A post about Leonard Cohen would normally be something reserved for my music blog. But …
Early this afternoon, I played Leonard’s new album, “You Want It Darker” in its entirety for the first time, sharing it with Kim as we tried to relax from the intensity of this week. We had both heard tracks here and there since its release in late October, but this was the first “real” listening. After the album play was completed, we stopped and talked about it for quite some time, stunned by the incredible poetry and effect of the music. We dove onto the Internet to find the lyrics to what we had just heard. I visited his official website for more information, confirming that he was now 82, yet he now seems to be at the very height of his powers. We talked about how the album’s music could be seen as a premonition or exploration of death that would someday come. And we welcomed his music as an alternative to the shock of the political events of this week and how the latter has been dominating all conversation and thought.
Later on this evening, after watching the news and talking by phone with Ivi for an hour, I returned to the Leonard Cohen website to find an announcement posted five hours earlier, informing us that Leonard had just passed away.
Here is the title track to the new album. I will probably be adding more from this album and much of his previous work to my music blog in posts in the days to come.
I must add that Leonard Cohen’s music — along with only a handful of other performers and composers (Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Tom Waits, J. S. Bach all come to mind) — would be among that which I would select to take with me to that mythical “desert island”.
Leonard Cohen, R.I.P.