Plan B Forum

I'M SO SORRY TO BREAK THE NEWS TO YOU, LORD JIM.

Leonard Cohen says he’s ‘ready to die.’
By TONY HICKS | thicks@bayareanewsgroup.com
PUBLISHED: October 13, 2016 at 11:58 am | UPDATED: October 13, 2016 at 12:21 pm


Leonard Cohen says he thinks he’s at the end of the line.

The 82-year-old poet and singer is releasing a new album, “You Want It Darker,” on Oct. 21. He talked to the New Yorker recently about the record, his declining health, and his unfinished songs and poems.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to finish those songs,” he said. ” Maybe. Who knows? And maybe I’ll get a second wind, I don’t know. But I don’t dare attach myself to a spiritual strategy. I don’t dare do that. I’ve got some work to do. Take care of business. I am ready to die.

“I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me.”

Marianne Ihlen, who was the inspiration for some of Cohen’s songs – like “Bird on the Wire” and “So Long, Marianne” – died earlier this year. Turns out, Cohen sent her a letter two days before she died.

“Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon,” Cohen wrote. “Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.”

Cohen toured quite a bit between 2008 and 2013, though likely won’t tour anymore, according to People magazine. Those close to him reportedly said, if he performs again, it will likely be single performances or short residencies.

Cohen seems to be at peace with how his life is coming to a close.


“As I approach the end of my life, I have even less and less interest in examining what have got to be very superficial evaluations or opinions about the significance of one’s life or one’s work,” he said. “I was never given to it when I was healthy, and I am less given to it now.”

For a troubadour of sadness—“the godfather of gloom,” he was later called