(Original image here.)
There's a famous story I'm going to screw up. Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen are sharing a cab or a limo or something, & are being complimentary to one another. Cohen mentions a song of Dylan's - in my brain it's something off of Infidels, but I can't recall what it is - & asks Dylan how long it took him to write it. (I assume this is the sort of thing about which songwriters compare notes.) Dylan says he wrote it in a cab on the way to a show. He then compliments Cohen on the song "Hallelujah," & asks how long it took him to write that song. Cohen replies that he worked on it off & on for a decade.
This story may explain why Cohen, in a career just a little shorter than The Bob's, only released fourteen studio records, while The Nobel Bob has released four thousand. & by the way, there's a part of me that things both men are being somewhat hyperbolic - Dylan to show off, Cohen to be humble. Which also says something about the two men.
There are times when you gotta be Dylan, & there are times when you gotta be Cohen. As I stumble through my meaningless life, a life defined at times by gloom & at times by painful beauty, at times by bleakness so vast my eyes & ears fail, & at times by love so true & surprising that I am grateful for my senses - as the road ahead gets shorter than the one behind, as what the heart remembers starts to overshadow what it has yet to feel - I find in myself less & less Dylan & more & more Cohen.
Truly I could talk about him & his music (which is also him) all day & night long. Maybe one day you & I will do that, with a bottle of wine in front of us. Until then, here's my feeble attempt to pay tribute to someone I have loved & needed for almost my entire adult life. Oh, Leonard Cohen. I will listen for you everyday as you sing to us sweetly from the Tower Of Song.
The show, such as it is, is at the Self Help Radio website. The songs I played are below. I hope you like it, if you listen. But the truth is, as piss-poor a tribute as it is, I needed to do it, for me. To say thanks.
"Suzanne" Nina Simone _To Love Somebody_
"Memories" The Extra Glenns _Martial Arts Weekend_
"Why Don't You Try" Colleen Rennison _See The Sky About To Rain_
"There Is A War" Great Plains _Slaves To Rock & Roll_
"Story Of Isaac" Green Pajamas _Indian Winter_
"Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" Claudine Longet _Let's Spend The Night Together_
"Lover Lover Lover" Ian McCulloch _Mysterio_
"I'm Your Man" Mystery Twins _Arrow_
"Dress Rehearsal Rag" Goodbye Mr Mackenzie _Jezebel_
"Tonight Will Be Fine" Herman Düne & Clemence Freschard _Kreuzberg Cafe_
"The Law" Tanya Donelly _Swan Song Series, Vol. 2_
"If It Be Your Will" Human Drama _Pinups_
"Sisters Of Mercy" Area _The Perfect Dream_
(part two)
"Avalanche" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _From Her To Eternity_
"So Long Marianne" Bill Callahan _The Songs Of Leonard Cohen Covered_
"Dance Me To The End Of Love" The Civil Wars _Barton Hollow_
"Bird On A Wire (feat. Marc Ribot)" My Brightest Diamond _I Have Never Loved Someone_
"Hallelujah" John Cale _I'm Your Fan_
"Who By Fire" Coil _Horse Rotorvator_
"You Got Me Singing" Jenny Adkins _You Got Me Singing_
"Joan Of Arc" John Wesley Hardings Love Hall Tryst _Songs Of Misfortune_
"Paper Thin Hotel" Close Lobsters _Nature Thing_
"Diamonds In The Mine" Broken Family Band _Balls_
"Passing Through" Dick Blakeslee _Songs For Political Action, Vol. 6: The People's Songs Era 1945-1949_
"Chelsea Hotel # 2" Lambchop _Rainer On My Parade_
"Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" Palaxy Tracks _Twelve Rooms_
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