<div dir="ltr"><div>Leonard Cohen dalok: <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-11/leonard-cohen-dies:-listen-to-his-most-loved-songs/8017576" target="_blank">http://www.abc.net.au/news/201<wbr>6-11-11/leonard-cohen-dies:-<wbr>listen-to-his-most-loved-songs<wbr>/8017576</a><br><br></div><br>cikk:<br><div><h1 class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-article-title">So long, Leonard: thank you for helping me to find God</h1>
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<div class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-article-author">by <b><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/david-cowan/" title="Posts by David Cowan" rel="author" target="_blank">David Cowan</a><br><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/11/11/so-long-leonard-thank-you-for-helping-me-to-find-god/" target="_blank">http://www.catholicherald.co.<wbr>uk/commentandblogs/2016/11/11/<wbr>so-long-leonard-thank-you-for-<wbr>helping-me-to-find-god/</a><br></b></div>
<div class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-article-date">posted <time datetime="2016-11-11 08:26:14">Friday, 11 Nov 2016</time></div>
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<div class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-article-featured"><img src="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/content/uploads/2016/11/PA-16916169-800x500.jpg" class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-featured-image m_-8416475798972398218gmail-wp-post-image" alt="Leonard Cohen on tour, 2013 (AP)" style="margin-right:0px" width="508" height="318"> <div class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-featured-caption">
Leonard Cohen on tour, 2013 (AP) </div>
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<p class="m_-8416475798972398218gmail-article-standfirst">He was mocked as a miserablist, but <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>he brought beauty out of the <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">gloom</span></b></span></p>
<p>In the 1990s a whole new audience discovered Leonard Cohen through <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>his song <i>Hallelujah</i>.
</b></span> 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.</p>
<p>The song was originally released in 1984 on his <i>Various Positions</i>
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”.</p>
<p>Humour was not a word associated with Cohen for most of his career.
Smart comments were always made about <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>the “Godfather of Gloom” and the
“Bedsit Bard” and how utterly <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">miserable</span> was his music.</b></span></p>
<p>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 <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>not <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">gloom</span> but a deep spiritual search.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>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.</b></span></p>
<p><i>Hallelujah</i> 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:</p>
<p><i>Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord</i> – David</p>
<p><i>The baffled king composing Hallelujah</i> – Saul</p>
<p><i>Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof</i> – Bathsheba</p>
<p><i>She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah</i> – Samson and Delilah.</p>
<p>In his deep spiritual exploration, eroticism vied with theology for
attention, though he warned us wisely against too close a reading. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>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:</b></span></p>
<p><i>I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary<br>
“do you hate mankind for what they done to you?”<br>
He said, “talk of love not hate, things to do – it’s getting late.<br>
I’ve so little time and I’m only passing through.”</i></p>
<p>His first and most famous song before <i>Hallelujah</i> was <i>Suzanne</i>, where the third verse is:</p>
<p><i>And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water<br>
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower<br>
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him<br>
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them<br>
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open<br>
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone</i></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>Cohen was drawn to Jesus </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>but also other religious and philosophical
traditions, and became a Zen monk </b></span>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.”</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>His great lyric “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light
gets in” was one of great theological insight,</b></span> and his spiritual search
through his song lyrics and poetry shed light on the spiritual quest
that runs deep in us all.</p>
<p>Cohen’s musical journey, though unorthodox, was genuine and deeply
rooted in a love of the traditional Jewish texts, mysticism and
practice. In his <i>Book of Longing</i>, one of the poems is:</p>
<p><i>Anyone who says</i></p>
<p><i>I’m not a Jew</i></p>
<p><i>is not a Jew</i></p>
<p><i>I’m very sorry</i></p>
<p><i>but this is final</i></p>
<p>Last week in the post I received<span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b> his final album, with the haunting title <i>You Want it Darker</i>. The album suggests Cohen was ready for his death, which he discussed in his final interview a few weeks back in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker" target="_blank"><i>New Yorker</i></a> magazine.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>The death of his former lover Marianne, immortalised in the song <i>So Long, Marianne,</i>
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.</b></span>”</p>
<p>Today, Leonard Cohen followed Marianne as he foretold. So long,
Leonard, and with heartfelt thanks from I and others whom you have left
behind.</p>
<p><i>Dr David Cowan is an author, speaker and visiting scholar at Boston College</i></p><br></div></div>