You may have noticed that we are raving Leonard Cohen fanatics here at Flavorpill. As such, it’s no surprise that we are quietly losing our shit about the fact that he has a new album out today — Old Ideas is his first studio album since 2004′s Dear Heather, and promises to be compulsory listening. We thought we’d celebrate by putting together our completely subjective essential Leonard Cohen discography, like we did for Tom Waits a while back — ten songs from over the years that best illustrate what we love about Montreal’s poet laureate. Choosing only ten songs from a discography that spans nearly half a century is, of course, a pretty challenging task (especially if you’re limiting yourself to one track from any given album.) So don’t just rant and rave about our choices — let us know your favorites, too.
“Suzanne” from Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
No, you basically can’t create any sort of Cohen playlist without this song. In a manner befitting Cohen’s mid-1960s shift from the printed page to the world of music, the genesis of “Suzanne” lay in a poem that he wrote about Suzanne Verdal, who was the wife of Canadian sculptor Armand Vaillancourt. Years later, Verdal told the BBC about the evenings she spent with Cohen: “I would always light a candle and serve tea and it would be quiet for several minutes, then we would speak. And I would speak about life and poetry and we’d share ideas.” Isn’t that exactly how you’d imagine a night with Leonard Cohen should be?
Comments (8)
So Long Marianne, Chelsea Hotel #2, I’m Your Man, Tower of Song, Dance Me to the End of Love. I’m sure I’m forgetting some! And hearing him do a spoken word version of A Thousand Kisses Deep is like losing your virginity in a romance novel, a level of perfection that doesn’t exist in the real world.
Thanks for some great memories, and some great comments. You’ve drawn from a deep well.
However, let me suggest that you have the narrative in “Famous Blue Raincoat” backward. The singer’s lover had an affair with the man he’s writing to, but he didn’t “take her away”; she came back to the author. The song makes several references to Jane being in the company of the writer, not the man in the famous blue raincoat (“when she came back”; “If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me”). It’s a bit ambiguous what effect the affair had on their relationship (“when she came back, she was nobody’s wife” – note also that “Jane *came by* with a lock of your hair”, suggesting that she isn’t actually living with the writer), but clearly the writer and Jane have a continuing relationship, and she comes back to him after her meeting(s?) with the other man.
Also, the lock of hair is the raincoat man’s, not Jane’s (“a lock of *your* hair”).
The writer is explicitly not alone in his room; he is with Jane while the raincoat man remains out in the desert building his little house (“I see Jane’s awake”).
All together, I see it not as pragmatic acceptance of doomed love, but as a kind of high sad wisdom. The writer knows that hearts stray, and not all lovers can give each other all that they need. He accepts that his lover chose to go with another man, and then chose to come back to him; he knows she needed it that way.
He realizes that the other man was better for Jane in some ways than he himself could be, and, because he loves her, he is glad she found comfort where she needed it. (“Thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes . . . I never tried.”) He regrets that his lover chose another man, even temporarily, but he is an adult and he knows she deserves the freedom to make her choices; he knows also the other man is a good man – they were clearly friends, and what had gone before is not lost in what came after. (“What can I tell you / My brother, my killer / . . . / I guess that I miss you / I guess I forgive you / I’m glad that you stood in my way”) He will love them both in whatever way must be. (“If you ever come by here / For Jane or for me / Your enemy is sleeping / His woman is free.”) They are all three friends (“Jane . . . sends her regards”), and the deeper bonds that have formed and reformed between them complicate but do not erase that.
This is the love of a man who sees people as they are – without posturing, or blustering, or egotism. He is grateful for what he has, and man enough to want the best for his friends and lovers, even if he must step aside to let them find it, and experienced enough to know that loves are not exclusive.
Thanks again for a chance to re-think some of this wonderful artistry.
Take This Waltz!
@Kevin T Keith – thanks for the thoughtful and fascinating comment. And yes, reading your reasoning, I think you’ve got it spot on. It’s interesting how Cohen wrote some of his best lyrics about love triangles, actually. “The Master Song” is another one.
What a great list. I don’t think I could pick ten favorites from this man’s songbook. One of the high points in my life was seeing him in concert two years ago. More favorites, Avalanche, Joan of Arc, So Long, Marianne, Tower of Song. I also really dug your Tom Waits discography you did a while back.
@Edward – thanks :) They’re fun to do. And yes, I saw him when he played in Australia two years ago. It was transcendent, even in a horrible soulless sports arena.
I first saw Cohen in concert in Dublin in 1979 and a number of times in the following years – including the fabulous Kilmainham concerts in 2008. Because the man is a real genius there’s any of 50 songs could rightfully take a place in any compilation but I think you got it pretty good to be honest. One of my own personal faves not here ‘Secret Life’
Great layout! How did you get it?
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