Leonard Cohen: 1934-2016

Goodbye, Leonard

“If I knew where the songs came from, I'd go there more often.”

Leonard Cohen

The world lost a great soul this week. Leonard Cohen lived the songs he wrote—dark, sensual, spiritual, sinister, holy—they ran the gamut from the mystical, “Suzanne:”

“Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river

You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever

And you know that she's half-crazy, but that's why you want to be there

And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China...”

to “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.”

to his biggest hit, “Hallelujah:”

“...I did my best, it wasn't much

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

And even though it went all wrong

I stand before the Lord of Song,

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah...”

Leonard Cohen was true to his muse, followed the lead of his soul, and wrote lyrics that will live forever. Like Carl Jung, he wrote through depression, loss, and even dissociation, exposing, unashamed, what was worst in him, and what was best. There was never a pop song, or a fluff-song in the bunch. His futuristic “Everybody Knows” written in 1992, could have been written today:

“...Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows that the war is over

Everybody knows that the good guys lost

Everybody knows that the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, and the rich get rich

That's how it goes,

Everybody knows.”

He published his final album, You Want it Darker, an ode to his upcoming death, just last month. The very best thing Leonard Cohen did with his life, and with his songs was to never lie. Whatever was in his heart, no matter how deep, or dark, or twisted, went straight into his lyrics. He will be greatly missed by so many, including this one human being, who has followed his music forever. Fortunately, he left us with so much material, so much to ponder, that we can spend the rest of our lives mining it for its depth of meaning. He was truly a prophet in the Old Testament style.

“...There's a lover in the story

But the story's still the same

There's a lullaby for suffering

And a paradox to blame

But it's written in the scriptures

And it's not some idle claim

You want it darker

We kill the flame...”

                                                           In the Spirit,

                                                              Jane