leonardcohenforum.com

I ´ve just read the topic "TO Greg, about expressions in the song Suzanne". It was so interesting, I was excited, but then I felt a little disappointed.
When I saw the photo of the wooden tower in the harbour... Being from the inland country, I have seen seas or oceans only several times. When I heard Suzanne for the first time it caught my fantasy. I saw all those wonderful pictures, which L Cohen painted by words...
And now, when I saw the reality in the photo, it looked less poetic than my imagine...

My question is : Is it better to know poet´s biography and all connecting things in details, or to let some space for fantasy?

I think you already answered your question.

p.

What it is that you are reading courrier addressed to somebody else? No surprise that you are feeling seesick a bit

Usually the imagination suits the best images for each person and the reality is always less, can never match the imagined ones. This is why videos on songs and film made after books are so criticized.

If it could help you refurbish your stained wings of fire : I was there last spring just standing there in the cold glorious light, just me alone on the railroad between the bright blue sky, the river and the thing. A chorus of white seagulls was turning in circle around "Our lady of the Harbour" and really, really, the song was in its element. It was magical.

(I hope I did not "worsted" anything, now )

I like to know some details. It is like discussing the work with someone. It is interesting to hear what people see when they hear a poem or song. Suzanne is very visual don't think there has been a video made for this. His work is very visual which is probably why it resinates with me so well, if I cannot see something I can't understand it.

Visual poetry is becoming very polular. Here is a site that has some poetry that has been made into a short film. I would love to shoot the poem "Portrait of a Girl" all I have to do is think about it and it moves me.

http://www.learner.org/catalog/extras/vvspot/

Leonard Cohen lets get together storyboard and shoot your poems....all of them we'd be working together for a long time

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.
- - - - John Updike

I added the link to my Favourite I'll check this later.

Try this tri-me : http://www.perte-de-temps.com/lhorloge.htm

and let me know what you think about (does not matter if it is in French I do not want a comment on the poem, I want your opinion on the making of this animation from a poem).

I read this poem "Portrait of a Girl" you are talking about while I was reading a biography of Frida Khalo (it was before the film which I did not see, btw). I just but do not can not do connect both together each time I hear of one or the other :

Have another look there can't find a better link in English, sorry, and I have to run, now : http://www.kamera.co.uk/reviews_extra/frida.php

See you folks

I like the animation, but could not hear the poem. I like the animation. It tested my need for something to happen, it was just time passing as it always does sometimes life is extrordianry in the way that it is most times ordinary.

The question that Bruna asks is very interesting.
When I first encountered "Songs of Leonard Cohen" so many years ago I had no idea who Marianne, Suzanne or the sisters of mercy were, or that they existed. I simply responed in an emotional identification with the songs.
I don't think that acquiring the autobiographical detail about them has added much to my appreciation of these lyrics, and, thankfully, it hasn't detracted from them either. But I accept that there is a danger that it could happen.
If, when I hear "so long Marianne" I miss out on that original emotional connection I had with song and start thinking "Marianne, the Norwegian women he met on Hydra etc. etc....." then I have an obstruction to appreciation, not an aid.
In David Bouchers book "Dylan and Cohen, poets of rock and roll" he discusses this point at length.........

Another danger in such an approach, the amassing of more and more detail, to use a cliche, is that we won't see the forest for the trees. It is a fallacy to believe that gathering new facts about a subject leads to cumulative understanding. Mark Twain puts this much more eloquentlywhen in his Life on the Mississippi he tells how he came to know every feature of the great river as well as he knew the letters of the alphabet.This in itself was an achievement: "But I had lost something, too. I had lost something that could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river"

I hope and pray that my interest in the artist will never get in the way of my love of his art.
Rob.

He did not meet Marianne on Hydra... oups... 'did it again

Well, to come into my defense (as nobody else has/is/will done/doing/do it) I did it in answer to a particular question that was asked by Greg.

And if I can make the day of someone I do everytime I can. Here or there.

For the details diggers in general, I guess it is like for collectors, some are some are not. I am not, usually, but sometimes, yes.

I simply responed in an emotional identification with the songs.

I really enjoyed reading your post. You hit the nail on the head. This is an issue that keeps coming up at our Shambhala center. Some want to study every aspect of Buddhism and know all the history and who said what when........ question every analogy, disect and reconstruct, show the extent of their grey matter. Demonstrate the science to support that there is fact behind what they say they believe. The film What the Bleep do we Really Know, gives them proof of what they know. Some prefer Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. What is the answer to the ultimate question??? What is the ultimate question????

Of course it is interesting to know all the facts and some need to make an intellectual connection with philosophies. Some prefer to feel and experience. We know all there is to know we just have to take the time with our own minds be aware the answers are there.

I love the quote you added I am going to keep that.

"But I had lost something, too. I had lost something that could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river"beautiful beautiful
I am running on a tangent sorry, but I am inspired thanks!!

There was just sounds in the backgroung Tri-me, nobody was reading the poem. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. What do you feel about my link Khalo-Cohen?

sorry I must have missed something what is [/quote]my link Khalo-Cohen?

This has been a wierd day I just finished a roll of pictures and opened the camera before I rewound it. 2 weeks of kitty pictures gone I have not used my camers in years no I cannot remeber how to load it I was late for a clientt, ......so the post of Rob's was nice and I looked at the poem again. I like that time wasted doing nothing, nothing much happening I found it to be relaxing. One good thing I found a Production manager today...his name is Abba. I will never feel strange for calling my cat Leonardcohen.

you're all so true with what you're saying. though it might be just normal to want to find out all about the background of a song, a book, a person, it hardly ever deepens the feeling you've had about it.
i remember when we read "the little prince" at school, our wonderful teacher explained the meaning of the text to us: that it is about living intuitionally, emotionally, the importance of trust and feeling and that knowledge, maths, social roles are much less important. and at the end of the book they had some games about it. and guess what they asked: "what exactly did you read on page xx?" it was so disappointing, seeing that the people in the publisher's company hadn't understood anything about the book they were publishing. and our teacher had understood it. one comes across saints from time to time.
anna

Thank you all,
it was interesting to read your lines. I found out, that the matter is proportion again. It is good to know some background, which can help me understand better, but at the same time it is great to keep my own associations.
In my country, there is tradition of Bethlehems. Folk carvers used to make little figures of Mary, Joseph, little Jesus and common people around. For the Bethlehems were exhibited at Xmas, they situated the figures into snowy landscape, which was familiar to them.
I was in a mental home, once (visit my sister, working there), and I saw some pictures created by a gypsy boy. He was very religious, so he painted just crucifixion. Christ looked like a gypsy, naturally.
The point is, that everything great and important is accepted by people as their own property and they accomodate it to their personalities.