RIP Leonard Cohen
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twcc
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RIP Leonard Cohen
Just heard the sad news that we've lost an incredible talent
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Phantom Turnip
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Re: RIP Leonard Cohen
Although I didn't personally know his music, I acknowledge the massive influence he's had over the musical world. This will be a big loss.
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PooF
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Re: RIP Leonard Cohen
He understood and expressed and communicated the human condition.
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Hudini
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Re: RIP Leonard Cohen
Coincidentally I found out about his music very early in my life and have been following his work for more than two decades. The last several years of his career were one of the most prolific periods of his musical activity, so one might say he went out in a blast. How befitting. There is hardly a chance popular music will ever have a poet like that. May he rest in peace.
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moodyblue
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Re: RIP Leonard Cohen
His live shows rarely if ever got out of 1st gear but they were completely unique events.
I cannot think of a concert that compares.
'Captivating' probably best describes his live shows.
His keyboard solo on 'Tower Of Song' for me has to be one of the quirkiest I have ever heard.
One cannot deny that voice was so original and had a quality all of its own.
I wondered when Leonard would depart this planet for the stars and his beautiful note to his dying Marianne probably says he knew it wouldn't be long. Below is that letter.
Leonard Cohen Penned Letter to 'So Long, Marianne' Muse Before Her Death
"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," poet writes
Leonard Cohen penned an emotional final letter to Marianne Ihlen (left), his muse for "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," days before her death. James Burke/The LIFE Picture Collection
By Daniel Kreps
August 7, 2016
Leonard Cohen penned an emotional final letter to Marianne Ihlen, the woman who inspired his "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," just days before her July 29th death, Ihlen's friend Jan Christian Mollestad revealed to the CBC.
Related
Leonard Cohen Dead at 82
Hugely influential singer and songwriter's work spanned nearly 50 years
According to Mollestad, after he informed Cohen of Ihlen's looming death from leukemia, the legendary singer-songwriter-poet responded two hours later with a "beautiful" letter, which Mollestad then read to Ihlen.
"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," Mollestad told the CBC of Cohen's letter.
"'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.'"
Two days later, Ihlen "lost consciousness and slipped into death," Mollestad said. Her funeral was held Friday in her native Oslo, Norway.
Cohen met Ihlen in the Sixties while vacationing on the Greek Island in Hydra; he ultimately invited her and her infant son to live with him in Montreal. Ihlen and Cohen remained together for the next seven years, with their relationship serving as Cohen's inspiration for Songs of Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" and Songs From a Room's "Bird on the Wire."
Cohen's verified Facebook page also remembered Ihlen with a series of written tributes from her friends and Cohen biographers as well as a letter Mollestad wrote to Cohen informing the singer of Ihlen's death.
"Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her. It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength," Mollestad wrote.
"In her last hour I held her hand and hummed 'Bird on a Wire,' while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left he room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words: So long, Marianne."
I cannot think of a concert that compares.
'Captivating' probably best describes his live shows.
His keyboard solo on 'Tower Of Song' for me has to be one of the quirkiest I have ever heard.
One cannot deny that voice was so original and had a quality all of its own.
I wondered when Leonard would depart this planet for the stars and his beautiful note to his dying Marianne probably says he knew it wouldn't be long. Below is that letter.
Leonard Cohen Penned Letter to 'So Long, Marianne' Muse Before Her Death
"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," poet writes
Leonard Cohen penned an emotional final letter to Marianne Ihlen (left), his muse for "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," days before her death. James Burke/The LIFE Picture Collection
By Daniel Kreps
August 7, 2016
Leonard Cohen penned an emotional final letter to Marianne Ihlen, the woman who inspired his "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," just days before her July 29th death, Ihlen's friend Jan Christian Mollestad revealed to the CBC.
Related
Leonard Cohen Dead at 82
Hugely influential singer and songwriter's work spanned nearly 50 years
According to Mollestad, after he informed Cohen of Ihlen's looming death from leukemia, the legendary singer-songwriter-poet responded two hours later with a "beautiful" letter, which Mollestad then read to Ihlen.
"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," Mollestad told the CBC of Cohen's letter.
"'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.'"
Two days later, Ihlen "lost consciousness and slipped into death," Mollestad said. Her funeral was held Friday in her native Oslo, Norway.
Cohen met Ihlen in the Sixties while vacationing on the Greek Island in Hydra; he ultimately invited her and her infant son to live with him in Montreal. Ihlen and Cohen remained together for the next seven years, with their relationship serving as Cohen's inspiration for Songs of Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" and Songs From a Room's "Bird on the Wire."
Cohen's verified Facebook page also remembered Ihlen with a series of written tributes from her friends and Cohen biographers as well as a letter Mollestad wrote to Cohen informing the singer of Ihlen's death.
"Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her. It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength," Mollestad wrote.
"In her last hour I held her hand and hummed 'Bird on a Wire,' while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left he room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words: So long, Marianne."
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Wolfpack
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Re: RIP Leonard Cohen
Don't believe everything you read.
Leonard Cohen will never die.
Another of my favorite Cohen albums is 'New Skin for the Old Ceremony' (1974).
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne (Live 1972) (funny improvisation)
Short clip of Leonard forgetting the words to Suzanne,
apols for poor picture quality. From Bird on a Wire, 1972. (6 of 10)
At 0:41 begins a funny sing-a-long improvisation:
"Yes, I'm the man who wrote Suzanne
A hundred years ago"
Leonard Cohen will never die.
Just for a beginning, listen to his debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967).Phantom Turnip wrote:Although I didn't personally know his music, I acknowledge the massive influence he's had over the musical world.
Another of my favorite Cohen albums is 'New Skin for the Old Ceremony' (1974).
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne (Live 1972) (funny improvisation)
Short clip of Leonard forgetting the words to Suzanne,
apols for poor picture quality. From Bird on a Wire, 1972. (6 of 10)
At 0:41 begins a funny sing-a-long improvisation:
"Yes, I'm the man who wrote Suzanne
A hundred years ago"