May 2013
26 posts
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“…Do you think your arms are wide enough
to cramp her in your heritage...”
– From “To a Man Who Thinks He Is Making an Angel” — a poem by Leonard Cohen from his book Flowers for Hitler.
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Songs Of Leonard Cohen Back Cover
“The picture on the back is a Mexican religious picture called ‘Anima Sola,’ the lonely spirit or the lonely soul. It is the triumph of the spirit over matter. The spirit being that beautiful woman breaking out of the chains and the fire and prison.”
Leonard Cohen in an interview from “An interview with the ‘beautiful creep’ who never does...
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How Leonard Cohen Charms Women…Lesson 3
A tale told by Val Hennessy of Sunday Express (London):
Leonard Cohen at the Albert Hall. I nearly missed him. Yes, me, his number one fan, beetling to the Box Office to discover all seats sold out.
Only one ticket left, standing room only. I grabbed it.
Jammed behind the wrought iron railings with kids-in-grunge leaning over my shoulder to read my programme, I sensed that I was the only one...
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Leonard Cohen Has 150 Million Girls in Every Port
Jennifer Warnes on Leonard Cohen:
“The first thing that you notice is that he doesn’t sleep,” she says of life on the road with Cohen. “I don’t know what he does to preserve his energy, but he doesn’t sleep. And there are a hundred girls in every port. I mean, 150 million girls, all who seem to know him as deeply as the others. And they’re not all that...
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“If it be your will
that I speak no more,
and my voice be still
as it was...”
– From “If It Be Your Will” — a song by Leonard Cohen from his album Various Positions.
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"There is Good Wine in Every Generation" --...
While he admitted he finds much of today’s pop music incomprehensible (“I find it getting more and more arcane, difficult to penetrate”) he has no time for people of older generations who put down such new music forms as rap, which he enjoys listening to.
“I would affirm the position in the Talmud, which is that there is good wine in every generation,” he said.
...
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The Necessity of Paradox and Ambiguity per...
Leonard Cohen in an interview with Biba Kopf:
“You know it’s hard to keep up with your position in the stock market,” sighs Cohen. “I’ve been attacked by Maoists, supported by Maoists, attacked by Freudians, supported by Freudians, attacked by feminists, supported by feminists. I think it’s because what they call poetry, that has harmonics and the necessity of...
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Artwork by Leonard Cohen - Part 6
21. Leonard Cohen - Marianne 1960
22. Leonard Cohen - Montreal kitchen
23. Leonard Cohen - Montreal visitor no 3
24. Leonard Cohen - Much Hangs down
Artwork by Leonard Cohen was on exhibit at Galleri Ramfjord in Halden, Norway until August 29, 2012. The exhibit moved to Porvoo Art Factory in Porvoo, Finland until September 23, 2012.
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“…in Phillips Square,
on newspaper-covered benches,
unaware of...”
– From “Les Vieux” — a poem by Leonard Cohen from his book Let Us Compare Mythologies.
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The Verdict of Poetry
JEFFREY BROWN: And now, Cohen has published “Book of Longing,” his first new collection of poetry in 20 years. I spoke with Leonard Cohen recently at Arena Stage Theater in Washington.
Did you start out seeing yourself as a poet or aspiring to be a poet?
LEONARD COHEN: I never thought of myself as a poet, to tell you the truth. I always thought that poetry is the verdict that...
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“Your father’s gone a’hunting
He’s deep in the forest so wild...”
– From “Hunter’s Lullaby” — a song by Leonard Cohen from the album Various Positions.
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Leonard Cohen on How He Got a Record Deal
Interviewer And how did you actually get tied in with the record company first of all, then?
Leonard Cohen Well, you know, in the early and middle 60’s there was a kind of break in all the commercial institutions in America and cracks appeared, and I think if those cracks hadn’t appeared and I hadn’t been able to slip, in I would probably never have been heard of. But things...
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Hurt without Hatred according to Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen in an interview with Sarah Hampson:
“You have to take responsibility because the world holds you accountable for what you do,” [Cohen] explains at one point. “But if you understand that there are other forces determining what you do, then there’s no pride when the world affirms you, no shame when the world scorns you. Also, when someone does something to...
April 2013
34 posts
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Leonard Cohen: I couldn't get anyone to undress
Leonard Cohen discusses his drawings in an interview with Sarah Hampson:
The drawings are “transcendent decoration,” [Cohen] says, touching one on the pages with the tip of a forefinger. ”If it has any value at all, it’s because it’s harmless and doesn’t invite any deep intellection.” He points to various sketches, one of a Hires root-beer can, another...
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Artwork by Leonard Cohen - Part 5
17. Leonard Cohen - Inner sweetness
18. Leonard Cohen - It was the hat
19. Leonard Cohen - Just two have been
20. Leonard Cohen - Lost spectacles
Artwork by Leonard Cohen was on exhibit at Galleri Ramfjord in Halden, Norway until August 29, 2012. The exhibit moved to Porvoo Art Factory in Porvoo, Finland until September 23, 2012.
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“I long to hold some lady
For my love is far away,
And will not come tomorrow...”
– From “I Long to Hold Some Lady” — a poem by Leonard Cohen from his books The Spice-Box of Earth and Stranger Music.
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Inhabiting a Place without Optimism for "The...
Anthony DeCurtis interviews Leonard Cohen about the song “The Future”:
“The Future” evokes a disturbing nostalgia for the iron hand, a collective state of profound emotional panic that yearns for ruthless order as a balm against the horrors of anarchy. It’s a mind-set that Cohen feels has already taken shape, one that he understands and, to a degree, shares....
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Leonard Cohen on Love at First Sight with the...
Leonard Cohen in an interview with Andrew Tyler about Let Us Compare Mythologies, published in 1956 and comprising a series of poems written when Leonard was between the ages of 15 and 20:
“In many respects it’s been all downhill since then,” he says. ”It’s something that happens only once or twice in a writer’s life—love at first sight with the...
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Leonard Cohen Also Wins Songwriter of the Year at...
Leonard Cohen wins Songwriter of the Year at #JunoAwards, coincidentally presented by his son Adam Cohen (“I feel so used!”)
— Spinner.com (@Spinner)
April 22, 2013
“He refers to Canada as the beating heart of his career,” said Adam Cohen of dad Leonard who won #JUNOAwards songwriter of the year.
— Jane Stevenson (@JaneCStevenson) April 22, 2013
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Leonard Cohen Wins Artist of the Year at the 2013...
Congratulations to Leonard Cohen on winning Artist of the Year at the #JUNOAwards #JUNOGala
— CBC Music (@CBC_Music) April 21, 2013
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Leonard Cohen on Getting to Know His Songs Again
You’re moving a lot more onstage.
One of the surprises was getting to know these songs again. I hadn’t really looked at them for a long, long time. The songs are good. They hold up and you can get into them. I’ve never really thought of touring as a musical event. It was life on the road. Temptation. It was drinking, camaraderie, it was the feeling of being in a motorcycle...
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Leonard Cohen, Just an Old Guy Going to Work
Anthony DeCurtis interviewing Leonard Cohen about getting older:
“What do you do when you get older?” [Cohen] asks. “Is it appropriate to be out carrying a guitar from coffee shop to coffee shop at sixty? What is a dignified position?”
“I have a real appetite to hear work from people my age,” Cohen continues. “I mean, it’s wonderful to hear from...
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Songwriting--The Place Where the Evaluation...
“I always experience myself as falling apart, and I’m taking emergency measures,” says Leonard Cohen, entirely deadpan. “It’s coming apart at every moment. I try Prozac. I try love. I try drugs. I try Zen meditation. I try the monastery. I try forgetting about all those strategies and going straight. And the place where the evaluation happens is where I write the...
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Leonard Cohen on Learning from Others
Does he learn anything about his songs from hearing someone else sing them? “There are some I would like to do again based on the information I got from hearing others.” He leads me to his computer, apologizing for its Radio Shack speakers — “You probably care about music” — and selects Billy Joel’s take on “Light As the Breeze” from his...
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Leonard Cohen on His Songs
Leonard Cohen in an interview with Andrew Tyler on his songs:
“The older they get the more friendly I become towards them. I can forgive them a lot of their weaknesses.”
From ”Have you heard the one about Lenny in the sandwich bar?” by Andrew Tyler, Disc (UK), September 2, 1972.
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