Do Leonard Cohen Fans Favor Sad Songs?

[constantsorrow]

When it comes to your taste in the music of other artists, do you
tend to favor sad songs?

Always.

[Tri-me]

He avoids platitudes. I talk in platitudes sometimes, maybe more that I want to. You can feel free to bring it to my attention when i do this, it is maybe a habit? This is an insight that I did not have before today.

I understand now why I like to listen to "Hey darling that's no way to say goodbye" after a friend leaves for Montreal. It is like sharing your feelings with a friend and having a enables me to have a good cry. No one has to see you get all soppy and Leonard Cohen has the incredible talent of touching my heart and clarifying the issue at hand. Maybe someone could invent a Hug Me Leonard Doll. His words are actually very optimistic and there is a clarity there, maybe it is there if you want to hear it. Maybe I listen to the song to find clarity? Oh well I am rambling.
Rambling helps to find my soul so that I can find happiness. DOH a freaking platitude.
I had to edit this because I had the wrong song over and over and over in my head the words are travelling wow he's amazing. I'm not in a puddle here just enjoying the pleasure of having feelings. To feel is to know you are human. Is that a platitude? Gaud

[lizzytysh]

Maybe I listen to the song to find clarity?

Tri-me ~ For me, this is a very appreciable insight.

~ Lizzy

[Steven]

Tri-me and Lizzytysh,

Generally, I don't find that the songs bring clarity as much as
that they make kinesthetically tangible -- feelings that may have
been amorphous.

[linda_lakeside]

I agree, Steven, and there is his talent. He is able to put into words what we can only feel on a very sensory level. Few songwriters can touch me in that way. It's very personal.

Linda.

[Tri-me]

that they make kinesthetically tangible -- feelings that may have
been amorphous.

I am sure what you are saying is fascinating, but I just don't understand what you are saying

[linda_lakeside]

The way I read it was, that Cohen's songs make emotions 'real' in a tangible, tensile way, whereas they would otherwise be hard to pin down. Hard to define. Like smoke or mist, our emotions are not easily grasped ... boy, I bet that cleared things up for you. Maybe we can drag Steven back into the conversation.

Linda.

Almost as though his words can transform our feelings into something you can see, touch. There is movement, our emotions are not static. There is an ebb and flow. Have I gone nuts? Well, I think it's hard to really pinpoint what it is about Cohen's work that really grabs us. Also, it's different for everyone of us, as we've seen over and over again in these pages. We all have our own way of interpretating his lyrics.

[Steven]

Tri-me,

Nah, it's probably not that "fascinating." You probably do understand
what I meant, but don't know that you do. Linda's comments
went some way to clarifying what I didn't. Mindfully paying attention
to the body, can be helpful to pinning down emotions. When
identified and appreciated there, it's possible to have a fuller grasp
(more "tangible" as per Linda) than would be so in less aware
states. (Gestalt practitioners and method actors tune into this
sort of thing, as does this Leonard Cohen listener.)

[Fljotsdale]

To me, it's as though Cohen's words and music are 'mine'. An integral part of me, that was always there but not recognised - as though he filled a gap I didn't know was there until he filled it. I 'recognised' it as part of me.

It has happened to me only once before, so totally, when I first read T S Eliot's Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock: instant recognition of myself...

Am I making sense? LOL!

[Tri-me]

I wish Leonard's words were from my mind, but he brings to words what I am feeling and thinking.

kinesthetically tangible

this I understand, hey I'm an RMT

amorphous

is what I did not get Lacking definite form; shapeless. See Synonyms at shapeless. Of no particular type; anomalous. Lacking organization; formless. Lacking distinct crystalline structure.

I find the form and structure of his work is what makes it work. I like form an structure in fact I find comfort in it. Not concrete, I don' like to plan my life's every second. An example would be the Huckabees movie. I really did not like it, had to leave. The film lacked form and structure. This actually happened last night. GRRR just thinking about it....after so many people I know raved about it.
Steve you are fascinating, have never met you but you have a gentle kindness tht comes through.

[linda_lakeside]

Steve you are fascinating, have never met you but you have a gentle kindness tht comes through.

That is sooo true. One sees it in post after post.

Re: my somewhat unclear interpretation of said post and the topic in general, I think this goes a long way in showing how his (LC) work is perceived. I really resist trying to identify what it is that makes him so special. We all think he's special, for different reasons. The only thing we all tend to agree on is that he gets us where we live. Right in the heart place. How he makes his songs/poetry work for us in such a powerful way is really secondary, for me. I just like to go with the feeling. Also, a song can be/mean something different on different days, different times in our lives. There are not many songwriters that can do that (for me).

Linda.

[Steven]

Fljotsdale,

"Am I making sense?" Yes. When words and music resonante,
meaningfully, to us, we can discover things about ourselves.
So, "but for" T S Eliot and Cohen you might not have learned
some things about yourself. Nice that you came across their
work and, presumedly, are better off for having done so.

[Fljotsdale]

Hi, Steven

Yes, indeed. Like finding an amputated limb had suddenly grown back!

Of course, I have had similar experiences, but only in a partial way. With Prufrock it was total, and then the same with Cohen: - though it was a different bit of me, the process was the same; I saw a few words of Prufrock, didn't know who it was by or anything about it, and it caught me. I HAD to find it! I did and the hook in my jaw turned to a hook in the soul.
I saw a single verse of a Cohen song written down, and went out and bought The Essential Leonard Cohen, even though I'd never (to my knowledge) heard him sing. The words hooked me. The singing and the singer finished the job.

[Tri-me]

Armorphus is is a great word, will try to work it into a concersation one day. I don't understand why you think his work is armorphus. I was discussing poetry with a man I know ho is a published poet. i can;t carry on a conversation with him it becomes him teaching me, which i fine he is a nice man. We actually discussed the form and structure of poems. i am asking out of curiosity.
bugs and fishes

[Steven]

Tri-me,

It was from the perspective of the listener's or reader's feelings,
that prompted the word "amorphous." But, I suppose it could
apply to some of Leonard's work. (Contradistinction to this
would be the easily understood narratives of the late Harry Chapin,
for example.) Sometimes, as in "The Letters," it is impossible
to know precisely what words are spoken in the first person
(or are responsively recited to the letter sender). -- I've no
certainty (without any biographical background on Leonard
that might clarify things) as to which person is directed to:
"Begin your letter to the one who's coming next." The
female co-vocalist only confuses things further, as I don't know
if her lines were chosen solely for musical enhancement
or are intended to be responses from the letter receiver. Of course, this
uncertainty may have been left in place to allow readers/listeners to read into
the words whatever they may. I don't know for sure, as this is an
enigma wrapped in an amorphous riddle.