how did you get into leonard cohen?

[lizzytysh]

Hi Mike ~ Welcome to the Forum ~ I hope you're still here!!!

I understand your sense of urgency to find this or some other related site to share your feeling that "Democracy" is one of the most relevant songs you have ever heard . I can imagine how it was for you ~ as I imagine listening to the song. Oh, yes! I'm glad you came and shared that feeling. I hope you'll stick around and really get in to Leonard's work. You're going to be nothing less than amazed!

~ Lizzy


Great avatar, Liisa ! What does it mean? Welcome to the Forum, too . Super that your dear friend Helena did those translations for Finland .


Great job with your daughter, Ellenjoan ... I'm glad to see her follow in her wise mom's footsteps. Welcome, as well, to the Forum .


~ Lizzy

[Liisa]

Thank you for the welcomes, Philwilly and Lizzy!

I searched for a suitable avatar quite a while actually, and most of them seemed to be too big, so finally I found that one from my photo's, it's a chinese symbol for "a dream", I have it tattooed somewhere down there

[Eva Maria]

I knew and I loved some Cohen songs when I was a child. (Though I did not understand the lyrics.)

In Summer 2005 I found a cover version of "Alexandra Leaving". After listening to it for some time, I wanted to listen to the original and started to listen to Leonard Cohen himself. I got some of his albums and started to discover his songs.
I love his voice and I love the lyrics.

[lizzytysh]

I knew and I loved some Cohen songs when I was a child. (Though I did not understand the lyrics.)

Welcome to the Forum, Eva Maria . It sounds like you could offer something in the "Looking for the youngest listener to LC" thread. I think it's in the Leonard Cohen's Music section.

Hi Liisa ~ At this computer, your avatar is coming through only as a tiny red x in a box .


~ Lizzy

[blonde madonna]

'Death of a Ladies Man' was my first Cohen record and I can't remember who put me on to him (they certainly didn't play him on the radio in the small country town I grew up in!). Then I had 'Songs of Love and Hate' and I could really relate to what Nick Cave has said about his intro to Cohen's music.

It may have been my English teacher who introduced me because we went to his 1980 concert together. My best friend was also in to him but she had 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' and couldn't get over how his music had changed.

When I was a teenager I thought his music was shocking and enjoyed playing it really loud in my bedroom when my parents were pissing me off. In Australia they censored the cover of `New Skin...' and I was so annoyed I had to find myself an imported copy.

Now my teenage daughter loves him (and he is not shocking at all anymore)and my husband is finally 'getting' him after years of complaining that it was wrist-cutting music.

[lizzytysh]

and my husband is finally 'getting' him after years of complaining that it was wrist-cutting music.

Late bloomer .

Great news with your teenage daughter... exactly right with regard to Leonard's lyrics in the context of today's radio and ipod fare.

I'm glad you were able to see him, Madonna. It strikes me funny how your best friend thought [back then] how much Leonard's music had changed. Was she comparing it to Songs of Love and Hate ~ or to Death of a Ladies Man ~ or to the concert, itself? I wonder what she thinks now. Is she still into him or are you not still best friends?

I/we love hearing about those great English teachers that we have proof are out there.


~ Lizzy

[jimbo]

2002 sometime,a party,wine,smokes.
bongo drums,techno,female body strokes.
the guests,drifting in,I was the first.
she said bring a bottle.to quench our own thirsts.

At first it was quiet till the Smokes kicked in.
our pulses started racing,now i wanted to sin.
the blond hostess.had her eyes on me
forty something. not my type.in her eyes i could see,

the party over.she asked me to stay?
she had hooked up with some other;
thank god i was glad to say.
i was looking for love.not just a roll in the hay.

we staggered to the kitchen.some munchies to obtain.
where we played essential cohen,its here my heart was slain,
in my sleep i found the angel.in my sleep oh it was sweet.
in my sleep i found the angel. a thousand kisses deep.

jacobi

[lizzytysh]

we staggered to the kitchen.some munchies to obtain.
where we played essential cohen,its here my heart was slain,
in my sleep i found the angel.in my sleep oh it was sweet.
in my sleep i found the angel. a thousand kisses deep.

I like this a lot, Jacobi. I like the way you've chosen to share how you first came in contact with Leonard's music. I also like that you're able to say that regarding "Essential Cohen, "its here my heart was slain" ~ I can relate to this way of expressing it. Lovely the way you brought in "a thousand kisses deep," as well.

This is a good sign regarding you as a person:

thank god i was glad to say.
i was looking for love.not just a roll in the hay.

Thanks for letting us know how you found Leonard .


~ Lizzy

[jimbo]

THANK YOU for your kind words again
and thanks for being my friend...........................

[lizzytysh]

Hi Jacobi ~

I wanted you to know that with the poem you wrote about your mother's death and your father's life, that when I said I couldn't say that I "enjoyed" reading it, that my comment was not intended to suggest that it didn't affect me. It did. "Enjoyed" just misses the mark with a poem so close to a person's heart and deep sense of loss.


~ Lizzy

[retro_girl]

First time when I heard Leonard Cohen.. I m not sure.. I think it was 10 years ago. (Yes, because I m 22 years old.. And I dont know anybody else who is my age and who listen Leonard Cohen. Even one my friend, but she heard for him from me and after that and she is his fan).
So, first time I heard him on radio.. It was some kind of top list. But I can`t remember now which song it was. But than.. I coudn`t find his albums, because of war in my country..
Few yeras ago, I found all his albums and some his books. And after that, I can`t imagine my day without his voice..

P.S. Sorry because of mistakes in my posts, my english is not so good.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Retro Girl ~

Good on you for your great taste at such an early age of 12. I hope you'll answer in the thread about the youngest LC listener... and offer some of your perspectives from that time... what you understood and didn't about his songs.

But I can`t remember now which song it was. But than.. I coudn`t find his albums, because of war in my country..

This comment of yours struck me, as I can imagine not being able to find Leonard's albums for a lot of other reasons, but this one hadn't occurred to me so directly as it did when I read your second sentence. I can't help but be curious what country you're from, but don't feel like you need to say just because I've said that.

Your English is fine, Retro Girl... everything you meant to say was perfectly understandable. You did very well in expressing yourself. I'm glad you have a friend who shares your love of Leonard.

I know so well what you mean about not being able to imagine your day without his voice.


~ Lizzy

[Stranger]

It was around 1969 and I was 15. One of the teachers at my school thought it was not much fun for him nor for us if he taught us literature, so instead he installed a stereo in a basement and played Dylan, Zappa, Simon & Garfunkel, The Doors, etc at full force every time we were supposed to get classes. The whole school could listen in, and I still wonder how he could get away with it every week for all those years. Then one day he played this unknown singer, who was so totally different from everything I had heard before..........

[lizzytysh]

A very cool story, Stranger...

Then one day he played this unknown singer, who was so totally different from everything I had heard before..........

Absolutely... and I love the way you expressed it.


~ Lizzy

[lizzytysh]

Hi Liisa ~

Regarding your new, beautiful avatar:

. . . it's a chinese symbol for "a dream", I have it tattooed somewhere down there

Somewhere down there where dreams become life?


~ Lizzy