Then the hockey game (a Bruins
victory – huzzah!) Then over to a friend’s house and I’m just now back to post
the review I finished earlier. Once this
is done, I’m going to bed. Phew!
On to the review – it is hard to
believe it is three years to the day since my last album by this artist. Far too long to wait!
Disc 522 is…. Songs of Leonard Cohen (or just “Songs”)
Artist: Leonard
Cohen
Year of Release: 1967
What’s up with the Cover? The Big Head Shot.
Leonard looks a little bit like Michael Corleone in the Godfather
here. Also interesting is the back
cover, which has a chained woman burning in flames. Here it is:
 |
| It makes me think of his song, "Joan of Arc" although that song does not appear on this album. Note the creepy skull in the flames under her upraised arm as well. |
How I Came To Know It: I knew Leonard Cohen’s poetry before his music, and
with “Songs of Leonard Cohen” being his first album, it has a lot of his
original poetry set to music. It was
therefore an easy sell for me. I used to
own this on tape in the eighties but have long since upgraded to CD.
How It Stacks Up: I have eleven of Leonard Cohen’s studio albums. There are few musicians, living or dead that
can match his consistent excellence, so competition is fierce. I rate it second or third, depending on how I
feel about “Songs From a Room.” “Songs
of Leonard Cohen” has a bit better production and superior poetry, but I like
the overall feel of “Songs From a Room” and the musicality of it, so it is
essentially a draw.
And yes,
the man likes to put the word “songs” in his album titles.
Rating: 5 stars
Having
read most of these poems before ever hearing them set to music, “Songs of Leonard
Cohen” was a revelation for me when I first heard it around 1988.
This is Cohen’s
debut album, and it is an exceptional collection of songs and poetry. Here the talent of one of Canada’s greatest
poets not only reimagined his work into songs, but enhanced them as a result of
that transformation. It inspired me to
the point where I began planning my graduate thesis on how music influences
poetry and vice versa. They never let me
into grad school, so that project didn’t get off the ground. Their loss.
The
album launches with one of folk music’s most iconic songs, “Suzanne.” A beautiful love song of the underclass
combined with a pining devotional that tries to explain why we feel listless
and drifting as we seek one another in this crazy world:
“And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said, ‘All men will be sailors
then
Until the sea shall free them.’”
I wish I
could come up with just two of these lines that drip off Cohen’s tongue with an
assonant longing that approaches prayer.
The
entire album is filled with this high quality poetry, which draws you in and
puts your mind in a state of quiet alertness, almost meditative, as he explores
love and loss in all its forms.
Some of
these romances are hopeful, like “Suzanne”
and “Sisters of Mercy” but the
majority explore the broken places that exist between people. Once great relationships are collapsed by
time and distance in “That’s No Way To
Say Goodbye” or simply by an atrophy that grows within them like “So Long, Marianne.” This particular
theme reaches its zenith (nadir?) with the album’s closing track, the vicious
and venomous “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong”
which begins:
“I lit a thin green candle
To make you jealous of me
But the room just filled up with
mosquitos
They heard that my body was free
Then I took the dust of a long
sleepless night
And I put it in your little shoe
Then I confess that I tortured
the dress
That you wore for the world to
look through.”
You have
to hand it to Cohen – even when he’s angry he still willingly paints himself as
much the villain as the object of his disdain.
He’s like a self-deprecating Bob Dylan (and just as talented).
There is
a plethora of great images strewn threw the songs I’ve already mentioned and
all the other ones as well, some of my favourite snippets include:
“It’s hard to hold the hand of
anyone
Who is reaching for the sky just
to surrender.”
(The Stranger Song)
“We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held onto me like I was a
crucifix
As we went kneeling through the
dark.” (So Long,
Marianne)
“If your life is a leaf
That the seasons tear off and
condemn
They will bind you with love
That is graceful and green as a
stem.” (Sisters
of Mercy).
“Sisters of Mercy” is one of those
perfect songs, yet Cohen has said it is also the only song he effortlessly
wrote in the space of a few hours (I’ve read that it is inspired by two girls
he met on the road in Saskatchewan and let sleep – and nothing else – in his
hotel room for the night). I can’t
remember the source for that story, however; either he said it at a concert
live or I read it and have since forgotten where.
Overall
the production is sparse but perfect.
The guitar work is a mix of basic folk strumming and heavily classical
melodies and playing. It is early in his
career, and Cohen’s voice is still high and plaintive (later on, after decades
of red wine and late nights it drops an octave, and gets gravelly and slightly
lascivious). On these early records it
is mostly just Cohen but occasionally backup singer are used, notably on the
chorus of a few songs.
While ultimately
not enough to ensure my place in graduate school, I’m sure this record has
helped ensure the romantic evenings of many undergraduates went smoothly over
the years. I can’t remember specifically
if I’ve ever tried it myself but the odds are good that I did.
For
writing such perfectly blended confessional/devotional songs about love, that
resonate not only in the late sixties heyday of such work, but equally well
forty-five years later; for still being able to make me catch my breath with
the beauty of his imagery and for doing it all in a tasteful 10 songs, and 40
minutes, this album easily makes the five star grade.
Best tracks: most of them.
Of ten songs the only two that are a bit weak are “Winter Lady” and
“Stories of the Street” and those aren’t enough to knock this album out of five
star territory.
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