A Favourite Thing: Leonard, Red Wine and The Dark (I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen)

Name: Ric!

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Product:	I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen
Date:	13.07.02 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relaxing, Allows deep thought

Disadvantages: Slightly depressing lyrics for some people

"Suzanne takes you down, to her place near the river."

Pop goes the cork, as I pull it clumsily out of the bottle with my 'Leaping Frog Corkscrew'.

"You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her."

Glug, glug, glug, goes the red wine as I pour it out of the bottle and into the tumbler. This is no time for a small wine glass. It's dim in the room, and the only important things right now are Leonard and red wine.

"And you know that she's half crazy, but that's why you want to be there."

I take my first swig. Damn, it's always at these sorts of times that I go and put the corkscrew in too far. I spit little bits of cork off my tongue. I don't care where they land. Keep going Leonard.

"And she feeds you tea and oranges, that come all the way from China".

Finally I'm relaxed. I'm all alone in a dimly lit room. I've got a bottle of cheap red wine. And, most importantly of all, Leonard Cohen - Greatest Hits, is playing on my Denon sound system. There's nothing more I could want for.

"......For you've touched her prefect body with your mind."


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Some people say Leonard Cohen can't sing. Some people say that he sings 'music to commit suicide to'. Most people think that his style and mood of song is somewhat depressing. I use his music to relax myself and allow myself time to think. The above scenario is now much rarer an occurrence. When you share your life with someone else, you don't often get the two vital requirements for such an event, happening at the same time. 1) An evening on your own, and 2) An awful day to put you in the right type of mood.

If you were to walk in on someone, sitting in the dark, drinking wine and listening to sombre music, you'd
think that there was something very wrong, that they were upset or sad. You'd keep hassling them to tell you what was wrong, yet there would be no answer because there was actually, truthfully nothing wrong. You definitely need a night on your own for this.

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Leonard Norman Cohen was born in 1934, in Montreal, Canada. At the age of 17 he formed a country-western trio, which was called the 'Buckskin Boys'. It was at this time also, that Leonard began writing poetry. He became an active member of a local literary scene. His first collection of poetry was published in 1956, but is was his second collection, published in 1961, called 'The Spice Box of Earth', that earned him international acclaim.

After a very short spell at university in New York, Leonard travelled around Europe before settling on the Greek island of Hydra with his partner Marianne Jenson and her son. Here he wrote another collection of poetry and two novels. He remained in Greece on and off for around seven years. But he couldn't be fulfilled there, and moved back to the States on his own, with the intention of pursuing a career in music.

He appeared in the Newport Folk Festival in 1967, where he caught the eye of the 'legendary Columbia A&R man John Hammond'. Later that year, Columbia had helped Leonard release his first album, 'The Songs of Leonard Cohen'. It contained songs such as "Suzanne," "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye," "So Long, Marianne," and "Sisters of Mercy" which lead to him being internationally recognised for his singing.


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Okay, some of Leonard's lyrics could be interpreted as being slightly morbid.

"And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms
of love, who by something blunt,
Who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling."

But it's about more than the lyrics for me. There is something magic about the music of Leonard Cohen. I find myself not even listening to the words. I slip away somewhere else. I think about what has happened that day to make me want to sit and listen and sip wine. I make decisions, I come to agreements with myself, I plan. After the problems of that day are resolved I go onto thinking about things on a wider scale. I resolve other issues in my mind. Leonard Cohen's music, combined with a moderate amount of alcohol, and a darkened room, are the only combination of things that give my mind this amount of freedom.


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Why did I decide to write about this as part of Jill Murphy's celebration? Simply because listening to the music of Leonard Cohen helps me to realise that "no matter how rotten life can be at times, there is always something to make you smile."



"Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."

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