leonardcohenforum.com

The "Les Inrockuptibles" special issue that has
just been published contains a very long
and interesting interview that
Leonard gave to them back in 1991.

Here is what he is saying about Hydra:

With Hydra, it was love at first sight.
The people, the architecture, the sky,
the mules, the smell, life.
Everything you saw was beautiful,
each corner, each lamp, everything you touched,
everything you were using was in its proper place.
There was no running water, so you had to collect
the water drop by drop, you knew each drop.
You knew what you were using, whenever
you lit the lamp you knew that you will have to fill and
clean it the next day. The things you used were rich ...

It was a very pleasant sensation.
It was much more animated than
any city, much more cosmopolitan,
there were people from Germany,
Scandinavia, Australia, America, Holland
who met in the most intimate circumstances
in the backrooms of grocery stores.

Dem

Thanks Dem,
I look forward to getting my copy sent to me from France next week!
Olwen

That's divine Dem. Thanks so much.

Thank you Dem. The description of Hydra is so nostalgic for me, it mirrors my view of Hydra of days gone by when I first came
there in the 70s, being "sweet" seventeen, falling in love with the island at once (and with a young Greek).

kali mera dem,
just come back from greece...
when i went first to hydra in 1977 (because of leonard ) i also felt completly happy
and went around with an open mouth cause everything was sooo beautiful and life seemed meaningful.
later when i stayed in amorgos for almost 1 year we had water 1 hour a day, so you fill everything and while using it you are careful with it
at the grocery store you could only buy what was available in this season
but there was light, sun, warmth and the smell of herbs all around.
amorgos was not as cosmopolitan as hydra, but i feel what leonard made him stay for so long on hydra.
and the greek(oriental) music had a great influence on him, most of the time in concerts there was an ethnic player on his left side.
i love those songs you can feel the orient.
looking forward to go to hydra next june!!

Howe nice to hear from someone having also been to Hydra in the 70s and having had the same feelings about this "island in
the sun", oblivion!

A sing along with Leonard on Hydra.



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