What was it in Cohens songs that struck you?

[George.Wright]

We are all fans of leonards here
despite our differences
that unfortunately mirror the human race
but we are all here on this journey together
what made you notice leonard and let him tickle your soul?
to me it was songs of LC in the late doom laden sixties
what's your trigger?
what attracted you to this man?
he is without doubt the greatest influence in my life
and the songs were just part of the tickle
we should all tell the forum the attraction of this man and why we are all here?
Georges...............make this the longest of new threads

[Pete]

It was 1971 and I was still young.
A small group of us were lounging in a very large house (the parents were away )
We had had a long day doing very little and it had been hard work.
We were tired and lounged in the lounge. We had an armchair or sofa each....it was a very large lounge.
The night wore on and we listened to music on the state of the art mono record player.
The LPs were stacked.
We told stories.
We told jokes.
We swapped hopes for the future.
We fell asleep...but not simultaneously.
There was always someone awake to turn the LPs over once the stack had been exhausted.
Some LPs were discarded and the stack diminished in size.
Eventually there was only one LP playing.
'Love and Hate'
First the Love and then the Hate...all cyclic.
Always someone to turn it over.
I had never heard this man before.
He was now in my sleep.
He was now in my waking moments.
I remember hearing 'its 4 in the morning' and I could just make out the time on the clock.
It was 4 in the morning.
I don't remember much after that...I mean for the remainder of the night, not the remainder of my life
Love and Hate had found a way into me. The voice, the music, the words, the welcome intrusion.
The occasion was unique and I didn't want to lose it.
It was the first day of the rest of my life.
We all went our separate ways after 1971....adulthood beckoned. I took Leonard with me (no, I didn't steal the LP )
Pete

[peter danielsen]

I was 16, I suffered from a serious depression. I had just run away from the hospital. My parants on vacation in England. It was summer. I decided to end it all. I listened to the first best of L.C. on the taperecorder.I was sitting in the shades of a tree in the garden, waiting for the wine and pills to kick through. Then through the bushes I saw the girl next door sunbathing. She was 17, and I never got near her. But at that very moment "hey thats no way to say goodbye" poured thorugh speaker.
I took a taxi back to the hospital. the rest is a pretty varm story.....

[linmag]

What was it in Cohen's songs that struck me? I don't quite know what to call it. I have always preferred songs with some substance to them. When I first heard Leonard Cohen I was already listening to Dylan, Paul Simon and Cat Stevens along with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and Tom Paxton. They made me think from time to time, but Leonard seemed to bypass thought and demand a much deeper, gut reaction. I think that's why his work has appealed to such a large age range over such a long period of time. He speaks a language which is universal, and goes much deeper than passing musical trends and modes of expression.

[George.Wright]

Were getting some fundamental stuff here already.......................come on Forum............don't be shy.
parcipitate
Georges

[Janem]

I'm new here and this is my first post so I am a little hesitant, not being familiar with the people or the sensibilities out there. Here goes--

"What was it in Cohens songs that struck you?" The voice and the poetry. That voice! I want to fall in its cracks. Its vibrations are set to some frequency that makes my spinal cord respond like a violin responds to the bow. The poetry: I feel the poems in the flesh of the songs. The poetry smells of sex and the Absolute and cigarettes, and God. God, everywhere, all over the place.

There, now I've done it. I'm ducking for cover!

(I heard the I'm Your Man album first and it was all over for me--I was swept away, dissolved. By the time Take This Waltz came on you had to wipe me up off the floor of my car. Then The Future, then Ten Recent Songs, then some of the older albums.) Then I began to read the poetry, and the novels.

-Janem

ps Peter Danielson, your story (about hearing "Hey that's no way to say goodbye" at 16 while watching the 17 year old next door sunbathing and deciding not to kill yourself) is tremendous. I cannot get it out of my mind, nor do I want to. I think if I were Leonard I would print it out and tape it to my wall. I want to remember this one for a long time.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Janem,
Great self-introduction and welcome! I relate strongly to the way you've so uniquely described Leonard's words, music, and impact on you. No cover needed for you....
~Lizzytysh

[Julie Faye]

I first heard Cohen on a road trip with my Dad, I was thirteen and desperate for something to do besides have to talk to him. We were driving through a snow storm, and when he popped in the tape, everything became so calm. I didn't know music could imbody beauty or speak truth until that moment. I took it for granted as most kids do, and stoped listening. But a couple of years ago my sister gave me a Cohen c.d for my birthday and it was like rediscovering music again.
and reawakened my passion for poetry.

[jurica]

hey,

it's amazing that all of you have a real story to share concerning your addiction to mr.cohen...
mine is completely different.
a stupid story, might i say.
i was on a coffie (aged 21 or 22) with a friend of mine after the movie or something, and we were talking about bob dylan, t. s. eliot, allen guinsberg, and how they're connected (it was an usual discussion at the time for the two of us), and then he came up with leonard cohen. i've heard of the man, but wasn't sure have i heard any of his songs. the guy gave me a cd (cohen live). i was disapointed. i only liked a track or two (everybody knows, hallelujah and suzanne). i told him so. he said i was dumb and gave me another cd: songs of lc. all of a sudden it was love. first time i heard it i loved it.

p.s.
i now think cohen live is a great recording... i have no idea why i dissliked it at first.

[MRowe]

Leonard Cohen is, quite strongly, the most effective, singer-songwriter-poet-philosophist-whatever else I missed, our generation has known. Not only does he have the pulse of human need firmly in check, his methods of communicating it just taps my vein for every LC fix that I could obtain. I want to hear every nuance of his songs. I want to revolve in the ambience like a satellite in orbit. I want to merge and become one with the heart of the songs.

That's how complete LC is. His desires are ours. The expressive unfulfilled depth and tonalities of Cohen speak for many of us who have reached for the pinnacles of life only to be pulled back to a reality of borders and boundaries, of impossibilities and digression. When we mean to find the highest element, we learn that it is only an illusion, which, in turn, disables us spiritually.

Leonard is not the cure for all this but he is the voice. He speaks for all the disenfranchised that have laboured and can no more.

That is what draws me to LC. He knows and communicates. He is the tear of the world, shed.

[margaret]

Hi, this is my first post and I'm not sure how to work this.

I'm pretty sure I heard of L C years ago when I was listening to Dylan. Paul Simon, Joan Baez and Tom Paxton but dont think I heard any of his songs. None of my friends had any of his stuff.
A few years ago I heard Dance me to the end of love on the radio one day and was totally hooked ever since. I've been buying all the albums and books I can since then. I agree with previous writers that the man is a genious and when I play an album I find both the poetry and his voice mesmorising! I just keep on playing one album after another. I still don't know many other people who have even heard of him. I just wish I had known about him years ago and had the chance to see him perform.

Margaret

[George.Wright]

Welcome to the forum and a nice tale of being hooked.
Georges

[George.Wright]

A nice piece of flowing graphic english to describe LC, a very powerfull message.
Georges

[lizzytysh]

Hi Matt,

Great perceptions of Leonard and with the same string of labels I've so often used while describing him. Your next-to-last paragraph and your last sentence are so quotable.

I've just received a copy of Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat cd and having to listen more than several times to determine just how I feel about it. Determining how I appreciate Leonard via his absence. Noticing the raise in her voice at the end of some lines, giving them a questioning quality, rather than the one of conviction by Leonard. Hearing, still, her reverence and respect for him in the way she sings his words.

Finding the cd pleasant yet not powerful, not compelling me to listen to the lyrics so much, as his renderings do. On the other hand, I'm hearing Song of Bernadette for the first time....now longing to hear it by Leonard. Coming Back To You is still as beautiful as ever.....I love that song. She doesn't really "own" his songs and make them hers, but is more "singing a song," whereas, Leonard becomes his songs, which of course lends to people's thinking he is one and the same with them. By the end of my listening, I had concluded with certainty that no one can sing his songs as effectively as Leonard.

~Lizzytysh

[Sue]

Hi Lizzy,

you say about Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat:

"..Finding the cd pleasant yet not powerful.."

but I think you may find it grows on you. I think her version of No Cure for Love is very good indeed and once i'd heard it a couple of times found it going around in my head very much with a life and power of its own. There are things you can enjoy in her version which are not in the original - ways in which it has quite a different feel. And that seems to be something worth aiming for if you are making a cover that isn't just an imitation. And don't forget - she's a much better singer than Leonard .

Sue