Leonard Norman Cohen, (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in
MontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Famously reclusive, having once spent several years in a
Zen BuddhistZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique, he is extremely well regarded by
criticA critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.
Musically, Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album,
Songs of Leonard CohenSongs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen. It foreshadowed the future path of his career, with less success in the United States and far better in Europe, reaching #83 on the Billboard chart but achieving gold status only in 1989, while it reached #13 in UK and...
) were rooted in European folk music. In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop,
cabaretCabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
and world music. Since the 1980s, his high baritone voice has dipped into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from a wide variety of instruments and female backup singers.
Over 2,000 renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded. Cohen has been inducted into both the
Canadian Music Hall of FameThe Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The ceremony is held each year as part of the Juno Award ceremonies. Members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame represent many of the world's great talents...
and the
Canadian Songwriters Hall of FameThe Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their Hall of Fame within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have made a significant contribution with respect to...
and is also a Companion of the
Order of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the American
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
on 10 March 2008,
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."
From May 2008 to December 2010, Cohen was on the major comeback world tour, the biggest in his musical career, giving 246 shows in Europe, Australia, Canada, Israel and United States. The highly successful tour was followed with two live albums,
Live in LondonLive in London is a live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Released March 31, 2009, it is his eighteenth album, and his first live release since Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 in 2001. It is Cohen's first full concert show release as well as his first released DVD...
and
Songs from the RoadSongs from the Road is a live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Released September 14, 2010. It is his twentieth album.-Track listing:-Charts:-Certifications:...
in both audio and DVD versions, and with many reissues, unauthorised releases of album compilations, DVDs, biographies and books reprints, and as well many international translations of his books and international awards and nominations (such as
Grammy Lifetime Achievement AwardThe Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
,
Meteor Music AwardsThe Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
in Ireland,
Porin AwardPorin is Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Musicians Union, Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatian Composers' Society.-Lifetime Achievement Award:...
in Croatia,
Songwriters Hall of FameThe Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
, Polaris Music Prize, and
Mojo Honours ListsThe MOJO Awards is an awards ceremony that began in 2004 by Mojo, a popular music magazine published monthly by Bauer in the United Kingdom...
). In 2011 he received the
Glenn Gould PrizeThe Glenn Gould Prize is an international award bestowed by the Glenn Gould Foundation in memory of noted Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. It is awarded every third year to a living individual in recognition of his/her contributions to music and communication....
and Spain's
Prince of AsturiasThe Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
award.
In August 2011 Cohen finished his new studio album, titled
Old Ideas, which is set for a January 31, 2012 release.
Early life
CohenCohen is a Jewish surname of biblical origins . It is a very common Jewish surname, comparable to 'Smith' in an English-language context....
was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother, of
Lithuanian JewishLithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
ancestry, emigrated from
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
while his great-grandfather emigrated from
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. He grew up in Westmount on the
Island of MontrealThe Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....
. His grandfather was
Lyon CohenLyon Cohen was a Jewish Canadian publisher, businessman and a philanthropist.In 1897, Cohen co-founded with Samuel William Jacobs, the Canadian Jewish Times, the first English language Jewish newspaper in Canada, and was president of the Jewish Colonization Association in Canada.He was elected the...
, founding president of the
Canadian Jewish CongressThe Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a
KohenA Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....
, Cohen has said that, "I had a very
MessianicA messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of
AaronIn the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
, the high priest." Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of
Federico Garcia LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
. As a teenager, he learned to play the
guitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and formed a
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-folk group called the Buckskin Boys.
Poetry and novels
In 1951, Cohen enrolled at
McGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, where he became president of the
McGill Debating UnionThe Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate is the national organization which governs all competitive university debating and public speaking in Canada. It sanctions several official annual tournaments and represents Canadian debating domestically and abroad...
and won the Chester MacNaughton Prize for Creative Writing for a group of poems. He graduated in 1955 with a B.A. degree. His literary influences during this time included
William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
,
Irving LaytonIrving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies. As T...
,
Walt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
,
Federico Garcia LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
and
Henry MillerHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
. His first published book of
poetryPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
,
Let Us Compare MythologiesLet Us Compare Mythologies is the first poetry book by Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Written in 1956, shortly after Cohen left McGill University where he studied English literature, it was first published as part of the McGill Poetry Series operated by Louis Dudek. In 2007, the book...
(1956), was published by
Louis DudekLouis Dudek, OC was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books...
(who taught poetry at McGill and was a mentor to Cohen) as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student. The book contained "poems written largely when Cohen was between the ages of fifteen and twenty," and Cohen dedicated the book to his late father. The famous and influential Canadian literary critic
Northrop FryeHerman Northrop Frye, was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century....
wrote a review of the book in which he gave Cohen "restrained praise."
After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and then a year (1956-7) at the School of General Studies at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Cohen described his graduate school experience as "passion without flesh, love without climax". Consequently, Cohen left New York and returned to Montreal in 1957, working various odd jobs and focusing on the writing of fiction and poetry, including the poems for his next book,
The Spice-Box of EarthThe Spice-Box of Earth is Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen's second collection of poetry. It was first published in 1961 by McClelland and Stewart. The book brought the then 27 year-old poet a measure of early literary acclaim...
(1961), which was the first book that Cohen published through the Canadian publishing company McClelland & Stewart. Fortunately, his father's will provided him with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions for the time, and
The Spice-Box of Earth was successful in helping to expand the audience for Cohen poetry, helping him reach out to the poetry scene in Canada, outside the confines of McGill University. The book also helped Cohen gain critical recognition as an important new voice in Canadian poetry. One of Cohen's biographers,
Ira NadelIra B. Nadel is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He received his BA & MA from Rutgers University and his PhD. from Cornell University...
, stated that "reaction to the finished book was enthusiastic and admiring. . .[noting that] the critic
Robert WeaverRobert Weaver was an influential Canadian editor and broadcaster.Born in Niagara Falls and educated at the University of Toronto, Weaver served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II...
found it powerful and declared that Cohen was 'probably the best young poet in English Canada right now.'"
Cohen continued to write poetry and fiction throughout much of the 1960s and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances after he bought a house on Hydra, a Greek island. While living and writing on Hydra, Cohen published the poetry collection
Flowers for HitlerFlowers for Hitler is Canadian poet Leonard Cohen's third collection of poetry, first published in 1964 by McClelland and Stewart. Like other artworks regarding Adolf Hitler as a subject, it was somewhat controversial in its day...
(1964), and the novels
The Favourite GameThe Favourite Game is the first novel by Leonard Cohen. It was first published by Secker and Warburg in the fall of 1963.In 1959, Cohen was awarded a $2,000 Canada Council grant, which he used to live cheaply in London and on the Greek island of Hydra while he wrote the novel, then titled Beauty at...
(1963) and
Beautiful LosersBeautiful Losers is a novel by Leonard Cohen. Published in 1966 by McClelland and Stewart, it was the Canadian novelist-poet's second novel, and precedes his career as a singer-songwriter...
(1966). His novel
The Favourite Game is an autobiographical
bildungsromanIn literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
about a young man who discovers his identity through writing.
Beautiful Losers received a good deal of attention from the Canadian press and stirred up controversy because of a number of sexually graphic passages. In 1966 Cohen also published
Parasites of Heaven, a book of poems. Both
Beautiful Losers and
Parasites of Heaven received mixed reviews and sold few copies.
Subsequently, Cohen published less, with major gaps, concentrating more on recording songs. In 1978, he published his major book of poetry and prose
Death of a Lady's Man, and in 1984
Book of Mercy, which won him the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry. The book contains 50 pieces of poetic prose, influenced by the Bible, Torah, and Zen-Buddhist writings. Although cited as "contemporary psalms", Cohen himself referred to the pieces as "prayers".
In 1993, Cohen published
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, and in 2006, after 10 years of delays, additions and rewritings,
Book of LongingBook of Longing is the first new poetry book by Leonard Cohen since 1984's Book of Mercy. First published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart, Book of Longing contains 167 previously unpublished poems and drawings, mostly written at a Zen monastery on Mount Baldy in California, where Cohen lived from...
. During late 1990s and 2000s, many of his poems were first published on his fan website The Leonard Cohen Files
Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."
In 2011 Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for literature.
1960s and 1970s
In 1967, disappointed with his lack of financial success as a writer, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer-songwriter. During the 1960s, he was a fringe figure in
Andy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's "Factory" crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to
NicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style. His song "
Suzanne"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen in the 1960s, and often heard in a recording by Judy Collins. It has become one of the most-covered songs in Cohen's catalogue....
" became a hit for
Judy CollinsJudith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
and was for many years his most covered song. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
representative
John H. HammondJohn Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
. At this time, Cohen recorded at least one demo acetate (for
Asylum RecordsAsylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
or some subsidiary of
PolygramPolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
), supported by his close companion at the time,
Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
.
Cohen's first album was
Songs of Leonard CohenSongs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen. It foreshadowed the future path of his career, with less success in the United States and far better in Europe, reaching #83 on the Billboard chart but achieving gold status only in 1989, while it reached #13 in UK and...
(1967). Although Hammond was originally supposed to produce the record, he became sick and was replaced by the producer
John SimonJohn Simon is an American musician, record producer, and composer. He is best known for his work with The Band as producer and musician on Music from Big Pink and The Band.-Biography:...
. Unfortunately, Simon and Cohen clashed over instrumentation and mixing. Cohen wanted the album to have a spare sound, but Simon felt that the songs could benefit from arrangements that included strings and horns. According to biographer Ira Nadel, although Cohen was able to make changes to the mix, some of Simon's additions "couldn't be removed from the four-track master tape." Nevertheless, the album became a cult favorite in the US, as well as in the UK, where it spent over a year on the album charts. Several of the songs on that first album were covered by other popular folk artists, including
James TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, and Judy Collins. Cohen followed up that first album with
Songs from a RoomSongs from a Room is the second album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen, released in 1969. It reached #63 on the Billboard list and #2 at UK charts....
(1969) (featuring the often-recorded "
Bird on the Wire"Bird on the Wire" is one of Leonard Cohen's signature songs. It was recorded 26 September 1968 in Nashville and included on his 1969 album Songs from a Room. A May 1968 recording produced by David Crosby, entitled "Like a Bird", was added to the 2007 remastered CD...
") and
Songs of Love and HateSongs of Love and Hate is Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's third album. It was mainly recorded in Columbia Studio A, Nashville, from September 22 to 26, 1970. "Sing Another Song, Boys" was recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970. Further recording took place at ...
(1970). Both of these albums were produced in Nashville by famed producer
Bob JohnstonDonald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...
, who helped Cohen achieve the sparer sound that he'd been after on his first album; Johnston also joined Cohen on two subsequent live tours, playing organ and piano.
In 1970, Cohen toured for the first time, with dates in the United States, Canada and Europe, and appeared at the
Isle of Wight FestivalThe Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
. He toured again in Europe and Israel in 1972 with some of the same band-mates, including
Charlie DanielsCharles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...
and his producer
Bob JohnstonDonald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...
. Both tours were represented on the
Live Songs LP, while
Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 is a combo CD/DVD live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Released October 19, 2009, it is his nineteenth album...
was released in 2009. The 1972 tour was also filmed by
Tony PalmerTony Palmer is an American football guard in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. The former University of Missouri guard who was selected by the St. Louis Rams. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers after being cut in the 2006 preseason by St. Louis...
; the film
Bird on a Wire (with which Cohen was unhappy) was shown re-cut under Cohen's guidance in 1974, but released only in 2010, reconstructed according to Palmer's original version.
In 1971, Cohen's music was used in the soundtrack to
Robert Altman'sRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
film
McCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
. When Cohen was on a stay in Nashville, Altman phoned to ask permission to use some tracks off
Songs of Leonard Cohen. Coincidentally, earlier that same day, Cohen had seen Altman's then-current film
Brewster McCloudBrewster McCloud is a 1970 movie, directed by Robert Altman, about a young recluse who lives in a fallout shelter of the Houston Astrodome, where he is building a pair of wings so he can fly. He is helped by his fairy godmother, played by Sally Kellerman....
in a local theater. He hadn't paid attention to the credits so when Altman asked permission to use Cohen's songs in his new film, Cohen had to ask him who he was. Altman mentioned his hit film
MASHMASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...
, but Cohen had never heard of it. When Altman mentioned his lesser-known
Brewster McCloud, Cohen replied, "Listen, I just came out of the theater. I saw it twice. You can have anything of mine you want!"
Beginning around 1974, Cohen's collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by the critics. They toured together in 1974 in Europe, and in US and Canada in late 1974 and early 1975, in support of Cohen's record
New Skin for the Old Ceremony. In late 1975 Cohen performed a short series of shows in the US and Canada with a new band, in support of his
Best OfThe Best of Leonard Cohen is a greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1975. In some territories, it is also known as Greatest Hits...
release, and also tried out the new songs from his and Lissauer's follow-up to
New Skin for the Old Ceremony, an abandoned album entitled "Songs for Rebecca". Songs from that project were later reworked for
Death of a Ladies' Man and
Recent Songs albums. None of the recordings from the three live tours with John Lissauer were ever officially released.
In 1976 Cohen, now without Lissauer, embarked on a new major European tour, with a new band and major changes in his sound and arrangements, again, in support of his
The Best of Leonard CohenThe Best of Leonard Cohen is a greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1975. In some territories, it is also known as Greatest Hits...
release (in Europe retitled as
Greatest Hits). One of the band members was
Laura BraniganLaura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
, and the set-list included unreleased songs "Everybody's Child" (a.k.a. "Blessed Is the Memory") and "Storeroom" (both released as bonus tracks to 2007 reissue of
Songs of Leonard CohenSongs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen. It foreshadowed the future path of his career, with less success in the United States and far better in Europe, reaching #83 on the Billboard chart but achieving gold status only in 1989, while it reached #13 in UK and...
), and the new song "Do I Have to Dance All Night?", which remains unreleased. From April to July, Cohen gave 55 shows, including his first appearance at the famous
Montreux Jazz FestivalThe Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
.
After the European tour of 1976, Cohen again attempted a new change in his style and arrangements - his new 1977 record,
Death of a Ladies' ManDeath of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged completely, by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included multiple...
(one year later, in 1978, Cohen also released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title,
Death of a Lady's Man), was co-written and produced by
Phil SpectorPhillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, known as the inventor of the "
wall of soundThe Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...
" technique, which backs up pop music with many layers of instrumentation, an approach very different from Cohen's usually minimalist instrumentation. The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty—Spector reportedly mixed the album in secret studio sessions, and Cohen said Spector once threatened him with a crossbow. Cohen thought the end result "grotesque," but also "semi-virtuous." The record was released by Spector's label, Warner, and was returned to Columbia's Cohen catalogue in the late 1980s. Cohen did not take part in the album's promotion, but in his tours of 1979, 1980 and 1985, he performed two songs from the album, "Memories" and "Iodine". However, Cohen chose not to include any of the album's songs on his later compilations
More Best of Leonard CohenMore Best of Leonard Cohen is a collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 1997.Tracks are drawn from albums I'm Your Man and The Future , as well as the live album Cohen Live ....
and
The Essential Leonard CohenThe Essential Leonard Cohen is a career-spanning collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 2002. It is part of Sony BMG's The Essential series....
.
In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional
Recent SongsRecent Songs was the sixth studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1979. Produced by Henry Lewy and the artist himself, the album was a return to Cohen's acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector experimentation of Death of a Ladies' Man, but now with many jazz and Oriental influences.The album...
, which blended his acoustic style with jazz and Oriental and Mediterranean influences. Beginning with this record, praised in 2001 by Cohen as his favourite, Cohen began to co-produce his albums. Produced by Cohen and Henry Lewy (
Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's sound engineer),
Recent Songs included performances by Passenger, an Austin-based jazz-fusion band that met Cohen through Mitchell. The band helped Cohen create a new sound by featuring instruments like the
oudThe oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
, the Gypsy
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and the
mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. The album was supported by Cohen's major tour with the new band, and
Jennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
and Sharon Robinson on the backing vocals, in Europe in late 1979, and again in Australia, Israel and Europe in 1980. The tour was filmed by Harry Rasky as
The Song of Leonard Cohen, and the film was broadcast on television in 1980. Cohen also gave a couple of major TV appearances in 1979, including German's ZDF television. In 2000 Columbia released an album of live recordings of songs from the 1979 tour, entitled
Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 is a live album by Leonard Cohen released in 2001. Songs were recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on 4, 5, and December 6, 1979 and at the Dome Theatre, Brighton, on December 15, 1979...
; the album (with a different track list) was originally rejected by the label in 1980.
During 1970s, Cohen toured twice with
Jennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
as a back-up singer (in 1972 and 1979). Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums, receiving full co-vocals credit on Cohen's 1985 album
Various PositionsVarious Positions, the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, was released in December 1984 . It marked not only Cohen's turn to the modern sound and use of synthesizers , but also - after her work on harmonies and background vocals on the previous Recent Songs - an even greater contribution from...
(although the record was released under Cohen's name, the inside credits say "Vocals by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes"). In 1987, she recorded an album of Cohen songs,
Famous Blue RaincoatFamous Blue Raincoat is the sixth album by Jennifer Warnes. It debuted on the Billboard 200 on February 14, 1987 and peaked at No. 72. Originally released by Cypress Records, it was reissued by Private Music after Cypress went out of business....
.
1980s
In early 1980s, Cohen co-wrote the rock musical film
Night Magic with
Lewis FureyLewis Furey, born Lewis Greenblatt is a Canadian composer, singer, violinist, pianist, actor and director.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec to French and American parents, Furey trained as a classical violinist, and at age 11 performed as a soloist in the Matinées pour la jeunesse concert series...
, starring
Carole LaureCarole Laure is an actress and singer from the province of Quebec in Canada.-Career:Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met in 1977 and who later became her husband...
and
Nick MancusoNicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...
(voice-over by Furey); the LP was released in 1985. At that time, Cohen also worked on an unfinished album of his poetry recitations with producer Henry Lewy, before turning back to John Lissauer. Lissauer produced Cohen's next record
Various PositionsVarious Positions, the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, was released in December 1984 . It marked not only Cohen's turn to the modern sound and use of synthesizers , but also - after her work on harmonies and background vocals on the previous Recent Songs - an even greater contribution from...
, which was released in late 1984. The LP included "
Dance Me to the End of Love"Dance Me to the End of Love" is a 1984 song by Leonard Cohen. It was first performed by Cohen, on his 1984 album Various Positions. It has since been recorded by various artists, and has been described as "trembling on the brink of becoming a standard"....
", which was promoted by Cohen's first video clip, directed by French photographer Dominique Issermann, and the frequently covered "Hallelujah". Columbia declined to release the album in the United States. Cohen supported the release of the album with his biggest tour to date, in Europe and Australia, and with his first tour in Canada and United States since 1975. Anjani Thomas, who would become Cohen's partner, and a regular member of Cohen's recording team, joined his touring band. The band performed at the
Montreux Jazz FestivalThe Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
, and the
Roskilde FestivalRoskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
. They also gave a series of highly emotional and politically controversial concerts in Poland, which was under
martial lawMartial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
and performed Cohen's song "The Partisan," regarded as the hymn of the Polish Solidarity movement. During the 80s, almost all Cohen's songs were performed in Polish language by
Maciej ZembatyMaciej Zembaty was a Polish artist, writer, journalist, singer, poet and comedian. Despite being considered one of the classics of Polish black humour, he is perhaps best known as a translator and populariser of songs and poems by Leonard Cohen.- Life :Maciej Zembaty was born May 16, 1944 in...
.
In 1986, Cohen appeared in the episode "French Twist" of the TV series
Miami ViceMiami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
. In 1987,
Jennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
's tribute album
Famous Blue RaincoatFamous Blue Raincoat is the sixth album by Jennifer Warnes. It debuted on the Billboard 200 on February 14, 1987 and peaked at No. 72. Originally released by Cypress Records, it was reissued by Private Music after Cypress went out of business....
helped restore Cohen's career in the US. The following year he released
I'm Your Man, which marked a drastic change in his music.
SynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s ruled the album and Cohen's lyrics included more social commentary and dark humor. The album, self-produced by Cohen, remains one of Cohen's most acclaimed albums, and was promoted by iconic black and white video shot by Dominique Issermann at the beach of Normandy. Cohen supported the record with series of television interviews, and an extensive tour of Europe, Canada and US. Many shows were broadcast on European and US television and radio stations, while Cohen performed for the first time in his career on PBS's
Austin City LimitsAustin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
show; he also performed at the
Roskilde FestivalRoskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
again, among other dates. The tour gave the basic structure to typical Cohen's concert which he used in his tours in 1993, 2008–09 and 2010. The selection of performances from the late 1980s was released in 1994 on
Cohen LiveCohen Live is a live album by Leonard Cohen released in 1994.The songs were recorded live in 1988 and 1993. Several of the songs have altered lyrics, which are given as sung in the booklet.-Track listing:...
. None of the concerts was released in its entirety, although some were bootlegged. Parts of one of three
Royal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
concerts were used in
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
The Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen, which was released on laser disc and video tape.
1990s
The use of the album track "Everybody Knows" (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film
Pump Up the VolumePump Up the Volume is a 1990 comedy-drama film written and directed by Allan Moyle and starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.- Plot summary :...
helped expose Cohen's music to a younger audience. The song also featured prominently in fellow Canadian
Atom EgoyanAtom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...
's 1994 film,
ExoticaExotica is a 1994 Canadian film set primarily in and around the Exotica strip club in Toronto, Canada. It was written and directed by Atom Egoyan. Music used includes "Montagues and Capulets".-Synopsis:...
. In 1992, Cohen released
The Future, which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie
Natural Born KillersNatural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
, which helped Cohen to reach new US audience.
As with
I'm Your Man, the lyrics on the
The Future were dark, and made references to political and social unrest. The title track is reportedly a response to the
L.A. unrest of 1992The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
. Cohen promoted the album with two music videos, for "Closing Time" and "The Future", and supported the release with the major tour through Europe, United States and Canada, with the same band as in his 1988 tour, including a second appearance at the PBS's
Austin City LimitsAustin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
. Some of the Scandinavian shows were broadcast live on the radio. The selection of performances, mostly recorded on the Canadian leg of the tour, was released on 1994
Cohen LiveCohen Live is a live album by Leonard Cohen released in 1994.The songs were recorded live in 1988 and 1993. Several of the songs have altered lyrics, which are given as sung in the booklet.-Track listing:...
album, but none of the new songs from the album itself were included in the live album.
In 1993 Cohen also published his book of selected poems and songs,
Stranger Music, on which he had worked since 1989. It includes a number of new poems from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1997, Cohen oversaw the selection and release of
More Best of Leonard CohenMore Best of Leonard Cohen is a collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 1997.Tracks are drawn from albums I'm Your Man and The Future , as well as the live album Cohen Live ....
album, which included a previously unreleased track, "Never Any Good", and an experimental piece "The Great Event". The first was left over from Cohen's unfinished mid-1990s album, which was announced to include songs like "In My Secret Life" (already recited as song-in-progress in 1988) and "A Thousand Kisses Deep", both later re-worked with Sharon Robinson for 2001 album
Ten New SongsTen New Songs is Leonard Cohen's tenth studio album, released in 2001. It was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. She played all the instruments except Bob Metzger's guitar on 'In My Secret Life'...
.
In 1994, Cohen retreated to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles, beginning what became five years of seclusion at the center. In 1996, Cohen was ordained as a
RinzaiThe Rinzai school is , one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan...
Zen
BuddhistBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
monk and took the
DharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
name
Jikan, meaning "silence". He served as personal assistant to
Kyozan Joshu Sasaki RoshiKyozan Joshu Sasaki , Roshi is a Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher who has lived in the United States since 1962. Joshu Sasaki is the founder and head abbot of the Mount Baldy Zen Center, near Mount Baldy in California, and of the Rinzai-Ji order of affiliated Zen centers. As of , he is still actively...
. Japanese songwriter and poet Masato Tomobe stated he admires Cohen and this made him better recognized in Japan around this time.
Although around 2000 there was a public impression that Cohen would not resume recording or publishing, he returned to Los Angeles in May 1999. He began to contribute regularly to The Leonard Cohen Files fan website, emailing new poems and drawings from
Book of Longing and early versions of new songs, like "A Thousand Kisses Deep" in September 1998 and Anjani Thomas's story sent on May 6, 1999, the day they were recording "Villanelle for our Time" (released on 2004
Dear HeatherDear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....
album). The section of The Leonard Cohen Files with Cohen's online writings has been titled "The Blackening Pages".
Cohen is mentioned in the Nirvana song "
Pennyroyal Tea"Pennyroyal Tea" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. Featured on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero , it was initially scheduled to be released as the third single in April 1994...
" from the band's 1993 release,
In Utero. Kurt Cobain wrote, "Give me Leonard Cohen afterworld/ So I can sigh eternally." Cohen, after Cobain's suicide, was quoted as saying "I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the Zen Centre, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able to lay something on him."
Post-monastery records: Ten New Songs, Dear Heather and Anjani's Blue Alert
After two years of production, Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of
Ten New SongsTen New Songs is Leonard Cohen's tenth studio album, released in 2001. It was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. She played all the instruments except Bob Metzger's guitar on 'In My Secret Life'...
, featuring a heavy influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson. The album, recorded at Cohen's and Robinson's home studios, includes the song "Alexandra Leaving", a transformation of the poem "
The God Abandons Antony"The God Abandons Antony" is a poem by Constantine P. Cavafy, published in 1911. The poem refers to Plutarch's story of how Antony, besieged in Alexandria by Octavian, heard the sounds of instruments and voices of a procession making its way through the city, then passing out; the god Bacchus ,...
", by the Greek poet
Constantine P. CavafyConstantine P. Cavafy, also known as Konstantin or Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, or Kavaphes was a renowned Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant...
. The album was a major hit for Cohen in Canada and Europe, and he supported it with the hit single "In My Secret Life" and accompanying video shot by
Floria SigismondiFloria Sigismondi is an Italian, naturalised Canadian, photographer and director.Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning...
.
In October 2004, Cohen released
Dear HeatherDear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....
, largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse (and current romantic partner) Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returned to collaborate on three tracks (including a duet). As light as the previous album was dark,
Dear Heather reflects Cohen's own change of mood - he has said in a number of interviews that his
depressionDepression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
has lifted in recent years, which he attributed to Zen Buddhism. In an interview following his induction into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, Cohen explained that the album was intended to be a kind of notebook or scrapbook of themes, and that a more formal record had been planned for release shortly afterwards, but that this was put on ice by his legal battles with his ex-manager. He decided not to promote the album at all, but in 2005 he released a home video accompanying the song "Because Of", shot by his daughter Lorca Cohen, while there were no official album singles.
Blue AlertBlue Alert is a jazz album recorded by Anjani, girlfriend and longtime backing singer of iconic Canadian singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, who also produced the album and wrote the lyrics...
, an album of songs co-written by Anjani and Cohen, was released on 23 May 2006 to positive reviews. Sung by Anjani, who according to one reviewer "...sounds like Cohen reincarnated as woman...though Cohen doesn't sing a note on the album, his voice permeates it like smoke." The album includes a recent musical setting of Cohen's "As the mist leaves no scar", a poem originally published in
The Spice-Box of EarthThe Spice-Box of Earth is Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen's second collection of poetry. It was first published in 1961 by McClelland and Stewart. The book brought the then 27 year-old poet a measure of early literary acclaim...
in 1961 and adapted by
Phil SpectorPhillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
as "True Love Leaves No Traces" on
Death of a Ladies' ManDeath of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged completely, by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included multiple...
album.
Blue Alert also included Anjani's own version of "Nightingale", performed by her and Cohen on his
Dear Heather, as well the country song "Never Got to Love You", apparently made after an early demo version of Cohen's own 1992 song "Closing Time". During the 2010 tour, Cohen was closing his live shows with the performance of "Closing Time" which included the recitation of verses from "Never Got to Love You". The title song, "Blue Alert", and "Half the Perfect World" were covered by
Madeleine PeyrouxMadeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday....
on her 2006 album
Half the Perfect WorldHalf the Perfect World is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It was released on September 12, 2006. It peaked at #33 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and had sold 218,000 copies in the United States by December 2008....
, while the third covered song, "Crazy To Love You", was included in the albums Japanese edition.
Before embarking on his 2008-2010 world tour, and without finishing the new album which has been in work since 2006 (new song, "The Street", was recited by Cohen in 2006 on
KCRWKCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
radio, and he also played two new songs from demo tape, "Book of Longing" and "Puppets"), Cohen contributed few tracks to other artists' albums - new version of his own "Tower of Song" was performed by him, Anjani Thomas and
U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
in 2006 tribute film
Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man (the video and track were included on the film's soundtrack and released as B-side of U2's single "
Window in the Skies"Window in the Skies" is a song by rock band U2 and is one of two new songs featured on their 2006 compilation album U218 Singles. It was released on 1 January 2007 as the album's second single...
", reaching No 1 in
Canadian Singles ChartThe Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....
), in 2007 he recited "
The Sound of Silence"The Sound of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. An initial version preferred by the band was remixed and sweetened, and has become...
" on album
Tribute to Paul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
: Take Me to the Mardi Gras and "The Jungle Line" by
Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, accompanied by
Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
on piano, on Hancock's Grammy-winning album
River: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock...
, while in 2008 he recited the poem "Since You've Asked" on album
Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy CollinsJudith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
.
2005 bankruptcy
On 8 October 2005, Cohen alleged that his longtime former manager, Kelley Lynch, misappropriated over US $5 million from Cohen's retirement fund leaving only $150,000. Cohen was sued in turn by other former business associates. These events placed him in the public spotlight, including a cover feature on him with the headline "Devastated!" in Canada's
Maclean'sMaclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
magazine. In March 2006, Cohen won the civil suit and was awarded US $9 million by a Los Angeles County superior court. Lynch, however, ignored the suit and did not respond to a
subpoenaA subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
issued for her financial records. As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the awarded amount. In 2007, US. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed a claim by Cohen for more than US $4.5 million against Colorado investment firm Agile Group, and in 2008 he dismissed a defamation suit that Agile Group filed against Cohen. Cohen has been under new management since April 2005.
Book of Longing
Cohen's book of poetry and drawings,
Book of Longing, was published in May 2006; in March a
TorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based retailer offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders placed online. All 1500 sold within hours. The book quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. Around the time of the release, RJ Smith wrote an essay about Cohen in
Poetry magazinePoetry , published in Chicago, Illinois since 1912, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Published by the Poetry Foundation and currently edited by Christian Wiman, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000 and prints 300 poems per year out of approximately...
, in which he noted, "The pieces in
Book of Longing are casual, but never so casual that the old horndog doesn’t have muscle or bite." On 13 May 2006, Cohen made his first public appearance in thirteen years, at an in-store event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. He sang two of his earliest and best-known songs: "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", accompanied by the
Barenaked LadiesBarenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
and
Ron SexsmithRonald Eldon "Ron" Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario, currently based in Toronto. He started his own band when he was fourteen years old, and released the first recordings of his own material seven years later, in 1985...
. Also appearing with him was Anjani, the two promoting her new CD along with his book.
In 2006,
Philip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
composed music to Cohen's 2006 book of poetry
Book of LongingBook of Longing is the first new poetry book by Leonard Cohen since 1984's Book of Mercy. First published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart, Book of Longing contains 167 previously unpublished poems and drawings, mostly written at a Zen monastery on Mount Baldy in California, where Cohen lived from...
. Following the series of live performances which included Glass on keyboards, Cohen's recorded spoken text, four voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass-baritone), and other instruments, and as well the screenings of Cohen's artworks and drawings, Glass' label Orange Mountain Music released a double CD with the recording of the work, entitled
Book of Longing. A Song Cycle based on the Poetry and Artwork of Leonard Cohen.
2008 tour
13 January 2008, Cohen quietly announced a long-anticipated concert tour. The tour, Cohen's first in 15 years, began 11 May in Fredericton, NB to wide critical acclaim, and was extended until Winter of 2010. The schedule of the first leg in Summer of 2008 encompassed Canada and Europe, including performances at
The Big ChillThe Big Chill is an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August...
, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and on the Pyramid Stage at the 2008
Glastonbury FestivalThe Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
on 29 June 2008. His performance at Glastonbury was hailed by many as the highlight of the festival, and his performance of "Hallelujah" as the sun went down received a rapturous reception and a lengthy ovation from a packed Pyramid Stage field. He also played two shows in London's O2 Arena, and in Dublin he gave a "milestone concert", while in Dublin he was the first performer to play an open air concert at
IMMAImma is a large genus of moths in the family Immidae....
(Royal Hospital Kilmainham) ground, performing there on June 13, 14, and 15 2008. In 2009, the performances were awarded Ireland's
Meteor Music AwardThe Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
as the best international performance of the year.
In September, October and November 2008, Cohen gave a marathon tour of Europe, including stops in Austria, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia. In London, he played two more shows at the O2 Arena and two additional shows at the
Royal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
.
Live in London
On 21 March 2009, Cohen released
Live in London, recorded on 17 July 2008 at London's O2 Arena and released on DVD and as a two-CD set. The album contains 25 songs and is over two-and-a-half hours long. It was the first official DVD in Cohen's recording career. The quotation on the album referred to one hundred five-star reviews the tour gained in the international press in 2008.
2009 tour
The third leg of Cohen's World Tour 2008-2009 encompassed New Zealand and Australia from 20 January to 10 February 2009. In January 2009, The Pacific Tour first came to New Zealand. Simon Sweetman in The
Dominion PostThe Dominion Post is a metropolitan broadsheet newspaper published in Wellington, New Zealand, owned by the Australian Fairfax group, owners of The Age, Melbourne, and The Sydney Morning Herald.- Foundation :...
(Wellington) of 21 January wrote "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen." The
Sydney Entertainment CentreThe Sydney Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose venue, located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished to make way for a new railway. The centre is currently owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which administers...
show on 28 January sold out rapidly, which motivated promoters to announce a second show at the venue. The first performance was well-received, and the audience of 12,000 responded with five standing ovations. In response to hearing about the devastation to the Yarra Valley region of Victoria in Australia, Cohen donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by the extensive Black Saturday bushfires that razed the area just weeks after his performance at the Rochford Winery in the
A Day on the Green concert. Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported: "Tour promoter Frontier Touring said $200,000 would be donated on behalf of Cohen, fellow performer
Paul KellyPaul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
and Frontier to aid victims of the bushfires."
On 19 February 2009, Cohen played his first American concert in fifteen years at the Beacon Theatre in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The show, showcased as the special performance for fans, Leonard Cohen Forum members and press, was the only show in the whole three-year tour which was broadcast on the radio (NPR) and available as the free podcast.
The North American Tour of 2009 opened on 1 April and included the performance at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts FestivalThe Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
on Friday, 17 April 2009, in front of one of the largest outdoor theatre crowds in the history of the festival. His performance of
Hallelujah was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival, thus repeating the major success of the 2008 Glastonbury appearance. The performance has been included on 2010
Songs from the Road live release. During this leg, Cohen regularly performed new song, "Lullaby".
On 1 July 2009, Cohen started his marathon European tour, his third in two years. The itinerary mostly included sport arenas and open air Summer festivals in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Ireland (the show at O2 in Dublin won him the second
Meteor Music AwardThe Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
in a row), but also performances in Serbia in the
Belgrade ArenaThe Belgrade Arena is an indoor arena located in Novi Beograd, Belgrade. It is designed as a universal hall for sport, cultural events and other programs. With a total space that covers 48,000 square metres, and an official total capacity of 19,982 seats , it is one of the largest indoor arenas in...
, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and again in Romania. On 3 August, Cohen gave an open air show at the
Piazza San MarcoPiazza San Marco , is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi"...
in
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
On 18 September 2009, on the stage at a concert in Valencia, Spain, Cohen suddenly fainted halfway through performing his song "Bird on the Wire", the fourth in the two-act set list; Cohen was brought down backstage by his band members and then admitted to local hospital, while the concert was suspended. It was reported that Cohen had stomach problems, and possibly food poisoning. Three days later, on September 21, on his 75th birthday, he performed in Barcelona. The show, last in Europe in 2009 and rumoured to be the last European concert ever, attracted many international fans, who lighted the green candles honouring Cohen's birthday, leading Cohen to give a special speech of thanks for the fans and Leonard Cohen Forum.
The most controversial concert during the whole tour was the last concert of this leg, held in
Tel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, on September 24, three days after Cohen's 75th birthday, at
Ramat Gan Stadium. The event was surrounded by public discussion due to a cultural boycott of Israel proposed by a number of musicians. Nevertheless, tickets for the Tel Aviv concert, Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1980, sold out in less than 24 hours. It was announced that the proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict. However, on 17 August 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert and its proceeds. Amnesty International later stated that its withdrawal was not due to the boycott but "the lack of support from Israeli and Palestinian NGOs." The
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of IsraelThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals,including Lisa Taraki and Omar Barghouti....
(PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen was "intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel." On 24 September at the Ramat Gan concert, Cohen was highly emotional about the
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-Palestinian NGO Bereaved Families for Peace. He mentioned the organization twice, saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the
'Bereaved Parents for Peace'The Parents Circle-Families Forum is a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the conflict...
. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy. Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise." At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the
Priestly BlessingThe Priestly Blessing, , also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, , or Dukhanen , is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services...
, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim. Cohen's surname derives from this Hebrew word for priest, thus identifying him as a
KohenA Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....
.
The sixth leg of the 2008-2009 world tour went again to US, with fifteen shows in October and November, with the "final" show in
San JoseSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The final leg included two new songs, "Feels So Good" and "The Darkness". But at that point, Cohen's "World Tour 2010" was already announced with the European dates in March.
The 2009 world tour earned a reported $9.5 million, putting Cohen at number 39 on
Billboard magazine's list of the year's top musical "money makers."
Live releases
On 14 September 2010, Sony Music released a live CD/DVD album,
Songs from the Road, showcasing Cohen's 2008 and 2009 live performances. The previous year, Cohen's performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Music Festival was released as a CD/DVD combo. The DVD version included interviews with
Kris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
and others.
2010 tour
Cohen's 2008-2009 world tour was prolonged into 2010. Originally scheduled to start in March, the first dozen of the original European dates were postponed to September and October due to Cohen's lower-back injury. Officially billed as the "World Tour 2010", the tour started on 25 July 2010 in Arena Zagreb,
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, where in the week of the show 16 of Cohen's albums simultaneously entered the Croatian Top 40, while Cohen's work was presented by the translation of
Book of Mercy, two of Cohen's biographies, and with selection of poems in major literary magazine
Quorum, while there was also the translation of
Linda HutcheonLinda Hutcheon, O.C. is a Canadian academic working in the fields of literary theory and criticism, opera, and Canadian Studies. Hutcheon describes her herself as "intellectually promiscuous", as she brings a cross-disciplinary approach to her work She is University Professor in the Department of...
's work on Cohen's literary output. In December 2010, the national daily newspaper
Vjesnik ranked Cohen's show among the five most important cultural event in Croatia in 2010, in the poll among dozen of intellectuals and writers; it was the only event ranked which was not actually Croatian. The tour continued through August, with stops in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, where on 31 July 2010 Cohen performed at
Lissadell HouseLissadell House is a neo-classical Greek revivalist style country house, located in County Sligo, Ireland.The house was built in the 1830s for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet MP by London architect Francis Goodwin...
in
County Sligo. It was Cohen’s eighth Irish concert in just two years after a hiatus of more than 20 years. On 12 August, Cohen played the 200th show of the tour in
ScandinaviumScandinavium is the primary indoor sports and event arena in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, the arena was built in time for the 350th year anniversary celebration of the City of Gothenburg and was inaugurated on May 18, 1971.Scandinavium...
,
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, where he had already played in October 2008; the show was four hours long.
The Fall leg of the European tour started in early September with an open-air show in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and continued through
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria, where Cohen performed at the famous open-air opera stage of
Römersteinbruch bei St. Margarethen im BurgenlandSt Margarethen is a town in Burgenland near the state capital Eisenstadt. It is home to a large 1st century Roman quarry. A passion play has been presented in St Margarethen each summer for over seventy years. The town is close to the border with Hungary. The Pan-European Picnic peace...
, and then continued with dates in France, Poland, Russia (Moscow's
State Kremlin PalaceThe State Kremlin Palace , formerly and unofficially still better known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses , is a large modern building inside the Moscow Kremlin....
), Slovenia and
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. In Slovenia's brand new Arena Stožice, Cohen accepted Croatia's
PorinPorin is Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Musicians Union, Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatian Composers' Society.-Lifetime Achievement Award:...
music award for best foreign live video programme, which he won for his
Live in London DVD. Cohen's last European show was held in
Sibamac ArenaSibamac Arena is part of the Slovak National Tennis Centre in Bratislava, Slovakia. It has a capacity of 4,500 people.It has hosted concerts and various tennis matches, including the 2005 Davis Cup final between Slovakia and Croatia.-External links:*...
, in
BratislavaBratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia. The shows in late September and October were performed without Sharon Robinson, who left this tour leg due to heavy illness; the setlist omitted songs co-written by her, but old Cohen standards were added instead.
The third leg of the 2010 tour started on 28 October in New Zealand and continued in Australia, including an open-air concert at Hanging Rock near Melbourne. It was the first show ever organised at the site. The tour finished with seven special dates added in Vancouver, Portland, Victoria and Oakland, with two final shows in Las Vegas' The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on 10 and 11 December. The very last concert on 11 December was the 246th show on the world tour which started on 11 May 2008.
The world tour 2010 was covered daily on the
FlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
photo blog which was edited by Cohen's road manager, entitled
Notes from the Road.
2010s
In August 2011, Cohen completed work on a forthcoming studio album,
Old Ideas, with producer Ed Sanders. and on October 18, 2011, the official release date leaked to leonardcohenforum.com: January 31, 2012.
During the 2008-2010 tours, Cohen showcased some new songs which were supposed to be released on the album: "The Darkness", "Lullaby", "Born in Chains" , and "Feels So Good", while some other songs titles, like "Amen" and "The Street", were announced. Some of these songs were co-written (and co-produced) with Sharon Robinson and Anjani Thomas. At least one more song has been tried out at the daily sound checks ("My Oh My"). The first new songs were presented back in 2006, on
KCRWKCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
radio, where Cohen played two demo tracks, "Book of Longing" and "Puppets". But in August 2011 statement to the leonardcohenforum, Cohen confirmed that only one song, "Darkness", made it into the final cut, while the others are deemed unfinished and left for the next (i.e. after
Old Ideas) album.
"Hallelujah"
"Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album
Various Positions in 1984. While initially the song had limited success it found greater popular acclaim through a cover by John Cale in 1991, which later formed the basis for a cover by Jeff Buckley. In recent years "Hallelujah" has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages. Statistics from the
Recording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA); the
Canadian Recording Industry AssociationMusic Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...
; the
Australian Recording Industry AssociationThe Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
; and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show that, prior to late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in
compact-discThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
format. It has been the subject of a
BBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
documentaryA radio documentary or feature is a purely acoustic performance devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth, usually with a mixture of commentary and sound pictures. It is broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD...
and been featured in the
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s of numerous films and television programs.
Themes
Recurring themes in Cohen's work include love, sex, religion, depression, and music itself. He has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so. "Suzanne" mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in "
Joan of Arc"Joan of Arc" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. It was released as a single in March 1971 from his third album, Songs of Love and Hate...
". "Famous Blue Raincoat" is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken by his wife's infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to that friend. "Everybody Knows" starts off with social inequality ("the poor stay poor/ And the rich get rich"), but this is just the laying of the foundation that leads up to the real issue: Infidelity and betrayal.
"Sisters of Mercy" depicts his encounter with two women in a hotel room in
EdmontonEdmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Canada. Claims that "
Chelsea HotelNew Skin for the Old Ceremony is Leonard Cohen's fourth studio album. On this album, he begins to evolve away from the rawer sound of his earlier albums, with violas, mandolins, banjos, guitars, percussion and other instruments giving the album a more orchestrated sound...
#2" treats his affair with
Janis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
without sentimentality are countered by claims that the song reveals a more complicated set of feelings than straightforward love. Cohen confirmed, with some embarrassment, that the subject is Janis. "She wouldn't mind," he declares, "but my mother would be appalled." "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On" also deals with sexual themes.
Cohen is Jewish, and he has drawn from Jewish religious and cultural imagry throughout his career. Examples include "
Story of IsaacThe Binding of Isaac Akedah or Akeidat Yitzchak in Hebrew and Dhabih in Arabic, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah...
", and "Who by Fire", the words and melody of which echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th-century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana and
Yom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
. Broader Jewish themes sound throughout the album
Various Positions. "Hallelujah," which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the
biblicalThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
King
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
composing a song that "pleased the Lord" and continues with references to
BathshebaAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....
and
SamsonSamson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
. The lyrics of "
Whither Thou Goest"Whither Thou Goest" is a popular song written by Guy Singer. The song was published in 1954. The words are adapted from the Bible .The most popular version was recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford...
", performed by him and released in his album
Live in LondonLive in London is a live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Released March 31, 2009, it is his eighteenth album, and his first live release since Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 in 2001. It is Cohen's first full concert show release as well as his first released DVD...
, are adapted from the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
(Ruth 1:16-17, King James Version). "If It Be Your Will" also has a strong air of religious resignation. In his concert in
Ramat Gan,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, on 24 September 2009, Cohen spoke Jewish prayers and blessings to the audience in Hebrew. He opened the show with the first sentence of
Ma TovuMa Tovu is a prayer in Judaism, expressing reverence and awe for synagogues and other places of worship....
. At the middle he used Baruch Hashem, and he ended the concert reciting the blessing of Birkat Cohanim.
In his early career as a novelist,
Beautiful Losers grappled with the mysticism of the Mohawk Catholic saint
Kateri TekakwithaKateri Tekakwitha or Catherine Tekakwitha was a Mohawk-Algonquian woman from New York and an early convert to Catholicism, who has been beatified in the Roman Catholic Church.-Her life:...
. Cohen has also been involved with
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
since the 1970s and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1996; however he is still religiously Jewish: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism."
He is described as an observant Jew in an article in
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
:
Mr. Cohen is an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath even while on tour and performed for Israeli troops during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. So how does he square that faith with his continued practice of Zen?
"Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago," he said. "Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief."
Having suffered from depression during much of his life (although less so recently), Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and
suicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Beautiful Losers and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" are about suicide; darkly comic "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" mentions suicide; "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is about a last-minute decision not to commit suicide. An atmosphere of depression pervades "Please Don't Pass Me By" and "Tonight Will Be Fine." As in the aforementioned "Hallelujah," music itself is the subject of "Tower of Song," "A Singer Must Die," and "Jazz Police."
Themes of political and social justice also recur in Cohen's work, especially in later albums. In "Democracy," he both acknowledges political problems and celebrates the hopes of reformers: "from the wars against disorder/ from the sirens night and day/ from the fires of the homeless/ and the ashes of the gay/ Democracy is coming." He has made the observation in "Tower of Song" that "the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there's a mighty judgment coming." In the title track of
The Future he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: "I've seen the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love's the only engine of survival." In "Anthem", he promises that "the killers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud/ [are] gonna hear from me."
WarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
is an enduring theme of Cohen's work that—in his earlier songs and early life—he approached ambivalently. Challenged in 1974 over his serious demeanor in concerts and the military salutes he ended them with, Cohen remarked, "I sing serious songs, and I'm serious onstage because I couldn't do it any other way...I don't consider myself a civilian. I consider myself a soldier, and that's the way soldiers salute." In "Field Commander Cohen" he imagines himself as a soldier of sorts, socializing with
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
—where he had actually visited at the height of US-Cuba tensions in 1961, allegedly sporting a
Che GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
-style beard and military fatigues. This song was written immediately following Cohen's front-line stint with the
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i air force, the "fighting in Egypt" documented in a passage of "Night Comes On." In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to
Jerusalem to sign up on the Israeli side in the
Yom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, had instead been assigned to a
USOThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
-style entertainer tour of front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire.
Deeply moved by encounters with Israeli and Arab soldiers, he left the country to write "Lover Lover Lover." This song has been interpreted as a personal renunciation of armed conflict, and ends with the hope his song will serve a listener as "a shield against the enemy." He would later remark, "'Lover, Lover, Lover' was born over there; the whole world has its eyes riveted on this tragic and complex conflict. Then again, I am faithful to certain ideas, inevitably. I hope that those of which I am in favour will gain." Asked which side he supported in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cohen responded, "I don't want to speak of wars or sides ... Personal process is one thing, it's blood, it's the identification one feels with their roots and their origins. The militarism I practice as a person and a writer is another thing.... I don't wish to speak about war."
His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the "beautiful loser." Whether recording "
The Partisan"The Partisan" is a song about the French Resistance in World War II. The song was written in 1943 in London by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie...
", a
French ResistanceThe French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
song by
Anna MarlyAnna Marly , , was a Russian born French singer-songwriter. She is best remembered as the composer of the Chant des Partisans, a protest song that was used as the ersatz anthem of the Free French Forces during World War II; the popularity of the Chant des Partisans was such that it was proposed as...
and
Emmanuel d'AstierEmmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie was a French journalist, politician and member of the French Resistance.-Biography:Born in Paris, he attended the Naval Academy, but resigned from the French Navy in 1923...
, or singing his own "The Old Revolution," written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, he has throughout his career expressed in his music sympathy and support for the oppressed. Although Cohen's fascination with war is often as a metaphor for more general cultural and personal issues, as in "New Skin for the Old Ceremony," by this measure his most militant album.
Cohen blends pessimism about political/cultural issues with humour and, especially in his later work, with gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analysis as his songs are often verbally playful and cheerful. In "Tower of Song" the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings
ironicallyIrony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
that he was "born with the gift of a golden voice." The generally dark "Is This What You Wanted?" contains playful lines "You were
the whoreThe Whore of Babylon or "Babylon the great" is a Christian allegorical figure of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is given as "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth." -Symbolism:...
and
the beastThe Beast of Revelation, may refer to two beasts in the apocalyptic visions by John of Patmos, as written in the Book of Revelation. The first beast comes from "out of the sea". The second beast comes from "out of the earth" and directs all peoples of the earth to worship the first. This first...
of
BabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
/ I was
Rin Tin TinRin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
." In concert he often plays around with his lyrics ("If you want a doctor/ I'll examine every inch of you" from "I'm Your Man" sometimes becomes "If you want a Jewish doctor..."). He may introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or poem—for example, introducing "Leaving Green Sleeves" by paraphrasing his own "Queen Victoria," "This is a song for those who are not nourished by modern love."
Cohen has also recorded such love songs as
Irving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
's "Always" or the more obscure soul number "Be for Real" (originally sung by
Marlena ShawMarlena Shaw is an American singer. Shaw began her singing career in the 1960s and is still singing today. Her music has often been sampled in hip hop music, and used in television commercials.-Biography:She was first introduced to music by her uncle Jimmy Burgess, a jazz trumpet player...
).
Personal life
Cohen had a relationship with the
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
artist Suzanne Elrod beginning in the 1970s, with whom he has two children: a son,
AdamAdam Cohen is a Canadian musician, singer-songwriter, and frontman of the band Low Millions. As a recording artist, he has released three major label albums, two in English and one in French...
, born in 1972, and a daughter, Lorca, named after poet
Federico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, born in 1974. Adam Cohen began a career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1990s and fronts a band called
Low MillionsThe Low Millions are a pop-rock band from California. They launched their debut album, Ex-Girlfriends in 2004, under the recording label Manhattan Records. Shortly after their debut release, Adam Cohen explained the meaning of the band's name:...
, while Lorca took the part in her father's tour team during the 2008-2010 world tour as photographer and videographer. She also shot Cohen's video for the song "Because Of" in 2004, while her "Backstage Sketch" was included on Cohen's 2010 DVD
Songs from the Road. She has directed and shot video clips for
The Webb SistersThe Webb Sisters are a musical duo comprising the siblings Charley and Hattie Webb who are based mostly in the United Kingdom.-Biography and history:...
and
Kamila ThompsonKamila Thompson is a singer-songwriter based in London and New York. Currently recording her first album, she has been seen touring with Bonny Prince Billy, Teddy Thompson, Sean Lennon and others, as well as appearances with the Wainwright clan at Carnegie Hall and with a host of illustrious...
. On February 2, 2011, Lorca gave birth to a daughter, Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen. The father of the child is
Rufus WainwrightRufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
.
Cohen has downplayed marriage as an important relationship, and has said that "cowardice" and "fear" have prevented him from ever actually marrying Elrod. Elrod took the cover photograph on Cohen's
Live Songs album and is pictured on the cover of the
Death of a Ladies' ManDeath of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged completely, by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included multiple...
album. She is also the "Dark Lady" of Cohen's 1978 book of poems, prose and diary entries
Death of a Lady's Man, the book which deals with the failed marriage (hence the cover, which shows medieval
coniunctio spiritual) and which was started as the novel about the spiritual and emotional failure of marriage, invariantly titled
The Woman Being Born, and
My Life in Art. Cohen and Elrod had split by 1979.
"
Suzanne"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen in the 1960s, and often heard in a recording by Judy Collins. It has become one of the most-covered songs in Cohen's catalogue....
", one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of his friend, the Québécois sculptor
Armand VaillancourtArmand Vaillancourt is a Québécois sculptor, painter and performance artist born on September 3, 1929, in the city of Black Lake, Quebec, Canada.- Major sculptures :...
, rather than Elrod. The 1979 song "The Gypsy Wife" is supposedly about Suzanne Elrod.
In the 1980s, Cohen was in a relationship with the French photographer Dominique Issermann, who shot his first two video clips, "Dance Me To The End Of Love" and "First We Take Manhattan." Issermann is today famous for her photo sessions with
Carla BruniCarla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
and for her fashion photography for magazines like
Elle; in 2010 she was the official photographer of Cohen's world tour. Her photographs of Cohen are the canonical in Cohen's merchandise, and some of them were used for the covers of his 1993 book
Stranger Music and his album
More Best of Leonard CohenMore Best of Leonard Cohen is a collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 1997.Tracks are drawn from albums I'm Your Man and The Future , as well as the live album Cohen Live ....
, and inside the booklet of Cohen's 1988 record
I'm Your Man, which is dedicated to Issermann with words: "All these songs are for you, D. I.".
In the 1990s, Cohen was romantically linked to actress
Rebecca De MornayRebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise...
. De Mornay co-produced Cohen's 1992 album
The Future, which is also supposedly dedicated to her with an inscription which quotes
RebeccaRebecca a biblical matriarch from the Book of Genesis and a common first name. In this book Rebecca was said to be a beautiful girl. As a name it is often shortened to Becky, Becki or Becca; see Rebecca ....
's coming to the well from Book of Genesis, 24 and giving drink to
Eliezer For the mathematician and Tamil activist see C.J. Eliezer; for the AI researcher and writer on rationality see Eliezer Yudkowsky; for the Levite priest of the Hebrew Bible, see Eleazar...
's camels, after he prayed for the help; Eliezer ("God is my help" in Hebrew) is Cohen's Hebrew name, and Cohen sometimes referred to himself as "Eliezer Cohen" or even "Jikan Eliezer."
In 2000s, Cohen has been romantically involved with Anjani Thomas. Together they wrote the album
Blue AlertBlue Alert is a jazz album recorded by Anjani, girlfriend and longtime backing singer of iconic Canadian singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, who also produced the album and wrote the lyrics...
in 2006, produced by Cohen. Thomas co-produced and co-wrote some songs on Cohen's 2004 album
Dear HeatherDear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....
and is currently involved in recording of Cohen's forthcoming record.
Since late 1970s, Cohen has been associated with
Kyozan Joshu SasakiKyozan Joshu Sasaki , Roshi is a Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher who has lived in the United States since 1962. Joshu Sasaki is the founder and head abbot of the Mount Baldy Zen Center, near Mount Baldy in California, and of the Rinzai-Ji order of affiliated Zen centers. As of , he is still actively...
, regularly visiting him at
Mount Baldy Zen CenterMount Baldy Zen Center is a Rinzai Zen monastery of the Nyorai-nyokyo sect, located in the San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest region on and founded in 1971 by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki. The monastery — once a Boy Scout camp — became famous when musician Leonard Cohen joined the...
and serving him as personal assistant during Cohen's own reclusion into Mt. Baldy monastery in the 1990s. Roshi appears as regular motif or addressee in Cohen's poetry, especially in the
Book of LongingBook of Longing is the first new poetry book by Leonard Cohen since 1984's Book of Mercy. First published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart, Book of Longing contains 167 previously unpublished poems and drawings, mostly written at a Zen monastery on Mount Baldy in California, where Cohen lived from...
, and also took part in 1997 documentary about Cohen's monastery years,
Leonard Cohen: Spring 1996. Cohen's 2001 album
Ten New SongsTen New Songs is Leonard Cohen's tenth studio album, released in 2001. It was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. She played all the instruments except Bob Metzger's guitar on 'In My Secret Life'...
is dedicated to Joshu Sasaki.
Awards, titles and honours
- 1964 the Québec Literary Competition Prize (awarded 1923-70 by the Province of Québec) The Favourite Game
The Favourite Game is the first novel by Leonard Cohen. It was first published by Secker and Warburg in the fall of 1963.In 1959, Cohen was awarded a $2,000 Canada Council grant, which he used to live cheaply in London and on the Greek island of Hydra while he wrote the novel, then titled Beauty at...
(Cohen's first novel)
- 1968 Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
(English language poetry or drama) for Selected Poems 1956–1968. (Refused)
- 1970 Honorary degree from Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
- 1984 The Golden Rose
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
, the main award at the international television festival Rose d'OrThe Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
in MontreuxMontreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, for I am a HotelI Am a Hotel is a 1983 Canadian made for TV short musical film, written by Leonard Cohen and Mark Shekter and directed by Allan F. Nicholls....
, made-for-TV short musical film written by Cohen and based on his songs.
- 1985 Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry for Book of Mercy
- 1986 Genie Award
Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...
for Best Original Song for "Angel Eyes" from Night Magic (with Lewis FureyLewis Furey, born Lewis Greenblatt is a Canadian composer, singer, violinist, pianist, actor and director.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec to French and American parents, Furey trained as a classical violinist, and at age 11 performed as a soloist in the Matinées pour la jeunesse concert series...
)
- 1988 Columbia Records Crystal Globe Award from CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
for I'm Your Man. The award is for artists who sell more than five million copies of an album in foreign territories
- 1989 Nominated for Juno Awards for Canadian Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year
- 1991 Officer of the Order of Canada
- 1991 Induction into the Juno/Canadian Music Hall of Fame
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The ceremony is held each year as part of the Juno Award ceremonies. Members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame represent many of the world's great talents...
- 1991 Nominated for a Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year.
- 1992 Honorary degree from McGill University, Montreal.
- 1993 Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Male Vocalist of the Year. The video for Closing Time, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, won for Best Video. He was also nominated as Producer of the Year (with co-producer Leanne Ungar, for "Closing Time").
- 1993 Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
- 1994 Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Songwriter of the Year and was nominated for the Juno Award for Album of the Year (for The Future). The video for The Future, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, was nominated for Juno Award for Best Video.
- 1996 Ordained a Rinzai
The Rinzai school is , one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan...
Buddhist monk.
- 2001 Nagroda Muzyczna Fryderyk
The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name...
, the annual Polish music award, for best foreign album (Ten New Songs).
- 2002 Nominated for Juno Award as Best Songwriter Cohen (with Sharon Robinson) for "Boogie Street", "In My Secret Life", and "You Have Loved Enough").
- 2002 Nominated for the Juno Award for Best Video for "In My Secret Life", directed by Floria Sigismondi
Floria Sigismondi is an Italian, naturalised Canadian, photographer and director.Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning...
. Ten New Songs nominated for Best Pop Album, and he was nominated for Best Artist.
- 2002 SNEP Award Cohen for more than 100,000 copies sold of Ten New Songs
Ten New Songs is Leonard Cohen's tenth studio album, released in 2001. It was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. She played all the instruments except Bob Metzger's guitar on 'In My Secret Life'...
in France.
- 2003 Companion of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, Canada's highest civilian honour.
- 2004 Inclusion in Canada Reads 2005
Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.-Overview:During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles. The debate is broadcast over a series...
with Beautiful Losers
- 2005 Induction into the Canadian Folk Music Walk of Fame.
- 2006 Induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their Hall of Fame within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have made a significant contribution with respect to...
.
- 2007 Grammy for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
as a featured artist on Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
's River: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock...
.
- 2008 Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
.
- 2008 Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
.
- 2009 Long Listed for the Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label...
for Live in London
- 2009 Nominated for Mojo Honours Lists
The MOJO Awards is an awards ceremony that began in 2004 by Mojo, a popular music magazine published monthly by Bauer in the United Kingdom...
for Best Live Act category.
- 2009 Meteor Music Award
The Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
for Best International Live Performance for his 2008 show in Dublin's IMMAImma is a large genus of moths in the family Immidae....
's Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
- 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
.
- 2010 A second Meteor Music Award
The Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
for Best International Live Performance for his 2009 show in Dublin's O2.
- 2010 Porin
Porin is Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Musicians Union, Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatian Composers' Society.-Lifetime Achievement Award:...
Award in CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
in category of foreign video programme, for his Live in London DVD.
- 2010 Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
.
- 2011 Glenn Gould Prize
The Glenn Gould Prize is an international award bestowed by the Glenn Gould Foundation in memory of noted Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. It is awarded every third year to a living individual in recognition of his/her contributions to music and communication....
- 2011 Prince of Asturias Awards
The Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
, Literature, Spain
Studio albums
| Title |
Release date |
| Songs of Leonard Cohen Songs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen. It foreshadowed the future path of his career, with less success in the United States and far better in Europe, reaching #83 on the Billboard chart but achieving gold status only in 1989, while it reached #13 in UK and...
|
27 December 1967 |
| Songs from a Room Songs from a Room is the second album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen, released in 1969. It reached #63 on the Billboard list and #2 at UK charts....
|
April 1969 |
| Songs of Love and Hate Songs of Love and Hate is Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's third album. It was mainly recorded in Columbia Studio A, Nashville, from September 22 to 26, 1970. "Sing Another Song, Boys" was recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970. Further recording took place at ...
|
March 1971 |
| New Skin for the Old Ceremony New Skin for the Old Ceremony is Leonard Cohen's fourth studio album. On this album, he begins to evolve away from the rawer sound of his earlier albums, with violas, mandolins, banjos, guitars, percussion and other instruments giving the album a more orchestrated sound...
|
August 1974 |
| Death of a Ladies' Man Death of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged completely, by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included multiple...
|
November 1977 |
| Recent Songs Recent Songs was the sixth studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1979. Produced by Henry Lewy and the artist himself, the album was a return to Cohen's acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector experimentation of Death of a Ladies' Man, but now with many jazz and Oriental influences.The album...
|
September 1979 |
| Various Positions Various Positions, the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, was released in December 1984 . It marked not only Cohen's turn to the modern sound and use of synthesizers , but also - after her work on harmonies and background vocals on the previous Recent Songs - an even greater contribution from...
|
December 1984 |
| I'm Your Man |
February 1988 |
| The Future |
24 November 1992 |
| Ten New Songs Ten New Songs is Leonard Cohen's tenth studio album, released in 2001. It was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. She played all the instruments except Bob Metzger's guitar on 'In My Secret Life'...
|
9 October 2001 |
| Dear Heather Dear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....
|
26 October 2004 |
| Old Ideas |
31 January 2012 |
Tribute albums
| Title |
Release date |
| I'm Your Fan I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, released in 1991, produced by the French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles. The album features Cohen's songs interpreted by some of the most respected rock acts of the time...
|
1991 |
| Tower of Song Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, released in 1995 on A&M Records. It takes its name of a song by Cohen, that has been covered by Marianne Faithfull, Robert Forster, Peter Gabriel, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Martha Wainwright...
|
1995 |
| Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is a 2005 film by Lian Lunson about the life and career of Leonard Cohen. It is based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled "Came So Far for Beauty", which was produced by Hal Willner...
|
2006 |
| Cohen - The Scandinavian Report |
2009 |
Many other cover albums have been recorded by many artists.
Collections: poems and songs
- Let Us Compare Mythologies
Let Us Compare Mythologies is the first poetry book by Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Written in 1956, shortly after Cohen left McGill University where he studied English literature, it was first published as part of the McGill Poetry Series operated by Louis Dudek. In 2007, the book...
. Montreal: Contact Press [McGill Poetry Series], 1956. reissued 2007
- The Spice-Box of Earth
The Spice-Box of Earth is Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen's second collection of poetry. It was first published in 1961 by McClelland and Stewart. The book brought the then 27 year-old poet a measure of early literary acclaim...
. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1961.
- Flowers for Hitler
Flowers for Hitler is Canadian poet Leonard Cohen's third collection of poetry, first published in 1964 by McClelland and Stewart. Like other artworks regarding Adolf Hitler as a subject, it was somewhat controversial in its day...
. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964.
- Parasites of Heaven. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1966.
- Selected Poems 1956–1968. New York, Toronto: Viking, McClelland & Stewart, 1968.
- The Energy of Slaves. London,Toronto: Cape, McClelland and Stewart, 1972. ISBN 0771022042 ISBN 0771022034 New York: Viking, 1973.
- Selected Poetry of Leonard Cohen. Penguin Classics, 1978.
- Death of a Lady's Man. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1978. ISBN 0771021771 London, New York: Viking, Penguin, 1979. - reissued 2010
- Book of Mercy.London: Cape, 1984. - reissued 2010
- The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen. London, Omnibus, 1998. ISBN 0711971412 2nd edition, 2009.
- God is Alive. Magic is Afoot. Sarah Perkins and Ian Jackson illus. Toronto: Stoddart, 2000. ISBN 0773761802
- Stranger Music
Stranger Music is a 1993 book by Leonard Cohen. It compiles many of his published poems, as well as the lyrics to his songs....
: Selected Poems and Songs. London, New York, Toronto: Cape, Pantheon, McClelland & Stewart, 2003. ISBN 0771022301
- Book of Longing
Book of Longing is the first new poetry book by Leonard Cohen since 1984's Book of Mercy. First published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart, Book of Longing contains 167 previously unpublished poems and drawings, mostly written at a Zen monastery on Mount Baldy in California, where Cohen lived from...
. London, New York, Toronto: Penguin, Ecco, McClelland & Stewart, 2006. (poetry, prose, drawings) ISBN 9780771022340
- Poems and Songs (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) 2011
Novels
- The Favorite Game. London, New York, Toronto: Secker & Warburg, Viking P, McClelland & Stewart, 1963. Reissued as The Favourite Game. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1994. ISBN 9780771099540
- Beautiful Losers
Beautiful Losers is a novel by Leonard Cohen. Published in 1966 by McClelland and Stewart, it was the Canadian novelist-poet's second novel, and precedes his career as a singer-songwriter...
. New York, Toronto: Viking Press, McClelland & Stewart, 1966. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1991. ISBN 9780771098758 McClelland & Stewart [Emblem], 2003. ISBN 9780771022005
Film and television
- Cohen was the subject of the 1965 documentary Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen
Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen is a 1965 documentary about Leonard Cohen, co-directed by Don Owen and Donald Brittain, and written by Brittain...
, directed by Donald BrittainDonald Brittain, O.C. was a film director and producer with the National Film Board of Canada.Fields of Sacrifice is considered Brittain's first major film as director....
and Don Owen and produced by the National Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
. This film, which pre-dates Cohen's career as a songwriter, explores his career as a well-known Canadian poet. Cohen also appeared in Owen's 1967 film The Ernie GameThe Ernie Game is a 1967 Canadian drama film directed by Don Owen.Called "One of the most innovative examples of personal cinema to come from English Canada in the Sixties" by the Cinematheque Ontario, The Ernie Game was part of a proposed trio of works intended to celebrate the Canadian Centennial...
, which was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film FestivalThe 18th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 21 to July 2, 1968.-Jury:* Luis García Berlanga * Peter Schamoni* Alex Viany* Georges de Beauregard* Alexander Walker* Domenico Meccoli* Carl-Eric Nordberg...
.
- Cohen's music also appeared the following year in the 1966 NFB animated short Angel
Angel is a 1966 experimental animated short directed by Derek May and produced by Guy Glover for the National Film Board of Canada. The film features music by Leonard Cohen, performed by The Stormy Clovers. Awards for the film included the Genie Award in the arts and experimental category....
.
- In 1968 Cohen performed on the BBC, both on the Julie Felix Show and in his own special, split into two thirty minute shows. The first clip still exists, while the second is only available as a bootleg CD.
- Cohen makes a cameo appearance performing "The Stranger Song" in the Canadian film The Ernie Game (1968), which is based on the stories of Bernard Cole Spencer.
- Cohen's music was popular among the directors of the New German Cinema, and appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
's Beware of a Holy WhoreBeware of a Holy Whore is a 1971 West German drama film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder which features Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Hanna Schygulla and Fassbinder himself. Semi-autobiographical, the film was influenced by the shooting of the director's earlier Whity in Spain....
(1971) and Werner HerzogWerner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's StroszekStroszek is a 1977 film by German director Werner Herzog. It was written in four days specifically for Bruno S. and was shot in Berlin, two towns in Wisconsin, and in North Carolina. Most of the lead roles are played by non-actors.-Plot:...
(1977).
- Cohen's 1970 performance at the Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
was filmed by Murray LernerMurray Lerner is an Academy Award-winning American documentary and experimental film director and producer.1967 saw the release of the film Festival...
, but remained unreleased until 2009 when it was released as Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970, and included Lerner's 2009 documentary material.
- Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's 1971 western McCabe and Mrs. Miller used three Cohen songs on its soundtrack, as well the instrumental parts of The Stranger Song performed by Cohen. Multiple record singles were released during the film's distribution.
- In 1972, Cohen's European tour was filmed by British director Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer is an American football guard in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. The former University of Missouri guard who was selected by the St. Louis Rams. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers after being cut in the 2006 preseason by St. Louis...
; the re-edited material appeared in 1974 under the title Bird On a Wire and exists only as a bootleg VHS tape. Palmer's authorised and restored film was released in 2010.
- In October 1979, Cohen recorded a show for German TV show RockPop Special, available only as a bootleg. The show is often rebroadcast by the German satellite TV channel 3Sat.
- The Song Of Leonard Cohen, a 1980 documentary by Harry Rasky
Harry Rasky, CM, O.Ont was a Canadian documentary film producer.He was born in Toronto into a Jewish family, where he completed studies at University College. He participated in CBC Television's first four years writing and producing CBC Newsmagazine . He also produced a documentary for the 1961...
, featuring Irving LaytonIrving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies. As T...
, includes highlights from Cohen's 1979 European tour and tracks from the LP Recent SongsRecent Songs was the sixth studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1979. Produced by Henry Lewy and the artist himself, the album was a return to Cohen's acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector experimentation of Death of a Ladies' Man, but now with many jazz and Oriental influences.The album...
.
- In 1983, Cohen wrote and starred in made-for-TV short musical film I am a Hotel
I Am a Hotel is a 1983 Canadian made for TV short musical film, written by Leonard Cohen and Mark Shekter and directed by Allan F. Nicholls....
, based on his songs. It won the Golden Rose award at the Rose d'OrThe Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
television festival in Montreux in 1984.
- In 1985, Cohen co-wrote and co-composed Night Magic (starring Carole Laure
Carole Laure is an actress and singer from the province of Quebec in Canada.-Career:Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met in 1977 and who later became her husband...
) with fellow Quebecker, Lewis FureyLewis Furey, born Lewis Greenblatt is a Canadian composer, singer, violinist, pianist, actor and director.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec to French and American parents, Furey trained as a classical violinist, and at age 11 performed as a soloist in the Matinées pour la jeunesse concert series...
.
- Cohen is subject of the BBC documentary Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen, filmed during his 1988 tour.
- Cohen appeared as villain Francois Zolan in the "French Twist" episode of the American television series Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
(season 2, episode 17), originally broadcast on 21 February 1986.
- In 1988, Spanish TV station RTE televised the full version of Cohen's show in San Sebastian, 20 May, later aired in number of European countries and still rerun on the Spanish TV. It remains the only completely televised Cohen show.
- In 1989, Cohen gave his first major performance on US television on Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
(recorded in November 1988). He performed for the show again in July 1993. Both programs have been often rebroadcast by the PBS.
- "Everybody Knows" and "If It Be Your Will" play prominent parts in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume
Pump Up the Volume is a 1990 comedy-drama film written and directed by Allan Moyle and starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.- Plot summary :...
- Three of Cohen's songs from his album The Future ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and "The Future") are used in Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's 1994 film Natural Born KillersNatural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder BoysWonder Boys is a dark comedy film based on the 1995 novel of the same title by Michael Chabon. Directed by Curtis Hanson, it stars Michael Douglas as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pittsburgh university...
(2000), starring Michael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
and The Life of David GaleThe Life of David Gale is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph.Kevin Spacey stars as the eponymous character, a college Professor and longtime activist against capital punishment who is sentenced to death for killing a fellow capital punishment opponent...
(2003), starring Kevin SpaceyKevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
.
- In 1994, Cohen narrated NFB
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
-produced documentary The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
- Cohen's years at the Mt. Baldy Zen Centre were the subject of 1997 French documentary Leonard Cohen: Spring 96 by Armelle Brusq, released on DVD in 2009.
- In 2001, Cohen's song Hallelujah was used on the soundtrack of Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
, in a version by John CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
.
- The Favourite Game (Le Jeu de l'ange), based on his novel of the same title
The Favourite Game is the first novel by Leonard Cohen. It was first published by Secker and Warburg in the fall of 1963.In 1959, Cohen was awarded a $2,000 Canada Council grant, which he used to live cheaply in London and on the Greek island of Hydra while he wrote the novel, then titled Beauty at...
, was released in Canada in 2003.
- Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is a 2005 film by Lian Lunson about the life and career of Leonard Cohen. It is based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled "Came So Far for Beauty", which was produced by Hal Willner...
was released in 2006. It features a 2005 tribute concert to Cohen, "Came So Far For Beauty", held at the Sydney Opera HouseThe Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
and produced by Hal WillnerHal Willner is an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events. He is best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles...
. The film, directed by Lian LunsonLian Lunson is an Australian actress who became an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has also written a novel.She was born in Ned Kelly Country in Australia.She moved to Los Angeles in 1987 after working as an actress in Australia....
, has appearances by Nick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, Beth OrtonBeth Orton is a BRIT Award–winning English singer-songwriter, known for her 'folktronica' sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s. However, these were not Orton's first...
, AntonyAntony Hegarty is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.-Early life:...
of Antony and the JohnsonsAntony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...
, RufusRufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
and Martha WainwrightMartha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...
, and a performance of "Tower of Song" by Cohen and U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. The film also features Cohen recalling significant parts of his life and career.
- Cohen is the subject of a two-part documentary, Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934-1977 (2007) and Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1978-2006 (2008), available separately on DVD.
See also
- Music of Canada
The music of Canada has influences that have shaped the country. Aboriginals, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between...
- List of Quebec musicians
- Music of Quebec
Being a modern cosmopolitan society, today, all types of music can be found in the Canadian province of Quebec. What is specific to Quebec though are traditional songs, a unique variety of Celtic music, legions of excellent jazz musicians, a culture of classical music, and a love of foreign rhythms...
- Culture of Quebec
The Culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting from the shared history of the French-speaking majority in Quebec. It is unique to the Western World; Quebec is the only region in North America with a French-speaking majority, as well as one of only two provinces in Canada...
- List of people with depression
External links