CONTEST – Leonard Cohen at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton – May 19, 2009

“They say that all the men you knew
Were strangers who said they were through
With dealing every time you gave them shelter

I know that kind of man
It’s hard to hold the hand of anyone
Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender”

I have selected the opening lines of “The Stranger Song” from Len’s debut album. I saw some footage about twenty years ago of him performing it on the CBC circa 1967, and it was wonderful. I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Picking one line or verse from LC’s extraordinary back catalogue is extremely difficult, simply because he’s such a great poet/lyricist. But since these lines were my gateway into his world, I chose them to represent my love of his work.

And I’ll dance with you in Vienna
I’ll be wearing a river’s disguise
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder,
My mouth on the dew of your thighs
And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook,
With the photographs there, and the moss
And I’ll yield to the flood of your beauty
My cheap violin and my cross
And you’ll carry me down on your dancing
To the pools that you lift on your wrist
Oh my love, Oh my love
Take this waltz, take this waltz
It’s yours now. It’s all that there is.

From Take This Waltz, I’m Your Man, 1988.

The whole song builds to this moment — this moment of sheer surrender to a love that’s exquisitely broken, but you would give anything to recapture. Just please, I beg you, take my hand, let’s dance this last waltz. It’s all that’s left, it’s all that there is. Let us live in that moment as long as we can. The chorus of women that carry you out of the song with the “la la la, la la la”… kills me every time. It’s a perfect mixture of profanely and playfully cheesy with the achingly earnest. Leonard’s a genius.

“There’s a crack/ A crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in”
From: Future (’92)

Normally at this stage in an artist’s career you get the album that goes on and on about how they pissed away their youth/life. The album is incredibly hopeful. I know the cbc was doing that whole Obama’s Playlist recently and ‘Democracy’ from the same album was getting a lot of nods. I understand it but malign its overtness. ‘Anthem’ would be a much better choice.

This song is not a call to arms but an act of reassurance, of hope. And that is why I love this line. It says “chin up.” And I dig that in my music from time to time.

Wow… Sophie’s Choice I think… a few favs (Everybody Knows for example) have already had well-written comments posted… so I’m going to go for:

“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”

There’s something about the smooth delivery, the turn of phrase – Leonard doesn’t sing about love/longing like most musicians – he’s got a way of making you FEEL that many artists aspire to, but few manage to succeed at. Mr. Cohen succeeds. Every time. The whole concept of “crazy love” gets bandied about (badly) in so many pop songs, that it’s refreshing to not just have a strong poetic lyric written about it – but to get that smooth Cohen delivery that evokes much more.

The song has long been a favourite – but, as with any great artist, it wasn’t until last year that the song clicked with me on some other level and is now, easily, a top 5 contendor in Cohen’s catalogue.

I fought against the bottle,
But I had to do it drunk –
Took my diamond to the pawnshop –
But that don’t make it junk.

For the purpose of variety, I’ll pick this from “Ten New Songs”, since I’m guessing there’ll be relatively fewer picks from his last couple albums. A nice little rumination on the transitory things both worldly and emotionally (“I don’t trust my inner feelings – Inner feelings come and go.”).

Even when his songs are delivered with the schmaltziest of muzak – that don’t make ’em junk.

(“The Land of Plenty” from the same album is about ripe in these times for someone to cover it as a topical song.)

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

What a wonderful lyric. The beauty bares a minimal explanation really. It is an understanding that sometimes giving your best is all that is necessary regardless of the outcome. There is beauty in everything. Nobody is perfect. There is always something to be learned from everything. Sometimes okay is good enough. Listening to Mr. Cohen sing this makes an awful day disappear in a instant. Great stuff.

SISTERS OF MERCY

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can’t go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who’ve been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.
It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.
Well I’ve been where you’re hanging, I think I can see how you’re pinned:
When you’re not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you’ve sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.
They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.
Don’t turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.
And you won’t make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren’t lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,
We weren’t lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

Both haunting and comforting at the same time. The opening verse seems nice enough but as the song goes on it unfolds into something more complex. I find something new in this classic each time i hear it. Comfort, regret, loneliness, redemption – Cohen covers all of these in three minutes and thirty seconds. Amazing.

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I’m glad you stood in my way.

Man, talk about economical storytelling. With the first set up — four in the morning, end of december, etc — it feels like a nostalgic look at a past relationship. And it is, but way more complicated as Cohen seems to address a former romantic rival. What kills me about this line is, first of all, the hedging on “I miss you” and “I forgive you” followed by the naked statement: “I’m glad you stood in my way.” Does anyone else write about being grateful for an affair? About being grateful for “the trouble you took from her eyes, I thought it was there for good so I never tried”?

ALL THE LYRICS on SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE

I am going for the schmaltzy, remembrance angle. It was Christmas, and I was a teenager. My older brother handed me a gift that was obviously a record (this is the original vinyl era). I peeled off the paper and saw huge white print on black saying SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE (who named their album that?). Next I saw LEONARD COHEN. I had heard the name but that was about it. I thanked my brother, probably with confusion in my voice, and he assured me I would love the album, it was a classic. I took his word for it. He was my older brother and had hooked me up with some pretty sweet tunes. Later when I slipped it on the turntable I didn’t know what to make of it but kept listening. The odd voice delivering talk/sing poetry and the sparse arrangements were a bit of a shock in the prog rock era. I played it and played it and almost 30 years later am still playing it. I have bought it again and again in different formats but still have the original vinyl version (it is one of my favourite album covers). Song of Love and Hate made strange, beautiful music a part of my life.

From “True Love Leaves No Traces”

As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you and never will

I think it’s a little perverted that you’re making people get all English studenty here, especially since it’s a random draw, but I also find it funny as hell.
I’ve always been drawn to this opening stanza from “True Love Leaves No Traces.” It’s a deceptively simple, memorable turn of phrase that works on a number of levels. The use of the word scar, for instance, indicates violence, yet the idea of mist would suggest a mere touching or curtaining of bodies. Unlike some of his better known works, the language is as spare as it gets for Cohen. There’s little description, lots of space. Beautiful.

“And even though
It all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah”

The surreal climax of one of the few “perfect” songs in existence.

I’m not a religious man, by any means. But even I could be fooled when listening to some Leonard Cohen songs. This song takes the listener on a holy journey; it truly puts you in a transcendent state of mind. I saw Leonard for the first time last year in Montreal and when those words boomed out of his depths, I was moved to tears (something that doesn’t often happen to me). In those moments I realized that I need to see this man whenever I get the chance. You provide the chance, and I thank you for it.

(ryantheduke@gmail.com) **re-posting this here as i wasn’t sure you’d see it on the AOL site.

It’s true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It’s hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender,
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much
not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he’ll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger

Cohen is a genius lyricist. His imagery and mysterious metaphors are unparalleled. He must have the kind of eyes that could cut right through you. Beyond the lyrics is the beautiful production on his earlier recordings. There’s something quite timeless about the simple chord structures. I find the lyrics to have something of a fractal quality. Like Dylan’s more surrealistic words, but with a clarity of purpose that Dylan was never able to capture.

“Come over to the window, my little darling,
I’d like to try to read your palm.
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
before I let you take me home.

Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us.”

So Long Marianne is just so heartbreaking but also has this sense of lightheartedness to it with his playful wordings. Such an amazing chorus too – simple, universal and catchy. Cohen is the man.