Leonard Cohen is 70

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite songwriters!



Tower of Song

Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song

I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the Tower of Song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all
I'm standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they don't let a woman kill you
Not in the Tower of Song

Now you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there's a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the Tower of Song

I see you standing on the other side
I don't know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We'll never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the Tower of Song

Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

[Dr Dave]

He's only 70?

[Il Anto]

The only rocker I know to begin his recording career at 35. And we're all the better for it. Bless ya, Lenny!

His first Columbia album still sounds good to my ears.

[AntManBee]

Considering how much I've been listening to his albums ("Songs of Love and Hate" is still the one I love the best), it's a bit strange I've read very little of his printed prose and poetry. How about you guys? Any of his books you especially like?

[Jesse]

http://jazzcornertalk.com/speakeasy/...4&postcount=19

When at his best, peerless.

Cohen is a fully ordained Zen roshi now. The hiatus of 5 years prior to recording 10 Songs was spent largely caring for his Zen master.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I've read his very strange and haunting novel, "Beautiful Losers," although it's been a long time. These are the two scenes I most clearly remember:

His guru has told him that if he hasn't achieved satori by such and such a date he will have to kill himself. The date passes. The guru instructs him to drive to a certain place and drive his car into a brick wall, masturbating as he goes, trying to time the impact with wall to coincide with his climax. He follows the instructions, but the wall is cardboard and he drives through to the other side.

Some time later, he is locked up in a mental institution, and his guru sends word to him that the next phase in his spiritual development will be found on a scroll hidden deep within the vagina of the head nurse. After a little of this and that he finds the scroll, and unrolls it to read this incredible chant (later recorded by Buffy St. Marie):

God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is afoot, magic is alive
Alive is afoot, magic never died
God never sickened
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot, God never died
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe

Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always lead
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served
Magic is afoot, God is alive
Alive is afoot

Alive is in command
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boast of solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart would not believe

Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested magic and magic went with them
Mmmmm.... for magic loves the hungry
But magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But magic is no instrument
Magic is the end
Many men drove magic
But magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left Him nourished
They would not tell who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh within my mind
This I mean my mind to serve
Til' service is but magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself
The magic length of God

God is alive, magic is afoot . . .

[Jason Bivins]

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?

Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall and the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Right on, Lenny.

[AntManBee]

Thanks Jesse and Steve! It's clear that I must pick up some of his written work. Can't see why I haven't really done so already... I remember reading Book of Mercy long ago, but that's about it.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

He's only 70?

My reaction exactly; I thought he looked 70 when he performed on Night Music with Sonny Rollins.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

In 1968, I got a hitchhike from Armand Villencourt, the sculptor who did the fountain at the Embarcaedero in San Francisco. He was casting it at the time, in a warehouse in Petaluma. Anyway, the Suzanne of Cohen's song was his wife. Ex-wife, I think.

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

[Dan G]

It may seem strange, but I've seen Cohen in concert twice and they are both in the top 10 (maybe even 6) concerts I've been to. The man has an odd dry humor that doesn't come out in his writing or records, but on stage he's wonderful. Once, after the Tower of Song line about being born with a golden voice, he stopped and smiled, and cracked a joke about having just won the Juno award (Canada's version of Grammy, but far les commercial) for best male vocal performance.

[Dr Dave]

Here is the REAL "Suzanne"

I saw your name, baby
In a telephone booth
And it told all about you, mama
Boy, I hope it was the truth
I took down your number
Looked up your address, Sue
And I was hopin' that maybe
You could love me, too
I'm gonna wait in the shadows
For you to come by
I'm gonna wait in the shadows
For you to come by
And then I'll jump from the shadows
And try and catch your eye
Gonna run my fingers through your hair
And love you everywhere
Now I don't want to get too romantic
That's just not my way
But when I get my arms around you
I'm gonna rock you all the night
Gonna rock you all the day
Suzanne, you won't know it but I'll be behind you
Don't try and run away from me, little girl
Wherever you go I'll find you
And when you go to the pictures
And I know you do
Don't take no one with you
'Cause I'll be there, too
Suzanne

[Gentle Giant]

Every year at the Jewish High Holy Days, I think of this tune, which is based on the liturgy of the new year and Day of Atonement:

Who By Fire
And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial.
Who in your merry, merry month of May,
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?

And who in her lonely slip, who by barbituate
Who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
Who by avalanche, who by powder,
Who for his greed, who for his hunger
And who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident
Who in solitude, who in this mirror
Who by his lady's command, who by his own hand
Who in mortal chains, who in power
And who shall I say is calling?


And this one is just so beautiful:

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But now it's come to distances
And both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye

I'm not looking for another
As I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me
It's just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye


Happy birthday, Mr. Cohen!

[Cem]

EVERYBODY KNOWS
(from the album 'I'M YOUR MAN')

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows



(L. Cohen - S. Robinson) Stranger Music, Inc.

[Cem]

Happy Birthday to one of the suavest Canadians!

If you haven't heard the finest tribute below, please do. Great, great versions...John Cale's Hallelujah is awe-inspiring.

[Monte Smith]

Pumpy introduced me to Leonard Cohen. One of the few marks in Pumpy's "credit" column. Year after graduation; summer 1990: Best of Leonard Cohen...that great record with the wonderful photo of Lenny checking hisself out in the mirror.

One of my favorite anecdotes about Leonard Cohen is a later anecdote. He as involved with the beautiful actress Rebecca de Mornay. They'd split up and Lenny was a Buddhist when Interview magazine had him interview de Mornay for their publication.

De Mornay: It's such a treat to be interviewed by you, Leonard. For once, I won't have to answer questions like "What exactly is your relationship with Leonard Cohen."
Cohen: What exactly is your relationship with Leonard Cohen?

[john williams]

Originally Posted by Cem

If you haven't heard the finest tribute below, please do. Great, great versions...John Cale's Hallelujah is awe-inspiring.

I like Cohen a lot but that's the definitive version of the song IMO. I've seen Cale perform it in concert and you're right Cem it's awe-inspiring.

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by JBW

I like Cohen a lot but that's the definitive version of the song IMO. I've seen Cale perform it in concert and you're right Cem it's awe-inspiring.

I third that. Brilliant version.

My impressions from the one time I've seen Cohen live (around the time Various Positions came out) are similar to Dan's. It was excellent.

[john williams]

Originally Posted by AntManBee

I third that. Brilliant version.

My impressions from the one time I've seen Cohen live (around the time Various Positions came out) are similar to Dan's. It was excellent.

I'd love to see him but it's unlikely hell come to Oz. I'm not sure he's ever toured here.

Some people I've spoken to reckon his music is depressing but I've never felt this way at all.

btw- Nick Cave's version of Avalanche is pretty damn fine too.

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by JBW

Some people I've spoken to reckon his music is depressing but I've never felt this way at all.

I think there's a low-key but strong sense of humour in a lot of his music that prevents him from getting depressing. Which makes it very useful in both lighter and darker times.

Originally Posted by JBW

btw- Nick Cave's version of Avalanche is pretty damn fine too.

I meant to bring that one up but you got there before me. Cohen's original is a fantastic song and chill, and Cave takes it even further down in the emotional abyss. As much as Cave loves Cohen, it seems that Cohen have nothing but respect for Cave. Lenny was very impressed with Cave's rendition of "Tower of Song" (which I think works better as an idea than as a coherent cover, but that's just me).

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Cem

Happy Birthday to one of the suavest Canadians!

If you haven't heard the finest tribute below, please do. Great, great versions...John Cale's Hallelujah is awe-inspiring.

Cale also does a great version of So Long Marianne with Suzanne Vega on Bleecker Street, a various-artists tribute album to the 1960s Greenwich Village scene.

[Gary Sisco]

Cohen turns 70 -- and still sounds like it!

[Jazzzoline]

Originally Posted by Cem

EVERYBODY KNOWS
(from the album 'I'M YOUR MAN')

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows



(L. Cohen - S. Robinson) Stranger Music, Inc.

Seen the movie "Exotica", by Atom Egoyan, featuring this song?

[Jazzzoline]

My all time favorite song from Cohen is Suzanne. ALthough he has been accused from plagiat for this song. It's about a woman he met in Montréal, and everybody knows he met many, many women...

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river

You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

[Chris D]

That song is so well-loved it must be reprinted twice!

I have always had great affection for Cohen's ouvre, if not his own delivery. This confounds me, as I can readily listen to later Dylan, Waits and even Lou frickin' Reed with relish. Still, there is no denying his genius, even if I was driven almost crazy by my older brother's continual sounding out of "Bird on a Wire," the only tune he knew on guitar at the time.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

[Cem]

Originally Posted by Jazzzoline

Seen the movie "Exotica", by Atom Egoyan, featuring this song?

Naturellement, mon ami,et tu?

(I'm obviously jiving here, I don't speak Frenchy...)

I love that movie & what Egoyan does as a director, for the most part, yet, in general, I do find his treatment a little too clinical, cerebral, urban & cold at times. Sometimes those qualities are endearing to me, other times I need a warmer touch.

[Cem]

Originally Posted by AntManBee

...Cave's rendition of "Tower of Song" (which I think works better as an idea than as a coherent cover, but that's just me).

I agree wholeheartedly. Like Dylan's poetry, I often prefer other folks' approach to Lenny's work, though, his gruff delivery carries a load of charm, no doubt...

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Everybody Knows is also featured prominently in "Pump Up The Volume" with Christian Slater. Slater plays a pirate radio DJ, and it is his theme song.

Jazzoline -- if you read my post 13, you will learn which Suzanne from Montreal it was.