A talented Canadian writer, poet, singer and artist
on this page ....
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What relevance does Leonard Cohen have to New York or Central Park (and therefore B&B)?
You might be surprised.
Late in the evening of July 21, 1967 (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm), Leonard Cohen took the stage in his first public performance.
The event was the Rheingold Music Festival, held at the Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park.
It ran several nights a week over June, July and August, featuring 82 jazz, blues and folk artists.
Cohen is billed with Judy Collins, but was introduced by Joni Mitchell.
Both singers helped launch his career.
Read more about the festival HERE
Leonard Cohen's poetry and songs speak to all of us.
They naturally resonate with fans of B&B too ...
| Dance Angie |
In
Streams of Light Cindy Rae |
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"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'"
(First words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada -1992)
There's no doubt he deserved awards for his many wonderful, immortal poems turned to song ...
Suzanne (1967)
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Hey,
That's No Way to Say Goodbye (1967)
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So
Long Marianne (1968)
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Bird on the Wire
(1979)
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First
We Take Manhattan (1986)
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Dance
Me to the End of Love (1988)
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Hallelujah (1991)
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Democracy
(1992)
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A
Thousand Kisses Deep (1998)
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from another Canadian, Nancy White, a tongue-in-cheek tribute to
Leonard Cohen from 1990 "Leonard Cohen's Never Gonna Bring My Groceries In"
She also wrote a slightly more serious song ... GET DOWN OFFA THAT! Nancy White wrote this song for the CBC Radio One Birthday special and performed it on Leonard's 65th birthday on September 21, 1999. Oh, Leonard's up the mountain now He's in some monastery So, damn it all He's more than ever Out of reach to me But, hey, what could I say To a wise old monk like that Hey, Leonard, does this robe make me look fat Oh, Leonard's up the mountain now He rises before dawn But even though he's far away He's not really gone I see him in The Globe and Mail I see him on TV As yet another hapless video crew Goes panting up the path to Mt. Baldy And we catch him in the kitchen Washing out his humble bowl As he tries to purge his body Of the nights of rock 'n' roll And ladies all around the world say "We don't mind the Zen" But, Leonard, let your hair grow long again It seems to me the world has lots of monks and meditators And some come up with brand-new thoughts And some are just translators But what the world needs now is Leonard Cohen as he was 'Cause nobody loves women truly madly deeply Like our Leonard does Oh, Leonard, how we crave your love We're waiting at some station Pretending we're the ones receiving your sweet admiration We're not religious but if you walked in we'd say, "Amen" But, Leonard, let your hair grow long again And for the record from The Sisters Happy, holy, sacred, awesome birthday, Brother Len ~ |
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| Recitation You came to me this morning and you handled me like meat. You’d have to be a man to know how good that feels, how sweet. My mirrored twin, my next of kin, I’d know you in my sleep and who but you would take me in, a thousand kisses deep. I loved you when you opened like a lily to the heat, you see I’m just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet, who loved you with his frozen love, his second hand physique, with all he is, and all he was, A thousand kisses deep. I know you had to lie to me, I know you had to cheat, to pose all hot and high behind the veils of shear deceit, our perfect porn aristocrat so elegant and cheap, I’m old but I’m still into that, A thousand kisses deep. I’m good at love, I’m good at hate, it' s in between I freeze. Been working out, but its too late, it’s been to late for years. But you look good, you really do, they love you on the street. If you were here I’d kneel for you, a thousand kisses deep. The autumn moved across your skin, got something in my eye, a light that doesn’t need to live, and doesn’t need to die. A riddle in the book of love, obscure and obsolete, till witnessed here in time and blood, A thousand kisses deep. And I'm still working with the wine, still dancing cheek to cheek, the band is playing Auld Lang Syne, but the heart will not retreat. I ran with Diz and I sang with Ray, I never had their sweep, but once or twice they let me play A thousand kisses deep. I loved you when you opened like a lily to the heat, you see, I'm just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet, who loved you with his frozen love, his second hand physique, with all he is, and all he was, A thousand kisses deep. But you don’t need to hear me now, and every word I speak, it counts against me anyhow, A thousand kisses deep. ~ Listen to the audio HERE |
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In 1966, Leonard Cohen visited
the 92nd Street Y in New York City to read
several poems and perform one song that would become an all-time
classic. In this excerpt, Cohen reads two poems – “For E.J.P” and “You Have the Lovers”
– and performs “The
Stranger Song,” which became popular in 1967, with the
release of Cohen’s debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'.
Listen
to the recording HERE
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| I Have Not Lingered In European
Monasteries (from "The Spice-Box of Earth") I have not lingered In European monasteries and discovered among the tall grasses tombs of knights who fell as beautifully as their ballads tell; I have not parted the grasses or purposefully left them thatched. I have not held my breath so that I might hear the breathing of God or tamed my heartbeat with an exercise, or starved for visions. Although I have watched him often I have not become the heron, leaving my body on the shore, and I have not become the luminous trout, leaving my body in the air. I have not worshipped wounds and relics, or combs of iron, or bodies wrapped and burnt in scrolls. I have not been unhappy for ten thousands years. During the day I laugh and during the night I sleep. My favourite cooks prepare my meals, my body cleans and repairs itself, and all my work goes well. ~ |
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| You Want it Darker (2016) | Closing Time (1992) | Everybody Knows |
| Sound of Silence (reading Paul Simon) | Chelsea Hotel (Elegy for Janis Joplin) (1967) | The Gypsy's Wife (for Natalie Wood) |
In 2014, a wedding ceremony in Oldcastle, Ireland, featured a singing pastor who adapated his own version of Cohen's Hallelujah. Watch the video HERE |
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The last interview, September 2016, with David Remnick of The New Yorker, HERE |
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| Official Site | Concordance |
| Wikipedia | |
| Cohencentric | |
| A poignant
closing commentary comes from
Maclean's magazine, a Canadian publication which often
featured him. This article is about the production of his last album, "You Want it Darker" released in September 2016. Read it HERE Browse the Maclean's archive on Leonard Cohen HERE |
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