Leonard Cohen — 574

AL

ALBUM: I’m Your Man (1988)

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

Canadian, poet, novelist, singer, songwriter and musician. Which of these things does not go with Leonard Cohen.

Some would say singer. And yet, that, and songwriter are probably what he’s known most for. His song ‘Hallelujah’ has many great covers (Jeff Buckley,  Willie Nelson, k.d. lang, Justin Timberlake, just to name a few.) But some still enjoy Cohen’s own version best. I prefer Buckley’s but I do prefer Cohen’s version of Suzanne more than the interpretations by other singers.

Cohen whisper-talks in deep basstones. He doesn’t really sing. But it can be very effective as on his 1988 album, “I’m Your  Man.” On this album that I have on vinyl, Cohen uses more instrumentation than usual  to back  his whispery poetry. It’s right catchy. Highlights include the title song,  ‘First We Take Manhattan’ and probably the album’s best song, ‘Tower of Song.’  It’s kind of  like old white man rap.

With Cohen, it’s all about the words. He’s basically a poet, who learned to turn his provocative verse into song.  He was apparently in his 30s before he even used  music as vehicle for expression. He was a novelist and poet with several published works.

Cohen’s lyrics are always enigmatic, earthy and sophisticated at the same time.  Here’s some passages from ‘Tower of Song:’