Culture Zohn: Leonard Cohen, Troubadour of Love
It was while waiting on line at the will call behind a thirtysomething female bass player in a rock band and her composer boyfriend that I realized that Leonard Cohen was still speaking to all those who seek answers to the impenetrables.
The couple told me their fathers had turned them on to Cohen, but that they felt if he recorded a new album today it would be every bit as worthy.
I had put my 1973 Leonard Cohen Live Songs album in pride of place on the mantel, the one with the black and white picture of him smoking and communed with it (before the sold out Radio City Music Hall concert) and the youthful longing he so deftly channeled for so many of us.
Known recently for his spiritual artwork and for being Madoffed before Bernie even hit the Street by a voracious business manager, Cohen went back on the concert circuit because he was plum broke.
At the Music Hall last night, you would have never known that either Cohen or his adoring fans, young and old, had an economic worry in the world. The hushed, deco carpeted hall proved a serene and majestic venue for Cohen, the perfect get away from it all that everybody seems to want.
But to where? As he himself acknowledged midway through the set, there's really nowhere to hide anymore.
Image courtesy of Avi Gerver
Cohen sang his standards and more, often beginning each one kneeling, his own homage to his deeply felt work, his signature fedora rakishly tilted at first to totally obscure his expression and then after intermission, to reveal the craggy, wise troubadour. There was even a whiff of the Chairman of the Board, Sinatra himself, who often used a hat too as a way to woo his audience.
But were his eyes mostly closed at the outset so he couldn't see how many of us had aged?
People were bobbing and swaying, some mouthing the words, or singing under their breath, almost as if they were chanting with a guru.
On my right were two people who appeared older than me, on my left much younger. He is someone who still captures longing.
The set was tame and melodic, his version of backup singers more harmonic than Harlettes, his musicians, other than the marvelous guitar player from Barcelona, correct rather than passionate. But they were just following their charming leader.
I'm sure that Cohen at the Beacon had the intimacy that this performance lacked, but since other than Mick Jagger, I haven't been to a rock-ish concert in years it all felt a bit surreal.
Cohen still has the bedroom voice, the luscious, sexy Everybody Knows, no pyrotechnics needed instrument that has taught us about transfiguration and transformation and transmutation. But the post-minimal, hat -doffing delivery sometimes worked against the poetry, the former angst about misplaced love replaced by a serenity that made all those years of using him as a totem for our unrequitedness almost suspect.
Was this the same guy who had hold of our tortured hearts?
If it hadn't been for the father who brought his restless little boy with him in front of me or the drunken fan who was forcibly ejected two thirds of the way through for starting a fight, I would have slipped slightly into somnolence.
As it was, the reverence felt right, somehow. The Troubadours were known for their lyricism and intelligence and we could not have a finer standard bearer.
Hallelujah.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Leonard Cohen New Images - Radio City Music Hall
http://www.msg.com/photos/leonard-cohen-live-at-radio-city-/slide/1/
This guy is awesome!
Check your facts, oh blogger person. His latest album is only 3 years old. And he isn't broke. His former manager stole his savings, but he got much of it back before the tour. He's doing the tour because he's getting old and feels this may be his last chance (according to him).
Canada only produced three musical geniuses but it's quite a list:.
Glenn Gould , Oscar Peterson and Cohen.
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot?
I am speaking about musical ( or poetic--Cohen) genius.
Modestly talented. are dime-a-dozen Even in Canada.
Of course there's the Shmenge Brothers..... :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmenge_Brothers
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
I in the tower of song
Great quote Solaris123 from a Cohen creation that even brings in Hank Williams coughing during the night in the "Tower of Song." I happened to be in a doctor's office waiting room the other day when I came across a truly ancient "People" magazine. Kept thinking of Cohen's "Take This Waltz" song which includes a line about "a chair with a dead magazine."
Good anecdote. Cohen poetry is transcendent but it also connects on the basic everyday level . Hence its popularity.
When I visit Vienna's City Park, next to that Straussian concert shell, I am always reminded of Cohen's"
"And I'll dance with you in Vienna, I'll be wearing a river's disguise."
At this year's Coachella Festival, the crowd singing softly along to "Hallelujah" under the desert's evening sky was a transcendent moment. I'm glad he still commands the respect and appreciation he deserves.
Genius. I doubt any American Idol fans would get it though.
Believe it or not--I think it was last season-- a guy with dreadlocks and a guitar sang Hallelujah--and then Simon called it one of his favorite songs. I'm sorry I can't remember the contestant's name but he had that kind of vibe about him. It was good. Although he sang it like the Jeff Buckley cover.
I bet he got the idea from 'Shrek' - there was a version in the movie.
Saw one of his LA shows a couple weeks ago. It is incredible that a 70 year old man can rock harder than people half his age.
Over 30 years ago when I was still at university, Leonard Cohen was the choice of balladeer for troubled and angst ridden youth in my circle. Poetry readings (both in public and private) were nearly always accompanied at some stage of the evening/night by his albums. Ah, the memories, they linger.
I have a bootleg of this show, it is amazing!
Leonard's eyes were closed because he has tremendous stage fright! haha
Cohen has been with me through every trail I have faced since the early 90s. Leonard uplifts my spirit each time I hear him sing/speak. God bless you dear sir.
'... the former angst about misplaced love replaced by a serenity that made all those years of using him as a totem for our unrequitedness almost suspect.'
angst replaced by serenity is what (hopefully) happens as as each of us grows older and wiser -- this is cause for celebration rather than suspicion, especially when such triumphs are so elegantly and beautifully displayed by someone who really "knows"
There's something fundamentally kitsch about calling any present day performer a 'troubador'. Yuck.
I disagree. The word "troubador" which references a traveling poet singer is a nod to tradition.
Kitsch is the German and Yiddish word denoting art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art. The term kitsch was a response to the 19th century art whose aesthetics convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art. Moreover, kitsch (art) also denotes the types of art that are like-wise æsthetically deficient (whether or not it is sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) making it a creative gesture that merely imitates the superficial appearances of art (via repeated conventions and formulae), thus, it is uncreative and unoriginal; it is not Art. Contemporaneously, kitsch also (loosely) denotes art that is æsthetically pretentious to the degree of being in poor taste, and industrially-produced art-items that are considered trite and crass. - Wikipedia
But there's absolutely nothing kitschy, schmaltzy or gauche about Cohen.
He makes Tom Waits and Serge Gainsbourg seem practically Eurovision-esque. And that's a monumental achievement.
I went to see "McCabe and Mrs Miller" when it was released, expecting a great Robert Altman film. That was confirmed when I was surprised to hear Cohen's soundtrack introducing the movie, absolutely perfect!
His 'song for Isaac', the story of Abraham and Isaac told from Isaac's point of view, is so amazing.
I fell in love with LC after reading his book, The Beautiful Losers, while he was still in Canada. Then when his first album came out, I played it All the Time, memorized the words, etc. He touched a nerve, captured a longing for a generation, in the most original way. Then he disappeared to Europe for a long time. A friend said he saw him in Israel, singing in a small cafe with just his guitar. And there was the Zen monastery stay. Then he came back to the world with a big show. I saw it in Berkeley about 15 years ago . He had "evolved" his image and whole presentation...very shiney and theatrical and still amazing in its own way. The crowd loved him, gave him a huge ovation and Lenny just came back out, for one encore after another....so generous, so loving. What a guy! 'Loved the recent film, "I'm your man" too. It shows what a funny, wise, real, unpretentious, honest and kind man he is. 'Can't believe he's 75! I wish him many many more years!
I saw him in Toronto fifteen years ago, and I saw him in Vancouver a few weeks ago. He was perfect both times. The first time, I went because my girlfriend liked him. It was then the greatest show I had ever seen. Since then, my girlfriend has become my wife. We saw Cohen recently because we were both moved to tears the first time we saw him. At 75, he was even more powerful. During Anthem, I was moved again. There is a crack in everything - that's how the light gets in.
Thank you Leonard Cohen. You've shown me purity in an otherwise imperfect world.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
