21–30 of 60 posts
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.
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.
I was gratified that I got a guffaw, and we ended the phone call.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Not sure what else you can call someone from USA, so I guess it makes a bit of sense.
How did The New Yorker get such a well timed profile? Did they know in advance that he would win the Nobel Prize?
So maybe he's next.
But the opening paragraph made me bristle slightly: "He got by on a three-thousand-dollar grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This was 1960..."
I'm assuming that's Canadian dollars. So he was living abroad doing what he loved, and presumably not breaking much of a sweat.
No less than ten years later, in the same country, my parents were struggling to bring up two children on my father's wage which was half that amount - and for a 40-hour week of very dangerous, manual work.
Now obviously people aspire to successful, creative careers, and most people don't begrudge them that, especially if they bring a great deal of joy to others. But I notice there is a phenomenon quite common in journalism, esp. regarding artistic figures, a great many of whom were actually born into relatively privileged circumstances, and a number of whom, especially during the sixties, wanted to display their bohemian credentials by living in somewhat spartan conditions. Strangely, however, they can always afford an air fare (decades before budgets airlines), and often inherit a house here or there, and always able to afford recreational drugs.
The image of the impoverished poet has long had journalistic appeal, but it is often a lie. They were actually in a very privileged position compared to 99% of people.
First off, I've always been a huge fan of Cohen. But the opening paragraph made me bristle slightly: "He got by on a three-thousand-dollar grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This was 1960..." I'm assuming that's Canadian dollars. So he was living abroad doing what he loved, and presumably not breaking much of a sweat. No less than ten years later, in the same country, my parents were struggling to bring up t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
(Biased Canadian) I'd say Cohen is entirely Canadian. He has this very self-deprecating humor that you don't really get from Americans.
I'll concede that Cohen is a Canadian songwriter. It's interesting to me, though, that he launched his music career in New York.
Leonard's first album had amazing production by american producer John Simon (who also worked with The Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin), probably the best in Cohen's entire career, so he chose well deciding to work out of Columbia's studio in NYC...
First off, I've always been a huge fan of Cohen. But the opening paragraph made me bristle slightly: "He got by on a three-thousand-dollar grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This was 1960..." I'm assuming that's Canadian dollars. So he was living abroad doing what he loved, and presumably not breaking much of a sweat. No less than ten years later, in the same country, my parents were struggling to bring up t…
I don't see the need to bristle when the rest of that paragraph dispells any notion of an "impoverished poet": "Cohen, whose family was both prominent and cultivated, had an ironical view of himself. He was a bohemian with a cushion whose first purchases in London were an Olivetti typewriter and a blue raincoat at Burberry."
And in those days, Burberry was actually an upper-class brand without the downmarket associations it has these days.