[Grem] Leonard Cohen dalok / Isten nyugosztalja!

[Emoke Greschik]

Leonard Cohen dalok:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/201
6-11-11/leonard-cohen-dies:-listen-to-his-most-loved-songs/8017576


cikk:
So long, Leonard: thank you for helping me to find God
by

*David Cowan
<http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/david-cowan/>http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/11/11/so-long-leonard-thank-you-for-helping-me-to-find-god/
<http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/11/11/so-long-leonard-thank-you-for-helping-me-to-find-god/>*
posted Friday, 11 Nov 2016
[image: Leonard Cohen on tour, 2013 (AP)]
Leonard Cohen on tour, 2013 (AP)

He was mocked as a miserablist, but *he brought beauty out of the gloom*

In the 1990s a whole new audience discovered Leonard Cohen through *his
song Hallelujah. * It was recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1989, reached the
younger ears of viewers of Shrek and went fully mainstream with the X
Factor talent show.

The song was originally released in 1984 on his *Various Positions* album
with some reluctance by his label CBS. Accepting an award many years later,
Cohen, with his trademark humour, thanked CBS for “the modesty of their
interest in my work”.

Humour was not a word associated with Cohen for most of his career. Smart
comments were always made about *the “Godfather of Gloom” and the “Bedsit
Bard” and how utterly miserable was his music.*

As a teenager in 1975, I was listening to Cohen in my bedroom when my
father stormed in and demanded to know what dirge I was playing so loudly
and who had died. What I, and so many who have followed his work over the
years, found was *not gloom but a deep spiritual search.*

*Cohen had been born into a wealthy family in Montreal, a family which was
prominent in the Jewish community in Canada. His songs resonated with
biblical themes, and featured a great deal of biblical material.*

*Hallelujah* is a prime example, where his lyrics juxtapose the texts of 2
Samuel, chapters 11 & 12 and Judges 16, while the refrain of Hallelujah
rings out:

*Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased
the Lord* – David

*The baffled king composing Hallelujah* – Saul

*Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the
roof* – Bathsheba

*She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, and she cut your
hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah* – Samson and Delilah.

In his deep spiritual exploration, eroticism vied with theology for
attention, though he warned us wisely against too close a reading. *There
are many biblical references, both Jewish and Christian, in other songs and
in his poetry, of which he wrote a number of volumes alongside two novels.
In a live song, never recorded in the studio, Cohen sang of Jesus:*




*I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary “do you hate mankind for
what they done to you?” He said, “talk of love not hate, things to do –
it’s getting late. I’ve so little time and I’m only passing through.”*

His first and most famous song before *Hallelujah* was *Suzanne*, where the
third verse is:






*And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water And he spent a long
time watching from his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain
only drowning men could see him He said all men will be sailors then until
the sea shall free them But he himself was broken, long before the sky
would open Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone*

*Cohen was drawn to Jesus **but also other religious and philosophical
traditions, and became a Zen monk *at Mount Baldy in Los Angeles. Once when
asked about Buddhism, he responded with words from his Zen teacher who said
to Cohen: “You are not a Jew, I am not a Buddhist.”

*His great lyric “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets
in” was one of great theological insight,* and his spiritual search through
his song lyrics and poetry shed light on the spiritual quest that runs deep
in us all.

Cohen’s musical journey, though unorthodox, was genuine and deeply rooted
in a love of the traditional Jewish texts, mysticism and practice. In his *Book
of Longing*, one of the poems is:

*Anyone who says*

*I’m not a Jew*

*is not a Jew*

*I’m very sorry*

*but this is final*

Last week in the post I received* his final album, with the haunting title
You Want it Darker. The album suggests Cohen was ready for his death, which
he discussed in his final interview a few weeks back in New Yorker
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker>
magazine.*

*The death of his former lover Marianne, immortalised in the song So Long,
Marianne, weighed much on his mind. As she lay dying he had sent her a
moving message saying: “I think I will follow you soon. Know that I am
close behind you.*”

Today, Leonard Cohen followed Marianne as he foretold. So long, Leonard,
and with heartfelt thanks from I and others whom you have left behind.

*Dr David Cowan is an author, speaker and visiting scholar at Boston
College*
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