Leonard Cohen, Is He Really That Great?

I was watching this program on the CBC called Shakin’ All Over which documented a series of Canadian musicians in the 1960s. I really enjoyed this program as it exposed to me a bunch of songs I vaguely recognized from the local AM oldies stations here in Toronto. CBC.ca had this to say about the program:

A joyful look at Canadian music from the 60s, that traces the evolution of a young industry with stories from such artists as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Lighthouse, Steppenwolf and The Guess Who, in harmony with a younger generation of stars (including Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo and Sloan) who reveal the impact some of these earlier songs and songwriters had on their music.

One of the segments focused on Canadian author/poet/musician Leonard Cohen.

My first real exposure to Leonard Cohen came back in college. I was familiar with some of his musical writings through the performances of them by other artists. Specifically Don Henley’s wonderful version of Everybody Knows. In college I took several electives that were as far from my program as possible. As I was studying computer programming, I focused my electives on the study of the written word. One such course was a study of Canadian short stories. The very talented professor in the course, Dr. Burke Cullen pushed to squeeze some poetry into the syllabus. I’m glad he did as it was this that exposed me to Leonard Cohen.

I used this opportunity to study some of Cohen’s works as well as his life to a small degree. What I found was a huge catalog of reviews of Leonard Cohen. Apparently everybody loves this guy’s art.

As I read his poetry and listened to his music I was overwhelmed by a single idea, a single thought: ‘this is poetry’. That sounds obvious, but I couldn’t word it any differently. That was the phrase stuck in my mind. Everytime I hear Suzanne, I am reminded of that phrase, this is poetry. Is that what good poetry should do? I don’t think so. I don’t think good poetry should reinforce the idea that poetry is poetry. I think poetry should be an avenue for the audience to not just experience but be a part of art.

As I read ‘good’ poetry, I don’t feel like I’m reading, I feel like I’m there. I’m in the world created by the words. When I listen to Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road*, I can see the world Bruce has created for his audience. I see this winding beach road travelling north along the eastern shoreline. The Sun is about to rise up out of the ocean. The left side of the street is lined with tiny shotgun shacks, surrounded by rusty, chainlink fences. Each house is delapitated in it’s own special way. Shutters swinging in the breeze. The thin beach on the right is filthy with random bits of garbage: empty bottles, hub caps and such. I get all that from listening to a simple Bruce Springsteen song. All I get from Suzanne is: ‘this is poetry’. I don’t feel like I’m in the poem.

Everybody Knows is the only song or poem by Leonard Cohen that I’ve heard or read that did not give me that ‘this is poetry’ feel.

Don’t let my opinions change yours if you are an ardent fan of Leonard Cohen. For all I know, that ‘this is poetry’ feel is what Leonard Cohen was going for when he wrote Suzanne.

—————

There were a couple other artists this program was discussing very highly that I’ve never found to be that great. Bruce Cockburn and Murray McLaughlan. I’ve not really listened to those two but based on the clips shown in this program, I’m not likely to listen to them anytime soon.

—————

I didn’t catch the whole program. Had I known it was one before it began, I would have made myself available to watch it from the beginning, but I found it while channel surfing. I didn’t notice any reference to The Mynah Birds, but I would have loved to seen a clip or two (if a clip or two even exists). For those who don’t know, The Mynah Birds were a band with Neil Young on guitar and Rick “Super Freak” James on vocals and possibly bass guitar. I’ve heard rumours that the band recorded for Motown but the recordings have never been released.

Check out Cinnamon Girl and Superfreak. There’s a mashup the world is just dying to hear. Actually, come to think of it, I should be punished for even suggesting it. I apologize.

—————

* Not that Bruce Springsteen is generally considered a poet but I think poems are just lyrics without musical instrumentation. Therefore, all song lyrics to me are poems, just often, they are bad poems.

Recommended Listening: Everybody Knows by Don Henley, Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen.

Tags: History, Literature