Wednesday 7 November 2018

Leonard Cohen

I was fortunate to catch a Leonard Cohen concert in Brisbane almost five years ago. The poet-artist died two years ago, but his voice was not just for his or any generation, it is for all time.

Here's a playlist of Leonard Cohen songs, or click on a particular song below:

1. Suzanne
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river.

2. Sisters of Mercy
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.

3. So Long, Marianne

4. Bird on the Wire.
Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. 
And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."

8. Lover Lover Lover

9. Who by Fire
To the leaders of the left, and the leaders of the right, I sing... I sing for everyone. My song has no flag, my song has no party. Leonard Cohen introducing "Who by Fire."

10. Take This Longing
You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
...
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya

14. If It Be Your Will
Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes 
But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone.
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the Tower Of Song 
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.
I smile when I'm angry, I cheat and I lie.
I do what I have to do to get by.
But I know what is wrong and I know what is right,
and I'd die for the truth in my secret life. 
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.