"If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame"
Those are the opening lines of the title track 'You Want It Darker' from Leonard Cohens last album released in October 2016, just 19 days before he passed away at the age of 84. Before that he had a lifetime of novels, poetry and song with heavy influences on the three taboo subjects, sex, religion and politics. Often writing and singing about death and depression he gained the reputation of creating 'music to slash your wrists by', but he also found pleasure in romance.
I came to Leonard Cohen through various paths. Obviously Dylan was my first and major influence in the mix of poetry, symbolism, abstract thought and music but there were others. The books of Rod McKuen, some taken into spoken word albums led to listening to songs with deeper, but often darker lyrics and as I got older and more appreciative I went back to earlier catalogues and rediscovered Leonard Cohen.
His debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' in 1967 came with a powerful lasting collection of titles that stayed with him throughout his career. The haunting 'Suzanne' and the lilting 'Sisters of Mercy' - 'So Long, Marianne' based on his relationship with Marianne Jensen and the soft, sad 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye'.
This album, 'Various Positions' came at the halfway point of his studio album output but contains one of his most well-known songs.
'Hallelujah' almost didn't make it to the album and hardly made a ripple when it was put out as a single. It didn't chart in the US or UK and only got to #17 in Canada, probably due to national pride.
Bob Dylan picked up on it early, doing it in concert in 1988, but it wasn't really until John Cale in 1991 and then the most popular version by Jeff Buckley in 1994 that it took a foothold. Since then it has been covered over 300 times and appeared in so many movies, TV shows and soundtracks it's hard to keep count.
Leonard himself is quoted in 2009 as saying perhaps there should have been a moratorium on using it, but then in 2012 he went back the other way to say he was very happy it was being sung.
There's another track on this album that I love.
'The Captain'.
It's written as a conversation between the title character and the singer, biting and sniping at each other as the Captain seemingly tries to hand over command and responsibility as the singer questions his actions. It's dark and it's harsh but it's sung to a jaunty almost bouncy sing-along backing that is at odds with the story being told.
I've never found a reliable interpretation of the true meaning of this song, so I have my own ideas and I allow my version to make sense, but probably only to me. I still have a major problem with the last verse and just can't make it fit.
"Now the Captain he was dying
But the Captain wasn't hurt
The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt."
On 'Various Positions' Cohen used Jennifer Warnes as backup on many of the tracks, after having her on a previous album 'Recent Songs' I used to have a Jennifer Warnes album she released in 1986 titled 'Famous Blue Raincoat' which was a tribute to Cohen and contained some of his better known songs to date.
In 2017 on the eve of the 1st anniversary of his death there was a memorial concert in Montreal to celebrate Leonards music and poetry. Sting, Elvis Costello, k.d. Lang, Courtney Love and many others perfomed. There's a video out there, I have a copy. If you can find it, take a look. It's called 'Tower of Song'.
As with some other artists, Leonard Cohen's body of work is extensive and lends itself to finding one or more comprehensive compilation albums to cover a representative range. Everybody needs 'First We Take Manhattan', 'Who By Fire' and 'Chelsea Hotel' in their collection.
"I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
You were talking so brave and so sweet
Giving me head on the unmade bed
While the limousines wait in the street"
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