As if this week hadn’t been bad enough already, I woke up to the news that we lost another poet/musician in the form of Leonard Cohen. I’ve listened to him over many decades and I thought I’d share one of my favourites with you in celebration of his life and work.
And here is the wonderful John Cale’s peerless reinvention of Cohen’s “Hallelujah” – a version of great genius and intensity that unfortunately spawned a million rubbish copies…
Be at peace Leonard.
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Nov 11, 2016 @ 08:18:36
Such sad news. Another unique talent lost to us.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:21:28
I’m starting to dread waking up to the news every day…
Nov 11, 2016 @ 08:24:55
And to think that back in 2015 I thought 2016 was going to be a great year (6 being my lucky number, supposedly).
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:21:10
It’s not going so well so far, is it?
Nov 11, 2016 @ 08:28:41
I struggled to get into Couen despite my room mate playing him constantly
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:20:56
I admit he’s not to everyone’s taste – but I shall miss him.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:14:14
A year of losses for me, for certain. Cohen and my mother were the same age. One small warm thought I have at the moment… my friend who took her own life in September was especially fond of Cohen, her mother whom she still grieved had been a huge fan. I know Ulla did not believe in heaven but I like to think of her and her mother having a chance to visit with the great man in the beyond.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:20:38
That’s a lovely thought – we have to hold onto those at the moment.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:36:55
I’m devastated. I’ll be glad to see the back of 2016. 😦
Nov 11, 2016 @ 09:54:19
Me too – I’ve had enough…
Nov 11, 2016 @ 12:57:54
he has left us with so many treasures! Oh and that voice, until the end it could move me to tears! xo Johanna
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:11:46
I know – we’re losing so many good ones at the moment…
Nov 11, 2016 @ 13:38:34
So many people tell me that also for them personally 2016 was a bad year.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:11:27
It’s not been fun, mostly.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:05:44
I first heard ‘Hallelujah’ as the Jeff Buckley cover. Buckley had a beautiful voice, but it seemed to be just a string of words that he could use to show off his vocal range. Beyond the sound of his voice I could tell that he didn’t write that song, it’s just not the same as other Buckley songs, it seemed to be shallow, maybe a bit manipulative. Then I heard the original, and I learned from Cohen of how a greater emotional range can be conveyed beyond Buckley’s impressive vocal range.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:11:17
Much as I love Buckley’s voice, he simply took what Cale had done and twiddled with it. Hallelujah was a fascinating, sprawling mess as written by Cohen, and Cale honed it into the standard it became. Cale’s version is the the one for me – intense and emotional and stripped down to the essentials. Everything else that came after it pales by comparison as far as I’m concerned!
Nov 11, 2016 @ 15:40:14
David Remnick wrote a piece in the New Yorker about Cohen last month, it includes his last correspondence with Marianne. It’s on the New Yorker website.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 15:48:40
Thanks – I’ll search that out.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:34:53
Now why am I not at all surprised to see that you, too, loved Cohen!!
The man, his words and his music, and that voice which was full of complex and contradictory humanity, beyond the merely ‘sound beautiful’ all added up to something quite rare. I have to use the word transcendental really. He went into the heart of pain and suffering and sang about all that but was at the same time rising out of it into wit, and joy, and a self-mockery without denying any of the damned complexity of life. Curiously, all that ‘music to slit your wrists by’ stuff was so wrong (IMO) – it was because he could explore all that AND hold on to what we must celebrate in living, that his music feels so much more really affirming than the bouncy cheesy stuff ever does
And thanks for that amazing John Cale version – it really holds the horror and the wondrousness together. Almost unwatchable/unlistenable to, and simultaneously compelling.
Sorry Karen, you have left me incoherently babbling.
Have been wanting to post something about today, and Lenny, and this last week. Whether I shall or not depends on whether the headbabble can settle, but marvellous to have those vids.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 14:49:24
I must admit to feel like babbling myself at the moment – yes, what a week…. The ‘music to slit your writs to’ is most often the stuff that’s worth listening too – full of the thoughts of life and love and existence that matter. As for the Cale version – it’s one of my all-time favourite Cale recordings (well, any recordings really) and the darkness is really brought out by the new version. I’m definitely ready for a weekend….
Nov 11, 2016 @ 19:09:32
Thank you for this. I could listen to him all day… So sad. 😦
Nov 11, 2016 @ 21:47:16
It is – what a terrible year…
Nov 11, 2016 @ 20:21:43
I adore Cohen, thank you for this. Just when you think 2016 can’t possibly get any worse…
Nov 11, 2016 @ 21:47:02
And I just heard that we lost Robert Vaughan – dammit……
Nov 11, 2016 @ 21:59:29
This is just awful – 2016 is a horror.
Nov 11, 2016 @ 22:05:19
It’s a foul year.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 00:56:08
Thanks so much for your grand thought,
“At least we’re not as bad as the Americans.”
Thanks for creating a chilly climate for American readers of British blogs.
You are not as knowledgeable as you claim to be.
Please see my post–why denigrate a nation who voted in the majority for Hillary Clinton?
Judith E. Harper
Nov 12, 2016 @ 15:26:53
Yes, I was aware that Clinton had received the most votes – obviously both of our countries need to explore the option of proportional representation a little more than we have. I’m also aware that both of our countries have suffered in recent voting from the voice of intolerance and we need to address that – creating conflict between British and American book bloggers is not going to help the situation. You have to understand that because of the size, influence and resources (nuclear and other) of your country, the rest of the world is very interested in, and concerned about, who is running it. The gallows humour in my comment was a response to that. Having lived through Brexit and seen the effects already over here, as well as being thoroughly appalled by, and ashamed of, the British media’s hysterical response to the ruling of an independent judiciary, it’s hard not to fear for the future of the world.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 16:07:07
Thank you for your thoughts. My response to the horror is not to retreat, but to begin a newly engaged form of daily activism for the causes that the unmentionable P.E. has sworn he will not only not support but will dissolve. For us, one of the big causes is environmental activism.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 16:11:52
I’m with you on the environment – it terrifies me to see what those in power in all countries do to our planet daily. They seem unwilling or incapable of understanding that when they’ve destroyed this beautiful planet there will be nowhere else to go.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 00:58:12
2016 has been awful. I think we will all be relieved to see the back of it.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 09:37:08
Very much so….
Nov 12, 2016 @ 13:22:40
I honestly think we cannot really lose people like him. He’s instilled into so many verses, so many hearts. People like Cohen we can only gain, absorb into our own beings…
His death was a peaceful one I believe – he said he was ready, and that is both a blessing and an achievement.
But, I agree, what a stressful and scary year this has been! 😦
Nov 12, 2016 @ 15:36:52
It’s been a year of losses – but at least we do have the music to remember him by.
Nov 12, 2016 @ 20:26:06
My ticket into the Leonard Cohen world was the album of Cohen songs sung by Jennifer Warnes titled ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’. It has been one of my favorite albums over the years. I also loved his early song Suzanne song by himself.
Nov 13, 2016 @ 13:30:19
He had such a long and varied career that he’s left a wonderful legacy – which is definitely worth exploring.