Leonard Cohen actually dead

[Sue U]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... 82-w449792

[BoSoxGal]

[RayThom]

Like he didn't see that coming. Exactly as predicted.

Now 'hello', Marianne, it's time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.
http://www.factmag.com/2016/10/11/leona ... r-profile/

I'll miss him. RIP, Leonard.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Now, I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
They're movin' us tomorrow to the tower down the track
But you'll be hearin' from me, baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speakin' to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song.


My life has been the better for the life of Leonard Cohen. I'm sure that wasn't his intent in particular

Another possibility has gone.

[Guinevere]

[Burning Petard]

Thank you G-d for the gift of his life. This gift was not easily given. But I am better for it.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

snailgate.

[oldr_n_wsr]

RIP Mr Cohen

[Big RR]

I share those sentiments.

[RayThom]

I can't help but feel "death with dignity" may have played heavily in Cohen's parting. The proximity of his talking about impending death and his actual death was more than coincidental. Physically and mentally he appeared to be suffering and I'm fairly sure he went out on his own terms.

Maybe the LA County Medical Examiner's Office will have an update but I don't think they are required to follow up on what appears to be a "natural" death of old age.

I pray that I might get the same option.

Hallelujah.

[MajGenl.Meade]

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

[Long Run]

I share those sentiments.

Me too. For all of our joking, he meant a lot and made a difference to a lot of people.

[Long Run]

[BoSoxGal]

[Big RR]

I recall the first time I heard his music; it was when I saw McCabe and Mrs Miller (probably in the late 60s/early 70s) and I always kept an ear out for it since then. He had a different voice, but IMHO that is what made it (and his music) special. He will be missed

[Econoline]

BSG - that was great.

For those (including myself) who appreciate him more as a songwriter than as a singer, the BBC has this:

Six of the best Leonard Cohen covers

I can't argue with any of those...but I'm particularly fond of the first one on the list: even if you (I'm looking at you, Jim and rubato) hate hate hate the inane lyrics of "Suzanne" check out this amazing cover by Nina Simone:

I would also add this cover of "Everybody Knows" by Concrete Blonde:

Also some great covers on this list:

30 Great Covers of Leonard Cohen Songs (That Aren’t “Hallelujah”)

...which also includes this quote from the man himself:

• Whenever I hear anybody do one of my songs, my critical judgments go into immediate, suspended animation. I’m just knocked out when anybody does a cover of mine … First of all, I’m happy that someone has heard the song and is moved to cover it. Second of all, it gives me a completely fresh take on the song, and I can then enter it into my own judgmental process … I think there are songs that are better done than I have done them.”

  ~ Leonard Cohen

[wesw]

just watched a thing about leonard cohen on the News Hour...., with interview..., smart fellow....

I didn t really know who he was or what his music was...

might be a fan...

RIP

[Burning Petard]

Hallelujah--Leonard Cohen's secret chord.

Nobody has every sung his song, inspite of all the covers--only pieces of it. One of the many obits I heard or read today, was said this song was written over many years and includes more than 60 verses. In my feeble web searches I could not find such a text. Perhaps one of you can do better.
Then again, I suspect it has never been published; the complete poem awaits some PhD candidate who will do an annotated version based on 'collected papers.'

Of course as an old unrepentant hippie, I prefer "Democracy"

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

-"BB"-

[Econoline]

BP/SG - John Cale may have a copy of all 80+ verses laying around somewhere. According to that BBC link I posted above:

• Hallelujah has become such a beloved song, a modern-day hymn, that it's easy to forget it languished in obscurity for more than a decade.
  
  Cohen spent an unusually long time working on the song, drafting more than 80 verses over five years before he was satisfied - but his record label was unimpressed. They initially refused to release the album it came from, 1984's Various Positions, arguing it wouldn't sell.
  
  The song's fortunes started to turn around in 1991, when John Cale asked Cohen's permission to cover it. Cohen faxed over all of those draft verses, and Cale set to work on a new version, trading the gospel choirs and heavy drums for a simple, haunting, piano arpeggio.
  
  It was this arrangement that Jeff Buckley used to cover at his infamous early gigs at New York's Sin-e club. He interpreted the lyric as a homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm".
  
  Buckley expressed reservations over how Cohen would respond to his erotic take on the song, but his tremulous, fragile recording of the track became the definitive performance. In turn, it inspired Rufus Wainwright's cover - which featured on the soundtrack to Shrek and propelled the song into the mainstream.
  
  Listen to John Cale, Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright's versions of Hallelujah.

"Democracy"? These days I'm partial to "Everybody Knows"

[Burning Petard]

http://cohencentric.com/2016/10/10/list ... ttle-song/

"Listen to the mind of God, Don't listen to me."

Reason enough to listen to Leonard Cohen.

snailgate.