Cheerfulness always breaks through

[cosmolinguist]

His is the only music that has its own tag on my LiveJournal.

In this year that the internet is blaming for taking away the giants whose shoulders our entertainment now stands on, this is likely to be the one that affects me most. Not as much as it might have a few years ago, since I strangely discovered Leonard Cohen as an adult, something no one should've down for fifty years.

But still, skimming those old entries, I well remember being the person who wrote them.

I think I have stumbled across something good to get myself back into the music-drunk state of my teenage years. I could get interested in his music as deeply as I want to or have the attention span for, but the superficial listening is also rewarded: not only did I miss my bus stop because I was too distracted by "Suzanne," I also found myself one day walking home with my headphones in my ears and heard Rufus Wainwright singing "But there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes!" and it was so unexpected and perfect that I laughed enough to not be able to see where I was going and nearly ran into a (parked) car.

I once wrote a whole essay about how he's not depressing, where I took almost every line of "Sisters of Mercy" and explained why each contributed to it being one of the songs I most wanted to listen to when I was depressed.

When I first got to see him live, one of the things I wrote down after it was him saying I took Prozac," he continued, and adds a long litany of other such dried frog pills. "I studied the religions and philosophies of the world. But cheerfulness always breaks through."

You've brought me more cheerfulness than almost anyone else I've never met, Leonard Cohen. And I know you still will, even now. Thank you for it all.

Comments

[lilysea]

I also discovered Leonard Cohen as an adult.

I heard "Everybody knows" as a teenager, but it wasn't until 2005/2006 that I heard the rest of his music.

I'm sad he's dead.

I'm sad he didn't get to see Hillary win.

I'm sad he didn't get to see people reject/overpower Trump, whether through impeachment or the ACLU or voting for someone else in 4 years.

Dying now, when there was so much bad news, and no hope on the horizon: that must have hurt him and his family even more than dying when there was good news would have.

[cosmolinguist]

Yes, I had the same thought about how sad it is to die at a hard time. (Selfishly, though, I'm relieved he didn't die a day or two ago when I already couldn't stop crying...)

But I know he said he was ready to die, in a lovely interview about his new album a month ago. I am content to let him go and keep enjoying the music he's left here with us.

[lenores_raven]

Thank you for this beautiful post.

I also found his music when I was an adult. I love his songs very much. I think the news of his death will only reach me in a few months from now.

[sfred]

<3 <3 <3

I only discovered him in my late teens when my inappropriately-older lover sent me tapes every week (he and Andrew would get on very well musically, I think). My parents had an album but advised me not to listen to it because it would depress me too much. Silly parents.

I'm nodding a lot at the 'music-drunk'. I only heard his new album this week - I'd managed to miss that it was released and when I heard people talking about it I thought they were talking about 'Popular Problems' - and I would happily listen to it on repeat for the rest of the year. It does things in my chest.

[cosmolinguist]

I haven't listened to the new album yet (though I see when I fired up Spotify this morning that it's there. Right now I want familiar songs, but I look forward to the new album when I'm in the mood for it.

[sfred]

I understand wanting familiar songs.

[miss_s_b]

My dad is a massive Cohen fan, so I was lucky enough to be introduced as a young un. Of course this means he gets put in the same mental bucket as Cliff Richard (mum, rather than dad) for me, which is grossly unfair, I guess...

[kaberett]

That speech is recorded in its entirety on the Live In London album, if you're not aware & would like to be able to hear him say it again.

[cosmolinguist]

I should've thought to mention that this morning! (But then I did write this entry in quite a sleep-deprived state, and a rush...) I knew already but having the comment here might mean someone else knows it now who'd like to know. :) Thanks.