An enigma, Leonard Norman Cohen was possibly the most improbable bohemian intellectual singer/songwriter in music history. He was the working-class hero, the people's poet, the suicidal lamenter of doom and a purveyor of popular songs. But the truth is even more complex. Throughout his life, there were juxtapositions of the most unlikely life choices and influences. To have fashioned a mishmash of ideas, styles and influences into a successful, long-lasting musical career is nothing short of amazing.He blended secular, mystical, sexual and religious themes into ambiguous poetic tapestries and devised an intricate, unique musical style. He possessed a deep baritone voice that, although mesmerising, was sometimes in danger of sounding monotonous. Leonard was able to fuse these elements into a distinctive amalgam that somehow worked on many levels. He did not look the part, play the game or conform to any rules, but Leonard touched hearts and minds all over the world, while writing some remarkable songs, including 'Hallelujah' and 'Suzanne'.Focusing equally on his popular early albums, the more experimental mid-period and his final, late-career renaissance, this book analyses and interprets every album and every individual song to shed light on the phenomenon of Leonard Cohen.
The AuthorOpher Goodwin is the author of many books on rock music and science fiction and taught the first History of Rock Music classes in the UK. He was fortunate to spend the sixties in London, the epicentre for the underground explosion of rock music and culture, where he was able to see everyone from Pink Floyd, Hendrix and Cream to The Doors, Captain Beefheart and Roy Harper. He now lives happily in East Yorkshire, UK.
Back in the heady days of 1967/1968, the Underground was at its peak. The music scene had exploded into a vast array of genres and styles – folk, country, psychedelic, jazz fusion, heavy metal, acid rock, prog rock, soul, electronic, avant-garde, experimental, blues, r&b, Indian, reggae, ethnic, brass and strings all competed for the ears of the discerning. Music was serious stuff: the expression of a generation, the voice of the 1960s revolution. Everything was mixed up in some glorious musical goulash. The festivals were garnished with the spice of diversity. A solo singer-songwriter like Roy Harper might sit next to a psychedelic band like Pink Floyd, followed by the heavy guitar of Jimi Hendrix, the blues of Pete Green’s Fleetwood Mac, the stringed pieces of the Third Ear Band and mad capers of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. They were all part of the rich collage of sound that fed the wide-open minds of the audience. Back then, we were tribal but unified, open-minded and receptive, always on the lookout for something new.
In 1968, the music industry was homing in on the burgeoning underground scene. CBS, like other labels, was trying to break into this lucrative new market. They came up with a snazzy ploy. They released a cut-price sampler album to highlight their latest acquisitions. These new underground acts were hoping to break through. They put a track from each of the acts together on one album calledThe Rock Machine Turns You On and put it out for 14 shillings and 11 pence – 75p. Apart from well-established acts like Bob Dylan, The Byrds and Simon& Garfunkel, it featured a number of new acts. We were introduced to the wonders of Roy Harper, Taj Mahal, Tim Rose, Moby Grape, Spirit, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Electric Flag and Blood Sweat and Tears. It provided us with an intriguing glimpse. I purchased a number of albums on the basis of those tantalising tracks.
One of the stand-out numbers was Leonard Cohen’s ‘Sisters Of Mercy’. I found myself instantly drawn to the song. Everything about it was different. The arrangement sounded simple, yet it was not even in the style of the new contemporary folk. The vocal was rich, full of melancholy, and felt ‘worldly’ and detached. Then there were the lyrics – poetic and enigmatic. Leonard was painting a story, but it was an intriguing, unique story that sucked me in. I already had a few of the albums highlighted, such as Roy Harper’sCome Out Fighting Ghenghis Smith, The Byrds’Notorious Byrd Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel’sParsley Sage Rosemary& Thyme and Tim Rose’sTim Rose. My first port of call was to purchase that Cohen album –The Songs Of Leonard Cohen. That was it – the start of a lifetime’s enthralling enjoyment.
So, who is this most unlikely of rock stars? There are probably as many views on Leonard as there are people. He’s certainly no working-class hero, no peoples’ poet, no suicidal lamenter of doom or purveyor of pop songs; the truth is much more complex than that. Indeed, throughout the whole of his life, there are the juxtapositions of the most unlikely life choices and influences. Leonard Norman Cohen is probably the most improbable, bohemian, intellectual singer-songwriter ever. Leonard himself, in his 2008 induction into the Rock& Roll Hall of Fame, acknowledged this, wittily altering Jon Landau’s comment on Bruce Springsteen: ‘I have seen the future of rock ‘n’ roll and it is not Leonard Cohen.’ To have fashioned this mishmash of ideas, styles and influences into a successful, long-lasti
