poems and songs

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Sandra
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poems and songs

Post by Sandra »

were all LC songs made to be songs or were they poems first?
Andrew McGeever
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Post by Andrew McGeever »

Dear Sandra,
"Suzanne Takes You Down" was published in Leonard's "Parasites of Heaven" in 1966.
Thanks to Judy Collins's encouragement, amongst other things, "Suzanne" became a song. The rest is history.
That's one poem of Leonard's which made it to a song.
That was a long time ago. I recall downloading (3 years ago?) an enormous piece of writing called "A Thousand Kisses Deep". It contained at least 10 stanzas. It was, in my view, a long poem. I also heard that it had been cut down to that level. It appeared, in an even more truncated version, as a song in "Ten New Songs".
I'm sure others will answer your question with more authority than me, but that's two works which I can immediately recall.
Andrew.
Andrew McGeever
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Post by Andrew McGeever »

Dear Sandra,
"Suzanne Takes You Down" was published in Leonard's "Parasites of Heaven" in 1966.
Thanks to Judy Collins's encouragement, amongst other things, "Suzanne" became a song. The rest is history.
That's one poem of Leonard's which made it to a song.
That was a long time ago. I recall downloading (3 years ago?) an enormous piece of writing called "A Thousand Kisses Deep". It contained at least 10 stanzas. It was, in my view, a long poem. I also heard that it had been cut down to that level. It appeared, in an even more truncated version, as a song in "Ten New Songs".
I'm sure others will answer your question with more authority than me, but that's two works which I can immediately recall.
Andrew.
John the Shorts
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Post by John the Shorts »

Cohen's early poetry resulted in many songs, just flick through the pages of:

Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956)

The Spice-Box Of Earth (1961)

Flowers for Hitler (1964)

and you will find such gems as As the Mist Leaves No Scars, Master Song, Winter Lady and many more (By the way I'm doing this from memory so please forgive the ommissions and any that may have appeared in later books)

JTS
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Sandra
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Post by Sandra »

thank you.... :)
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Sandra ~

It looks like there's no "all"-rule with Leonard on this. Some songs have apparently [and obviously] come the route of poem-to-song.

In a CBC documentary, The John Hammond Years, part 12, on September 20, 1986, Leonard said in an interview:

"People often ask me whether I set the poems to music, but I think I know the difference between a lyric and a poem. And most of my songs began with the phrase of music and a phrase of the lyric. And, usually, the tunes were completed before the lyric. Then, there’s that long process of uncovering the lyric, and fitting it to the melody."

So, it seems for the most part, his songs are written to be songs. Hard to pin him down, isn't it :wink: ?

~ Elizabeth
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

Lizzytysh has a good quotation about this matter. Anyway, here's a list of song which was made of poems:

Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967):
‘Suzanne’ – was published as a poem ‘Suzanne Takes You Down’ in Parasites Of Heaven.
‘Master Song’ – based on ‘I Believe You Hear Your Master Sing’ from Parasites Of Heaven.
‘Teachers’ – based on a poem ‘I Met A Woman Long Ago’ from Parasites Of Heaven.

Songs From A Room (1969):
‘A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes’ – 3rd verse of this song appeared as the 2nd verse of ‘Who Will Finally Say’ in Selected Poems 1956–1968.

Songs Of Love And Hate (1971):
‘Avalanche’ – based on ‘I Stepped Into An Avalanche’ from Parasites Of Heaven.

Live Songs (1973):
‘Queen Victoria’ – is a poem ‘Queen Victoria And Me’ from Flowers For Hitler.

New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974):
‘Is This What You Wanted’ – chorus of this song has been taken from ‘Poem #31’ in The Energy Of Slaves (1972).

Death Of A Ladies’ Man (1977):
‘True Love Leaves No Traces’ – 2 verses from a 1961 poem ‘As Mist Leaves No Scar’ (Spice-Box Of Earth).
‘I Left A Woman Waiting’ – First 2 verses were taken from ‘Poem #27’ in The Energy Of Slaves.
‘Fingerprints’ – ‘Give Me Back My Fingerprints’ (1966) in Parasites Of Heaven.
‘Death Of A Ladies’ Man’ – is published 1 year later (1978) as ‘Death Of A Lady’s Man’ in eponimous book of poetry.

Recent Songs (1979):
‘Our Lady of Solitude’ – longer adaptation, with new verses, of the poem ‘All Summer Long’ which appeared in Death Of A Lady’s Man (1978).

Various Positions (1984):
The Captain – recited as a poem during 1985 tour.

The Future (1993):
‘Democracy’ – composed from about 80 verses. Recited as poem with some of them in many occassions.

Ten New Songs (2001)
‘In My Secret Life’ – somehow different first verse recited in 1988, at least 2 times.
‘A Thousand Kisses Deep’ – published as much longer poem at The Blackening Pages.
mickeye
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Post by mickeye »

well i posted this once , but again ,a song is basically a poem set to music , i can t speak for cohen , but sometimes i write the music , then later it will go through my head and words will start to fit in , sometimes with someone elses voice singing it,other times (most) i write the words and just try to figure what wordless music i composed might work for them ,probably be pretty hard putting a book to music, unless it s made into a movie, lol
September_Cohen
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Post by September_Cohen »

Hey hey...dear John the Short
I'm not sure, maybe it is an error of you or me (me or you, more politely)
but I think that Winter Lady is only a song....i've never heard or read it as a poem or coming from roots fastened to a poem.
One for the money
Two for the show
Three to get ready
Go man go
I said tell me Mr. Siegal
How do I get out of here
Cohen Knight
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Post by Cohen Knight »

I heard that "Avalance" was a song and it was used as a poem simply because Mr. Cohen was short on material. Does anybody know if this is true?
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

Probably it is. Suzanne, Avalanche, Master Song, Teachers, it seems they were already written as songs when they were printed in a book.
I guess John missed Winter lady with Our Lady Of Solitude? :D
I forget to write this: do I remember well that refrain of Democracy ("Sail on o mighty ship of State") was actually taken from one chapter of "Beautiful Losers"?
Tom
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margaret
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Post by margaret »

The "sail on, oh mighty ship of state..." has certainly cropped up in earlier work before it became a chorus in Democracy. not sure exactly were though. Leonard seems to have a core of favourite phrases which seem to turn up now and then.
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

I am pretty sure that was in that novel, somewhere around demonstartion for independence of Quebec attended by main characters...
tom
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