The Other Village by Leonard Cohen
When it comes to lamentations
I prefer Aretha Franklin
to, let's say, Leonard Cohen
Needless to add, he hears a different drum
The Other Village from Death Of A Lady's Man by Leonard Cohen
DrHGuyOn Life, Love, Lust, & Leonard CohenFiled under: LC PoetryThe Other Village by Leonard Cohen
The Other Village from Death Of A Lady's Man by Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen Poem "Much Later" Identifies Melted Ray Charles Album
Leonard Cohen has often described the fate of Ray Charles albums to which he listened when he and Marianne lived in Hydra. This excerpt from Leonard Cohen: The Romantic in a Ragpicker’s Trade by Paul William (Crawdaddy, March 1975) is representative: I had a little record player that ran on batteries. I would work outside on my terrace [of the house in Greece], and if I would forget how fast the sun was moving and forget to move, the record would melt, right over the turntable. I used to play Ray Charles all the time and I lost a couple of Ray Charles records, I still have them, they’re just like Dali watches,1 just dripped over the side of the turntable. About four years ago, I began an unrequited (until now) search for the names of those Ray Charles albums Leonard Cohen played (until they melted) at his house in Hydra. The identity of one of those LPs was revealed, however, not in an interview or in an entry in a biography or even as a bit of oral history passed along from the Cohen cognoscenti I questioned but from a serendipitous reading of Leonard Cohen’s poignant poem, "Much Later, " published in Book Of Longing. Much Later Ray Charles singing You Win Again – Los Angeles 1978 From Book Of Longing by Leonard Cohen You Win Again is found as a track on Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, the ABC-Paramount Records album Ray Charles released in April 1962. It was #1 on the Billboard Pop Album chart for 14 weeks and remained on that chart for two years. 
The poem’s text and the conjunction of Cohen’s years of residence on Hydra and the release date of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music make, I submit, a strong presumptive case for this being one of those albums the Greek sun fashioned into vinyl replicas of Dali watches. El Libro De La Misericordia By Leonard Cohen
Credit Due Department: Images contributed by Dominique BOILE. Saint Catherine Street By Leonard CohenTowering black nuns frighten us How may we be saints and live in golden coffins There are no ordeals Once with a flaming belly she danced upon a green road We would bathe in a free river How can we love and pray Will no one carve from our bodies a while cross Are those dry faccs and hands we see __________ Published in Let Us Compare Mythologies by Leonard Cohen Signs Of Leonard Cohen - International Poetry Forum 1968
All posted items from the photo series, Signs Of Leonard Cohen, can be viewed at Collected Signs Of Leonard Cohen. Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen Songs, Puzzles Pittsburgh Poetry Patrons Research on this poster led to me the discovery of a 1966 Poetry Forum gig by Judy Collins who played several selections from Leonard Cohen - and flopped. That story can be found at Collins Covers Cohen, Confounds Carnegie Culture Crowd _________________ The International Poetry Forum was founded by Dr. Samuel Hazo “to demonstrate the relevance and centrality of poetry to the public through the oral presentation of poetry.” From 1966 to 2009, when the economic collapse made funding impossible, the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, sponsored more than 500 poetry recitals and related events in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. Performers have included Nobel Awardees, Pulitzer and National Book Award Winners, Academy and Tony Awardees plus numerous other significant poets such as Archibald MacLeish, Richard Wilbur, Robert Lowell, Robert Penn Warren, Billy Collins, Robert Pinsky, Muriel Rukeyser, Philip Levine, Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, Adam Zagajewski, and Seamus Heaney. Going Home By Leonard Cohen: Comparing Poem & Song At New Yorker Site
Two Versions Of “Going Home” At NewYorker.com As discussed in yesterday’s post, Jan 16, 2012 – Hear New Leonard Cohen Song “Going Home” Streamed By New Yorker Site, the new Leonard Cohen song, viewers may now hear “Going Home” from the soon to be released Old Ideas album at the New Yorker site. The poem, "Going Home," which is the basis of the song's lyrics, is also available on the Poetry page of the magazine. Going Home - The Poem and The Song It is worth noting that the poem "Going Home" and the lyrics of t he song "Going Home" differ somewhat. To make comparison convenient, I’ve indicated the variations by entering words that are sung that not in the poem not on the lyrics page in red. The words from the poem they replaced, if any, are printed in blue. I’ve also indented the penultimate and antepenultimate verses to signal those lines sung by the chorus rather than Mr Cohen. Going Home I love to speak with Leonard But he does say what I tell him He will speak these words of wisdom Going home Going home He wants to write a love song A cry above the suffering I want to make him/him to be certain That he only has permission Going home Going home [Chorus sings:] Going home I love to speak with Leonard ________________ Credit Due Department: I became aware that the printed and sung versions of “Going Home” differed from a LeonardCohenForum post written by dreamermusic. Jerry Berman convinced me the most likely word sung at the end of the 12th line is “tune.” New Yorker Magazine To Stream & Print Lyrics To Leonard Cohen's "Going Home" On Jan 16th
On January 16, 2012, “Going Home” will become, thanks to The New Yorker, the third song from Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas album available for online listening (“Show Me The Place” and “Darkness,” are currently available at their respective links). For the full story, including the New Yorker's take on Cohen's songwriting as poetry, see the Heck Of A Guy Post on the New Yorker, Leonard Cohen, Going Home, & Poetry. Leonard Cohen On Tattoos - Prayer For Messiah
From the description: "It was my first and only tattoo (though I plan on getting more done) and I went by myself and didn't even cry!" Posted by florence at Weddingbee, this tattoo features a raven and a dove and is based on Prayer For Messiah by Leonard Cohen (from "Let Us Compare Mythologies"): His blood on my arm is warm as a bird His life in my mouth is less than a man O send out the raven ahead of the dove O sing from your chains where you're chained in a cave O break from your branches a green branch of love DrHGuy Note: I have altered the photo by darkening a distracting light placed in the area over the subject's left shoulder and by cropping out blank portions of the shot. Video: Prayer For Messiah Read By Leonard Cohen All photos from the Leonard Cohen On Tattoos series can be viewed at Leonard Cohen On Tattoos Collection. ________________ Leonard Cohen On Tattoos: In this exchange from On the road to singing sensation, a 1966 CBC TV interview, Leonard Cohen exercises the poet’s prerogative of re-interpreting and manipulating the interviewer's words and his own to distract and deflect: Leonard Cohen: ... I thought that I would ... get a tattoo As far as I can determine, Leonard Cohen never got that tattoo - but many of his admirers do sport inked images of and words inspired by the Canadian singer-songwriter on their bodies. Those specimens form the content of the Leonard Cohen On Tattoos photo series. Celebration by Leonard CohenWhen you kneel below me When you wrap your tongue I understand those Roman girls Kneel, love, a thousand feet below me, Kneel till I topple to your back - From The Spice-Box Of Earth by Leonard Cohen
Summer-Haiku by Leonard Cohen
From "The Spice-Box of Earth" |
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