R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

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Sweepstakes Ron
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R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

Splish splash, I was raking in the cash
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Dexter
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Dexter »

R.I.P. Leonard Cohen and thank you for the songs! They sparked a emotional, intellectual and spiritual nerve in me.

2016 is a bad, bad year! Not just in music mind you.
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PlasticRam
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by PlasticRam »

In terms of musicians dying, I think 2016 is a bad year, truly.

Rest in peace.
I feel like that
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BleuPanda
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by BleuPanda »

Sad, but at least we got some warning this time. It's great that he got one final work out to say goodbye. Rest in peace.

Now I want to reexplore his work; would anyone else want to honor his legacy by featuring him as next month's artist poll?
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by DocBrown »

Harold
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Harold »

So two all-time great artists have died this year shortly after releasing brilliant albums meditating on their own impending mortality. Cohen's death isn't nearly as shocking as Bowie's - the man was 82, after all - but it's a devastating loss nonetheless. A truly magnificent songwriter with a worldview that was simultaneously darker-than-dark and wryly humorous.
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Matski
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Matski »

Thank you for your gifts Leonard.

Really can't wait for this year to be over. It's been a real nasty piece of work.
BleuPanda wrote:Now I want to reexplore his work; would anyone else want to honor his legacy by featuring him as next month's artist poll?
One of my first thoughts upon logging in today was wondering whether you'd ask this. As Leonard Cohen has a relatively short, yet highly-consistent discography compared to most of his 60's/70's contemporaries, it would be a fairly good one to complete over the holiday season.

Considering that many of us will want to catch up on the 2016 releases for the annual poll in January, can I propose taking a break for that month and starting it back up with whoever you have planned next in February?
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Listyguy
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Listyguy »

I remember about a month or so ago he said something along the lines of he was ready to die. He probably knew it was coming. That said, it is still sad to hear of these things. I was listening to Songs of Leonard Cohen last week...really great music.
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Rob
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Rob »

Leonard Cohen is deserving of his title as one of the best lyricists of all time. They belong to the type of lyrics that almost require to be listen to many times, each time revealing new layers of meaning. That he could do this with both great sorrow and great humor is particularly amazing. You feel the despair in many of his songs, but that doesn't keep him from being cheeky or singing with a wry smile.

I wanted to buy You Want It Darker today, the only album of his that I don't own and haven't heard yet. Unsurprisingly, it was sold out, though it comes in again tomorrow. To mark the time I put on Songs of Leonard Cohen again and was struck more than before that it isn't just melancholic, but also rather spooky. If I were to describe the albums tone it would be "hauntingly romantic". There is the definite downside of romance and there are ghosts aplenty, but there is also the unmistakable need for not just love, but for the yearning for love. It's an album driven by a longing that doesn't want to stop, no matter how much it will lead to hurt again and again. Pure beauty.
BleuPanda wrote: Now I want to reexplore his work; would anyone else want to honor his legacy by featuring him as next month's artist poll?
I hoped you would say this. Yes please! Listening to Songs of Leonard Cohen today made me want to delve back into the Cohen catalogus once again. It's been a while since I last heard many of his albums.
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by DocBrown »

Listyguy wrote:I remember about a month or so ago he said something along the lines of he was ready to die. He probably knew it was coming. That said, it is still sad to hear of these things. I was listening to Songs of Leonard Cohen last week...really great music.
This was in an excellent article in The New Yorker which I just read while listening to The Essential Leonard Cohen . That kind of day.


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/ ... -it-darker
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Honorio
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Honorio »

Devastated. What more can happen this 2016? Please, 2017, come quickly!
Many thanks everyone for your comments (and many thanks for your recommendation of this excellent article, DocBrown). BleuPanda, I agree with going next month with the Cohen poll, I will participate for sure.

Only wanted to copy and paste a fragment of an interview with Jan Christian Mollestad, a close friend of Marianne Ihlen, Cohen's former lover and muse during the 1960s. He contacted with Cohen when he knew that Marianne was dying.
Mollestad: "It took only two hours and in came this beautiful letter from Leonard to Marianne. We brought it to her the next day and she was fully conscious and she was so happy that he had already written something for her.
"It said, 'well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.'"
"When I read the lines "stretch out your hand," she stretched out her hand. Only two days later she lost consciousness and slipped into death. I wrote a letter back to Leonard saying in her final moments I hummed "A Bird on a Wire" because that was the song she felt closest to. And then I kissed her on the head and left the room, and said "so long, Marianne.""

I admit that this story almost moved me to tears when I listened to it some months ago. But now, writing this while listening to "Famous Blue Raincoat" I wasn't able to hold back the tears. So long, Leonard…
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Dan
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Dan »

Very sad news, even if it isn't entirely unexpected. I've just listened to his new album. What a poet he was. I'm looking forward to (re)exploring his music in next month's artist poll. Speaking of participating in another forum poll, I would just like to say that I'm grateful for the distractions that our forum's polls and games have provided this year. We have lost too many beloved music legends in 2016, and many of us were also saddened by political events that made it feel as if the world is going mad. On top of that, my dad passed away a few months ago. I put my personal life on hold for nearly two years to take care of him when he was very ill, and I don't even know how to begin to describe how much those two years meant to me. I know it meant a lot to him too. But life goes on, and in the dark waters of 2016 it's better to try to float on the surface than to sink beneath it. And through all of this, the forum (and its members) have felt like a comforting friend who eases the pain. I'm sure that listening to Leonard Cohen's music next month will help too. His lyrics (and music) were not exactly sunny, but they were perceptive and profound.

So long, Leonard. And thank you.
...will keep us together.
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by jamieW »

With everything that's happened this year, I was avoiding this thread, since I didn't think I was equipped to deal with more heartbreak right now. But now that I'm here, I want to first say how very sorry I am to hear about your Dad, Dan. It makes me realize how much I've been feeling sorry for myself lately, when I really have no reason to. There are so many people in the world going through much more difficult times than I am, so I should be treasuring what I have instead of worrying about a future none of us can predict. I hope you and your family are doing as well as possible.

The loss of beloved musicians really has been integral to the dark tone of this year. With Leonard gone, I've now lost 3 of my 50 favorite musicians this year, and another one in my top 100 (since Glenn Frey was a remember of the Eagles). I first heard Leonard Cohen in 1990 with that deep, brooding voice singing "Everybody Knows" at the beginning of the film "Pump Up the Volume" - perfect for the tone of the picture. It took me a while to find out who he was. (Back then, it wasn't as easy as it is now.) Once I found him, I never stopped listening, from his early classics like "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Avalanche" to later favorites like "Waiting For the Miracle" and "The Future." His musical and vocal style both changed dramatically over time, but his poetry never did. He could tell a story like few others. I haven't had a chance to hear his latest album yet, but if it's anything like the title song, I'm sure I'll love it. You'll be missed, Leonard...
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Moonbeam
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Moonbeam »

I haven't really given his music much of a shot, but the first thing I thought of when I heard the news was that so many of my friends here would be very sad about this news. That's what's so great about this community - it gives us a place to share our stories, passions, and feelings about music with others who are just as devoted. I am truly sorry for those of you who hold Leonard Cohen dear, and I know there are many of you.

Dan, I am so sad to hear about your father. You have shown what an incredible person you are here already, and it comes as no surprise that you are an incredible son as well. I'm sure your father is so proud of you.
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Honorio
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Honorio »

Sad news, Dan, let me add my condolences. My thoughts (and my family's) are with you. I knew from private mails about your daddy's serious health problems. But I also know that your father's illness was an opportunity for your reencounter and the way that you helped him through his final years is something you and your family will always treasure. But this reminds me of the many months we don't write to each other. And this has to end. I'm going to write to you right now. And, why not? I'm going to write to Henrik and Nicolas too. This is my plan for the Sunday, to listen to Bruce Springsteen (it would be great to listen to Leonard Cohen but I got a lot of pending listening of Bruce, I'm not too familiar with his post-"Rising" production). The best way to go through sad times, good music and conversation with good friends…
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by DocBrown »

Dan, I wrote a lengthy PM but it seems to have disappeared into the ether, so let me simply add my condolences.

I have been contemplating my retirement recently and have pretty well decided to move to Montréal, a city where I lived very briefly in my youth. I always thought I'd have the good fortune to buy Leonard his breakfast at Bagels, Etc. one morning because it literally never occurred to me that he could be mortal. He is perhaps my oldest musical friend who came to me independent of my mother (although she loved him too). R.I.P.
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Henrik »

My condolences too, Dan. I 100% agree with Moonbeam's wonderful comment. Hopefully, Honorio's emails will be the start of an actual physical meeting between all of us (and Nicolas of course, as well as anyone else who wants to meet). I am certainly more ready to go this time.

And rest in peace Leonard Cohen, maker of my number one album of all time.
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
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Dan
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Re: R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

Post by Dan »

Henrik wrote:Hopefully, Honorio's emails will be the start of an actual physical meeting between all of us (and Nicolas of course, as well as anyone else who wants to meet).
Yes, that would be lovely. Life’s too short for that not to happen.

Thanks for all the kind comments – they really are very much appreciated. Times have been hard for me this year, but I’m also fully aware of this…
jamieW wrote:There are so many people in the world going through much more difficult times than I am, so I should be treasuring what I have instead of worrying about a future none of us can predict.
I’m sorry to draw attention to myself when this thread is about the great Leonard Cohen.

"I greet you from the other side of sorrow and despair, with a love so vast and shattered it will reach you everywhere."
- Leonard Cohen

And here is another quote of something he said, especially for DocBrown ;) :

"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin."
...will keep us together.
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