L.C. Song Hunt

[Hartmut]

(Whatever did we do in those dark times before smilies existed?)

[B4real]

I think Bev should be the one to pose the next question, if she is around, since she named most of the songs in the list. Are you there, Bev?

Thank you Rachel, here I am I did also actually know "Mr Cohen must be goin'" but I didn't post it and when I woke up in the morning you had found it
It's on an unofficial album released by Dr H "Another Other Songs Of LC"- no 21 the last song - see here: viewtopic.php?t=21783

OK here's some clues for song to hunt for -

I have it on good authority that this song summarises the feeling that everything is impermanent and unsubstantial.
LC wrote a variety of verses for various purposes relating to this title; one of those ended up a step more than two dimensional. Leonard has personally published 12 verses on the internet.

[Goldin]

Hi Bev!

A Thousand Kisses Deep

P.S. 11 verses? - http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/kisses.html

[B4real]

Ah Roman, that was so quick There's no fooling you

Leonard speaks about A Thousand Kisses Deep - excerps from a couple of magazine interviews - Mc Leans 2001 Chorus 2002:
It’s a song that summaries quite well this feeling of invincible defeat anyone is affected by. The feeling that everything is temporary and unsubstantial. Of course you have to live your life as though it were all real, but the fundamental reality is far beyond the human’s understanding. Nowadays we know much more the mechanism of the Human, we’re decoding his genes, but no one can tell what is the meaning of that “Boogie street”. You can only have this feeling everything escapes us. Finally it’s an instructive feeling, that drives us ahead.

There are about 30 verses of it that I've done and hopefully they'll work their way into other songs. I think there are six verses in this version. On the Internet, I published 12 verses of the song.

My reference "more than two dimensional" is to the 3D sony version called Two Worlds.

Over to you now, Roman

[Goldin]

Thanks, Bev!

A little more geography, hope you don't mind.

The early version of this song has a strong Mexican connection.

[Hartmut]

Funny, I was just today thinking about that song ...

It's Iodine, formerly known as Guerrero.

[Hartmut]

Here's an easy one: Could you name ...

1. a Cohen song that is based on an English folk song
2. a Cohen song that is based on a Canadian folk song
3. a German folk song that Cohen sang at least two times in concerts
4. a Yiddish folk song that Cohen sang at least once in concert
5. an Irish folk song that Cohen sang at least once in concert
6. a French folk song that Cohen incorporated into live performances of one of his own songs
7. a Trinidadian song (almost a folk song) that - again - Cohen incorporated into live performances of one of his own songs
8. a Spanish poem that Cohen used as the basis of a song
9. a Greek poem that Cohen used as the basis of a song
10. a Cohen song whose melody is somehow based on a country song
11. a Cohen song that uses the melody of a piano piece by Franz List
12. a Cohen song that exists in two different versions - each with a different melody writer
13. a Cohen song that is based on a series of Chinese poems
14. a Cohen song that is based on a Hebrew prayer
15. a country song Cohen wrote an additional verse for
16. a Cohen piece that almost sounds as if it belonged on the 'Twin Peaks' sound track, i. e. as if had been written by Angelo Badalamenti
17. a French Canadian song on whose translation Cohen has been working for some time now, and I can't wait to hear it
18. a Cohen song whose lyrics are the text of an English poem from the 19th century
19. a Cohen song whose lyrics are the text of a Canadian poem from the 20th century
20. a Cohen song that has similar lines as a Disney song, a Beatles song, and a Felicity Buirski poem
21. post scriptum bonus question: a Cohen song that is based on a Persian poem from the 13th century
22. another post scriptum bonus question: a Cohen song, or rather a recitation, that uses an Israeli folk song as the background music (allegedly; I only hear a similarity)

Well, that got out of hand somehow ... I'd better edit this to put some numbering in - for better reference.

The core questions are the numbers 1 to 7. Feel free to ignore the rest ...

[B4real]

hehe! Hartmut, you did get carried away, didn't you

Here's my contribution - some I knew, some I guessed and one I simply don't know....but if you had asked me about Japanese woodcuts instead of Chinese poems....

1. Leaving Greensleeves
2. The Faith (btw musically similar to Un Canadien Errant)
3. Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Thoughts Are Free)
4. Un As Der Rebbe Singt
5. Kevin Barry
6. The Partisan
7. (Rum And Coca-Cola) Field Commander Cohen
8. (Little Viennese Waltz) Take This Waltz
9. (The God Abandons Anthony) Alexandra Leaving
10. Bird On The Wire
11. Came So Far For Beauty
12. Hallelujah
13. -------- ?
14. Who By Fire
15.Tennessee Waltz
16.Tacoma Trailer
17. La Manic
18. Go No More A-Roving
19. Un Canadien Errant (all I could think of - same text but I think it was originally a song not a poem)
20. I’ve Got A Secret

[Hartmut]

You're quick, Beverly! And mostly right.

Not quite right are the answers 6, 12, and 19. That's good - cause it leaves some of the fun for the other participants.

'Japanese woodcuts'? Tell us more, please!

[Hartmut]

You were on the right track for number 13.

The song is based on 'a series of short poems and accompanying pictures used in the Zen tradition', known both in China and Japan.

Leonard mentions 'an early Chinese text' as the basis in the liner notes.

[B4real]

ah Hartmut, I've just realised that I didn't read No.6 properly and it could mean parts of Bird On The Wire in French
from Vivre Tout Seul by Serge Lama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vwNdxztAtk(btw my name is spelt Beverley

'Japanese woodcuts'? Tell us more, please!

Leonard got the inspiration for Ballad Of The Absent Mare as described by Jennifer Warnes:

After being away on a silent retreat, Leonard Cohen came over to my house wearing an old beige MacGregor jacket, and his face was radiant. There was a little leap inside him. It's impossible to be sad around Leonard when he is filled up like this because his smile comes from deep places. He came over to share a brand new song, called The Ballad of the Absent Mare. Not every day this happens.
I was sitting at my little rented piano, (the same piano where David Shire finished the beautiful Theme From Norma Rae; where John Cale destroyed perfectly decent melodies...) as Leonard's twelve elegant, spartan verses unfolded. I remember thinking......something miraculous is happening, right this minute, in my stupid little living room.
In 1972, Leonard was the surprise God sent me, to wake me up. Our friendship has disturbed my sleep for a good many years, but now I feel a great peace and fulfillment knowing he is out there, never too far away, like a lighthouse.
Leonard had found some old pictures somewhere. They were called The Ten Bulls, old Japanese woodcuts symbolizing the stages of a monk's life on the road to enlightenment. These carvings pictured a boy and a bull, the boy losing the bull, the bull hiding, the boy realizing that the bull was nearby all along. There is a struggle, and finally the boy rides the bull into his little village. "I thought this would make a great cowboy song", he joked.

.....and it did

[Hartmut]

Hi Beverley,

Sorry for the misspelling!

Number 6: No. - I'm thinking of a real French folk song.

[B4real]

no problem, Hartmut - that's one of the reasons I just use Bev

....and now I have to rush off....I'm sure someone else will be able to fill in the missing numbers!

[Hartmut]

Thanks for the Jennifer Warnes story, Bev! - We were thinking of the same song (see my explanation above).

[B4real]

Thanks for the Jennifer Warnes story, Bev! - We were thinking of the same song (see my explanation above).

My pleasure Hartmut! Now this’ll make you laugh.....As a guess I had listed BOTAM as no 13 then remembered Jennifer Warnes words and withdrew it! My official CD of Recent Songs doesn’t have any liner notes included. The only writing was basically a list of the songs and who did what.
To clarify and enlarge upon The Ten Bulls a quick search of the internet reveals this:
http://oaks.nvg.org/oxpics.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls

EDIT: I just thought of this for No 6. À La Claire Fontaine with I Can’t Forget

And as you say to let the others have some fun I'll leave Nos. 12 and 19 for someone else and they or anyone else could post the next question if they want to.