As Cohen wrote of Janis Joplin, “You told me again you preferred handsome men/But for me you would make an exception.” Nonetheless, Cohen somehow managed to write one of the most covered songs of all time (“Hallelujah”) and sustain a successful recording career for decades.
His looks were, one might say, an acquired taste. In a musical world that relishes slight confections sung by beautiful young things of questionable talent, Cohen’s work was unabashedly adult, sophisticated, and often notably depressing. Cohen, who died November 7 at the age of 82, was an anomalous artist in many ways. And it was unquestionably appropriate for another reason: Leonard Cohen was and will likely remain for some time the most openly Jewish artist in English-language pop music. It was an electric moment, bringing the crowd together with the artist in their own native and very ancient language. It was the Birkat HaKohanim, the Priestly Blessing, lifted from the book of Numbers, discovered on metal scrolls dating from the First Temple Period, and recited only by those who, like Cohen, are descendants of the ancient priests of Israel. May he lift his face toward you and bring peace upon you May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you
#L eonard cohen muse series#
Stretching his arms out over the sold-out audience, Cohen split his fingers into the shape of the Hebrew letter shin and softly intoned in his raspy baritone a series of Hebrew words well over 2,000 years old: May the Lord bless you and protect you In 2009, at the end of his last concert in Israel, Leonard Cohen blessed the crowd. The astonishing power of Leonard Cohen’s lyrics came from his ability to infuse ancient texts and methods with modern sensibilities.
0 kommentar(er)
