Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Happy Birthday, Leonard

There are few people in life who have true Voices. When they sing, they don't merely sing. Something happens when they open their mouths, not just song but experience. There will be those who say that Ole Blue Eyes had one great Voice (personally, I prefer Dino). Some might say Janis was one such Voice. For me, it's Mick Jagger. Well, and this man. Where Mick is the sound of hot, unadulterated sex, Leonard Cohen is the other end of the spectrum, the sound of pure, blissful, agony. His songs can pull you apart, so painfully honest and bare as they are. His are songs of Blake-ian innocence and experience, wry and world-weary, and yet effortlessly and unendingly beautiful. Many of them can and frequently do make me cry.

It just so happens to be the birthday of Mister Cohen. So sit yourself in a dimly-lit corner, pop open a bottle of your finest red, and take comfort in his woebegone splendor.

mp3: Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen from Songs Of Love And Hate)

No comments: