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Leonard Cohen announces tour plans


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I was wondering about that as well. I think he does live a fairly simple life, so I suppose he could just enjoy a peaceful retirement if he really wanted to.

 

He does, apart from a predisposition to Armani suits. Anyway, he was robbed of his life's savings. No one wants to contemplate going back to work in their 70's....just to maintain a simple lifestyle is pretty damn expensive in LA. I think Cohen also owns a home in Montreal. And who knows how many people he looks after.

 

I think it was a wake up call for LC, maybe his life balance was a bit skewed to the fairy dust side of Zen Bhuddism for a few years there. He's a worker in song, but he's also a street-smart veteran of the music business, and no pushover. The whole thing would be hard to take, on many levels.

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I was just thinking that he might be less addicted to material wealth than most of us. I don't mean to trivialize the terrible financial loss and personal betrayal that he suffered. It's very sad. (Anyway, I hope he's touring because he wants to, not because he has to.)

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This will be something to see.

Thanks for the info.

 

Maybe I'll win tickets to this too.

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donno....sadly the guy seems to be barely able to sing any more (not that he ever was a great vocalist anyway)....

 

I was about to say!...he can't sing or play guitar, but he may be the greatest songwriter who has ever put pen to paper. Its certainly debatable.

 

I just read a quote from Cohen where he was talking about the last time he had coffee with Dylan in Paris. they were talking about writing songs and Dylan said he loved the song "Hallelujah" and asked how long it took. Cohen replied "the better part of two years" and Dylan was absolutely shocked. Cohen asked Dylan how long it took to write "I and I" (Infidels) and Dyaln responded "15 minutes". Cohen fell off his chair and Dylan just laughed!

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Well if it took 2 years it was well worth it. Hallelujah is a far better song than I and I. Cohen was a poet before he was a songwriter and clearly he took more time and effort to write than did Dylan (or does). It has been pointed out by Dave Van Ronk that Dylan is sort of a slap dash songwriter, although to be honest he still does just fine.

 

There are at least two (maybe more) excellent live Cohen albums, which are worth seeking out. The years have not been kind to his voice, which was not much of an instrument in the first place (he was lucky to get hooked up with Judy Collins early on, who sang his songs marvelously), and so now it is a low croak. Perhaps he can still use it effectively. He always did play with pretty large or accomplished bands to prop up his limited vocal range.

 

LouieB

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Believe it or not, Leonard Cohen is one of my favourite vocalists. He can convey a lot of emotion despite his limited range. I actually prefer the raspy croak to the nasal whine on his early albums.

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leonard cohen is my favorite poet/singer/songwriter/novelist/person of all time, and a few years ago my dad and i (my dad grew up worshipping leonard cohen, and got me into him when i was young) went to the premiere of the movie 'I'm Your Man' in los angeles, and leonard was there to speak, along with martha wainwright and a few of leonard's old backup singers performing. there was a giant screen set up on the stage to show the movie, and nobody wanted to sit within 10 rows of it because they'd have to crane their necks to see, so right before leonard came up on stage to speak i ran up to first row to sit right in front of the microphone, so i was about three feet from mr. cohen and was the only person that he could see within about 20 feet. he came out and was about 10x smaller in person, just this little guy walking up to the microphone, and he was his usual hilarious/witty/humble self and only talked for a few minutes, but kept eye contact with me for about a third of the time, and it was probably the best moment of my life. it took about a month for that smile to go away. so yes i am pretty excited for a tour. even if he just stands there in his expensive suit the whole time.

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