The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen [antikvár]

riiir INTRODUCTION "Music to slit your wrists by". This easy joke about Leonard Cohen's work contains, like all good jokes, a seed of truth, but it is a seed that grows into a rather puny plant. Cohen is an intelligent and serious man as, in large part, is his audience. It would therefore be surprising if he had chosen to ignore the complexities of human existence and confined himself to rose-tinted niceties. As a consequence, and sometimes for more personal reasons, he has often painted a bleak picture of the world. What is important to note is that this is not all he has painted: all of Cohen's work exhibits a high standard of artistry, and everything he has done -good, bad or indifferent - has been done with conscious integrity. The music of Leonard Cohen, which is it is love, though he has covered many described song-by-song in this book, offers a range of pleasures. He is first and foremost a very good songwriter. He has a gift for phraseology, which never comes without a love and knowledge of words. He has a command of form, which offers serious enjoyment for the connoisseur. He also possesses an often underrated talent for melody and has developed, in the studio and on tour, a solid musicianship. As a songwriter, Cohen has dealt with a wide variety of subjects, but there are consistent themes that run throughout his work. If there is one dominant theme different aspects of this universal, not to say infinite, subject. Many of his songs deal with the failure of relationships. In others, he is lyrical about carnal love. But he has also treated the subject of love more philosophically, assessing its importance as "the only engine of survival". Another major theme in the work of Leonard Cohen is the tension between our need for freedom and the difficulties freedom can bring. He knows the pain of freedom just as much as the pain of confinement, and is well acquainted with existential fear. Although not an explicitly political writer, and rarely a direct social