Leonard Cohen

The 76-year-old legend is touring this month, but how many of his songs can you whistle? More than you realise: be reminded via this quick primer…

1. ‘Suzanne', 1967
It was this languid single that introduced the Montreal poet to the wider world: a lilting love song to Suzanne Verdal (then-wife of Montreal sculptor and performance artist Armand Vaillancourt). It's also one of the most covered of his songs - indeed, the version by Judy Collins is arguably better known than his own.



2. ‘Famous Blue Raincoat', 1971
Another oft-covered song (Jennifer Warnes made it her own a few years later), this was an immediate classic from his album Songs of Love and Hate, and one of the few songs to ever suggest that a love triangle would be a beautiful and noble thing. Fun fact: the lyrics are written in amphibrachs (look it up: we had to).



3. ‘Hallelujah', 1984
Speaking of covers, this extraordinary song is far better known for Jeff Buckley's tremulous version than Cohen's own, admittedly somewhat bombastic, take on the song. It's also one of the best lyrics about songwriting ever, especially when the first verse explicitly enumerating the intervals and chords as they happen ("It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth/The minor fall, the major lift"). Again, it's been covered by literally hundreds of people (and John Cale's version's the best, by the way).



4. ‘Everybody Knows', 1988
Cohen was in his early 50s when he recorded his synth-heavy I'm Your Man album, where too many of his finest songs were nearly ruined by rinky-dink Casio arrangements (‘Tower of Song' in particular), but it perfectly suited the dark, monochrome opener - as did the fact this voice had descended from baritone to a near-subterranean bass. It also did a lot to introduce Cohen to a new audience when it had prominent use in the 1990 Christian Slater film Pump Up The Volume (although Concrete Blonde's version from the soundtrack was pretty awful).



5. ‘In My Secret Life', 2001
By the time Cohen released Ten New Songs he was 67 and should, by rights, have been in comfortable retirement. However, having left his financial matters in the hands of his manager Kelley Lynch while he (among other things) spent five years in a Zen Buddhist retreat, he discovered that she'd "misappropriated" (ie: pinched) over $5 million, leaving him with only around $150,000. While he won a court case against Lynch, with a judgement of $9 million, she apparently vanished and Cohen was forced back to work. He has recorded two (excellent) albums since and embarked on two world tours in recent years, which have replenished the coffers somewhat.


Leonard Cohen - In My Secret Life