Marking the Three Year Anniversary of Leonard Cohen's Death
- hottubsandskeletons
- Nov 6, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 7, 2019
Leonard Cohen was a brilliant poet and musician who died November 7 of 2016. He was born into a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada, and they originally encouraged him to write at a very young age. From that, his career blossomed into the beautiful work he left behind for us to enjoy, no matter what form it took.
One noticeable attribute to Cohen’s work was his lust for women, which led him to pick up the guitar when he was thirteen. He soon formed a country trio called The Buckskin Boys. They mostly performed at high school events, church basements, and barn dances, but the group did not last long due to Cohen’s passion being mostly focused on his poetry.
He attended McGill University to study English, and within the first year of Cohen graduating, he published his first collection, Let Us Compare Mythologies. Though it received many good reviews, it didn’t begin his career quite yet.
Cohen continued to write many more poetry collections, and it did gather attention, but he still felt that he could not make a living off of writing alone, so he took music up once again. Many agents greatly encouraged him to not pursue becoming a performer, but one of them had caught sight of Cohen, Judy Collins, and thought very differently than the rest. She had recognized him in his early thirties, and she helped his career by setting him up with shows, as well as releasing covers of some of his songs, such as “Suzanne”, to help him spread his songs more than he could by himself.
In attendance to one of his shows was John Hammond, an A&R representative. This quickly led to him being signed to Columbia Records, and after a year of working with them, Cohen released his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1967. This record helped him collect an even larger following than before, and it only grew bigger from there.
Cohen’s most well-known song,“Hallelujah”, was released in 1984 on Various Positions. This legendary song has been covered by hundreds, deeply touching people with his outstandingly well-written lyrics.
Towards the end of his life, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, and in 2010 he received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
Top Five Songs By Leonard Cohen:
Suzanne
“Suzanne” was released in his first album and was one of the songs that launched his musical career. It was originally a poem Cohen wrote in 1966 , but Judy Collins loved it so much, she helped him turn it into a song. His inspiration for this poem was a non-romantic relationship with Suzanne Verdal. Cohen portrayed it as if she were the one going after him, saying that he has “no love to give her”, but during an interview with Verdal in 2006, she states that he was the one yearning for her. They never had a sexual relationship, and Cohen had only imagined being with her, as he claimed during a separate interview in 1994. After the song’s popularity, they had only encountered each other twice. Even though the lyrical content is not historically accurate, it is still a beautiful, melancholy song talking about his struggle with love and longing.
Hallelujah
Cohen’s background of studying the Old Testament and Jewish theology when he was a child emerged when he wrote this broken love song, which is one of the most defining characteristics in his writing. The deep octave when Cohen sings brings heavy emotion to the listener, allowing them to connect with the song more intensely. The song tells a story of how Cohen’s thoughts still linger on his lost love, full of guilt and sorrow, yet trying to find some inner peace. The other aspect behind the writing was his search to become more invested in his faith. This song was sort of a way for him to get back to his religious roots with enthusiasm.
I’m Your Man
This song is one of his more cheerier sounding songs, starting off with a jazz-like violin fill and soft drums. Though the instrumental aspect is on the happier side, the lyrics contradict it. Cohen writes about his devotion and regret. Devotion towards a woman that is overbearing for him to take, and regret when he realizes that he doesn’t have the ability to give all his love to just one person. He brings up a few of his common themes within the song, such as “the beast” and "the moon", that help deliver his message in a more poetic way.
Famous Blue Raincoat
Starting with a protracted guitar, played by Cohen himself, “Famous Blue Raincoat” continues with the idea of love, and was written in the format of a letter describing a love triangle with a woman by the name of Jane, “my brother, my killer”, and Cohen himself. Many think the “famous blue raincoat” belonged to a lover (or ex lover), but he actually stole the Burberry coat in 1959 in London. Cohen had restyled it to make it more personal to him, by adding some leather and taking out the lining of the coat.
So Long, Marianne
“So Long, Marianne” was written about a woman he met on Hydra Island by the name of Marianne Jenson. She had just been left by her husband, leaving her with their infant son, but Cohen swooped in to take them under his wing. Both Marianne and the child moved in with him in Norway, and they lived together throughout the 1960s. Marianne inspired a very large amount of Cohen’s work, which made it so much more difficult to know that his long-time lover died on July 26, 2019 in Oslo, Norway. Cohen had written her a letter a few days before her passing: “Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine...Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road." Three months after her death, Cohen had gracefully followed in her footsteps.
A Few Honorable Mentions Worth a Listen:
Bird on the Wire (Songs From a Room)
Dance Me to the End of Love (Various Positions)
Anthem (The Future)
Chelsea Hotel #2 (New Skin For the Old Ceremony)
Winter Lady (Songs of Leonard Cohen)
Happens to the Heart (Happens to the Heart)
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