Wendy and I have been big fans of Leonard Cohen, a Canadian poet/singer/songwriter, since our Colorado days, when Wendy first heard of him. He released a new album on Friday, You Want It Darker, at the age of 82! We've been looking forward to it since it was announced a couple months ago. This is his 3rd album this decade, which is an impressive feat. One of my coworkers said Cohen is a big inspiration to him on what you can accomplish later in life.
I think we started with a "Best of" Cohen album when we lived in Colorado, and then got a "More Best of" album. Over the years we've slowly collected all of his albums, and realized he has so many incredible songs, there's no way a "Best of" compilation can do justice to his work.
To go along with the new album, the New Yorker published a really long and interesting profile of him last week: Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker.
I almost never hear his songs on the radio. They tend to be deep meditations on love, death and religion, so they're not like typical mainstream music. Odds are, though, you've heard a cover of one his songs, Hallelujah:
The New Yorker article mentions there have been so many covers of this song, Cohen "jokingly called a moratorium on it."
One of the fun things about his songs is how they grow on you. So many times I've heard one of his songs for the first time and thought it was just okay. Then I hear it a few more times and start to think it's pretty decent. Then a while later I find myself humming it or singing the lyrics, and shortly after that I realize the song is a work of genius and I can't believe I ever thought it was "just okay".
Or, sometimes I'll hear a line I've never noticed before and it unlocks the entire meaning of the song. I distinctly remember that happening with Joan of Arc:
I'd heard it at least half a dozen times and thought it was okay. I never paid attention that closely to the lyrics. But one day as I was driving to the grocery store, I was listening to it and caught a line at the end that made me realize the entire point of the song. I then listened to it over and over and over, and by the time I got home I'd decided it was one of his most beautiful songs.
I've listened to his new album a few times so far. There are some great songs on it, and, right on cue, there are some that I think are "just okay".