Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker • Hacker News Board

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#11

Post by nathancahill » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:04 PM UTC

hobochili wrote: post #9

rbadaro wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He would definitely deserve it. But he's Canadian so his contributions would more correctly be classified as going towards Canadian songwriting.

Haha... Valid point. I'd have to explore the intricacies of Canadian songwriting before I could confidently make the assertion, but my feeling is that Cohen's songwriting falls in line with the American tradition.

I've explored the intricacies of Canadian songwriting. J Biebs.

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#12

Post by woliveirajr » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:24 PM UTC

kristofferR wrote: post #2

How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

> "At eighty-two, the troubadour has another album coming. Like him, it is obsessed with mortality, God-infused, and funny"

Think it's because of the album

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#13

Post by Kluny » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

hobochili wrote: post #9

rbadaro wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He would definitely deserve it. But he's Canadian so his contributions would more correctly be classified as going towards Canadian songwriting.

Haha... Valid point. I'd have to explore the intricacies of Canadian songwriting before I could confidently make the assertion, but my feeling is that Cohen's songwriting falls in line with the American tradition.

(Biased Canadian)

I'd say Cohen is entirely Canadian. He has this very self-deprecating humor that you don't really get from Americans.

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#14

Post by timehastoldme » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

kristofferR wrote: post #2

How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

Very funny.

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#15

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #10

kristofferR wrote: post #2

How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

News papers pre-emptively write obituaries for famous older people, so they have a bunch of stuff already researched and written for Cohen.

[deleted]

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#16

Post by napoleoncomplex » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

kristofferR wrote: post #2

How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

As others have mentioned, there are a few factors in play. The interview mentions the letter he recently wrote to his dying ex-love, where he said himself "I am not far behind". Connected to that, his single from the new album is more or less an invitation for death to come for him. Those things likely triggered the sense of urgency in some reporters :).

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#17

Post by ericzawo » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

Leonard Cohen is absolutely one of the best (Canadian!) artists of the last century. Seriously; if you have the time, do what you can to discover his music. Songs of Leonard Cohen, Various Positions, and of course I'm Your Man are all must listen albums.

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#18

Post by abuiles » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:55 PM UTC

gjm11 wrote: post #4

kristofferR wrote: post #2

How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?

It would be impressive to know that in advance, given that actually it was Bob Dylan who won it. (But perhaps they were tipped off that it would be a singer-songwriter, and they made the wrong guess.)

One of the episodes of Revisionist History talks about genius and different types of innovation, through the episode they talk about Cohen and how his song Hallelujah was not an overnight success. Cohen worked on it over 5 years to get it to a point where he was comfortable with!

Dylan is also mentioned in that episode, since they had some kind of mutual admiration. Apparently Dylan and Cohen meetup at some point and Dylan asked Leonard how long it took him to write Hallelujah and he lied saying "2 years". Then Cohen asked Dylan how long it took him write "I and I" and Dylan said: "oh, like 15 minutes".

If you are interested in exploring more, I annotated a bunch of fun facts from that episode https://www.listeningcrowd.com/podcasts/1-revisionist-histor...

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#19

Post by luckydata » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 3:20 PM UTC

rbadaro wrote: post #8

hobochili wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I love Bob Dylan, I wouldn't have been upset had Leonard Cohen been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He's written two novels, several volumes of poetry, and, of course, has made his own irreplaceable poetic contributions to American songwriting.

He would definitely deserve it. But he's Canadian so his contributions would more correctly be classified as going towards Canadian songwriting.

Last time I checked Canada was in the Americas but I get your point.

Re: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker

#20

Post by jontas » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 3:31 PM UTC

I was fortunate enough to see him live quite a few times during his touring between 2008 and 2012, and I have never seen better live music in my life. In his late 70s he would give a 3+ hour performance full of energy and enthusiasm, it was truly incredible to see.