Leonard Cohen on depression and relationships
Swag.
Wrinkles, facial hair, cap-askew.
I don’t remember
lighting this cigarette
and I don’t remember
if I’m here alone
or waiting for someone
- Leonard Cohen, “Book of Longing”
(Source: monsta, via evilwaveform)
The Moon
The moon is outside.
I saw the great and uncomplicated thing
when I went to take a leak just now.
I should have looked at it longer.
I am a poor lover of the moon.
I see it all at once and that’s it
for me and the moon.
—Leonard Cohen
(Source: forgetyrperfectoffering, via goosebumpsfitsandmalaria)
Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire, dir. Tony Palmer
Thirty-eight years after it was completed, a 1972 documentary following Leonard Cohen—the enormously influential poet, folk musician and, since 2008, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—on tour in Europe finally has its moment. Originally made as a promotional film for the artist, whose record sales were meager at the time, Bird on a Wire was produced and edited by Tony Palmer, then famed for his seminal 1968 documentary All My Loving, an eye-opening dissection of rock n’ roll that featured, among others, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Donovan. In Bird on a Wire, Palmer neatly captured the tour itself––threadbare, fraught with technical difficulties and emotional upheavals––but on first viewing, Cohen balked at the bare bones honesty of the film and demanded a complete re-edit from another source. The result was so disastrous that the film opened and closed on the same day, was forgotten about, then lost. In 2009, 294 cans of celluloid labeled “Bird an a Wire” were found locked in a Hollywood warehouse and immediately shipped to Palmer, who set about re-creating the original film he made all those years ago. The work is a visual poem—Palmer’s camera followed Cohen without judgment, opening the floor to the man as well as the artist. Today’s exclusive clip shows the music legend during an abortive attempt to ask a young German fan out on a date.
Leonard Cohen had so much game.
![Poetry in Motion, director Tony Palmer on Leonard Cohen
…
There is a conflict within him, the poet. He says in the film: “I wrote these songs to myself and to women, several years ago, and it is a curious thing to be trapped in that original effort. Because here I wanted to tell one person, one thing––and now I am in the situation where I must repeat them, like some parrot, chained to his stand, night after night.” On the one hand [while filming] he was very aware of the kind of intimacy of my process; that really coincided with the intimate nature of what he was doing. But on the other hand, he was advertising it by allowing me to film him. On his part, he fulfilled his function, even when he’s breaking down and bursting into tears. He never did any of that stuff that you see for our benefit. He realized I was doing my very best to get as close as I possibly could to him as a man. The music, with a bit of luck, would take care of itself.
(Via Nowness)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7zc3l17zF1qzzjtbo1_500.jpg)
Poetry in Motion, director Tony Palmer on Leonard Cohen
…
There is a conflict within him, the poet. He says in the film: “I wrote these songs to myself and to women, several years ago, and it is a curious thing to be trapped in that original effort. Because here I wanted to tell one person, one thing––and now I am in the situation where I must repeat them, like some parrot, chained to his stand, night after night.” On the one hand [while filming] he was very aware of the kind of intimacy of my process; that really coincided with the intimate nature of what he was doing. But on the other hand, he was advertising it by allowing me to film him. On his part, he fulfilled his function, even when he’s breaking down and bursting into tears. He never did any of that stuff that you see for our benefit. He realized I was doing my very best to get as close as I possibly could to him as a man. The music, with a bit of luck, would take care of itself.
(Via Nowness)
From Leonard Cohen´s poem “Inside Our Love” – The Book of Longing
I want to love you now
I want to love you then
I want to love you never
And then begin again
See what you have done to me
As if you give a shit
I used to live behind a line
But now I´m over it
I won´t come back to say goodbye
I´ll never leave your side
Until I am the other man
And you are someone´s bride
Sit down on my memory
When you are in pain
When you are in pleasure
Sit down on it again
Thank you for your courtesy
And for your drunken kiss
I´m drunker that you´ll ever be
I hate to tell you this
Did Leonard Cohen save my life?
In the article about me that Chris Jones wrote in Esquire, there was one statement that startled me. He says Leonard Cohen’s song “I’m Your Man” saved my life.
My wife Chaz told Chris that on my last day in the hospital after my first surgery, when I was walking and talking and the surgery looked like a success, we were listening to Cohen on my iPod. “I’m Your Man” wasn’t Our Song. That’s Rod Stewart’s “You’re in My Heart.” But “I’m Your Man” was what I liked to play “to” Chaz, with Leonard singing on my behalf, you see.
As usual, I must have been conducting the music in the air and so on. It’s a long song. When it finished, I was ready to go home and then my cartoid artery burst. My doctors were in the room to say goodbye. The red button was pushed, an emergency team materialized, I was rushed to the OR, and my life was saved.
(via Roger Ebert’s blog; click link for full story)
Leonard Cohen - A Thousand Kisses Deep (live recitation in London 2009)
I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat.
I´m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet,
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second-hand physique -
With all he is, and all he was
A thousand kisses deep.
I’ve never been one for poetry recitals or the like but this - this was different.
Pixies - I Can’t Forget (Leonard Cohen cover)
Somedays you just feel like only Leonard knows what’s what.
I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can’t be me
Must be my double
And I can’t forget, I can’t forget
I can’t forget but I don’t remember what
Nick Cave - I’m Your Man (Leonard Cohen cover)
When Cohen and Cave meet, magic happens.
“If a guy ever sings this to you, it will be because you don’t want him. And it will be more sad than anything else. That’s why this song is so beautiful.”
Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
…
I don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can’t keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often.
