"Other artists on Leonard" - testimonials needed

hydriot · Post by **hydriot** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:03 pm

I understood Kathryn Williams had withdrawn that quote as unbecoming (or did Anjani have a few words with her!?)

For me, the most amazing testimonial of 2006 was the revelation that HRH is a fan. Still waters run deep.

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:02 am

>For me, the most amazing testimonial of 2006 was the revelation that HRH is a fan. Still waters run deep.<<

No kidding. I had heard this and thought, Wow, that's really right royally amazing. Do you have any idea where his thoughts or comments on his love of LC are preserved? If so, I'd *love* to see the text, hydriot, if it's not too much trouble. I shall a G'oglin' go; but, in the interim, if you do have the source, I think that would be an awesome testimonial. Maybe we could see our future Nobel-Laureate being knighted in the same year; wouldn't that be magnif?

And, BTW, the milk one, too, come to think of it, is also very timely (since the request was for comments made around the time of the early releases); so, it's not only appropriate, but historically of value (especially considering the calibre of character uddering, er, uttering, it).

But, yes, HRH hisself. Catherine & Cart Wheels for all of us having such refined tastes, eh?

Thanks to both you and David E. for bringing both testimonials to this thread about testimonials. Good on us, great on LC.

BoHo (a.k.a. BodaciousHowler)
--
THE ITEM THAT HE SENT HER:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/leonardcohen.html
ADAGIOS III — ELECTRA'S BENISON, BOUND!
http://www.oberonpress.ca/titles.pl?v=new
JUDITH FITZGERALD'S EVER-EVOLVING WRITESITE:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/
LEONARD COHEN'S OPEN BOOK OF LONGING:
http://tinyurl.com/yno7z7
POET PARLIAMENTAEIRIAL JUDITH FITZGERALD:
http://tinyurl.com/38ssjq
THE AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW:
http://tinyurl.com/2h6op6
SUNITI NAMJOSHI'S BRIGHTSITE:
http://tinyurl.com/37jjvy
J.F. ON AL PURDY & ELI MANDEL @ CBC:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdrdq

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:29 am

Whoa . . . (I was in hospital when all this happened, can't believe what I've been reading plus, he gets off a slant rhyme, too :)):

"I tell you who I also think is wonderful is a chap called Leonard Cohen, do you know him?"
-- Prince Charles
http://tinyurl.com/lp72f

<quote>
The lugubrious Canadian singer, beloved in bedsit land, is back on the scene with a film and a book. And now he even has royal approval

Cohen ... 'The arch bard of miserabilism'

The revelation that Leonard Cohen can number Prince Charles among his fervent fans, as the prince reveals in a TV interview involving himself, his two sons and presenters Ant and Dec, comes as a surprise. Charles's musical interests have previously oscillated between the Three Degrees, with whom he danced on stage as a bachelor, and Gustav Holst, whose 'Jupiter' he chose for his first wedding. Altogether different is the image of our future king nodding along to 'Ain't no Cure for Love' or trudging after Diana's cortege with 'Hey, That's no Way to Say Goodbye' running through his head.
Neil Spencer
Sunday May 21, 2006
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/st ... 92,00.html
</quote>

There are many many citations on keywords "Prince Charles Leonard Cohen" at gOOgle; I just like these two best.

BoHo
--
THE ITEM THAT HE SENT HER:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/leonardcohen.html
ADAGIOS III — ELECTRA'S BENISON, BOUND!
http://www.oberonpress.ca/titles.pl?v=new
JUDITH FITZGERALD'S EVER-EVOLVING WRITESITE:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/
LEONARD COHEN'S OPEN BOOK OF LONGING:
http://tinyurl.com/yno7z7
POET PARLIAMENTAEIRIAL JUDITH FITZGERALD:
http://tinyurl.com/38ssjq
THE AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW:
http://tinyurl.com/2h6op6
SUNITI NAMJOSHI'S BRIGHTSITE:
http://tinyurl.com/37jjvy
J.F. ON AL PURDY & ELI MANDEL @ CBC:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdrdq

Boss · Post by **Boss** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:40 am

Who the fuck is HRH? I mean, who the fuck is he? That beggar down in Main St., the homeless one suffering from schizophrenia, afflicted by all manner of pain, he used to like Cohen too. And by the way, just who is Leonard Cohen? In your adoration you diminish your own soul. In your adoration you diminish your own soul.

"...I don't believe in Tarot
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Beatles

I just believe in me
Yoko and me
That's reality..."

John Lennon

He was once my hero
He is now a friend

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:58 am

((((Adam, My Darlin'))))

"Imagine," said Lennon, and that's what he did;
Till some becrazed psycho offed the gifted kid.
I adore you, Adam, what'cha gonna do?
Keep 'em comin', Kid, I also believe in you.

Love, Jf/ox
p.s. Makes me think of Leo's DOALM lines -- how dare you <*BEG*>?:

"Death to this book or fuck this book and fuck this marriage. Fuck the twenty-six letters of my cowardice. Fuck you for the breaking the mirror and throwing the eyebrow tweezers out the window. Your dead bed night after night and nothing warm but baby talk. Fuck marriage and theology and the cold goodnight. Fuck the idolatry and the priests who say so. How dare they. How dare they. Thanks for your judgement on me. Murder and a fast train to Paris and me thin again in my blue raincoat, and Barbara waiting at the Cluny Square Hotel. Fuck her for never turning up." (LC)
--
THE ITEM THAT HE SENT HER:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/leonardcohen.html
ADAGIOS III — ELECTRA'S BENISON, BOUND!
http://www.oberonpress.ca/titles.pl?v=new
JUDITH FITZGERALD'S EVER-EVOLVING WRITESITE:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/
LEONARD COHEN'S OPEN BOOK OF LONGING:
http://tinyurl.com/yno7z7
POET PARLIAMENTAEIRIAL JUDITH FITZGERALD:
http://tinyurl.com/38ssjq
THE AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW:
http://tinyurl.com/2h6op6
SUNITI NAMJOSHI'S BRIGHTSITE:
http://tinyurl.com/37jjvy
J.F. ON AL PURDY & ELI MANDEL @ CBC:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdrdq

Tchocolatl · Post by **Tchocolatl** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:55 am

Roshi : 'Leonard, you should sing more sad.'

Leonard Cohen about 'Bob Dylan "the Picasso of song' ('can try to pass this one to Zimmerman's guys someday, one never knows)

OK.

Judy Collins :

"I was the first one to record his songs and tell him to get on stage," she said. "He's a hero of mine."

Talk about a man of mystery!" she said

***

"With Leonard Cohen, it's always like listening to a friend," (Nick) Cave told me a few years ago, in the wake of another masterpiece of compressed wit and wisdom, Ten New Songs. "You feel he has his arm around you. There's something very familiar and soothing about him."

Diane · Post by **Diane** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:58 am

"He's changed all of our lives with the complexities of his sadness, the breadth of his love." Former governor general Adrienne Clarkson at Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame induction 2006.

I have searched more than once for the full text of Clarkson's lovely tribute, but can't find it. If any one knows of the existence of a transcript, please let me know...

Diane

Tchocolatl · Post by **Tchocolatl** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:30 am

Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson is such a great lady! I am almost sure that you would like her complete bio. also, Diane. This event of him being made Companion of the order of Canada was so great. Thanks to remember me. How emotive he was about that, how different he was from the cocky young man he was in front of a no less cocky young woman she was the first time they met for this. Times changed from BL to TNS!

I don't know, maybe through CBC site you could you have it.

By the way... Does somebody have also the picture of Leonard Cohen doing zazen? (Here, I still look for it and can't find anything yet, Diane. I keep looking, though, until it shows up)

Boss · Post by **Boss** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:26 am

BoHo,

I've imagined too long now
These heroes all gone
The influence accepted
The obedience not won

For I am a free man
Not bound to another
I breathe in my own air
Not my father's or mother's

And what are we here for?
To tell Cohen he's good?
Get lost in his mishmash
I don't think that I could.

And let me ask you one question
Do you think God discriminates?
And do you think that he cares
If you're a poet or Bill Gates?

This worship of Men
Saddens me in advance
Little kids love Madonna
Ignore their own little dance

And who are our heroes?
Don't they shit too?
Feel hatred, feel envy
All one in the zoo

So when you praise Cohen
You better do it with care
For what do you really know?
Don't forget you aren't there

And some will just tell me
It's only some fun
It becomes pathological
When you lose your own drum

A drum that is silent
Not a sound, not a beat
You gave it away
When you worshipped at his feet

Neophyte · Post by **Neophyte** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:41 am

Tom Sakic wrote:The infamous Joni Mitchell:

I briefly liked Leonard Cohen, though once I read Camus and Lorca I started to realize that he had taken a lot of lines from those books, which was disappointing to me.

When someone of Joni Mitchell's fame (I won't say stature) makes a public statement like that, a neophyte like me begins to wonder if LC ever had an original thought.... Very naive of me, but what a statement!

Thanks, BoHo, for letting me know to what she was referring. Googled what I could on the subject and got even more impressed with Leonard. Thanks, Geoffrey, for pointing out that Joni appears to be a bit hypocritical.

And I agree with you, Lizzy, that Joni's statement just serves to diminish her.

All I know is that I've heard Joni's songs for years and thought they were pleasant, never bought any. TOOK awhile, but I finally heard ONE of Leonards's songs and am now addicted.

And looking forward to reading more wonderful testimonials! Adam, I have no problem praising Leonard Cohen because what I know and appreciate is the great pleasure his words and music and gentle demeanor give me.

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:24 am

Now, Adam, listen up
And do it with care
You've got a cracked cup
And, you're losing your flair
And, you limp like a lizard
And, act like an ox
I worship no wizard
*He* worships Jf/ox

Some of your lines
Penned here above
Don't follow designs
And, don't share the love
Have no idea why
You're down in the dumps
But, listen up, Guy
We all take our lumps

Fucking right, life ain't fair
That much is true
It ain't fair for me
It ain't fair for you
It ain't fair for anyone
As if you didn't know
So, put away your squirt gun
And, get on with the show

Love, Bo (or else!)
--
THE ITEM THAT HE SENT HER:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/leonardcohen.html
ADAGIOS III — ELECTRA'S BENISON, BOUND!
http://www.oberonpress.ca/titles.pl?v=new
JUDITH FITZGERALD'S EVER-EVOLVING WRITESITE:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/
LEONARD COHEN'S OPEN BOOK OF LONGING:
http://tinyurl.com/yno7z7
POET PARLIAMENTAEIRIAL JUDITH FITZGERALD:
http://tinyurl.com/38ssjq
THE AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW:
http://tinyurl.com/2h6op6
SUNITI NAMJOSHI'S BRIGHTSITE:
http://tinyurl.com/37jjvy
J.F. ON AL PURDY & ELI MANDEL @ CBC:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdrdq

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:03 am

Hi Adam and BoHo and Neophyte ~

I can't tap out a tune, or pen a poem of reality therapy in response to you, Adam, as BoHo has, but I do have some thoughts to share.

Adam ~ There are a couple areas where I feel you've made some really good points:

For I am a free man
Not bound to another
I breathe in my own air
Not my father's or mother's

Yes, we do, as we should... yet, their influence remains within our breath. This is not de facto a bad thing and, most often, a good one.

Little kids love Madonna
Ignore their own little dance

Thank the media and the hype and the lack of self-esteem that's coming from places [unknown to me] in their lives. It's a sad loss, it's true... and I was particularly touched by your phrase "Ignore their own little dance" ~ a tender appreciation of children who get lost. I've seen it too often in various places and ways.

A drum that is silent
Not a sound, not a beat
You gave it away
When you worshipped at his feet

Yes, some do this... and many don't. It is what can happen, though, when we give away our personal power.

Worship defined:

1. reverent honor given to a deity. 2. the expression of such honor, as by prayers. 3. great admiration or regard. [4. relates to a British title] 5. to show religious worship to. 6. to feel admiration or regard to. 7. to take part in worship.

For me, I eliminate #1, Leonard's not a deity; #2, I don't pray to Leonard, though I may pray for him; #5 and #7 ~ I don't take part in any worship services, mine or anyone else's, related to Leonard; #3 and #6 ~ Yes. There we are. Legitimate use of these definitions, and not invalidated by what you've said.

Praise defined:

1. an expression of approval or admiration; 2. the offering of grateful homage, as to God or a deity, esp. in song; 3. to express approval or admiration of. Syn. 3. applaud, commend, extol, laud.

For me, I eliminate #2, Leonard's not a deity; #1 and #3 ~ Yes. There we are, including the synonyms for #3.

Worship doesn't need to be literal, and praise is valid for someone you deeply admire, and who has helped you, along the way, in learning your own dance; and, through his words, has inspired you to keep trying to reach higher levels of self; and who has recognized the pain you feel, sometimes to the extent of some people opting out of suicide, the result of seeing their own pain made manifest in song, including the hope to go on, and feeling enough encouragement from that to keep going. Leonard's words have helped people find their own power; to try again to love, even though it hurt so terribly the last time; to think in universal terms about life; and so many more things, the list too endlessly long for here. I can quote all of Neophyte's last sentence, as representing me, as well. I'm glad to see Leonard get his due, with quotes from people who have over the years recognized his immense value as a source of inspiration, that can be read or sung with the holy power that only music has, in the personal struggles of people just trying to live their lives.

Meanwhile, listen to your buddy Bo... she cares about you and Leonard, both; she means you well, and she's speakin' to ya, [wo]man to man.

Looking forward to more quotes...

Fondly of you, Adam,
Lizzy

Boss · Post by **Boss** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:38 am

I have no gun Bo
Get on with what show?

Your avatar is beautiful Lizzy
And thanks for your post
You went to much trouble.

All I was trying to say is
that you lose your own self
by givin' it to an artist/celebrity etc.
Give it to your lover, your kids
That's all
I think that's what John Lennon was
trying to say in his song "God"
I think that's what I'm trying to say.

Who really cares what other people say about
Leonard Cohen?
It is what you say that matters.
Why does it matter what people say
about anyone else?
Why do we care what Brad Pitt is doing?
What a magazine tells us of him?
Everyone has a Life
That is important
We belittle ourselves in other people's lives
By that I mean we 'lose' ourselves

And I can't just ignore it!
It is everywhere
On CNN, on radio, in my best mate

And Boho is right
I did stray from love
I am sorry
I just get so pissed off
When people put themselves down
By thinking how wonderful someone else is
And how average they are
I did it
To such calamitous expense
To such calamitous expense

But not anymore
I do know the show!

Peace,
Adam

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:04 am

Well, Adam, I've been where you're hanging; I see how you're pinned. You know how much I care for you and think of you. I don't have to remind you of that and I know you know that, too. You know, you're going to find yourself picking up the pieces of a broken life, your own even, and you will put 'em back together, and you will swear you'll never go there again; but, but, but . . . You have a gift; and, I've told you that and you know it's a blessing and a curse.

I don't know, I can tell you not to take a temporary failure as an invincible defeat; because, I've felt the way you're feeling too many times to dish out platitudes, I'll let that pass us by. The future has yet to take effect. Work with what you have and new connections will emerge; I guarantee it. Nobody's playing you for a sucker, especially not me. You'll know when you've gone too far. You don't need some concerned bystander to shout out a warning to you. You'll triumph, whether I or even you believe that, now; but, I believe in you, Adam. I meant it and I do mean it.

I'm far too self-protective to lay too much of it on the line, ever. It takes me a very long time to trust and love anyone. My feelings for Leo are mutual; but, we've been friends for many years and we've earned each other's respect, Adam. I do what I do, write what I write, because he was there for me. When everyone else was battering me to hell, here in Cyberia and elsewhere, he held my hands while my wrists bled (figuratively, so to speak). He has never deserted me and he never will. He's told me that. He knows that I return the gesture, whole-heartedly.

Is this your idea of worship? He keeps me going; and, if I can repay him, for the gift of going forward with his concern and encouragement, for keeping me from killing myself, who am I not to do all I can to bring his value as a human being to the attention of the world? I've been there for him, too. He knows that. There are no stars in our eyes. We're friends, great friends, and we're proud to say so publicly. Did you look at the link in my .sig file? His inscription to me in BoL? Maybe you'll see why I see LC the way I do. I love this man-in-a-mil; always have, always will. It's unconditional. That's comfort in an impossible world gone missing.

Gratitude cannot begin to express my love for him; and, it's personal, and I want it to be known. His music saved my life and so did he. I would not be here telling you that you're going to make it, it's not an easy road; but, you'll burn it up heading down to Phoenix and you'll continue to rise to communicate instead of stooping to conquer.

You have friends. And, you know what? We're here for you, the way LC taught me how one can be, how one must do what one must do. I genuinely love this "you" you are here; you are in my prayers and thoughts. You may feel alone; but, never forget; you never will be, even if we've never met.

Love, Judith
--
"The society whose modernisation has reached the stage of integrated spectacle is characterised by the combined effect of five principal factors: incessant technological renewal, integration of state and economy, generalised secrecy, unanswerable lies, and eternal present . . .."
– Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967)

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:27 am

Dear Adam ~

I can't say anything beyond what Judith has beautifully already said to you. I know that you're taking her words to heart and that's all that matters.

Leonard has never been, nor will ever be, in my life as he has been in Judith's... however, as you may recall my having said before, there are three people in my life, the mere sound of whose voices have brought me immediate comfort... they are my Dad, my former husband, and Leonard. My admiration for the man I watch and listen to in interviews, whose words I read, and whose voice I hear in song, runs deep. My gratitude is immense for his having 'been there' for me for over nearly 40 years. It's okay to admire another person... it doesn't mean we have to lose ourselves in them. Without admiration for other people, we would be more zombish than not... emotional flatlines.

Thank you for liking my avatar. I thank Judith for creating it... another fine gift. I love it. I'm glad you like it, too. You're right... she made it beautiful. Beauty begets beauty. I'm very grateful.

Love,
Lizzy