The album contains live performances of many of his greatest songs; these are not necessarily his “greatest hits’, since an artist like Cohen didn’t really have hits.
Leonard Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008; during the course of that evening Lou Reed described Cohen as “the highest and most influential echelon of songwriters”. Such diverse artists as Jeff Buckley, REM, Pixies, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave and Willie Nelson covered his songs. More than 1000 artists have recorded his compositions. In 2010 he released an album called‘Songs From the Road’, but it may easily have been titled “Songs From A Life Well-Lived”. The album contains live performances of many of his greatest songs; these are not necessarily his “greatest hits’, since an artist like Cohen didn’t really have hits.
Over the course of his many-coloured career Cohen not only equaled his heroes Hank Williams and Ray Charles, he never went entirely out of favour in more than 40 years of recording. Not that he was a superstar at any time, but his work has earned him the devotion of millions of fans. And as he once stated off the cuff at one of his concerts, “Most of my detractors have died.” Leonard survived and prevailed until his death in 2016, perhaps more so in 2010 than at any time in the previous four decades.
He suffered a major disappointment in 2005 when he discovered his business manager had stolen and spent most of his life savings. Consequently Leonard decided to go out on tour one last time to see if there was still an audience for him. He opened the tour in New York and went on to play to large crowds in Paris, Berlin, Tel Aviv and many other centres. The tour went on for more than two years. ‘Songs From The Road’ is taken from that tour, which was his first in 15 years.
Cohen published his first book of poetry in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. He released his debut album, ‘Songs of Leonard Cohen’, in 1967. The reception to that album was electrifying in certain folk music quarters. Canadians welcomed the album as though he were the Second Coming, the first coming notably being that of Bob Dylan. From the beginning his material was unlike anything anyone else was doing: literate, poetic, religious, sensual, and – sacreligious.
Some people said he couldn’t sing at all, that he did nothing but drone on and on. When Judy Collins took a turn at “Suzanne” folk music fans realized the power of his writing. When Jennifer Warnes devoted an entire album to his songs entitled Famous Blue Raincoat 1986, she produced a work of such surpassing beauty that pretty well everyone had to admit that maybe there was something to his songwriting after all. And when the full extent of his worldwide audience became obvious with the 1991 tribute album I’m Your Fan there was a rush to jump on the bandwagon and pronounce Leonard “a legend”.
There have been online forums devoted to Leonard’s songs and his concerts. Leonard traveled with beautiful women who sang in the background at his concerts, and with accomplished musicians who served only to bring a burnished diamond shine to every song he cared to sing. His gravelly voice was somewhat the worse for wear, but he had a commanding though modest presence on the stage, an overflowing catalogue of great material, and an air of elegance and peace about him.
Here is what The Decider had to say about his show in New York:
“Cohen spent a lot of time singing on his knees, crouched down with his lanky shoulders drawn in and his hands holding the microphone with something like tranquil desperation; it wasn’t clear that Cohen even realized there were thousands of other people in the room with him… The whole show was a triumph for a kind of earned wisdom and slow, creeping staying-power that’s easy to forget the value of these days.”
Nearly a decade on from his death at the age of 82, fans still celebrate the power of his music. In Montreal, his home town, there are two giant murals honouring Leonard: one on Crescent Street is called “Tower of Songs” the other is a nine-story mural on St. Laurent Boulevard.
And the last words on his career come from Leonard himself, revealing his innate reverence for the work of others:
“When I wrote about Hank Williams ‘A hundred floors above me in the tower of song’, it’s not some kind of inverse modesty. I know where Hank Williams stands in the history of popular song. ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’, songs like that, are sublime, in his own tradition, and I feel myself a very minor writer.” ~ Leonard Cohen
