
Leonard Cohen Has Died - joaomsa
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/leonard-cohen-dead-at-82-w449792
======
muhic
Sad for the artistic loss but also glad he died at peace after a rich life
spent doing what he loved till the last moment. He joins a special list,
alongside Hintjens who also passed recently, of those who manage to strip the
dread from death and stress the importance of 'tidying up' over passive
acceptance as one enters the final days.

 _“The big change is the proximity to death,” he said. “I am a tidy kind of
guy. I like to tie up the strings if I can. If I can’t, also, that’s O.K. But
my natural thrust is to finish things that I’ve begun.”_

 _“For some odd reason,” he went on, “I have all my marbles, so far. I have
many resources, some cultivated on a personal level, but circumstantial, too:
my daughter and her children live downstairs, and my son lives two blocks down
the street. So I am extremely blessed. I have an assistant who is devoted and
skillful. I have a friend like Bob and another friend or two who make my life
very rich. So in a certain sense I’ve never had it better. . . . At a certain
point, if you still have your marbles and are not faced with serious financial
challenges, you have a chance to put your house in order. It’s a cliché, but
it’s underestimated as an analgesic on all levels. Putting your house in
order, if you can do it, is one of the most comforting activities, and the
benefits of it are incalculable.”_ [0]

[0] [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-
cohen-m...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-
it-darker)

------
mkeeter
This is a wonderful article about Leonard Cohen:

[http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-
culture/music/89715...](http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-
culture/music/89715/leonard)

The quote that stood out the most for me:

"In a pursuit like rock ’n’ roll, which is entirely devoted to redemption,
Cohen’s ideas were not only old but radical. His peers all insisted that
salvation was at hand. To go to a Doors concert was to stare at the lithe
messiah undressing on stage and believe that it was entirely possible to break
on through to the other side. To see Cohen play was to gawk at an aging Jew
telling you that life was hard and laced with sorrow but that if we love each
other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun
is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right. To borrow a metaphor from a field
never too far from Cohen’s heart, theology, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, and the
rest were all good Christians, and they set themselves up as the redeemers who
had to die for the sins of their fans. Cohen was a Jew, and like Jews he
believed that salvation was nothing more than a lot of hard work and a small
but sustainable reward."

~~~
dang
That article contains a wonderful story about how he calmed a hostile audience
in the middle of the night at a festival in 1970. I recommend it. (Search for
"Isle of Wight", the story starts there.)

~~~
andrewem
[https://vimeo.com/56002315](https://vimeo.com/56002315) is an hour-long
documentary about his performance there, with lots of footage of the show
itself.

------
bhickey
[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/leonard-cohen-pens-
fi...](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/leonard-cohen-pens-final-letter-
to-so-long-marianne-muse-w433144)

Back in July he wrote to a dying Marianne Ihlen, "Know that I am so close
behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine."

~~~
sdoering
Thanks. That story just broke me down, while sitting in the office with tears
running down my cheeks.

Reminded me of my late father having passed away some 18 months ago.

Thanks for that moment. Your link was a gift.

------
neom
I believe we recently discussed Mr. Cohen:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12700141](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12700141)

I have cried more tears listening to Leonard Cohen than all the other tears
I've cried combined, his music, his words, his poems have always resonated
deeply within me. He truly is my favourite artist. We listened to him daily in
my dad's house and I grew to find an incredibly amount of peace in his voice.
Love the HN community seems to like him as much. rest well sir.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MXOuaZuTak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MXOuaZuTak)

~~~
robbrown451
I feel bad for not knowing more about him. Thanks for that YouTube link, so
good.

~~~
m_fayer
If you have Spotify, there's a playlist there published by Spotify called
"This Is: Leonard Cohen", it's one of the best sweeps over his career that
I've seen so far.

He may not have been as prolific as Dylan, but he also had pretty much no
duds.

I'm thankful to have his work seeing me through this life. Especially so these
days.

~~~
wyclif
Yes! I follow that playlist, and it's superb. Here's a direct link to it:
[http://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/1kZSS179bOW1A5...](http://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/1kZSS179bOW1A5QOAuclXj)

------
brnoenfield
I took my mum to see him live in Brisbane back in 2013. At the end of the show
he thanked his backing band. And then he thanked, by name, the sound
engineers, the lighting operators, the cameraman filming for the tour DVD, and
various other staff. One of the greatest musicians to have lived but also a
genuine and decent person.

~~~
JadeNB
The simple thing that gets me is how he always addresses his audience as
'friends', and thanks them.

------
ageitgey
I saw Leonard Cohen on his last tour. He opened every show on the tour by
saying "I don’t know if we’ll meet again, but tonight we’ll give you
everything we got."

~~~
picklesman
About 4 years ago I was scanning my twitter timeline and I noticed someone
posted a picture from a Leonard Cohen concert that night in Montreal. What?!?
I hadn't heard anything about it and my heart sank. After a frantic search I
found out he was playing the next night and I bought myself a ticket.

I went by myself, which is unusual for me when it comes to concerts. He played
for 3 hours and needless to say, it was incredible.

During "Suzanne", the room (a hockey arena) was completely dark except for a
spotlight shining up from below casting a giant shadow behind him. Combined
with such a haunting song it made for one of the most beautiful musical
experiences of my life.

Here's a recording of that performance:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pcPK4eXHQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pcPK4eXHQ)

That turned out to be the last time he played here and I'm so thankful to have
gotten a chance to hear him play his songs.

Way too many great lines to quote, but these ones comfort me: "But you'll be
hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone I'll be speaking to you sweetly from
a window in the Tower of Song"

EDIT: I found a video from a different concert that gives a better idea of
what it looked like, though the link above is a better performance imo, + much
better audio:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgt62vls3o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgt62vls3o)

(also love the single comment, which I ran through google translate: "What is
still the magic of this man? I am not a sentimental dragon, but it goes
straight to the heart.")

~~~
JadeNB
> During "Suzanne", the room (a hockey arena) was completely dark except for a
> spotlight shining up from below casting a giant shadow behind him. Combined
> with such a haunting song it made for one of the most beautiful musical
> experiences of my life.

I think that what got me from the concert (which I saw in Chicago) was when he
dropped to his knees to sing. What a privilege it was to see such a giant
perform.

------
kafkaesq
This article was posted here about a month ago:

    
    
       http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker
    

Discussion:

    
    
       https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12700141
    

Interestingly, I was thinking about him on the subway just before surfacing to
see above thread pop up. Very glad that I got to catch up on his bio (and to
see him live a few years back) before his departure.

2016 - what a year.

~~~
carlsborg
"Hineni hineni. I'm ready my Lord."

from "Make it Darker"

nb: The word 'Hineni' means 'Here I am' in a spiritual sense, which is what
Abraham says and means to God to indicate his readiness when he is called.

~~~
azernik
"Hineni" means "here I am" in a _literal_ sense too - Cohen happens to be
making a biblical/spiritual reference there, but like most lines from the
(Hebrew) bible, the language is very plain and straightforward.

------
hughdbrown
So sad. I saw him in Manhattan. My wife got tickets as a Christmas present,
knowing I had been excited when we were traveling in Barcelona and he was
there that week. (Couldn't get tickets -- didn't even try.) So we showed up at
Madison Square Garden and I had no idea what we were seeing -- and there were
no markings to give away the surprise! It was not until the show started that
I knew it was a Leonard Cohen concert. It was an awesome evening.

    
    
      If you want a lover
      I'll do anything you ask me to
      And if you want another kind of love
      I'll wear a mask for you
      If you want a partner, take my hand, or
      If you want to strike me down in anger
      Here I stand
      I'm your man

------
failrate
I'm not sad. He had probably the best life he could have had, and it ended on
a high note.

~~~
glandium
And he got to live to 82, it's hard to say it's too early.

~~~
agumonkey
80 is my threshold digit for sadness. If you reached it without long
debilitating condition or traumatic life, then, at least if I had the pleasure
to get there, no complaints.

~~~
honkhonkpants
Cohen resumed smoking at age 80, because why not.

~~~
mrkgnao
I never thought about this ... I've always wanted to smoke (the mechanics of
the whole thing please(s) me on some level) but I suffer from asthma and a
mild disinclination to lung cancer. Mind you, when I say "smoke", I mean the
real thing, not vaping.

Don't mind me, though. I hope I outgrow this at some point.

~~~
agumonkey
From asthmatic to asthmatic, I never liked the slightest thing about smoking.
Maybe the shape .. that's it. Last year I had a health accident,
cardiovascular and lung in deep trouble, and for some reason, all of a sudden
I started having strong smoking envy. Considering I avoided smoking because of
asthma, being in lower health condition made these "cravings" somehow absurd.
But there was something smoking represented: inhaling a gas that made your
mind peaceful, just like proper breathing does, and my health deprived me of
this, so smoking felt like the only substitute.

------
JdeBP
And then you heard, on Remembrance Day, of the Poet who had gone away; No more
music in the dark to keep you warm.

For years to come you will recall the music's death, the soldier's fall, and
your songs salute them both. So: Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

\--

The first Cohen song that I ever heard was "Everybody Knows", in _Pump Up the
Volume_.

~~~
herpderpherpder
Same. I think the juxtaposition between the cohen version throughout and the 4
non blondes (?) version at the end made me love it so much more.

I feel that many singers just sing the words, and sometimes they're pretty,
sometimes sad. It was like raw emotion poured out every time Leonard Cohen
opened his mouth.

~~~
the_fury
That would be Concrete Blonde.

------
akprasad
There was recently a lovely interview with Leonard Cohen on Fresh Air [1],
from which I learned that he had also spent some time a Zen monk. The article
mentions this in passing, but there's more detail in the interview.

> While never abandoning Judaism, the Sabbath-observing songwriter attributed
> Buddhism to curbing the depressive episodes that had always plagued him.

[1] [http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/498810429/leonard-cohen-on-
poe...](http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/498810429/leonard-cohen-on-poetry-music-
and-why-he-left-the-zen-monastery)

------
sndean
If you have ~40 minutes to spare, Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History did a
really interesting story on Hallelujah in July:

[http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/07-hallelujah](http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/07-hallelujah)

------
nathancahill
Listening to Leonard and drinking whiskey. It's closing time. Just fuck me up
Leonard.

------
sundvor
RIP. Listening to his brand new release You Want It Darker (via Spotify HQ on
my Audio Technica ADG1Xs, Soundblaster ZXR sound card). I can't get over the
quality of the production and how utterly perfect his voice still is .. right
until the very end. In light of recent events, this song is uncanny. What a
masterpiece to finish a magnificent career.

~~~
Kluny
I believe his son was the sound engineer. He clearly didn't phone it in.

~~~
sundvor
Interesting, and a stellar job. I could easily see this becoming a reference
track / album for hi-fi affectionados, bringing depths and detail to my new
headset that I didn't know it had. (I upgraded a few months ago from the ATH-
ADG1s.)

------
pgodzin
Easily one of the greatest songwriters of the generation. As Dylan said, ‘As
far as I’m concerned, Leonard, you’re Number 1. I’m Number Zero.’

His songs are dark and poetic and really keep you entranced. I'm glad he
released his last effort (Leaving the Table is a great one for the occasion)
and seemed totally at peace in his New Yorker feature.

------
rootedbox
If it be your will. That I speak no more. And my voice be still. As it was
before. I will speak no more.

------
pcurve
Man this was a surprise. I read this article very recently.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2016/10/1...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2016/10/13/leonard-cohen-i-am-ready-to-die-i-hope-its-not-too-
uncomfortable/)

Which was quickly followed by:

[http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/leonard-cohen-no-
longe...](http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/leonard-cohen-no-longer-ready-
to-die-says-hell-live-until-120/)

------
daveloyall

        Like a bird on a wire
        Like a drunk in a midnight choir
        I have tried, in my way, to be free

------
LargeCompanies
His song,"Hallelujah," is timeless and even he agreed KD Lang's version is the
best...

Wasn't a fan of hers until...
[https://youtu.be/ikdLBQACC74](https://youtu.be/ikdLBQACC74)

~~~
smw
I'll always prefer Jeff Buckley's.

~~~
mcv
I like Cohen's. It's different from all the Wainwright-style covers, and I
once heard he'd written over a hundred verses for it that he alternates on
concerts. I wish they were available somewhere, but I suspect I would have had
to have been there.

~~~
draegtun
Perhaps John Cale might still have them because Cohen faxed him 15 pages of
lyrics -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_\(Leonard_Cohen_song\)#John_Cale)

NB. It's the version by Cale which became the basis of the later covers by
Buckley, Wainwright, etc -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzu4LE667VM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzu4LE667VM)

~~~
mcv
You're right of course. I don't know why I thought it was Wainwright.

~~~
draegtun
That's OK, clearly it also confused the producers of the Shrek soundtrack
album too :)

Here's a post from couple of days ago which documents the history of
Hallelujah -
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/11/11/leonard-...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/11/11/leonard-
cohen-hallelujah-jeff-buckley/93632656/)

------
alphaone
Now I'm living in this temple Where they tell you what to do I'm old and I've
had to settle On a different point of view

I was fighting with temptation But I didn't want to win A man like me don't
like to see Temptation caving in

------
jtwaleson
A sad day. I'm a big fan, had the privilege of seeing him perform four times
and I've named my daughter Suzanne.

I cant be sure, but back in 2008 when he played "Democracy is coming to the
USA" he seemed to be delighted that Obama won. IMHO this part of the song is
more appropriate for Leonard's last days on earth: "I love the country but I
can't stand the scene".

RIP

edit: removed comment about the president elect

------
CalChris
A wonderful voice. A favorite of my mother's who over the years became a
favorite of mine.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTTC_fD598A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTTC_fD598A)

------
sparkzilla
RIP. 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)

~~~
qohen
Given the recent election, may I suggest this song of his: "Democracy"

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-RuR-
qO4Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-RuR-qO4Y)

[http://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-democracy-lyrics](http://genius.com/Leonard-
cohen-democracy-lyrics)

------
projectramo
I wanted to post some of his lyrics as a comment, but it turns out you can
take any rhyming subset and it is appropriate for almost any occasion. (Not
kidding, try it yourself).

They're ambiguous so that helps.

"But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are
soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye."

RIP, Leonard Cohen

~~~
keithpeter

        "Ring the bells that still can ring
         forget your perfect offering
         there is a crack in everything
         that's how the light gets in."
                               -- Anthem
    

As I get older, I appreciate the cracks more.

------
randlet
No longer aching in the places he used to play. Rest in peace Leonard, it's
closing time.

------
viraptor
"No one can sing a Leonard Cohen song the way Cohen himself can't." is still
my favourite description of his work.

------
logicalmind
Big fan of Leonard Cohen, big loss. I think his Isle of Wight performance is
one of the greatest of all time considering what was going on the crowd and
how he used his showmanship and calming music to turn things around:

[https://vimeo.com/56002315](https://vimeo.com/56002315)

------
inimino
A tremendous loss.

A recent profile that I greatly enjoyed:

[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-
cohen-m...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-
it-darker)

------
internaut
"Everybody Knows" is one of my favorite songs, just on grounds of its lyrical
quality alone.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin-a2lTelg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin-a2lTelg)

------
yaegers
I will never not get shivers listening to his Hallelujah:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k)

------
jperras
As a native Montréaler, this hit me really, really hard. The man was a legend,
and hopefully his legacy will live on in the city.

I'd really like to see McGill, our common alma mater, commemorate him in some
way.

------
everyone
Just making a general point here that this event has surfaced..

I dont get why people are so emotional when famous artists die. Posting on
facebook and whatnot.. We werent personal friends with them, so it wont affect
our lives in any way. Their works are still as available as ever, and still as
great as ever. We can still listen to their music every day.

If they died old then they've had a good run to make a good body of great work
that can be their direct legacy for hundreds of years. Few people achieve
that.

~~~
thieving_magpie
My mother knows I have been a longtime fan of Leonard Cohen. I received some
texts this morning saying she hoped I wasn't sad. Not at all - I presume he
lived a great life. His death doesn't affect me and it doesn't change my
enjoyment of his music or writing. Those are works created in certain moments
of time, that's what matters and cannot be erased.

~~~
zimpenfish
If you haven't already, this is an excellent read -

[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-
cohen-m...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-
it-darker)

~~~
thieving_magpie
Thanks, that's cool. I've just bookmarked it for reading tonight.

------
nikanj
It's a widely held sentiment that 2016 has killed more long-running
celebrities than any other year. Is there any factual basis to this, or is it
just confirmation bias?

~~~
lordnacho
\- Celebrity is lumpy. Bowie, Prince and Cohen were big lumps.

\- The lumps are distributed unevenly. Baby boomers are dying around now, and
they created their own culture.

\- Celebrity itself only became big roughly (very roughly) as these people
came of age and did their great works.

------
akiselev
May you rest in peace, Mr. Cohen.

It seems like so many of my favorite musicians and songwriters have passed in
the last few years and its a struggle to figure out why. I'm a millenial with
a wide taste in music from the early 20th century blues to contemporary EDM
but it seems like the musicians whose talent you could just sense with every
note and lyric are rapidly disappearing. I should be too young for this kind
of cynicism but its an easy trap to fall into when comparing Dylan, Bowie, or
Cohen to some song on the pop charts or an artist in the overwhelming field of
independent musicians.

It's a sad day but I can't help but marvel at the universe. It is a kind of
unique, rare beauty when a life-long artist like Bowie or Cohen close out
their final chapter by releasing an album within weeks of their death.

~~~
coldtea
> _It seems like so many of my favorite musicians and songwriters have passed
> in the last few years and I 'm struggling to figure out why._

Because people generally die, and your favorite musicans are all several
decades older than you, and thus close to the median life expectancy?

Assuming you are not into 2010's teen pop of course.

If one likes pre-war blues, for example, almost all of their favorite
musicians would not be around anymore.

> _I 'm a millenial with a wide taste in music from the early 20th century
> blues classics to contemporary EDM but it seems like the musicians whose
> talent you could just sense with every note and lyric are rapidly
> disappearing._

Well, not many "contemporary EDM" musicians are rapidly disappearing. OTOH,
Dylan, Bowie or Cohen were all 65+.

------
Jerry2
Wow! Such a sad news. He was one of the greatest and his songs were timeless.

One of my favorites is "Everybody Knows":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k)

You will be missed.

עליו השלום

------
HeyLaughingBoy
This is sad. I heard about this listening to the radio this morning while
waiting for the school bus with my son. I introduced my (future) wife to his
music and our wedding song was "Dance me to the end of love." I gave her the
Matisse coffee-table book set to its lyrics ([https://www.amazon.com/Dance-
End-Love-Art-Poetry/dp/19321839...](https://www.amazon.com/Dance-End-Love-Art-
Poetry/dp/1932183930/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478888948&sr=8-1&keywords=matisse+dance+me+to+the+end+of+love)).

I always wanted to meet him and now, I'll never have the chance.

R.I.P.

------
supervillain
[http://img.wennermedia.com/760-width/rs-leonard-
cohen01-4c21...](http://img.wennermedia.com/760-width/rs-leonard-
cohen01-4c21b534-aa2d-49fb-9fbd-be9df32b3700.jpg)

He looks so much like Adam Sandler

~~~
macintux
I always thought he and Leonard Nimoy were merging visually as they aged.

Here he looks like...some random but famous actor whose name escapes me:

[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8IlTmpaTiQ/Vnq3CrkSOnI/AAAAAAAAxY...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8IlTmpaTiQ/Vnq3CrkSOnI/AAAAAAAAxYI/pSQMRZjNd6U/s1600/leonard-
cohen.jpg)

~~~
zimpenfish
Alfred Molina? Or maybe Tony Hancock[1]?

[1]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039f1y4](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039f1y4)

~~~
macintux
Finally figured it out. Pretty weak in retrospect.

[http://static.tvgcdn.net/mediabin/showcards/celebs/s-u/thumb...](http://static.tvgcdn.net/mediabin/showcards/celebs/s-u/thumbs/shia-
labeouf2_sc_768x1024.png)

------
detaro
:'(

 _There is a crack, a crack in everything.

That how the light comes in._

?

~~~
ska
But perhaps remember the previous line:

Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering.

------
pencilcode
About a week ago commented with a friend of mine his last album was absolutely
wonderful and how awesome that he was 80 years old and still creating with the
quality that he was. He was the musician that touched the most, others I sort
of grew out of but always came back to Leonard - I suspect that there hasn't
been a month in the last 15 years where I haven't listened to him. As an aside
also discovered Irving Layton, a poet, through him.

------
josscrowcroft
Leonard Cohen - So Long, Marianne (live 1968):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE6wBBrTMEs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE6wBBrTMEs)

So long, Leonard.

~~~
taejo
Marianne herself just died in July; when she was dying Leonard wrote her a
letter saying he wasn't far behind.

[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/07/so-long-
marian...](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/07/so-long-marianne-
leonard-cohen-writes-to-muse-just-before-her-death)

------
pfooti
I heard there was a secret chord.

~~~
elihu
I did my best, it wasn't much

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch

I told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

But even though it all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

------
awjr
Dear 2016, please stop already.

~~~
mcv
50 more days. We're nearly done.

------
seanwoods
couple good ones:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqq-
zAkGy4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqq-zAkGy4)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FeZe5P803c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FeZe5P803c)

------
blacksqr
There's only one bed and there's only one prayer; as I listen all night for
your step on the stair.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWug6KlvMI](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWug6KlvMI)

------
zeluve
RIP. The voice will be here for the rest of generation and becomes legacy for
the next.

------
coldtea
If you haven't heard his songs, either the early folky ones or the post-80s
electronic-ballads, definitely check them out. They are songs for grown-ups
(he started his career as a singer around 34 years old after all).

------
jejones3141
Very sad. Also sad that the very first thing I did when I saw a mention of it
on Facebook was google "leonard cohen death hoax". Thanks and farewell, Mr.
Cohen.

------
mdpm
And who shall I say is calling?

\-- You will be missed but never forgotten.

------
another_account
On the Level feels like it was written for me (i know) It describes my current
feelings about Lady Heroin after nearly 2 years clean. Perfectly.

RIP.

------
sbmassey
"But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone

I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song"

One of the greats.

------
RickHull

        Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld
        So I can sigh eternally

------
dennispi
I can't think of a better, more appropriate Cohen cover:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-qkr4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-qkr4)

------
ertand
Hallelujah was the first dance song at our wedding. RIP.

~~~
bestham
I feel with you. I was born into this world with Leonard Cohen in the
background. Still "the Captain" make my mother feel in a very special way that
I cannot relate to.

A relative of mine did interviews with both Cohen and Marianne Ihlen (the
Marianne from his song)[1].

Cohen has a special place in my heart, his humor, darkness, humbleness[2] and
poetic aide is for me very inspirational and aspirational and the thought of
him make me choose life when I get depressed.

[1]:
[https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/marianne2006.html](https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/marianne2006.html)

[2]: [https://youtu.be/VIR5ps8usuo](https://youtu.be/VIR5ps8usuo)

------
goffley3
Sad day. The year of the great dead continues.

------
matt4077
Fuck this year.

At least he lived the most graceful life. Having only ever known him in the
last 20 years, it seems as if he started as an old man, and died young.

------
avitzurel
Rest in peace.

------
fnj
Hallelujah!

------
libeclipse
Hallelujah, hallelujah.

------
youdontknowtho
God damn it.

------
t1m
I am reeling.

Leonard's music had an uncanny sense of timing, both musical and cultural. He
referenced the external, political world, indirectly - not through selfishly
inward bullshit, like many of his contemporaries, but by sifting it through
relationships with others and his relationship to the divine.

As I am writing this, the next article in hackernews is about Peter Thiel and
his ascension to whatever office he is seeking in Trump's cabinet. His views
on the damage women and minorities have done to Libertarianism (whatever that
is), and how democracy is shit are well known, and I will let you judge how
Palantir has benefited humanity.

The thing that gets me is his straight faced desire for immortality. Note that
he doesn't wish for immortality for someone who is great, he wishes it for
himself.

RIP Leonard. You already are immortal.

~~~
yarou
Way to use someone's death for political purposes. Aren't you ashamed of
yourself? (Note to mods: trying to be really civil here, but come on!)

~~~
noir_lord
He was merely demonstrating the contrast between two people and doing so
politely and in an eloquent way, whether you agree with him or not why should
the mods be involved? And why should he be ashamed of himself/herself..

~~~
yarou
He was using a man's death as a soapbox to criticize Thiel's political
leanings. If you don't find that problematic, I'm not sure what to tell you.

~~~
exodust
I think you're both right. Which means best to leave it alone and move on
IMHO. The first sentence of his post about Cohen is nicely put, "uncanny
timing" and all that. Then he spoiled it with a whiny point on politics.

Cohen said something funny about his time spent meditating at a zen buddhist
monastery in the hills. He said of the experience that "on a superficial level
it basically gets you to stop whining"..."it makes whining the least
appropriate response to suffering".*

* From his last interview, audio here: [http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/leonard-cohen-...](http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/leonard-cohen-a-final-interview)

------
daveheq
I didn't know Leonard Cohen was a hacker. Wait, does he happen to be popular
among hackers?

~~~
the_fury
By the responses I would say yes, yes he was.

