I find Leonard's Music Absolutely Liberating

[panjandrum]

Something I find intriguing is that instead of feeling depressed when listening to Cohen, I often have intense feelings of freedom and liberation. This is especially true with songs such as "Closing Time", "Everybody Knows", "I'm Your Man" and "The Future", but I also experience them with "sadder" songs such as "Chelsea Hotel #2". I think possibly it is the pure soul-bearing honesty of the lyrics. Instead of bringing me down they lift me by giving me a clarity of insight into human nature... I love to listen to him while driving curvy back roads with the windows down on cool nights and bask in freedom.

That isn't to say that his lyrics don't frequently move me to the point of tears, but I get the sense that they do so in a different way for me than they do for most people: Not out of sadness or despair, but out of a sense that he is somehow setting my soul free.

[Gerrida]

I do agree with everything you said above, panjandrum. The one word that stands out in your post and which I always think of when I listen to Leonard's lyrics, or read his poems, or read his interviews throughout the years, is "honesty". He must be the most honest man I've ever known of. And of course, with it comes his humbleness and his kindness.

His music really sets your soul free and uplifts your spirit. I sometimes almost feel sorry for those who do not have Leonard's music in their lives. They truly miss so much.

Gerrida

[glida]

Re Leonard's being depressing, or writing music to slit your wrists by:

I recall Roger Ebert saying to Gene Siskel on their show a number of years ago, that a "feel good movie" had nothing to do with whether or not it was a comedy or tragedy. Any well-made film was automatically a feel good film.

Leonard tells the truth. John Lennon told the truth: so did Groucho, Dostoevsky, and Bergman.

Anyone with the guts to tell the truth makes me ecstatic.

Fred

[John Etherington]

I totally agree, and even with some of Leoanrd's darker songs, if you allow the thoughts to take place, it can be very liberating (take "Diamonds in the Mine", for instance). Whenever someone says that they find Leoanard "a bit depressing", I know they just haven't got it.

All good things, John E

[John Etherington]

Oops - typing too fast, today!

[jimbo]

when you have been in leonards places
you undestand them even more
Avalanche

[hydriot]

Several times in the past I have wondered why some people find LC's songs depressing while others (like me) find them uplifting even when melancholy, and the answer I came to is this.

Those who find his music depressing are those who do not know passion, of which sadly there are very many these days.

Passion is the ability to feel both great joy and great pain. Pain is made much worse by the accompanying sense of loneliness. When I am in pain, LC's songs are companionable. For me they are uplifting because they remind me that I am not the first to experience whatever it is I am suffering ... and nor will I be the last!

He's been there and survived, and therefore so shall I.

"It's written on the walls of this hotel: you go to Heaven once you've been to Hell."

[lizzytysh]

He's been there and survived, and therefore so shall I.

I've had a very strong sense of this during my hard times, when [to expand on someone's lovely birthday greeting] I took to Leonard's tent for shelter.


~ Lizzy

[jimbo]

and the book of course is the Book of Longing........................................

[vanglo22]

I agree that unless you have PASSION or are made up of the creative matter that has made Leonard who he is, then yes, some people probably wouldn't get it. I on the other hand have been so inspired by him for so many years and even in my deepest times of sorrow, I can always count on LC to touch my soul by either reading his writings and/or listening to his music. It brings me back to a happy place of strength, courage, tolerance, reviving my spirituality and allowing me to continue on at the very least, for the next moment. All thumbs up for Mr. Cohen!!!!!!!!

[Pete]

I'm searching for a word that describes the commonality amongst those who appreciate Leonard for what he does and who he is.
What was it that stirred inside when I first heard his songs?
The connection was immediate. I didn't think..'this sounds good, I think it will grow on me.' The immediacy was that I had bypassed all those processes and the songs took sudden hold. I knew,inside, that I had found something I hadn't consciously been looking for.
Was it the lyrics?
Was it the music?
I'm more of a music person than a lyrics person but I can say that the lyrics bind with the music in such a way that the songs as a whole are a powerful attraction.

Was I in the right place at the right time when I first heard?
If I had encountered the songs sooner or later would they have had the same effect?
I know that the answer to the latter is 'yes'.
It's my conscience that determines who I am.
Did my formative years determine my conscience or did my conscience determine my formative years?
Who would I be now if this hadn't have happened? ....I don't think I would like to contemplate that as I know I wouldn't be me.
So... what word am I looking for?
I thought it was 'conscience' but I'm not sure. Why do people who I think are 'like-minded' to myself actually dismiss Cohen and mock my affection?
What have I got that other cohenites have got that others haven't?
It's something deep inside...it must be.
What is the catalyst within?
it can't be circumstance..or can it?
Is it spiritual?
Is it intellect?... I hope not.
Is it symbiotic?
Is it respect? Respect for who or what? Respect for oneself?

Why am I asking these questions? I don't need to search for an answer. I just know that when someone tries to ridicule Leonard's music by trying to state how depressing it is and 'reach for the razor blade' I just smile and say, 'well, it cheers me up'. Usually, after a short blank pause, I detect something in their eyes which tells me that I've found something that they haven't.

Pete

[Diane]

I enjoyed reading this thread. Respect for oneself - you nailed it there, I reckon, Pete.

It feels good to be part of this community of people who 'get LC'.

[Pete]

Respect!

[lizzytysh]

Hi Pete ~

While "Respect for oneself" certainly has lots of appeal on many levels, there's something about it that troubles me. It seems that there's an inherent, de facto implication in it that those who don't connect with Leonard in 'the' way that each of us do [and I would suggest that there's not even a universal way that, that happens], somehow doesn't have respect for themselves.

Remembering back to a comment that Manna made some time ago [that, as I recall, dealt with this same, general topic], she described a friend of hers with whom she would take two cups of coffee to his workplace and there, they would sit, talk, share, and solve the world's problems. Regarding a particular comment that she made about Leonard's music, his response was to shrug and make some general kind of agreement comment, but not to the extent that embraced it for himself. Her comments that followed that description gave voice to a very real kind of respect for the person he is, even though he didn't connect with Leonard's music in the way that she does... and gave no sense at all that he, in any way, did not have respect for himself.

With that in mind, it seems to me that "symbiotic" fits best for me from the words you've listed. It allows for others to feel as they do about Leonard or about their favourites, without suggesting that they lack anything. At the same time, it allows for the differences between each of us, sometimes which are confusing, according to what our expectations have been ["expectations" will get you every time]. So, it seems to me that in each of us, there are a number of facets with which Leonard's lyrics/music/inseparable fusion of the two somehow create an absolute feeling of symbiosis in us when we listen. It may not even be the 'same' thing that creates this feeling from one listener to the next.

I suspect that Leonard's windows and doors and hallways, et al, also enter into this phenomenon. There are the many layers and the many aspects of simply being human that his lyrics address that affirm us. As I wrote that sentence, I considered the possibility that "Affirmation" might be the word I would choose. It seems that Leonard has isolated and addressed unflinchingly so many parts of what makes us who we are as simply beings in this life that when we listen to him, we feel understood and affirmed. It doesn't matter whether it's the good or the not-so-good in us, we feel okay about who we are because it's been put out there in a way that affirms our "being fully human." Leonard looks at the deeper matters of what makes us so. It may be other music that affirms other people, though.

Maybe "Acceptance" is a good word, too; yet, there seems to be an implication that comes with those, too. Both "Affirmation" and "Acceptance" seem to have the same pitfalls as "Respect for oneself," though...

So, I don't know if there's a single, 'universal' word. It could be that Spanish one, that I can't remember... daenge or daende or something like that... DUENDE [I found it!] as to what Leonard's music is, and it's that quality that we happen to like so much.

Have I gone round robin to contradict myself in any way here? I honestly don't know. Perhaps, "Liberating" is actually the most appropriate ... or, maybe there isn't one, since we're all so individual in other ways. What a question, Pete .


~ Lizzy

[Diane]

Maybe people who don't get LC have had better luck at having their deepest feelings and sorrows respected and acknowledged by other significant people in their lives, from their earliest days. Maybe people who don't get LC have never felt they had to bury part of themselves. So LC has nothing to offer them. Maybe we really are the ones with the problem.

Just playing devil's advocate.