
Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker - ehudla
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker
======
3chelon
First off, I've always been a huge fan of Cohen.

But the opening paragraph made me bristle slightly: "He got by on a three-
thousand-dollar grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This was 1960..."

I'm assuming that's Canadian dollars. So he was living abroad doing what he
loved, and presumably not breaking much of a sweat.

No less than ten years later, in the same country, my parents were struggling
to bring up two children on my father's wage which was half that amount - and
for a 40-hour week of very dangerous, manual work.

Now obviously people aspire to successful, creative careers, and most people
don't begrudge them that, especially if they bring a great deal of joy to
others. But I notice there is a phenomenon quite common in journalism, esp.
regarding artistic figures, a great many of whom were actually born into
relatively privileged circumstances, and a number of whom, especially during
the sixties, wanted to display their bohemian credentials by living in
somewhat spartan conditions. Strangely, however, they can always afford an air
fare (decades before budgets airlines), and often inherit a house here or
there, and always able to afford recreational drugs.

The image of the impoverished poet has long had journalistic appeal, but it is
often a lie. They were actually in a very privileged position compared to 99%
of people.

~~~
smelterdemon
I don't see the need to bristle when the rest of that paragraph dispells any
notion of an "impoverished poet": "Cohen, whose family was both prominent and
cultivated, had an ironical view of himself. He was a bohemian with a cushion
whose first purchases in London were an Olivetti typewriter and a blue
raincoat at Burberry."

~~~
bertiewhykovich
This blue raincoat?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohk3DP5fMCg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohk3DP5fMCg)

~~~
taejo
Indeed. From Wikipedia:

In the liner notes to 1975's The Best of Leonard Cohen, which includes the
song, he mentions that the famous blue raincoat to which he refers actually
belonged to him, and not someone else:

I had a good raincoat then, a Burberry I got in London in 1959. Elizabeth
thought I looked like a spider in it. That was probably why she wouldn't go to
Greece with me. It hung more heroically when I took out the lining, and
achieved glory when the frayed sleeves were repaired with a little leather.
Things were clear. I knew how to dress in those days. It was stolen from
Marianne's loft in New York City sometime during the early seventies. I wasn't
wearing it very much toward the end.

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ericzawo
Leonard Cohen is absolutely one of the best (Canadian!) artists of the last
century. Seriously; if you have the time, do what you can to discover his
music. Songs of Leonard Cohen, Various Positions, and of course I'm Your Man
are all must listen albums.

~~~
sparkzilla
Those looking to try Cohen for the first time (or wanting to rediscover him)
should listen to _Live in London (2009)_ , which IMHO is one of the best live
albums ever. Great songs and some witty banter in between.

[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p8je2](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p8je2)

~~~
smelterdemon
My access point was catching Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 on PBS late one
night. I'd recommend it as an intro to his earlier material.

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jontas
I was fortunate enough to see him live quite a few times during his touring
between 2008 and 2012, and I have never seen better live music in my life. In
his late 70s he would give a 3+ hour performance full of energy and
enthusiasm, it was truly incredible to see.

~~~
jtwaleson
I've been to four (Oberhausen, Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam) and all evenings
were fantastic. Highly doubt if I'll ever see a better show. It helped that
the crowds were superb too!

edit: The other artists in the line-up were top-notch. My favorite part of the
non-Cohen sung songs was the Webb Sisters with "Coming Back to You":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzX0Nk3sCJE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzX0Nk3sCJE)

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pgodzin
> Dylan went on driving. After a while, he told Cohen that a famous songwriter
> of the day had told him, “O.K., Bob, you’re Number 1, but I’m Number 2.”

> Cohen smiled. “Then Dylan says to me, ‘As far as I’m concerned, Leonard,
> you’re Number 1. I’m Number Zero.’ Meaning, as I understood it at the
> time—and I was not ready to dispute it—that his work was beyond measure and
> my work was pretty good.”

Pretty fitting after today's Nobel prize award. Cohen is definitely up there
with the greatest songwriters and poets of this generation.

~~~
pazimzadeh
Is that where Steve Jobs got the idea? I know he was a huge fan of Dylan.

[http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/appl...](http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/apples-
employee-no-0-2008-11/?FirstIsWorst)

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neom
As a Canadian I especially love Leonard Cohen, I think it's wonderful people
are learning more about him and his music, I grew up listening to it. If
you're into poetry, his poems are mostly his songs, and his songs his poems,
so if you don't like his voice (It's an acquired taste much like Hawksley
Workman) - I highly recommend reading some of his poetry, it's quite
beautiful. :)

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kristofferR
How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile?

Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

~~~
gjm11
It would be impressive to know that in advance, given that actually it was Bob
Dylan who won it.

(But perhaps they were tipped off that it would be a singer-songwriter, and
they made the wrong guess.)

~~~
hobochili
As much as I love Bob Dylan, I wouldn't have been upset had Leonard Cohen been
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He's written two novels, several
volumes of poetry, and, of course, has made his own irreplaceable poetic
contributions to American songwriting.

~~~
rbadaro
He would definitely deserve it. But he's Canadian so his contributions would
more correctly be classified as going towards Canadian songwriting.

~~~
hobochili
Haha... Valid point. I'd have to explore the intricacies of Canadian
songwriting before I could confidently make the assertion, but my feeling is
that Cohen's songwriting falls in line with the American tradition.

~~~
Kluny
(Biased Canadian)

I'd say Cohen is entirely Canadian. He has this very self-deprecating humor
that you don't really get from Americans.

~~~
hobochili
I'll concede that Cohen is a Canadian songwriter. It's interesting to me,
though, that he launched his music career in New York.

~~~
dmix
That's where all the good record labels and record producers were. All good
Canadian musicians/actors/directors go to the US. They largely leave Canada
behind without much mention of Canada during their careers besides Drake and
to a lesser extent Neil Young being the exception.

Leonard's first album had amazing production by american producer John Simon
(who also worked with The Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin), probably the
best in Cohen's entire career, so he chose well deciding to work out of
Columbia's studio in NYC...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Leonard_Cohen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Leonard_Cohen)

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steinsgate
If someone told me that there would come a day when two of the first three HN
posts will be about Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, I would have dismissed them
as high or delusional. Turns out that I would be very wrong.

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bjourne
Why is this on Hacker News? It is a promotional piece about the new album he's
releasing, isn't it?

