Artist – Album: Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love and Hate
Released: 19th
March 1971
Sounds Like: Pure poetry
Leonard Cohen is the lyricist’s lyricist. Bob Dylan is the
critic’s choice, his cryptic stream of consciousness and confrontational
attitude being the epitome of cool. Paul Simon appeals to hopeless romantics
and foppish first year English students alike, with his beautiful character
studies far outweighing his awkward nods to hippiedom. McCartney and Lennon are
simple and powerful, the lyricists of the masses. Morrissey for the older indie
kids. Alex Turner for the younger. But Cohen is a poet. Not just in that his
lyrics are poetry, he actually was a poet. I know this because I robbed a book
of his poems from my ex-housemate’s parent’s house before they moved to the
Isle of Mull.
As a result of his literary leanings, Cohen’s words are very
much the defining element of his songs. His baritone voice, though warm and
deep like Sam Elliott’s the Stranger in the Big Lebowki, is obviously limited. His sparsely plucked acoustic guitar is never
meant to hold your attention. And so it comes back to his lyrics.
The title of the album gives something of a clue to the
content – let’s face it, you don’t get much more Ronseal than a name like Songs
of Love and Hate. But they’re not straightforward songs of passion. The most
celebrated song, ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, is
about a love triangle between the jilted narrator (”sincerely L. Cohen”), his
ex-lover and his “brother”, his “killer”. ‘Joan of
Arc’ is more about spiritual love, as it follows the inner dialogue of the
saintly Joan as she burns at the stake. ‘Avalanche’
covers both ends of the spectrum as it details a failing relationship and
the efforts made to keep it alive. These are heavy, well-worn stanzas that
explore the breadth of human emotion and they could only work under the
penmanship of the master, the lyricist’s lyricist.
Albumaday... rating:
7/10
1. Avalanche
– 5:07
2. Last
Year’s Man – 6:02
3. Dress
Rehearsal Rag – 6:12
4. Diamonds
in the Mine – 3:52
5. Love
Calls You by Your Name – 5:44
6. Famous
Blue Raincoat – 5:15
7. Sing
Another Song, Boys – 6:17
8. Joan
of Arc – 6:29
Listen to ‘Joan of Arc’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHjnjIbwvGI
Also released on the 19th March:
1962: Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan
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Also released on the 19th March:
2002: Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies
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