Leonard Cohen, gone.

As a teenager, music was everything. We danced to it, we made out to it, we listened to it all alone, via a turntable, in our rooms at night, we sometimes had sex to it and we loved it. The music of that time was ours. It pissed our parents off, it united us as a generation.  As a teenager, some of the music of that time defined us: Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, Joni Mitchell, Cream, and of course, the Beatles. (yay) And so many more groups and individuals, too many to mention: Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Doors, even Neil Diamond.

But the songwriters of those times were few. Paul Simon, of course, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, many more, but Leonard Cohen, although he was never a "star," was such a poet and an amazing songwriter. "Suzanne", sung by Judy Collins, was a standard in 1968. "...and the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor and she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers, there are heroes in the seaweed..."

We all know "Hallelujah" but google Leonard Cohen singing it, to watch his face while he sings takes the song to a different level.  And "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" which has been covered by dozens of artists.  And "Famous Blue Raincoat" (I see you there with a rose in your teeth, one more thin gypsy to feed.....  What can I tell you, what can I possibly say?  I guess that I miss you, I guess that I forgive you, I'm glad that you stood in my way.)  or "Bird on a Wire" and "First We Take Manhattan" and I could go on and on. A poet. A gentleman, it seems, and, to me, an icon of his times. And of my times.

Leonard Cohen was interviewed in October and you can read it here:    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker