tomsakic »

tomsakic wrote:12. My Oh My - performed on the sound checks in Ghent, August 21 and 22, 2010, and probably earlier in Helsinki. Blues song with melodic pattern similar to Feels So Good.
Those using dimeadozen traders' website will know that two of three Gent recording have surfaced - and both include tape recording of the soundchecks made from outside of the open-air venue in the afternoon. That means My Oh My is on the recording. Plus TWO solo versions of The Stranger Song [heart-breaking] and LC's long instrumentals on guitar.
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by Patrycja »

^ :shock: Thanks for the tip! Yesss!
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by bigdee »

tomsakic wrote:
tomsakic wrote:12. My Oh My - performed on the sound checks in Ghent, August 21 and 22, 2010, and probably earlier in Helsinki. Blues song with melodic pattern similar to Feels So Good.
Those using dimeadozen traders' website will know that two of three Gent recording have surfaced - and both include tape recording of the soundchecks made from outside of the open-air venue in the afternoon. That means My Oh My is on the recording. Plus TWO solo versions of The Stranger Song [heart-breaking] and LC's long instrumentals on guitar.
Any chance someone can upload the audio of My Oh My and Stranger Song to some easy access website like youtube for those of us who do not have accounts and/or ability to download from the traders websites? Thanks!
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Re: My oh My

Post by rpan »

Here you can download mp4 of My oh My - wait 60 secs and downloadable mp4 will appear to save.

Someone else will be able to put these up in nice format I am sure, this is just for now.
Sound quality is dire!

http://rospan.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-o ... en-at.html
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Re: My oh My

Post by sturgess66 »

rpan wrote:Here you can download mp4 of My oh My - wait 60 secs and downloadable mp4 will appear to save.

Someone else will be able to put these up in nice format I am sure, this is just for now.
Sound quality is dire!

http://rospan.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-o ... en-at.html
Thank you rpan. :D
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by astranger »

I was perusing LC's wikipedia page last night and noticed that at the end of the introductory paragraph it stated that he was currently working with Belgian producer Niels Luyten. There was no citation to go along with it and I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about this? I certainly haven't been aware of any recent discussion regarding his new album, and last I heard Leonard was producing it himself.
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by pe swijngedouw »

tomsakic wrote:
tomsakic wrote:12. My Oh My - performed on the sound checks in Ghent, August 21 and 22, 2010, and probably earlier in Helsinki. Blues song with melodic pattern similar to Feels So Good.
Those using dimeadozen traders' website will know that two of three Gent recording have surfaced - and both include tape recording of the soundchecks made from outside of the open-air venue in the afternoon. That means My Oh My is on the recording. Plus TWO solo versions of The Stranger Song [heart-breaking] and LC's long instrumentals on guitar.
the first night in gent was on dime, too, including soundchecks, with a version of My Oh My
if someone needs a copy, let me know, i'll make one for you

pe
... precisely ...
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by astranger »

Is there no info on Niels Luyten? I've never heard of him and i would love to know if this info from wikipedia can be believed. Thanks!
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by jarkko »

The information about Niels Luyten is not correct. He is not working on Leonard's album.
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by astranger »

jarkko wrote:The information about Niels Luyten is not correct. He is not working on Leonard's album.

Thanks Jarkko, I thought it suspicious since I couldn't find that confirmation anywhere, I'm kind of relieved..looking forward to a new LC produced record
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by phillip »

any idea when the album will be ready??? can't wait!
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by astranger »

phillip wrote:any idea when the album will be ready??? can't wait!

I feel like we're due for an update as well, but then again that's pretty much the only thing i care about or post about at this point. it's hard not pressing this issue everyday! :lol:
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Re: Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

Post by Cheshire gal »

hi astranger,

I can quite understand how you feel. :D I'm sure everybody is looking forward to a new album very much. However, Leonard did say he takes his time to get it 'perfect', so I suppose we will all be waiting a little while longer. I would love to hear about a tour to introduce it though. :D :D
'...and here's a man still working for your little smile' -Leonard Cohen
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