Dylan is asked about seeing Cohen in concert...

[lizzytysh]

Good point, Cate .

Using that example, the closer parallel for me would be like asking the owner of Pizza Hut if he'd like to go to Boston Pizza for dinner. If Boston Pizza makes a better crust and sauce and uses only fresh vegetables, he might want to go, as he might get some palate tips on how to improve his own product.

I thought it was significant that someone saw Dylan at one of Leonard's concerts, so maybe... I don't know... maybe something... but he has gone, and just doesn't want to have to deal with that in an interview[?] ~ I'm sure he's well aware of all the raving and stellar reviews of Leonard's concerts. Who knows how well that may be sitting with him, given those he's been getting, and their somewhat parallel paths in the music industry and similar ages.

At least Leonard has never held back on giving Dylan his kudos. Leonard hasn't spiraled down into a dislike and bitterness toward people as Dylan has been described as doing. Leonard has always had a signature kind of grace... and he clearly loves the interactions he's having with people. Keep on keepin' on, Leonard.


~ Lizzy

[Eskimo]

Bobs been a bit cranky in this latest interview(you know,more so)he dismissed Johnny Cash's later records as well.....

....just as Bob has described his strong preference for early Johnny Cash and Rolling Stones music, he offered this about his songwriting back in the day during a CBS 60 Minutes interview:

"I don't know how I got to write those songs. Those early songs were almost magically written, (Dylan then quotes from It's Alright, Ma). Try to sit down and write something like that. There's a magic to that, and it's not Siegfried and Roy kind of magic, you know? It's a different kind of a penetrating magic. And, you know, I did it. I did it at one time...You can't do something forever, I did it once, and I can do other things now. But, I can't do that."

...of course, Bob hasn't been quite as harsh in describing his more recent work as he was about Cash....

I attended Leonard's concert at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles in 1994 or 1995 - the I'm Your Man Tour. Dylan was there. My companion and I saw him leaving about 20 miniutes after the show ended.

.. LC: "I remember singin' it (Hallelujah) to Bob Dylan after his last concert in Paris. The morning after, I was having coffee with him and we traded lyrics. Dylan especially liked this last verse, "And even though it all went wrong, I stand before the Lord of song with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah." Hallelujah was, of course, covered live by Bob back in late "80's - (a live recording previously posted on the forum can be found here) including an LA performance in the same year as Leonard's I'm Your Man tour that Bob may have been seen at (LC's 90's dates in LA occurred when Bob was touring Europe)

I was flipping around the TV channels the other night and I came across the documentary film "Don't Look Back." Dylan was singing "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," beautifully.

....As a total aside, William Zantzinger died this year (obituary)....a few years back, the story for which Bob took "poetic license" was told and Zantzinger's subsequent life were reviewed here....

Leonard has always had a signature kind of grace...

...never more evident than when Leonard says: Bob "was playing the organ, beautifully I might say".....

[ascoli]

I'm a huge Dylan fan but I must say I am very disappointed with his comments regarding Leonard Cohen.
They weren't kind.
They weren't thoughtful.
They weren't necessary.

I agree he can choose what concerts he wants to go to.
Yes, we know what Leonard will do......
He will move us
He will inspire us
He will love us
He will entertain us.
Bob might listen to his own words..."Gonna forget myself for a while, go out and see what others need"

[lizzytysh]

My perspective on it is that Dylan, as a performer or as a person, has every right to lose all interest in the human race, and not go anywhere for any reason or have any encounters of any kind with any one at all. That's his right and he hasn't lost it just because he's become famous. As a professional, however, and he certainly aligns himself with that distinction as he continues to book and get paid for engagements, I was disappointed at such a broad-brushed, dismissive and gratuitous over-simplification when asked in an interview regarding going to one of Leonard's concerts.

Whether it's accurate or not, it creates an impression of jealousy, but moreso, it is unwarranted disrespect for a peer and smacks of amateur. Of course, the ultimate impact of it, as always in cases like this, is that it reflects poorly on Dylan and not on Leonard, except to serve as a spotlight on Leonard's own professionalism and personal grace. So, Dylan also has the right to age ungracefully and become less professional with his years. Not the first time that's happened with a performer; it's just disappointing. He gave us so much for many years, and it's sad to now see him diminishing himself.

Yes, we know what Leonard will do......
He will move us
He will inspire us
He will love us
He will entertain us.

The poignant truth is that I don't believe that Bob has become totally unreachable and, if he would go, Leonard would do this for him, as well. When he experiences the honesty and the purity of Leonard on stage, a healing of the heart could begin... and I say that only because I've read comments on how Bob has come to detest people and this particular response seems more in that vein than not. Leonard, however, brings hope for how people can be with each other. You see it in his interactions with his band members and with his audience, and in the openness of his heart and his unending gratitude for both. It's a beauty that I would wish for Bob to experience.


~ Lizzy

[Geoffrey]

I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together. Today, of all days, is a time to remember when Dylan was in Leonard's home town of Montreal. Firstly he paid great tribute to his friend by singing 'Hallelujah' - and it should here be noted that Leonard remains one of the few artists never to have publicly sung a Dylan song. Don't ask me why, but Leonard has never reciprocated that warm gesture. Secondly, at the same concert, Dylan announced the following song, 'Isis', thus: "This is a song about marriage. It's called 'Isis', and it's for Leonard - if he's still here." The song opens with: "I married Isis on the fifth day of May" and ends with "on the fifth day of May in the drizzling rain!" So, today, of all days, is a time to remember that people will hype you and type you, making you feel that you gotta be just like them.

[Geoffrey]

I wrote:
>Don't ask me why, but Leonard has never reciprocated that warm gesture.


Hey. I have logged into this website again because I now know the reason why. It is because a cover version should always "do justice" to the original, and that perfection cannot be improved - only mutilated.

[Evie B]

And "Goo goo g'joob" to that.

Leonard doesn't really sing other people's songs does he, except those of his collaborators? Am I wrong on this, can anyone tell me? I will be interested to know. The only one I am aware of is "Be for real" and I think that was written for him.

I wrote:
>Don't ask me why, but Leonard has never reciprocated that warm gesture.


Hey. I have logged into this website again because I now know the reason why. It is because a cover version should always "do justice" to the original, and that perfection cannot be improved - only mutilated.

[Bill's Bar]

Well Leonard did a brilliant version of "The Tennessee Waltz" on "Dear Heather" ( with an added verse by himself) And also a version of "We'll go no more a rovin" by Lord Byron on the same album. And of course "the Partisan."
Am just back from the Bob Dylan concert in the O2 in Dublin, and I have to say it was probably the best Dylan concert I've been at. The sound in the revamped venue is top notch( which bodes well for the Cohen concerts in July), and Bob did great versions of "Memphis Blues"" Blowin in the wind.""Rollin stone". He played for about almost 2 hours, but never addressed one word to the audience, or introduced the band.....but hey that's Bob, and we know what Bob does.

[liverpoolken]

.....Bob also gave you the first ever performance of a song from the new album -If You Ever Go To Houston- in the encore in Dublin tonight....luck of the Orish....

Ta Ken

[Bill's Bar]

Yep Ken
I should have spotted that.

[Eskimo]

Well Leonard did a brilliant version of "The Tennessee Waltz" on "Dear Heather" ( with an added verse by himself) And also a version of "We'll go no more a rovin" by Lord Byron on the same album. And of course "the Partisan."
Am just back from the Bob Dylan concert in the O2 in Dublin..... He played for about almost 2 hours, but never addressed one word to the audience, or introduced the band.....but hey that's Bob, and we know what Bob does.

Since this means you were deprived of the Bob joke that often accompanies the intros: "On guitar: Stu Kimball. Stu's from around here. He runs a farm just outside town. Got cows there. He put one on a scale because he wanted to see how much milky way".......

Other covers LC has done on albums include Un Canadian Errant, Be For Real, Always; (Villanelle For Our Time could count but it has LC’s music). Derek Barker's The Songs He Didn't Write lists over 500 songs Bob has covered in various settings. The book is reviewed here

[Mondomando]

I'm thinking if there is anyone Bob needs to see it is Leonard.

I love Bob's Theme Time Radio Hour and I absolutely loved Tell Tell Signs but some things have been kind of uneven from Dylan of late. I know they are very different men but the concerts I have seen of Dylan (last one in November) and Leonard in Winnipeg last week just do not compare. There is just no connection with the audience with Dylan. Both men have amazing songbooks but Leonard really give you the impression he is very happy to be performing ... Dylan seems almost like the audience is a bother.

Daevid

[yopietro]

I actually think they would be the perfect double bill. Cohen & Dylan, one night only in your town. Their styles, approaches, and music would complement each other beautifully. (Of course they would share the stage in an obligatory three-song duet in between their own sets). A dream bill for me!

[tomsakic]

Whether it's accurate or not, it creates an impression of jealousy, but moreso, it is unwarranted disrespect for a peer and smacks of amateur. Of course, the ultimate impact of it, as always in cases like this, is that it reflects poorly on Dylan and not on Leonard, except to serve as a spotlight on Leonard's own professionalism and personal grace. So, Dylan also has the right to age ungracefully and become less professional with his years. Not the first time that's happened with a performer; it's just disappointing. He gave us so much for many years, and it's sad to now see him diminishing himself.

ditto.

I guess he read some of "parallel reviews" of his and LC's shows when they were both performing in same Canadian cities in May 2008.
It's sad, I mean, he *is* Bob Dylan and I can't believe he acts the same as Joni Mitchell did about LC few years back. Very sad indeed, particularly in the light of Leonard's own (unbelievably accurate) description of Bob Dylan show (in which he even defended Dylan in a way, for being so uninterested in any kind of connection between music and the audience).

I guess that Bob Dylan show is the quite opposite experience than Leonard Cohen show.

[UrPal]

An excerpt from the new Rolling Stone interview of Bob Dylan:

Do you get any time to sit in on concerts? Like would you go see someone like Leonard Cohen?

Dylan: I know what Leonard does. I wouldn't need to go see him.........I wouldn't go see anybody.

I'm surprised that people are getting all offended about what Bob Dylan said in this interview. I'm no particular enthusiast for Bob, but what he said seems neither surprising nor particularly controversial to me.

I'm reading it as him simply saying "hey, I'm a sixty something professional musician who's been writing and performing on perpetual tour for forty years and more. Going to see a live act, be it Leonard Cohen or anyone else, is a busman's holiday for me. Why would I? I know the recorded music. I know the man. There's nothing in it for me. If I go to anything "live" these days, it'll be the theatre or a classical gig. That's more likely to get me some creative spark for a song on my next LP".

Where's the harm in that?