In the SPOTLIGHT: Leonard Cohen

Well people, this piece is going to be straight from the heart... Leonard Cohen is by far the most influential songwriter/musician for me, personally. I’ve heard this man’s discography through and through, there’s not a single second worth of anything below par than sheer musical genius in his work. I was so deeply moved by Leonard Cohen’s song writing style that most of my compositions resonate this unique style of his each time I put my thoughts down. That eclectic mix of literary painting of a landscape with enigmatic rhyme schemes, the feeling it gives you is something that truly falls short of anything comparable. It’s not music, Leonard Cohen is an experience.

 From his albums in the 60’s to the 2010’s, the legend has moved across time from a style that had soulful laying of lyrics to acoustic guitar, gentle bass and (sometimes) drums and keys to a style of husky spoken word, involving similar instrumentation but minimal guitar work. His musical genius is truly overlooked when it comes to compare with his song writing prowess. 

Leonard Cohen is a visualizer at the very heart of it all, if you ask me. He is one who can imagine these beautiful murals of mankind and then extracting metaphors out of them, giving them expressions and tangibility through his words. His work spans not just song writing and music but also poetry and painting. His each album has been a testament to his ability to create images in the minds of listeners; each in a setting which beautifully gives context to his poetry. His ability paint lyrical landscapes of human emotions, characters and scenarios, that are imperfect by design, with restful ease is a testament to his unique gift. He revels in human imperfection, owning each bit of its beauty and letting his audience know, it is alright. If anything, it is a thing of natural beauty.

 As most artists to be showcased in this section, Leonard Cohen is definitely not another chapter in musical history. He is a book in himself, one that influenced followers and trendsetters for four decades.Let’s go ahead and savor a handful of his impeccable works that have been etched in the memory of art and music forever:

Hallelujah:

This is one of Cohen’s trademark numbers, that actually remains his greatest mainstream hit. A hugely popular version of the same was covered by Jeff Buckley, that received more coverage. The song is most well known for being a part of the Shrek 2 movie where in the Ogre realizes his shortcomings as the husband of a princess. It is a song about sacrifice for love and god. Something that is strewn with the pain that the act itself contains, laced with fluidic music that lends a semi-romantic feel to the number. The song introspects on the actions of individuals and in the first person, describing the souls struggle tending to such situations of moral dichotomy.

Lady midnight:

Lady midnight is another dream of human imperfections put together in rhythm. Here Cohen goes about, to my interpretation, describing an older muse or just someone whom he loved earlier. It is someone, whom he left, but now life had turned for the worst for her and he is back for one last night. After begging her for the night, he examines her current being. He realizes how things have changed but her essence still remains. Despite initial scorn and refusing, her defences, although, have weakened. At the first sign she had of what resembled affectionate moments are become more than enough for her, it is enough to make her leave everything and come with him. But the man is out by dawn, while she keeps calling out his name. Musically the song is nothing more than a beautifully pleasant folk song, the true sense of the song lies in the song writing yet again. Simple acoustic guitar and bass accompany the entire piece uniformly, keeping pace with the rhymes.

So long Marianne:

Marianne is supposed to be one of Cohen’s muses in the 60’s when this song came out. It is a song about how tumultuously close and far they had been in the period. It is an ode to all that the woman made him feel, the sheer wealth of the bittersweet journey. The greatest achievement of this piece is that it accepts a relationships reality without addressing it is as morose or sad, but something that is very fundamental to us. And with time as the tide washes the shores clean, all we can do is - “laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.’’

Chelsea Hotel No.2:

Many a times have we come across a person that shakes us out of our sense; a being of incomparable beauty embalming a comforting soul that can see through you. More often than not, such persons are ephemeral creatures in everyone’s life. They fleet in and etching themselves in your memory, leaving us satiated with the experience of their company. This song is one where in Leonard Cohen describes the same in the settings of a New York hotel where in he encounters such a being and chronicles his encounter with her. Evincing in each chorus, is his stumped feeling, when the person leaves his life without a word or thought, despite his awareness that she is in a league that he cannot ever reach. Musically this song is as stripped down as could be, with acoustic plucking and with a slow and subdued sax for ambiance. The rhythm plucking and lead goes with the high and low points of song intensity, resonating each emotion perfectly with each hammer-on and slide.

Almost like the blues:

This track is taken from his most recent work, Popular Problems (2014). The album itself see’s Cohen strut back into the brilliance he left us with 2 years ago with ‘Old Ideas’. Its as if the man never loses form, ever! This is exactly the husky voiced spoken word I was talking about from the octogenarian stalwart of music. It isn’t a blues song, despite the title. The song speaks about a man in the middle of ravaged setting, possibly a known village, not his own but one that is beloved by him. The track outlines the emotions he goes through trying to understanding what needs to be done, possibly to avenge what has been and set things right. But to do so he himself has to blacken his soul as those that perpetrated the act have. An act that probably won’t lead him to glory and sainthood, so to speak, but possible drowning into the spiral of his changed character. He tries to keep his conscience clean through absolving himself in the memory of the destruction brought upon innocence. The music in this track contains bongo’s that emphasize the groove given by the bass guitar. Also, present are female vocal accompaniments in the chorus and constant pianos. Like all Cohen music, this too is as easily digestible as could be, that goes in innocuously but leaves a soul stirring impression in the mind after each listen.

Going Home:

Going Home is ironically the first song from the Old Ideas. The song is an ode written to his realization that God has been the writer of his destiny. It speaks in the first person from God’s perspective, saying that God knows him and his imperfection. And all through this, God is still musing at the little man’s personality, flaws and ways. It symbolizes that despite our miniscule existence in the universe, God holds each of our unique traits dear. He cherishes and lambasts each of our actions as any other person close to us would. God’s musing in this song, has been given a rather human touch than that of omnipotent perfection. The lyrics are, in brief, a portrait of Leonard Cohen from a thousand feet above.

Obviously I’m sold on Mr. Leonard Cohen. A great place to get a finer taste of his music is his ‘Greatest Hits (1975)’ collection and then moving onto his recent albums. This man has made me discover what I most love about music and song writing. It is that each person who reads or listens to your lyric will interpret not the same image as you did when you wrote it. And this fact is almost perceptible when you see or talk to the person after the fact. Possibly the same goes for music as well. My song writing, which has been one of the greater joys of my life, owes itself to this man’s style and influence. It has made me realize so very much about my own style in such a short span.

There is a crack in everything, 
that's how the light gets in 
– Leonard Cohen