Leonard Cohen 1

Leonard Cohen, 1988

Leonard Cohen's trademark was a unique blend of poetry and music, with the music accompanying and underlying the text extremely well. Often in the minor key, he sang about cross-cultural relations, friendship, inter-personal relations, isolation, loneliness, love, religion, and sexuality – but above all about love in its many facets. He passed away on 7 November 2016.

As an artist Cohen had a very broad appeal, across genders, cultures, and generations. Many of you will have a favorite Leonard Cohen soundtrack to your life. Please honor his memory and his impact of music and popular culture by playing your favorite song(s)!

As for me, it is hard, very hard, to pick one song that I like best, one song that has meant most to me over the years – they all (many at least) have been important in various situations and phases of my life. If pressed, as an album I will pick "I'm Your Man," which includes the iconic songs "First We Take Manhattan," "Ain't No Cure for Love," "Everybody Knows," "I'm Your Man," "Take This Waltz," "I Can't Forget," and "Tower of Song." For a song I chose "Dance me to the end of love (Cohen, Leonard nd; Note 2)."

Lars T Soeftestad


Notes
(1) An earlier version of this article was published on Musica Mondo! (Musica Mondo 2016).
(2) Two reasons for this choice, besides it being a superb text and melody that gets under your skin: (i) the clip from "Scent of a woman" with the main characters dance tango (tango is a superb dance to present and visualize Cohen's underlying emotions, intensity, and meaning, and (ii) the clips throughout with wild horses.
(3) Relevant Devblog articles: (1) https://devblog.no/en/article/leonard-cohen-2, and (2) https://devblog.no/en/article/leonard-cohen-3
(4) Image credit: unknown.
(5) Permalink. URL: https://devblog.no/en/article/leonard-cohen-1
(5) This article was published 11 November 2016. It was revised 9 October 2018.

Sources
Cohen, Leonard. nd. "Dance me to the end of love". URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVqRe_eIRA
Musica Mondo! 2016. URL: http://www.facebook.com/MusicMondo

Add new comment

devblog.no