I would recommend Songs of Love and Hate. But really you can’t go wrong with anything up to Death of a Ladies Man. Plenty of gems in his later albums too, but for me, early Cohen is the classic stuff.
I wouldn't really equate the two sounds other than they spawned from the same genre--folk. Cohen's instrumentation is so unique, but as lyricists and poets they're drawing from the same themes and imagery and source materials--although, to me, Cohen's is a bit more obscured in Judeo-Christian imagery (listen to Suzanne, The Story of Isaac and Hallelujah). Cohen's is also a bit more "alpha male" to me. He was the scion of his family and it shows in his point-of-view and subject material.
Songs From A Room has Bird on a Wire, which would be enough to make him legendary. But it also has The Partisan, A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes and The Story of Isaac, which are all classics IMO
All his albums are classics tbh. I never cared so much for Bird on a Wire, but that's probably because I heard the David Soul version first. A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes and The Story of Isaac are both awesome.
This is my favorite album of his, hands down. Story of Isaac is such an eerie sounding song, but in a really dark, beautiful way.
I think if Dylan wrote some of those songs, people here would definitely be all about them. The Old Revolution is another that's just so good
I'm not really into Cohen, *I'm Your Man* is the only album of his I have. But "Take This Waltz" is one of my favorite songs ever. Absolutely gorgeous, both the music and words. I've listened to it over a hundred times and still get goosebumps. Also, "Jazz Police" is definitely different and seems to get a fair amount of hate, but I unironically love it.
Songs From A Room is his best work, if you ask me. I know that the Jew's Harp being used so much is an interesting choice, but the songs themselves are absolutely stellar.
Story of Isaac and The Old Revolution are two that I think plenty of Dylan fans would like
Thanks for boiling it down to the raw essentials! It’s a lot like when people ask “where to start” when they’re first trying to get into Dylan. An intimidating endeavor…
He’s good. I’ve never found myself listening to him on repeat like I have with Dylan, but I always enjoy his work when I hear it. From what little I know his first and his last albums are among his best.
For me, not really. I listen to quite a lot of music that isn’t catchy. I think I need to be in a certain mood for Leonard Cohen - most of the stuff of his I’ve listened to is quite dark in atmosphere and in content, whereas Dylan produces music across the full spectrum of emotions. It’s not all miserable but it’s definitely less energetic and perhaps more introspective than Dylan. Maybe I’m mistaken though as I’ve only listened to four Cohen albums plus the stuff that comes on my mum’s Cohen playlists (she listens to him more than me).
Ahhh gotcha. One of the reasons I love Dylan is that he covers the full spectrum of human emotion. I feel like the cliche is that Cohen is just a “downer”.
The early albums get a little dreary the latter albums are kind of fun in a black humor sort of way. I like him, The Tower of Song, Chelsea Hotel #2, Everybody Knows are my favorite songs.
I was listening to a girl singing Chelsea Hotel #2 at an open mic and my heart skipped a beat when I was certain she was staring me in the eyes at the “head in the unmade bed” lyric. Sadly I later realised the lyric sheet was in a position that gave the illusion of eye contact every time she looked at it. 😂
Honestly I do find a lot of his work “catchy”. My favourite albums are I’m Your Man and Old Ideas, and they’re both for me relatively catchy. Other great songs include Chelsea Hotel, Night comes on, famous blue raincoat, anthem.
I’d say Leonard’s music is more somber/sad than Dylan’s. His main two moods were sad and horny, often in the same song.
Chelsea Hotel #2 is a good example of that, one minute he's on about getting head on an unmade bed and the next, he's on about being ugly but he still has the music.
By the way did you know that the woman in the song was probably Janis Joplin?
>Do you think it’s an issue of his songs not being as “catchy”? That’s the assumption I’ve always made.
Funnily enough, perhaps Cohen's catchiest song is *Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On*, where Dylan appears as a backing vocalist.
These guys are two sides of the same coin to me.
I know them both deeply and intimately. Neither is for everyone, but their overlap, especially from a cultural lens, is pretty astonishing. It’s remarkable that they aren’t more similar, really.
Leonard doesn’t rock. At all. Bob does.
I’d rather listen to Bob, 9 times out of 10. But I really can climb inside of a Cohen verse like none other.
There’s a lot more to it, but IMO these are the 2 greatest lyricists that ever lived and if you like good lyrics, it’s not a stretch to love both of them.
Great take! I’m a huge lyrics person—just as important as the music, imo)—so I’m thinking that I could get into LC in the same way (1/10th of the time, ha)
Songs of Leonard Cohen is a good starting point. I think he’s definitely in the highest tier of lyricist along w Dylan.
As for their differences….Dylan rocks harder and is a more dynamic singer imo. Leonard’s vibe is more like a genteel European minstrel whereas Dylan is a Little Richard acolyte by way of Woody Guthrie.
Suzanne is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Second this, I love Leonard, but his last four albums (starting with Old Ideas) are my favorites. Popular Problems has two of my favorite songs ever back to back; "Did I Ever Love You" and "My Oh My"
"This song's for Leonard, if he's still here."
I think I read that Did I Ever Love You is polarizing among Cohen fans, but I *love* how that one encompasses love, and age, and relationship, and loss, and looking back on life at the upper end of things. It’s spring and it’s summer and it’s winter forever.
If someone asked me my favorite, I'd say Dylan, but I love Leonard Cohen, and I've listened to him on repeat plenty. They're both great lyricists, but there is a difference between them, which someone else described well. Dylan's going to rock out. Cohen's going to begin to question the way things are.
Even then, I don't think that quite gets at their difference. People have said that Dylan's more optimistic while Cohen's more pessimistic, but I'd be more apt to put it this way: Dylan sees an end in which he can place hope, and Cohen sees a fog that he can push through, hoping there's an end.
To that point, while Dylan sings, "I'm hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan, like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand," Cohen sings, "There's a lover in the story, but the story's still the same. There's a lullaby for suffering and a paradox to blame...Hineni, hineni, I'm ready, my Lord." Cohen's work has just as many religious themes as Dylan's.
That said, my sense is that Cohen was always faced with a greater fog, so to speak, than Dylan, and this shows in his lyrics and take on the world. Again, Cohen sings, "I struggle with some demons. They were middle class and tame. I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim." Dylan sings, "I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame...Onward in my journey, I come to understand that every hair is numbered like every grain of sand."
But I wouldn't equate this to pessimism in Cohen. While he won't sing "Mozambique," he also has many lyrics that forget the fog and embrace what he can see: "Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on. Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long. We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above. Dance me to the end of love."
He doesn't have as wide a range of styles as Dylan in my experience, but he has his fair share. You have more folky stuff, more club stuff, and one song I can think of that I want to say is a little bit punk.
As far as albums go, for something like BOTT, I might go "Songs of Leonard Cohen" or "Various Positions." For electric, I'd go "I'm Your Man." His debut album was Songs, anyway. I feel like he's still going to be more toned down and reserved in most of these songs than Dylan in some of his, though. I know there are at least a few where he rocks a little more, but I don't know them off the top of my head.
This is all just my two cents, though. I'm not an expert on Dylan or Cohen. But I hope it helps!
“I’ve been deceived by the clown inside of me, I thought that he was righteous but he’s vain”
Dylan’s issue was that his smugness got in the way. He could never take anything in the world seriously. Cohen has the exact opposite problem. He tries to be sincere to an extreme degree to where it inevitably becomes another affect. Trying to seduce with his depth and earnestness but finding that well running dry. Neither were blinded by their large egos though and they were able to penetrate them to produce interesting work. Dylan soars when he’s sincere because you know what it means for him to drop the cold exterior and Cohen charms when he’s sarcastic because his self awareness lightens his otherwise heavy demeanour
Cohen didn't have a rock and roll bone in his body, but he was a superb lyricist with a deadpan sense of humor. My favorites of his are "Sisters of Mercy" and "Everybody Knows."
Lenny is right up there alongside Bob as a poet and songwriter, as Bob himself would attest. Get the "Live in London" album (essentially a Greatest Hits) and let it soak.
It is, particularly if you understand the back-story.
Leonard Cohen spend time (a decade?) in retreat in a Buddhist Monastery in California. When he got out, he discovered that his (former) manager had basically fleeced him and left him in relatively dire financial straits. So, he needed money and so was 'forced' to return to music and touring when that wasn't necessarily his plan.
that tour was basically his fandom coming together to show just how profound his impact was. And, perhaps, the financial difficulty might well have induced him to continue recording and some of those late-period albums are absolutely among his best.
"Live In London" is fantastic, but it's from the beginning of the tour while "Live In Dublin" is from the end of that three year tour, and it is superlative.
Bob has said he came into poetry through the back door. Where Cohen was writing books of poetry before he became a singer-songwriter. Leonard is a poet first, very cerebral.
Songs of love and hate is great, so is new skin for old ceremony. Admittedly, im not familiar with his whole catalog but theres a bunch of other great tunes ive heard from various albums across his Some of his songs are very dark, some are beautiful. I like that his personality shines through his lyrics. He genuinely has some really funny lines. Definitely check at least those two albums out.
What’s interesting to me is why Dylan and not Cohen? The few songs I’ve heard by LC tend not to sound very energetic. Like Dylan minus the great musical backing?
Obviously they are very different artists, but to compare/contrast is interesting when there are so many similarities as well.
Listen to The Essential Leonard Cohen. Good 2 disc overview of everything.
Much like with Dylan I'm a big fan of Cohen's later less popular work. The songs Closing Time & In My Secret Life are good ones if you want to try out some later Cohen.
I saw him 3X in Australia just after Obama's inauguration, at big all day festivals with my own musical hero Paul Kelly opening.
When Leonard played "Democracy" at each show ("Democracy is coming to the USA!") it was tremendous. The Aussies really loved Obama and the US in that moment.
That’s how I started with Cohen, and I couldn’t have asked for more. I listened to that collection many times before branching out. It’s awesome to take in the different periods al later once.
Ooh well I started off with Freewheelin, Blood on the Tracks, & all the other usual suspects. But after about 17 years of listening, my favorites these days are:
John Wesley Harding - I love the old timey sound & mysterious dreamy lyrics of stuff like As I Went Out One Morning & I Dreamed I Saw Augustine
Street-Legal - so underrated, to me this is the essential denouement to Blood on the Tracks & Desire. I like the backing vocalists & it makes a lot of sense as a bridge to the Christian era
Shot of Love - IIRC I think Bob mentioned this album as one of his favorites of his own & I don't think he was kidding. There's a lot of variety here, kinda a sampling of Dylan's various sides. Lenny Bruce is bizarre, silly, & genuinely touching all at once. Watered-Down Love is so catchy. I think Property of Jesus & In the Summertime are him reckoning with his born again phase & the way people reacted to it. Every Grain of Sand speaks for itself
Oh Mercy - just such a delight to hear, his voice is in great shape & the echoey Lanois production really works here. Ring Them Bells is gorgeous, & Shooting Star is such a good album closer
Time Out of Mind - I like the original Lanois version, but hearing the Fragments version that came out last year was a revelation, like hearing a brand new album for me. Love how it sounds dry without all the added murk. His writing was just on fire at this time. Standing in the Doorway & Tryin to Get to Heaven are the top tracks. It took me a bunch of listens before I "got" Highlands & now I love to get lost in it
Rough and Rowdy Ways - I find this incredible. Truly a career highlight. The beautiful lyrics, the delicate arrangements... One of those things that makes me glad to have lived when I did, to be able to witness it. I've Made Up My Mind was my early favorite here
Some of my favorite single tracks are Changing of the Guards, Mississippi, Sign on the Window, Most of the Time, Red River Shore, In the Summertime, Sugar Baby, Duquesne Whistle, Tempest, Mother of Muses, & Key West. I'm a sucker for the romantic stuff
This truly inspires me to do more branching out/re-listening to several of the albums you mentioned (Shot of Love, Oh Mercy, in particular.) “Changing of the Guards” is one of my favorite songs, but I don’t play enough of the rest of Street Legal.
Time Out of Mind, I’ve tried to get into several times, but it hasn’t really hit me yet. The “heavy” (?)-sounding production makes it difficult to get used to—but I have little doubt it *will* hit one day :)
And I totally agree that RARW is superb. My favorite is Key West, but I enjoy every song. It was a little disheartening at his recent shows when so many in the audience had NO idea what songs he was playing because they weren’t familiarized with the album!
Love finding another fan of Changing of the Guards. Such cool imagery in that one, & gotta love that sax chorus.
That's so cool you got to see him recently! I've seen him 3 times but none since RARW released. Hopefully he comes close to Vegas soon
Songs of Leonard Cohen 1967 (his first LP). It’s an outstanding record and an artistic achievement.
It’s a bit more dramatic than Dylan imo. There’s a certain solemnness throughout Cohen’s work. I think Dylan’s material is more self-conscious and humorous.
I love Dylan but I feel he plagiarized way more than Cohen ever did. Leonard was an academic writer, an award winning published poet/writer. Music was something he picked up later.
100%! When I heard the Nina Simone cover of this song I cried a little lol. Both versions are incredible, evoking a plethora of all sorts of emotions. I don’t think I could pick which one is better, both versions hit me completely differently with the same depth
For me, Leonard Cohen can go toe to toe lyrics-wise with Dylan any day of the week - in fact, I have to say that I think Leonard Cohen was a better poet than Dylan.
New Skin for an Old Ceremony has always been a favorite of mine. Got turned onto LC my freshman year in college with a few years back of Dylan adulation under my belt.
LC’s published works > Tarantula and Dylan actually sang backup on a song (with Alan Ginsberg) off his worst album.
Check out the great tribute album "I'm Your Fan."
The highlight for me is [David McComb's "Don't Go Home With Your Hard On."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7pZ3ayjhr8)
Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Songs of Love and Hate are two perfect albums for listening straight thru. Up there with the best of Dylan imo but definitely a slower more somber vibe than Dylan’s quick witted rapping. I prefer Cohen most days if I’m honest.
You Want it Darker is about the Holocaust. As is the song "Dance me to the End of Love". Closing Time is underrated. First We Take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. Like a Bird on the Wire...
Never gone deep with Leonard Cohen – however, I love his final two albums. Thanks for the Dance has help from Daniel Lanois, Damien Rice, Beck, and Feist.
You Want It Darker is the other one – both dark, somber, and uplifting at points.
Both great
Cohens later work did not degrade his vocals are still fantastic
Plus he’s funny too
‘Well I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I qdqt smoked a cigarette
As I tightened up my gut
I said this can’t be me
It must bed my double’
But bob is one in a million
Leonard is one in 900000
Ha! Might be a stretch, but I wonder if “my double” alludes to “The Double” by Dostoyevski (in an ironic way, because the protagonist’s double in the novel is supposed to be “superior” to him.)
Leonard is wonderful.
Dylan is wonderful.
Not going to compare- just thankful for them both.
Listen to:
Leonard Cohen Live in Dublin.
and
You Want it Darker (album).
They’ll both give you great insight into LC’s genius.
My top three artists in no particular order may be Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. I highly recommend exploring these other two if you have only listened to Bob.
In terms of lyrics I actually might consider Leonard the better lyricist. Bob had the advantage of having significant fame, and harnessed the attention on him to make his epic prophetic folk music and sneering counterculture electric music. Bob was also great at coming up with lyrics that were so out-of-nowhere but somehow made sense in some tiny way, and when you listen to it has the affect of making it sound like Bob exists in another dimension.
Leonard doesn't use the crazy uninterpretable stuff - you can usually study his lyrics like poetry and come up with reasonable ideas on the meaning (whereas when Bob talks about things like your dancing child with his Chinese suit you just don't know). Leonard wrote extremely deep, meaningful, and interesting songs. They're also catchy as hell, and his voice is fantastic, especially if you like the deep baritone from his later career that winds up sounding like a Disney villain sometimes. A lot of his production eighties and beyond is cheesy as hell, in a way that I love.
Here are some highlight songs to get into Leonard:
From his first album:
Susanne - amazing lyrics, amazing music
So Long, Marianne - catchy as hell
First song I heard that made me an instant fan:
Democracy - this is later career, super deep voice, prophetic
Full Evil Villain Leonard:
First We Take Manhattan
If you like any of these, my top album recs are:
- Songs of Leonard Cohen
- New Skin for the Old Ceremony
- I'm Your Man
But all his albums are great, so much to discover and enjoy.
Great analysis—Bob tends toward to the surreal/absurd fairly often, and it sounds like this is a significant difference between him and Leonard.
I’m loving So Long, Marianne right now, and it’s hard to imagine Bob writing something so sincere.
Joni Mitchell is another artist I’m embarrassed to say I know very little about. I’m adding her to my list!
He's amazing yeah second only to dylan in my book and I don't think there's really a close 3rd. If I had to pick some of my favourite leonard cohen songs it would be bird on a wire , anthem , chelsea hotel , closing time , a singer must die , famous blue raincoat , the future and many more . I'd also recommend listening to his concert live in London from 2009 I think it might be my favourite concert of all time
No doubt they are both great lyricists. At various times in his career it seems that Dylan is chasing the person he wants to be. Sometimes he’s in his cocoon waiting. Leonard Cohen’s lyrics are written by some one who has become. His songs are what they are, not what he wants them to be. Cohen’s lyrics are as real as real can be.
Leonards music and lyrics are brilliant! You have to be in the mood to listen to his work but when you are, it's a glorious experience. IMO, Famous Blue Raincoat is one of the best songs ever written.
I recommend dipping your toes in the water with 'The Essential Leonard Cohen' and 'Live In London'. I was at the London show and it was nothing short of spectacular. I was completely awestruck by his presence and his touring band were absolutely superb.
In the immortal words of Kurt Cobain...
***Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld***
***So I can sigh eternally***
So funny, I was a big Nirvana fan (as much as an 11/12 year old could be) growing up, and these lines are *such* a blast from the past. At the time, I had absolutely no clue about this Leonard Cohen person Kurt was referring to, ha.
I remember reading some old interviews where Kurt speaks highly of Dylan (especially re the way he handled the press) as well.
My boomer parents introduced me to a lot of great 60s counterculture artists growing up (when I wasn’t listening to Nirvana) so I was fortunate to learn about Bob early on, but LC was out of their wheelhouse. I’m so appreciative of the comments/recs on here (and based on how many people have mentioned the album, it’s *incredible* you were at the London show! I can’t even imagine…)
The show was just incredible! I only knew two songs but I was absolutely blown away by Leonard and the band. I didn’t waste anytime in familiarising myself with his music after that show 😊
I caught him once more at Coachella in 2009 and he was brilliant on that night too.
Did you know that Dylan was the first person to cover Hallelujah? At a live concert in the 80s, the album, Various Positions, where that song is on wasn't even released in the US at that time. Bob knows a classic when he hears it. They had huge mutual respect. Cohen once told an anecdote about how Dylan asked him how long it had taken him to write Hallelujah. '15 years', Cohen said, 'I wrote 80 verses'.Then Cohen asked how long it had taken Dylan to write his new single at the time, if I remember correctly it was Jokerman. 'About 15 minutes', Dylan answered.
I had no idea! I do remember reading that Hallelujah originally had 80 verses/took many years to write, but didn’t know Cohen had revealed this to Dylan.
I grew up on the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah (which is stunning, imo) but want to get into the original. Can the Dylan cover be found somewhere?
Just search Dylan Hallelujah Montreal live, you'll find it on YouTube. By the way, Buckley's cover was based on the cover by John Cale (formerly from the Velvet Underground). Cohen had sent him all the verses, and he made a different selection than Cohen did on the album. So the Cale and Buckley have some different verses.
I haven't listened to Leonard's entire catalog like I've done with Bob -- But for me there are some Cohen songs that are almost sacred... I don't know how else to put it. Go watch the live performance of Suzanne with Judy Collins and I think you'll understand what I mean.
Now to me, Leonard was more an artist who stayed in his lane and did a very specific thing, where Bob makes a grand circle of American Music in all it's forms and it like a lightning rod for all of them, but that specific thing Leonard does is (not to sound to fancy or dramatic) soul stirring. His music is almost like meditation. Famous Blue Raincoat, Who By Fire, Haleujah all feel almost like a prayer.
If you haven't you should watch some interviews with Cohen -- He did a great one with Studio Q. His personality is much like his music -- Zen Tortoise. Also I'm forever greatful to Leonard because he's the one who led me to Bob by mentioning I And I in an interview. I went and listened to it and thought -- What is this and where has it been my whole life!? Yup.
Also Bob speaks of Leonard with admiration and respect to this day, and for me that's enough to take a second look at his work. Mr. Bob has impeccable taste -- Except maybe for Dunkin Donuts.
I love love love Leonard Cohen. The Essential Leonard Cohen or The Best Of would be a good place to start. It'll give you a feel for his sound. I think my favorite album is maybe The Future? Or maybe Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Cohen is a superexcellent lyricist and songwriter, of course a certified poet too. But I don't think he's musically good as Dylan. He has some good tunes but can't compare to Dylan or Tom waits.
His good songs are incredible. He can get monotonous and dull. My favorite of his Everybody Knows by a lot. It's a perfect portrait of the cynic's view of the world. One of my favorite songs. First We Take Manhattan and One of us cannot be Wrong are great too.
His late-in-life. tour document videos, botth Songs from the Road, and Live in Dublin are an excellent introduction. The former has perhaps his best live performance of Hallelujah, which was captured, live at Coachella. There was not a dry eye in the audience.
He was a very gracious and beautiful human being.
When I saw Dylan in Montreal last fall, he played Dance Me for the first time ever live! (Not that I had any clue what I was listening to at the time :)) But the crowd was going nuts!
On the same level as Dylan, like Paul Simon and very few others (if any).
Suggested albums:
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967, his first LP, foundational folk)
Field Commander Cohen (1979 tour, incredible album)
I'm Your Man (1988, brilliant new approach to folk style)
The Future (1993, prophetic)
Ten New Songs (2001, all killer and no filler)
You Want It Darker (2014, death is near but please don't fear)
He did a huge worldwide tour from 2008-2012, and I saw at least 10 shows. They were all three hours long and stupendous. Check out "Live In London" from the beginning of the tour, and "Live In Dublin" from the end of the tour.
"Live In Dublin" is a good place to start. One of the greatest albums of all time IMO, live or otherwise. The band is in top form, and Leonard really delivers.
Dylan is a rock and roll beat poet imp, cohen is a kind of French noir pervert guy. I think Dylan’s later stuff is more influenced by Cohen than Cohen ever was by Dylan. Both will cut you up though.
While we're talking GOATed guitar-music lyricists I need it stated that Bruce Springsteen has never gotten his deserved flowers outside his cult of rabid fans. They're not deadheads. They're hiding something special but they'll share it anyone would just ask. Dylan and Cohen are two of a kind but nobody gives Bruce credit for being a third of that same kind.
I agree that Spingsteen—while he is an absolute legend—rarely seems to be mentioned in the same breath as Dylan/Cohen. I don’t know Springsteen’s catalogue very well, but (at the risk of sounding terribly elitist) he gives off a less “intellectual” vibe—at least imho—compared to Dylan and what little I know of Cohen. Obviously, Dylan started out as a self-styled “Okie” hillbilly type, modeled after Guthrie, but I think his image later evolved into something more cerebral/avant garde.
It could definitely be that I just don’t know Springsteen well enough, but he’s never struck me as a “poet” or an “intellectual”. I realize that’s unfair because I’m basing this partly off of physical impressions (e.g. muscular/conventionally attractive; appeals to women more so than Dylan (I think?)) His lyrics (again, only what I know of them) have never seemed profound/poetic/abstract in the sense that you’d be happy to just read them without musical accompaniment.
I’m completely open to being 100% wrong about this, so I’d be interested in hearing examples of his work that suggest otherwise; I’m sure there are many I’ve never heard of….
Cohen is stylistically very different from Dylan but lyrically I think they have some commonalities. Not across the board, but to an extent. I’d say “Every Grain of Sand” by Dylan, for example, is somewhat Cohen-esque, while Cohen’s “Take This Waltz” or even the vaunted “Hallelujah,” while not musically very Dylanesque, might be comparable in some ways on a lyrical level.
It’s worth noting that Dylan seems to make a potential reference to Cohen in the lyrics to his recent song “Mother of Muses”:
“I’m travelin’ light and I’m slow comin’ home.”
“Traveling Light” is a Cohen song and he also has songs titled “Slow” and “Going Home.”
Overall they’re different artists but belong to the same approximate generation of songwriters and probably influenced each other over the years.
Leonard Cohen’s lyrics are great. Unfortunately, somewhere in his career his production got really really bad. Like, it all sounds like cheap synthesizer crap that doesn’t fit his style or song at all. It’s a regrettable waste. Luckily, we have his live albums. I genuinely believe that Hallelujah (Live In London) is the single greatest rendition of that song, and yet Cohen’s original studio version is probably among the worst. I know many will disagree, but that’s how I feel.
He's a great songwriter but he's a better writer. His books and poem collections are fantastic IMO.
Dylan is a master but Cohen is great too just a different vibe. More jazz then anything else?.
I’m Your Man (album) and the track from it ‘Tower of Song’ is as close to guaranteed enjoyment as you’ll ever get as a Dylan fan. LC is obviously a magnificent writer and poet but I’d argue slightly less ‘musical’ than Dylan, which is find is a huge part of the charm of Bob
I can’t fault Leonard Cohen’s integrity or depth, he’s both very intellectual and very emotional. But he’s not important to me the way Dylan is. Leonard Cohen doesn’t have the wildness.
There are a lot of other artists in that zone I prefer, like Tom Waits or Townes Van Zandt.
Avalanche is a hell of a song though.
I think the weak point with Lenny is his singing and corny backup singers. Some say that is the full Cohen experience. But other artists and bands bring out the best in his songs. Listen to the compilations like “I’m you Fan”.
I wouldn’t really call Cohen prolific, he ”only” recorded 14 studio albums over the course of an almost 50 year career and four of those were released between 2012-2019. If anything a theme of his career was how he obsessed with songs for years if not decades before release. His album Popular Problems has one song which he had worked on for decades, about which he joked that he now thought that they had ”almost got it right”. I would just listen to each album in order because they all have their great songs, but New Skin For The Old Ceremony is a great album, as are his first two records which I think are essential listening. His eighties records I’m your man and Various Positions plus The Future from the 90s are also essential. Then we have a string of great/good albums starting with Old Ideas in 2012.
Bob Johnson was the producer for Cohen's early albums and because Johnson was working and touring with Cohen (and therefore was not at Dylan's beck and call) had a strong bearing in Dylan dropping Johnson as his producer.
He's brilliant. My favourite album of his favourite 'new skin for the old ceremony', it's a lot of fun. Favourite song is 'rhe partisan' - so beautiful. He's right up there with the best.
About a third of Cohen’s albums are genius, including (perhaps especially) his last one. About a third of them are borderline unlistenable and the final third patchy.
I'm a big fan of both. Yet, I don't really put them together in my mind. Both often associated acoustic folk, but with LC it's almost always a nylon string guitar. Which is a very different vibe. Also, unlike Dylan, there's not much blues influence in his music. Songs Of Love And Hate is an amazing album. A timeless classic, and a great starting point.
He’s fantastic and well worth listening to. I have a lot of time for both Dylan and Cohen. I can recommend everything up to and including Dear Heather, being not very familiar with his last four albums. But reading this thread I really should give them a go.
What is the difference between the two? Leonard Cohen is not (to me) “depressing”, as some with a passing familiarity with him seem to think. That said, I believe his depression did feed into his work and there is a darkness that you don’t frequently get with Dylan. For example, Songs of Love and Hate makes Blood on the Tracks look like a walk in the park.
Forgot to mention, did you know by the way that Bob Dylan (And his friend Allan Ginsberg) contributed backing vocals on Leonard Cohen's Death Of A Ladies Man album
if you not sure where to start, buy the greatest hits album. I had the sepia toned cover LP on CBS from the 70's I think, which has a good mix of his earlIer material and a good introduction to his music.
Up there with Dylan in terms of songwriting and poetry; probably better overall at the craft of lyricism, poetry and overall intellectualism given his earlier background. Better guitar player too.
That said there's a time and a place for Leonard Cohen. Dylan's discography is much richer and more varied and I listen to him more frequently. I'm Your Man however is one record that is great for all seasons.
I didn't take to Leonard Cohen as a teen the way I did Dylan.
In fact, I gave away my mom's vinyl of Songs of Leonard Cohen to a girl back in the day and have never replaced it.
I was living in Montreal when he died and it made me do a deep dive, and now I'm a huge fan. Though I still think his first album is the only one I actually love from start to finish, the rest of his catalogue is kinda hit and miss, you'll have one or two amazing songs on an album.
Really hard to get into his version of hallelujah when you were introduced to the Jeff Buckley version, but i finally was able to appreciate the original, it's one of the best songs ever written.
Edit: if you are into film, the national film board of Canada made a documentary about Leonard that is basically his version of don't look back called "ladies and gentlemen...Mr Leonard Cohen" it takes place two years before his first album even came out when he was still known as a writer and poet more than a musician.
Imo he had the same sort of gravitas that Dylan does, you really want to watch him and listen to what he says, but where Dylan is like a razor sharp enfant terrible, Leonard comes across like your older brother who's visiting from college. He's gentler in his speech, but every bit as sharp.
He was also more of a horndog than most rock stars, but you'd never think it from his dress and manner.
I love Leonard Cohen. Many of his songs are classics. He is definitely in Dylan’s league with his best lyrics. His music is often sad but that can be cathartic like a good blues.
I love Cohen. When they ask me if I could only take one album to listen to in a deserted island that would be New Skin for the Old Ceremony. It's brilliant.
His lyrics are incredibly poetic. He’s a very good songwriter and I like his voice on his earlier work. Not a huge fan of the deep crooning in his later years personally
Absolutely love Leonard Cohen. Listen to the album I'M YOUR MAN album on repeat. Recommended tracks: Title track, Everybody Knows, Take This Waltz, really the whole album honestly. He's different from Dylan of course, but he hits some of the same soul places
Big fan of Dylan & Cohen . If you at all suicidal don't listen to Cohen, as most of songs are very heavy. I especially like "Famous Blue Raincoat", "The Stranger Song", "Master Song", "Suzanne", & "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy"
I'm currently reading Cohen's biography ("I'm Your Man") and I literally just finished the part where Dylan visits the studio while Cohen and Phil Spector are recording Death of a Ladies' Man. Then I see this post right after.
Anyway, Cohen is a songwriter of the highest order. A pure poet, and fascinating man. And while his style and discography isn't as diverse as Dylan's, it's far from being all just the austere, stripped down acoustic sound of his early records. He experimented and grew and tried lots of different sounds and textures. Dylan was a big fan too. He casually shows up quite a bit in Cohen's biography (and I'm only halfway).
The Songs of Leonard Cohen rivals any of Dylan’s best albums. He has hits every now and then on other albums, but that project is a work of true genius
Leonard was a legit poet before getting into music. I had the great good fortune to see his last tour. He was amazing at 80. A very charismatic performer with a beautiful mind. His live in London LP from that tour is amazing.
I find Cohen to be more intimate. His songs tear my soul and give it solace at the same time.
The songs I listen more to are:
The Captain
Dance me to the end of love
Hallelujah
Tower of song
The future
I’m your man
Waiting for the miracle
Story of Isaac
Everybody knows
Closing time
Democracy
I feel like you can more clearly put Cohen’s music in a category, the troubled ladies man. Cohen is more overtly horny in his lyrics than Dylan. Most of his love songs are like this. But a lot of his love songs, like Dylan, are complex and they never really blame the girl for anything wrong, mostly just saying it was amazing being with you, sorry we must part ways now. His story telling abilities and poetry are up there with Dylan. Try his first album, “new skin for the old ceremony”, and “various positions” - which feature my favorite of his, “Dance Me To the End of Love” (watch the music video on YouTube, it still makes me cry) and “Hallelujah”(his most famous)
That makes sense- there’s so many iterations of Dylan that he sort of defies categorization, whereas Cohen seems much more stylistically consistent from what I’ve read so far.
Really appreciate all the great advice on here. I wrote this above somewhere: when I saw Dylan on tour in Montreal last fall, he played “Dance Me to the End of Love” in homage to Cohen. At the time, I didn’t know the song, which kills me because I’ve listened to it over the last couple days and *love* it. Will def check out the music video!
Yes I’ve heard the Montreal recording too and it too made the river flow. If you already love to see the live performances of Dylan you’ll enjoy watching the performances of Cohen , especially from his final tours. RIP — https://youtu.be/A0k5vpsWb4g?si=pK-S2GSHHRfvaS9c
I'd say Leonard Cohen definitely has his moments and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, but his output isn't as consistant as Bob Dylan. Dylan's golden period was between say 1962-73, but Cohen's was shorter, more like 1967-73, although both produced good songs after this time line. If you want to get into Leonard Cohen I'd heartily recommend you listen to his first three albums, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room and Songs Of Love And Hate.
He has a great catalog and you should try the different eras of Cohen.
He was a published poet first and then, I guess, he heard Bob and started singing with his poems.
His lyrics are often more risqué than Bob’s and Leonard’s voice got better with age.
Highly recommended.
Cohen is class..as others have said it's a mood thing, you probably should be in the right mood for it but try a couple tracks and see how you go
I would recommend
Suzanne
Sisters of Mercy
That's No Way To Say Goodbye
So Long Marianne
Hallelujah
I’m Your Man is a great one to start with. Some of his best work on there. First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows and Tower of Song. Think it was David Browne who said it’s the first Cohen album you could listen to during the daytime.
I would recommend Songs of Love and Hate. But really you can’t go wrong with anything up to Death of a Ladies Man. Plenty of gems in his later albums too, but for me, early Cohen is the classic stuff.
Good call, LC is one of these artists where you are best just starting at the beginning and working your way thru his discography.
What Dylan album or time period would you most equate his sound to? (assuming that’s even an applicable question)
I wouldn't really equate the two sounds other than they spawned from the same genre--folk. Cohen's instrumentation is so unique, but as lyricists and poets they're drawing from the same themes and imagery and source materials--although, to me, Cohen's is a bit more obscured in Judeo-Christian imagery (listen to Suzanne, The Story of Isaac and Hallelujah). Cohen's is also a bit more "alpha male" to me. He was the scion of his family and it shows in his point-of-view and subject material.
That is interesting stuff!
These albums are absolute classics: Songs of Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man Ten New Songs Then get Live In London.
Songs From A Room has Bird on a Wire, which would be enough to make him legendary. But it also has The Partisan, A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes and The Story of Isaac, which are all classics IMO
All his albums are classics tbh. I never cared so much for Bird on a Wire, but that's probably because I heard the David Soul version first. A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes and The Story of Isaac are both awesome.
This is my favorite album of his, hands down. Story of Isaac is such an eerie sounding song, but in a really dark, beautiful way. I think if Dylan wrote some of those songs, people here would definitely be all about them. The Old Revolution is another that's just so good
I'm not really into Cohen, *I'm Your Man* is the only album of his I have. But "Take This Waltz" is one of my favorite songs ever. Absolutely gorgeous, both the music and words. I've listened to it over a hundred times and still get goosebumps. Also, "Jazz Police" is definitely different and seems to get a fair amount of hate, but I unironically love it.
Will definitely check both of those out as well!
Songs From A Room is his best work, if you ask me. I know that the Jew's Harp being used so much is an interesting choice, but the songs themselves are absolutely stellar. Story of Isaac and The Old Revolution are two that I think plenty of Dylan fans would like
Thanks for boiling it down to the raw essentials! It’s a lot like when people ask “where to start” when they’re first trying to get into Dylan. An intimidating endeavor…
He’s good. I’ve never found myself listening to him on repeat like I have with Dylan, but I always enjoy his work when I hear it. From what little I know his first and his last albums are among his best.
Do you think it’s an issue of his songs not being as “catchy”? That’s the assumption I’ve always made.
For me, not really. I listen to quite a lot of music that isn’t catchy. I think I need to be in a certain mood for Leonard Cohen - most of the stuff of his I’ve listened to is quite dark in atmosphere and in content, whereas Dylan produces music across the full spectrum of emotions. It’s not all miserable but it’s definitely less energetic and perhaps more introspective than Dylan. Maybe I’m mistaken though as I’ve only listened to four Cohen albums plus the stuff that comes on my mum’s Cohen playlists (she listens to him more than me).
Ahhh gotcha. One of the reasons I love Dylan is that he covers the full spectrum of human emotion. I feel like the cliche is that Cohen is just a “downer”.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to call LC a downer, but was just repeating how he tends to be stereotyped (wrongly, no doubt) by the public. My bad!
Songs of Love and Hate is his most sad and depressing album
The early albums get a little dreary the latter albums are kind of fun in a black humor sort of way. I like him, The Tower of Song, Chelsea Hotel #2, Everybody Knows are my favorite songs.
I was listening to a girl singing Chelsea Hotel #2 at an open mic and my heart skipped a beat when I was certain she was staring me in the eyes at the “head in the unmade bed” lyric. Sadly I later realised the lyric sheet was in a position that gave the illusion of eye contact every time she looked at it. 😂
Yeah, it’s a weird song for women to sing. Lana Del Rey [does a version of it too.](https://youtu.be/Jj_myXdOLV0?si=iO9caVjBxnFIJlxq)
Do you think so? I don’t, “giving me head” can be used by both sexes imo
It’s a bit weird whoever sings it. I don’t want to imagine Leonard’s dick but I am forced to whenever he sings that line.
Yeah you are right but it just seems like such a male point of view, maybe the backstory gets in the way for me.
I don’t think it’s weird at all.
Honestly I do find a lot of his work “catchy”. My favourite albums are I’m Your Man and Old Ideas, and they’re both for me relatively catchy. Other great songs include Chelsea Hotel, Night comes on, famous blue raincoat, anthem. I’d say Leonard’s music is more somber/sad than Dylan’s. His main two moods were sad and horny, often in the same song.
😂😂😂 That made me chuckle because it's sooooo true!!!
lol yup and I love it
Chelsea Hotel #2 is a good example of that, one minute he's on about getting head on an unmade bed and the next, he's on about being ugly but he still has the music. By the way did you know that the woman in the song was probably Janis Joplin?
>Do you think it’s an issue of his songs not being as “catchy”? That’s the assumption I’ve always made. Funnily enough, perhaps Cohen's catchiest song is *Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On*, where Dylan appears as a backing vocalist.
Passing Through is a good catchy LC tune, a few on his least popular LP, Death Is A Ladies Man as well
These guys are two sides of the same coin to me. I know them both deeply and intimately. Neither is for everyone, but their overlap, especially from a cultural lens, is pretty astonishing. It’s remarkable that they aren’t more similar, really. Leonard doesn’t rock. At all. Bob does. I’d rather listen to Bob, 9 times out of 10. But I really can climb inside of a Cohen verse like none other. There’s a lot more to it, but IMO these are the 2 greatest lyricists that ever lived and if you like good lyrics, it’s not a stretch to love both of them.
Yeah, I’d rather listen to Bob and read Cohen.
Great take! I’m a huge lyrics person—just as important as the music, imo)—so I’m thinking that I could get into LC in the same way (1/10th of the time, ha)
Songs of Leonard Cohen is a good starting point. I think he’s definitely in the highest tier of lyricist along w Dylan. As for their differences….Dylan rocks harder and is a more dynamic singer imo. Leonard’s vibe is more like a genteel European minstrel whereas Dylan is a Little Richard acolyte by way of Woody Guthrie. Suzanne is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Amazing comparisons! This is exactly the type of descriptive comment I was hoping for in terms of their respective “vibes”.
I love Cohen and especially his later stuff. Popular Problems is loaded lesser known gems.
Second this, I love Leonard, but his last four albums (starting with Old Ideas) are my favorites. Popular Problems has two of my favorite songs ever back to back; "Did I Ever Love You" and "My Oh My" "This song's for Leonard, if he's still here."
I think I read that Did I Ever Love You is polarizing among Cohen fans, but I *love* how that one encompasses love, and age, and relationship, and loss, and looking back on life at the upper end of things. It’s spring and it’s summer and it’s winter forever.
If someone asked me my favorite, I'd say Dylan, but I love Leonard Cohen, and I've listened to him on repeat plenty. They're both great lyricists, but there is a difference between them, which someone else described well. Dylan's going to rock out. Cohen's going to begin to question the way things are. Even then, I don't think that quite gets at their difference. People have said that Dylan's more optimistic while Cohen's more pessimistic, but I'd be more apt to put it this way: Dylan sees an end in which he can place hope, and Cohen sees a fog that he can push through, hoping there's an end. To that point, while Dylan sings, "I'm hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan, like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand," Cohen sings, "There's a lover in the story, but the story's still the same. There's a lullaby for suffering and a paradox to blame...Hineni, hineni, I'm ready, my Lord." Cohen's work has just as many religious themes as Dylan's. That said, my sense is that Cohen was always faced with a greater fog, so to speak, than Dylan, and this shows in his lyrics and take on the world. Again, Cohen sings, "I struggle with some demons. They were middle class and tame. I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim." Dylan sings, "I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame...Onward in my journey, I come to understand that every hair is numbered like every grain of sand." But I wouldn't equate this to pessimism in Cohen. While he won't sing "Mozambique," he also has many lyrics that forget the fog and embrace what he can see: "Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on. Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long. We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above. Dance me to the end of love." He doesn't have as wide a range of styles as Dylan in my experience, but he has his fair share. You have more folky stuff, more club stuff, and one song I can think of that I want to say is a little bit punk. As far as albums go, for something like BOTT, I might go "Songs of Leonard Cohen" or "Various Positions." For electric, I'd go "I'm Your Man." His debut album was Songs, anyway. I feel like he's still going to be more toned down and reserved in most of these songs than Dylan in some of his, though. I know there are at least a few where he rocks a little more, but I don't know them off the top of my head. This is all just my two cents, though. I'm not an expert on Dylan or Cohen. But I hope it helps!
Just want to piggyback off this awesome post and say listen to the first 2 tracks off “The Future” album for, imo, some great and accessible Leonard.
Wow, thank you for this thoughtful analysis. Really fascinating stuff.
I dont know as much Cohen as Dylan, but Dylan seems a bit more sarcastic and smug. Having more fun with the wordplay.
“I’ve been deceived by the clown inside of me, I thought that he was righteous but he’s vain” Dylan’s issue was that his smugness got in the way. He could never take anything in the world seriously. Cohen has the exact opposite problem. He tries to be sincere to an extreme degree to where it inevitably becomes another affect. Trying to seduce with his depth and earnestness but finding that well running dry. Neither were blinded by their large egos though and they were able to penetrate them to produce interesting work. Dylan soars when he’s sincere because you know what it means for him to drop the cold exterior and Cohen charms when he’s sarcastic because his self awareness lightens his otherwise heavy demeanour
Abandoned Love is so great bc he sees it’s why she’s leaving. “Something’s telling me. I wear the the ball and chain…”
That’s great. Two sides of the same coin.
Cohen didn't have a rock and roll bone in his body, but he was a superb lyricist with a deadpan sense of humor. My favorites of his are "Sisters of Mercy" and "Everybody Knows."
The Concrete Blonde version of Everybody Knows is great too. On the same album as their cover of Simple Twist of Fate.
Lenny is right up there alongside Bob as a poet and songwriter, as Bob himself would attest. Get the "Live in London" album (essentially a Greatest Hits) and let it soak.
Live in London sounds like an absolute must
It is, particularly if you understand the back-story. Leonard Cohen spend time (a decade?) in retreat in a Buddhist Monastery in California. When he got out, he discovered that his (former) manager had basically fleeced him and left him in relatively dire financial straits. So, he needed money and so was 'forced' to return to music and touring when that wasn't necessarily his plan. that tour was basically his fandom coming together to show just how profound his impact was. And, perhaps, the financial difficulty might well have induced him to continue recording and some of those late-period albums are absolutely among his best.
I saw him on that tour, he played three encores and I got home at 2am and it was beautiful.
"Live In London" is fantastic, but it's from the beginning of the tour while "Live In Dublin" is from the end of that three year tour, and it is superlative.
Yes, the quality of performance in his live albums is spectacular, as are the arrangements, courtesy of the bass player, I gather.
Greatest lyricist ever.
How would you compare his lyrics to Bob’s? Just out of curiosity!
Bob has said he came into poetry through the back door. Where Cohen was writing books of poetry before he became a singer-songwriter. Leonard is a poet first, very cerebral.
Songs of love and hate is great, so is new skin for old ceremony. Admittedly, im not familiar with his whole catalog but theres a bunch of other great tunes ive heard from various albums across his Some of his songs are very dark, some are beautiful. I like that his personality shines through his lyrics. He genuinely has some really funny lines. Definitely check at least those two albums out.
I could leave it all for just his first two albums and his book is fun as well
What’s interesting to me is why Dylan and not Cohen? The few songs I’ve heard by LC tend not to sound very energetic. Like Dylan minus the great musical backing? Obviously they are very different artists, but to compare/contrast is interesting when there are so many similarities as well.
Yea I think they are separate but both reach a similar height but stand apart
Listen to The Essential Leonard Cohen. Good 2 disc overview of everything. Much like with Dylan I'm a big fan of Cohen's later less popular work. The songs Closing Time & In My Secret Life are good ones if you want to try out some later Cohen.
I saw him 3X in Australia just after Obama's inauguration, at big all day festivals with my own musical hero Paul Kelly opening. When Leonard played "Democracy" at each show ("Democracy is coming to the USA!") it was tremendous. The Aussies really loved Obama and the US in that moment.
Ahhh the good ol days! 😢
That’s how I started with Cohen, and I couldn’t have asked for more. I listened to that collection many times before branching out. It’s awesome to take in the different periods al later once.
Thanks for that rec! Out of curiosity, what are your favorite Bob songs/albums?
Ooh well I started off with Freewheelin, Blood on the Tracks, & all the other usual suspects. But after about 17 years of listening, my favorites these days are: John Wesley Harding - I love the old timey sound & mysterious dreamy lyrics of stuff like As I Went Out One Morning & I Dreamed I Saw Augustine Street-Legal - so underrated, to me this is the essential denouement to Blood on the Tracks & Desire. I like the backing vocalists & it makes a lot of sense as a bridge to the Christian era Shot of Love - IIRC I think Bob mentioned this album as one of his favorites of his own & I don't think he was kidding. There's a lot of variety here, kinda a sampling of Dylan's various sides. Lenny Bruce is bizarre, silly, & genuinely touching all at once. Watered-Down Love is so catchy. I think Property of Jesus & In the Summertime are him reckoning with his born again phase & the way people reacted to it. Every Grain of Sand speaks for itself Oh Mercy - just such a delight to hear, his voice is in great shape & the echoey Lanois production really works here. Ring Them Bells is gorgeous, & Shooting Star is such a good album closer Time Out of Mind - I like the original Lanois version, but hearing the Fragments version that came out last year was a revelation, like hearing a brand new album for me. Love how it sounds dry without all the added murk. His writing was just on fire at this time. Standing in the Doorway & Tryin to Get to Heaven are the top tracks. It took me a bunch of listens before I "got" Highlands & now I love to get lost in it Rough and Rowdy Ways - I find this incredible. Truly a career highlight. The beautiful lyrics, the delicate arrangements... One of those things that makes me glad to have lived when I did, to be able to witness it. I've Made Up My Mind was my early favorite here Some of my favorite single tracks are Changing of the Guards, Mississippi, Sign on the Window, Most of the Time, Red River Shore, In the Summertime, Sugar Baby, Duquesne Whistle, Tempest, Mother of Muses, & Key West. I'm a sucker for the romantic stuff
This truly inspires me to do more branching out/re-listening to several of the albums you mentioned (Shot of Love, Oh Mercy, in particular.) “Changing of the Guards” is one of my favorite songs, but I don’t play enough of the rest of Street Legal. Time Out of Mind, I’ve tried to get into several times, but it hasn’t really hit me yet. The “heavy” (?)-sounding production makes it difficult to get used to—but I have little doubt it *will* hit one day :) And I totally agree that RARW is superb. My favorite is Key West, but I enjoy every song. It was a little disheartening at his recent shows when so many in the audience had NO idea what songs he was playing because they weren’t familiarized with the album!
Love finding another fan of Changing of the Guards. Such cool imagery in that one, & gotta love that sax chorus. That's so cool you got to see him recently! I've seen him 3 times but none since RARW released. Hopefully he comes close to Vegas soon
I’m sure you’ll see him- the man is tireless!!
Songs of Leonard Cohen 1967 (his first LP). It’s an outstanding record and an artistic achievement. It’s a bit more dramatic than Dylan imo. There’s a certain solemnness throughout Cohen’s work. I think Dylan’s material is more self-conscious and humorous.
I love Dylan but I feel he plagiarized way more than Cohen ever did. Leonard was an academic writer, an award winning published poet/writer. Music was something he picked up later.
This seems to be a crucial difference (LC as writer first and foremost, and Dylan as musician/lyricist)
Pls listen to one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. Suzanne.
100%! When I heard the Nina Simone cover of this song I cried a little lol. Both versions are incredible, evoking a plethora of all sorts of emotions. I don’t think I could pick which one is better, both versions hit me completely differently with the same depth
I consider him and Joni Mitchell to be the only songwriters within the same realm as Dylan. Everybody Knows is a current favourite Cohen song of mine
I listened to Everybody Knows this morning and *loved* it. Sad, but also so funny!
For me, Leonard Cohen can go toe to toe lyrics-wise with Dylan any day of the week - in fact, I have to say that I think Leonard Cohen was a better poet than Dylan.
One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong. What an incredible song.
New Skin for an Old Ceremony has always been a favorite of mine. Got turned onto LC my freshman year in college with a few years back of Dylan adulation under my belt. LC’s published works > Tarantula and Dylan actually sang backup on a song (with Alan Ginsberg) off his worst album.
Literally, no one I know has ever been into LC, so I’ve never had the opportunity to be introduced. Appreciate all the recs/info here so far!!
Agree with everything everyone else says. Start with Songs of Leonard Cohen and if if speaks to you, keep on going.
He doesn’t rock …. or does he??
See Death of a Ladies Man
Does it rock ?
Oh it rocks. Produced by Phil Spector, either right before or after producing The Ramones.
Check out the great tribute album "I'm Your Fan." The highlight for me is [David McComb's "Don't Go Home With Your Hard On."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7pZ3ayjhr8)
My (unsubstantiated) impression has always been that he does not. More of a generally quieter sound?
Yes . He is an interesting and talented artist . Just not my thing.
Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 is one of the best live albums I've ever heard. Can't recommend it enough.
Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Songs of Love and Hate are two perfect albums for listening straight thru. Up there with the best of Dylan imo but definitely a slower more somber vibe than Dylan’s quick witted rapping. I prefer Cohen most days if I’m honest.
Thanks for the recs! And I appreciate the description of his work relative to Dylan’s—I’m in the mood for that (probably too) often.
You Want it Darker is about the Holocaust. As is the song "Dance me to the End of Love". Closing Time is underrated. First We Take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. Like a Bird on the Wire...
Never gone deep with Leonard Cohen – however, I love his final two albums. Thanks for the Dance has help from Daniel Lanois, Damien Rice, Beck, and Feist. You Want It Darker is the other one – both dark, somber, and uplifting at points.
"The Future" is a good album from his later days.
I'm in love with Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs of Love and Hate. His 80's and early 90's stuff is great too
He’s second to Bob in my book
Both great Cohens later work did not degrade his vocals are still fantastic Plus he’s funny too ‘Well I stumbled out of bed I got ready for the struggle I qdqt smoked a cigarette As I tightened up my gut I said this can’t be me It must bed my double’ But bob is one in a million Leonard is one in 900000
Ha! Might be a stretch, but I wonder if “my double” alludes to “The Double” by Dostoyevski (in an ironic way, because the protagonist’s double in the novel is supposed to be “superior” to him.)
Leonard is wonderful. Dylan is wonderful. Not going to compare- just thankful for them both. Listen to: Leonard Cohen Live in Dublin. and You Want it Darker (album). They’ll both give you great insight into LC’s genius.
I'm your man and the future are both top tier albums
My top three artists in no particular order may be Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. I highly recommend exploring these other two if you have only listened to Bob. In terms of lyrics I actually might consider Leonard the better lyricist. Bob had the advantage of having significant fame, and harnessed the attention on him to make his epic prophetic folk music and sneering counterculture electric music. Bob was also great at coming up with lyrics that were so out-of-nowhere but somehow made sense in some tiny way, and when you listen to it has the affect of making it sound like Bob exists in another dimension. Leonard doesn't use the crazy uninterpretable stuff - you can usually study his lyrics like poetry and come up with reasonable ideas on the meaning (whereas when Bob talks about things like your dancing child with his Chinese suit you just don't know). Leonard wrote extremely deep, meaningful, and interesting songs. They're also catchy as hell, and his voice is fantastic, especially if you like the deep baritone from his later career that winds up sounding like a Disney villain sometimes. A lot of his production eighties and beyond is cheesy as hell, in a way that I love. Here are some highlight songs to get into Leonard: From his first album: Susanne - amazing lyrics, amazing music So Long, Marianne - catchy as hell First song I heard that made me an instant fan: Democracy - this is later career, super deep voice, prophetic Full Evil Villain Leonard: First We Take Manhattan If you like any of these, my top album recs are: - Songs of Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony - I'm Your Man But all his albums are great, so much to discover and enjoy.
Great analysis—Bob tends toward to the surreal/absurd fairly often, and it sounds like this is a significant difference between him and Leonard. I’m loving So Long, Marianne right now, and it’s hard to imagine Bob writing something so sincere. Joni Mitchell is another artist I’m embarrassed to say I know very little about. I’m adding her to my list!
He's amazing yeah second only to dylan in my book and I don't think there's really a close 3rd. If I had to pick some of my favourite leonard cohen songs it would be bird on a wire , anthem , chelsea hotel , closing time , a singer must die , famous blue raincoat , the future and many more . I'd also recommend listening to his concert live in London from 2009 I think it might be my favourite concert of all time
No doubt they are both great lyricists. At various times in his career it seems that Dylan is chasing the person he wants to be. Sometimes he’s in his cocoon waiting. Leonard Cohen’s lyrics are written by some one who has become. His songs are what they are, not what he wants them to be. Cohen’s lyrics are as real as real can be.
Thanks, this is such a great description!
Leonards music and lyrics are brilliant! You have to be in the mood to listen to his work but when you are, it's a glorious experience. IMO, Famous Blue Raincoat is one of the best songs ever written. I recommend dipping your toes in the water with 'The Essential Leonard Cohen' and 'Live In London'. I was at the London show and it was nothing short of spectacular. I was completely awestruck by his presence and his touring band were absolutely superb. In the immortal words of Kurt Cobain... ***Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld*** ***So I can sigh eternally***
So funny, I was a big Nirvana fan (as much as an 11/12 year old could be) growing up, and these lines are *such* a blast from the past. At the time, I had absolutely no clue about this Leonard Cohen person Kurt was referring to, ha. I remember reading some old interviews where Kurt speaks highly of Dylan (especially re the way he handled the press) as well.
Ha! That's the same experience for me at the time. I'm glad I finally found Leonards and Bob's music.
My boomer parents introduced me to a lot of great 60s counterculture artists growing up (when I wasn’t listening to Nirvana) so I was fortunate to learn about Bob early on, but LC was out of their wheelhouse. I’m so appreciative of the comments/recs on here (and based on how many people have mentioned the album, it’s *incredible* you were at the London show! I can’t even imagine…)
The show was just incredible! I only knew two songs but I was absolutely blown away by Leonard and the band. I didn’t waste anytime in familiarising myself with his music after that show 😊 I caught him once more at Coachella in 2009 and he was brilliant on that night too.
Leonard had a way to make music that was so romantic and devastating and his voice it just penetrates your heart.
Did you know that Dylan was the first person to cover Hallelujah? At a live concert in the 80s, the album, Various Positions, where that song is on wasn't even released in the US at that time. Bob knows a classic when he hears it. They had huge mutual respect. Cohen once told an anecdote about how Dylan asked him how long it had taken him to write Hallelujah. '15 years', Cohen said, 'I wrote 80 verses'.Then Cohen asked how long it had taken Dylan to write his new single at the time, if I remember correctly it was Jokerman. 'About 15 minutes', Dylan answered.
I had no idea! I do remember reading that Hallelujah originally had 80 verses/took many years to write, but didn’t know Cohen had revealed this to Dylan. I grew up on the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah (which is stunning, imo) but want to get into the original. Can the Dylan cover be found somewhere?
Just search Dylan Hallelujah Montreal live, you'll find it on YouTube. By the way, Buckley's cover was based on the cover by John Cale (formerly from the Velvet Underground). Cohen had sent him all the verses, and he made a different selection than Cohen did on the album. So the Cale and Buckley have some different verses.
I haven't listened to Leonard's entire catalog like I've done with Bob -- But for me there are some Cohen songs that are almost sacred... I don't know how else to put it. Go watch the live performance of Suzanne with Judy Collins and I think you'll understand what I mean. Now to me, Leonard was more an artist who stayed in his lane and did a very specific thing, where Bob makes a grand circle of American Music in all it's forms and it like a lightning rod for all of them, but that specific thing Leonard does is (not to sound to fancy or dramatic) soul stirring. His music is almost like meditation. Famous Blue Raincoat, Who By Fire, Haleujah all feel almost like a prayer. If you haven't you should watch some interviews with Cohen -- He did a great one with Studio Q. His personality is much like his music -- Zen Tortoise. Also I'm forever greatful to Leonard because he's the one who led me to Bob by mentioning I And I in an interview. I went and listened to it and thought -- What is this and where has it been my whole life!? Yup. Also Bob speaks of Leonard with admiration and respect to this day, and for me that's enough to take a second look at his work. Mr. Bob has impeccable taste -- Except maybe for Dunkin Donuts.
hes an incredible poet.
Big fan of his. I’d go the route that got me into both Bob and Leonard: get the greatest hits first to see. Worked for me.
First we take Manhattan Then we take Berlin 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I love love love Leonard Cohen. The Essential Leonard Cohen or The Best Of would be a good place to start. It'll give you a feel for his sound. I think my favorite album is maybe The Future? Or maybe Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Cohen is a superexcellent lyricist and songwriter, of course a certified poet too. But I don't think he's musically good as Dylan. He has some good tunes but can't compare to Dylan or Tom waits.
His good songs are incredible. He can get monotonous and dull. My favorite of his Everybody Knows by a lot. It's a perfect portrait of the cynic's view of the world. One of my favorite songs. First We Take Manhattan and One of us cannot be Wrong are great too.
Scrolled way too far to see Everybody Knows. That’s my fave. Discovered it when I was way too old.
I’ve listened to a few songs recommended here, and Eveybody Knows is one that I love—so acerbic!
His late-in-life. tour document videos, botth Songs from the Road, and Live in Dublin are an excellent introduction. The former has perhaps his best live performance of Hallelujah, which was captured, live at Coachella. There was not a dry eye in the audience. He was a very gracious and beautiful human being.
Adding to the others Dance Me to the End of Love, Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye, So Long Marianne, If It Be Your Will Cohen is fantastic
When I saw Dylan in Montreal last fall, he played Dance Me for the first time ever live! (Not that I had any clue what I was listening to at the time :)) But the crowd was going nuts!
Love Leonard, love Bob. Two of the greats. For my money, Leonards more of a poet and Bob, a songwriter.
On the same level as Dylan, like Paul Simon and very few others (if any). Suggested albums: Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967, his first LP, foundational folk) Field Commander Cohen (1979 tour, incredible album) I'm Your Man (1988, brilliant new approach to folk style) The Future (1993, prophetic) Ten New Songs (2001, all killer and no filler) You Want It Darker (2014, death is near but please don't fear) He did a huge worldwide tour from 2008-2012, and I saw at least 10 shows. They were all three hours long and stupendous. Check out "Live In London" from the beginning of the tour, and "Live In Dublin" from the end of the tour. "Live In Dublin" is a good place to start. One of the greatest albums of all time IMO, live or otherwise. The band is in top form, and Leonard really delivers.
Both of them are solid writers as well. Cohen’s Book of Longing is very interesting.
The GREAT movie McCabe and Mrs. Miller, with Warren Beatty and Julie Somers has some Leonard Cohen songs in soundtrack.
Dylan is a rock and roll beat poet imp, cohen is a kind of French noir pervert guy. I think Dylan’s later stuff is more influenced by Cohen than Cohen ever was by Dylan. Both will cut you up though.
Ha! Love these descriptions!
Also not important but Dylan can’t grow a beard and cohen grows a beard 7 seconds after shaving
I love him. He’s definitely up there for me
While we're talking GOATed guitar-music lyricists I need it stated that Bruce Springsteen has never gotten his deserved flowers outside his cult of rabid fans. They're not deadheads. They're hiding something special but they'll share it anyone would just ask. Dylan and Cohen are two of a kind but nobody gives Bruce credit for being a third of that same kind.
I agree that Spingsteen—while he is an absolute legend—rarely seems to be mentioned in the same breath as Dylan/Cohen. I don’t know Springsteen’s catalogue very well, but (at the risk of sounding terribly elitist) he gives off a less “intellectual” vibe—at least imho—compared to Dylan and what little I know of Cohen. Obviously, Dylan started out as a self-styled “Okie” hillbilly type, modeled after Guthrie, but I think his image later evolved into something more cerebral/avant garde. It could definitely be that I just don’t know Springsteen well enough, but he’s never struck me as a “poet” or an “intellectual”. I realize that’s unfair because I’m basing this partly off of physical impressions (e.g. muscular/conventionally attractive; appeals to women more so than Dylan (I think?)) His lyrics (again, only what I know of them) have never seemed profound/poetic/abstract in the sense that you’d be happy to just read them without musical accompaniment. I’m completely open to being 100% wrong about this, so I’d be interested in hearing examples of his work that suggest otherwise; I’m sure there are many I’ve never heard of….
Cohen is stylistically very different from Dylan but lyrically I think they have some commonalities. Not across the board, but to an extent. I’d say “Every Grain of Sand” by Dylan, for example, is somewhat Cohen-esque, while Cohen’s “Take This Waltz” or even the vaunted “Hallelujah,” while not musically very Dylanesque, might be comparable in some ways on a lyrical level. It’s worth noting that Dylan seems to make a potential reference to Cohen in the lyrics to his recent song “Mother of Muses”: “I’m travelin’ light and I’m slow comin’ home.” “Traveling Light” is a Cohen song and he also has songs titled “Slow” and “Going Home.” Overall they’re different artists but belong to the same approximate generation of songwriters and probably influenced each other over the years.
Bird On A Wire is a favorite
They both def enjoyed each others works that’s for certain. I LOVE Leonard Cohen and find his songwriting more enchanting
He can certainly turn a phrase and his voice carries some real pain in it. I like him a lot.
Cohen is less catchy and more poetic.
Leonard Cohen’s lyrics are great. Unfortunately, somewhere in his career his production got really really bad. Like, it all sounds like cheap synthesizer crap that doesn’t fit his style or song at all. It’s a regrettable waste. Luckily, we have his live albums. I genuinely believe that Hallelujah (Live In London) is the single greatest rendition of that song, and yet Cohen’s original studio version is probably among the worst. I know many will disagree, but that’s how I feel.
He's a great songwriter but he's a better writer. His books and poem collections are fantastic IMO. Dylan is a master but Cohen is great too just a different vibe. More jazz then anything else?.
I’m Your Man (album) and the track from it ‘Tower of Song’ is as close to guaranteed enjoyment as you’ll ever get as a Dylan fan. LC is obviously a magnificent writer and poet but I’d argue slightly less ‘musical’ than Dylan, which is find is a huge part of the charm of Bob
I can’t fault Leonard Cohen’s integrity or depth, he’s both very intellectual and very emotional. But he’s not important to me the way Dylan is. Leonard Cohen doesn’t have the wildness. There are a lot of other artists in that zone I prefer, like Tom Waits or Townes Van Zandt. Avalanche is a hell of a song though.
ITA that many of Dylan’s lyrics are from another planet
I think the weak point with Lenny is his singing and corny backup singers. Some say that is the full Cohen experience. But other artists and bands bring out the best in his songs. Listen to the compilations like “I’m you Fan”.
I wouldn’t really call Cohen prolific, he ”only” recorded 14 studio albums over the course of an almost 50 year career and four of those were released between 2012-2019. If anything a theme of his career was how he obsessed with songs for years if not decades before release. His album Popular Problems has one song which he had worked on for decades, about which he joked that he now thought that they had ”almost got it right”. I would just listen to each album in order because they all have their great songs, but New Skin For The Old Ceremony is a great album, as are his first two records which I think are essential listening. His eighties records I’m your man and Various Positions plus The Future from the 90s are also essential. Then we have a string of great/good albums starting with Old Ideas in 2012.
Bob Johnson was the producer for Cohen's early albums and because Johnson was working and touring with Cohen (and therefore was not at Dylan's beck and call) had a strong bearing in Dylan dropping Johnson as his producer.
He's brilliant. My favourite album of his favourite 'new skin for the old ceremony', it's a lot of fun. Favourite song is 'rhe partisan' - so beautiful. He's right up there with the best.
About a third of Cohen’s albums are genius, including (perhaps especially) his last one. About a third of them are borderline unlistenable and the final third patchy.
I'm a big fan of both. Yet, I don't really put them together in my mind. Both often associated acoustic folk, but with LC it's almost always a nylon string guitar. Which is a very different vibe. Also, unlike Dylan, there's not much blues influence in his music. Songs Of Love And Hate is an amazing album. A timeless classic, and a great starting point.
Has latter albums - You Want it Darker especially - are sublime
He’s fantastic and well worth listening to. I have a lot of time for both Dylan and Cohen. I can recommend everything up to and including Dear Heather, being not very familiar with his last four albums. But reading this thread I really should give them a go. What is the difference between the two? Leonard Cohen is not (to me) “depressing”, as some with a passing familiarity with him seem to think. That said, I believe his depression did feed into his work and there is a darkness that you don’t frequently get with Dylan. For example, Songs of Love and Hate makes Blood on the Tracks look like a walk in the park.
He’s great but not my thing
For me, he's the greatest lyricist of all time. But, that's just my opinion.
Forgot to mention, did you know by the way that Bob Dylan (And his friend Allan Ginsberg) contributed backing vocals on Leonard Cohen's Death Of A Ladies Man album
I didn’t know that! It’s funny how Ginsberg shows up everywhere (not that I’m complaining!)
if you not sure where to start, buy the greatest hits album. I had the sepia toned cover LP on CBS from the 70's I think, which has a good mix of his earlIer material and a good introduction to his music.
Up there with Dylan in terms of songwriting and poetry; probably better overall at the craft of lyricism, poetry and overall intellectualism given his earlier background. Better guitar player too. That said there's a time and a place for Leonard Cohen. Dylan's discography is much richer and more varied and I listen to him more frequently. I'm Your Man however is one record that is great for all seasons.
Joni Mitchell is in the same league.
Songs From a Room is a 10/10 album for me, the second half of that album is up there with the best of Dylan as some of the coldest shit ever written
He dated and prolly smashed my ex gfs mom..
I didn't take to Leonard Cohen as a teen the way I did Dylan. In fact, I gave away my mom's vinyl of Songs of Leonard Cohen to a girl back in the day and have never replaced it. I was living in Montreal when he died and it made me do a deep dive, and now I'm a huge fan. Though I still think his first album is the only one I actually love from start to finish, the rest of his catalogue is kinda hit and miss, you'll have one or two amazing songs on an album. Really hard to get into his version of hallelujah when you were introduced to the Jeff Buckley version, but i finally was able to appreciate the original, it's one of the best songs ever written. Edit: if you are into film, the national film board of Canada made a documentary about Leonard that is basically his version of don't look back called "ladies and gentlemen...Mr Leonard Cohen" it takes place two years before his first album even came out when he was still known as a writer and poet more than a musician. Imo he had the same sort of gravitas that Dylan does, you really want to watch him and listen to what he says, but where Dylan is like a razor sharp enfant terrible, Leonard comes across like your older brother who's visiting from college. He's gentler in his speech, but every bit as sharp. He was also more of a horndog than most rock stars, but you'd never think it from his dress and manner.
I love Leonard Cohen. Many of his songs are classics. He is definitely in Dylan’s league with his best lyrics. His music is often sad but that can be cathartic like a good blues.
I love Cohen. When they ask me if I could only take one album to listen to in a deserted island that would be New Skin for the Old Ceremony. It's brilliant.
His lyrics are incredibly poetic. He’s a very good songwriter and I like his voice on his earlier work. Not a huge fan of the deep crooning in his later years personally
Absolutely love Leonard Cohen. Listen to the album I'M YOUR MAN album on repeat. Recommended tracks: Title track, Everybody Knows, Take This Waltz, really the whole album honestly. He's different from Dylan of course, but he hits some of the same soul places
Big fan of Dylan & Cohen . If you at all suicidal don't listen to Cohen, as most of songs are very heavy. I especially like "Famous Blue Raincoat", "The Stranger Song", "Master Song", "Suzanne", & "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy"
I'm currently reading Cohen's biography ("I'm Your Man") and I literally just finished the part where Dylan visits the studio while Cohen and Phil Spector are recording Death of a Ladies' Man. Then I see this post right after. Anyway, Cohen is a songwriter of the highest order. A pure poet, and fascinating man. And while his style and discography isn't as diverse as Dylan's, it's far from being all just the austere, stripped down acoustic sound of his early records. He experimented and grew and tried lots of different sounds and textures. Dylan was a big fan too. He casually shows up quite a bit in Cohen's biography (and I'm only halfway).
As good of a lyricist as Dylan and has a wider range and a more appealing style as a vocalist too.
The Songs of Leonard Cohen rivals any of Dylan’s best albums. He has hits every now and then on other albums, but that project is a work of true genius
Leonard was a legit poet before getting into music. I had the great good fortune to see his last tour. He was amazing at 80. A very charismatic performer with a beautiful mind. His live in London LP from that tour is amazing.
It’ll be good to listen to Leonard’s live stuff. The O2 arena and Live in Dublin is highly recommended
I find Cohen to be more intimate. His songs tear my soul and give it solace at the same time. The songs I listen more to are: The Captain Dance me to the end of love Hallelujah Tower of song The future I’m your man Waiting for the miracle Story of Isaac Everybody knows Closing time Democracy
I like him better. He definitely had a darker vibe.
I feel like you can more clearly put Cohen’s music in a category, the troubled ladies man. Cohen is more overtly horny in his lyrics than Dylan. Most of his love songs are like this. But a lot of his love songs, like Dylan, are complex and they never really blame the girl for anything wrong, mostly just saying it was amazing being with you, sorry we must part ways now. His story telling abilities and poetry are up there with Dylan. Try his first album, “new skin for the old ceremony”, and “various positions” - which feature my favorite of his, “Dance Me To the End of Love” (watch the music video on YouTube, it still makes me cry) and “Hallelujah”(his most famous)
That makes sense- there’s so many iterations of Dylan that he sort of defies categorization, whereas Cohen seems much more stylistically consistent from what I’ve read so far. Really appreciate all the great advice on here. I wrote this above somewhere: when I saw Dylan on tour in Montreal last fall, he played “Dance Me to the End of Love” in homage to Cohen. At the time, I didn’t know the song, which kills me because I’ve listened to it over the last couple days and *love* it. Will def check out the music video!
Yes I’ve heard the Montreal recording too and it too made the river flow. If you already love to see the live performances of Dylan you’ll enjoy watching the performances of Cohen , especially from his final tours. RIP — https://youtu.be/A0k5vpsWb4g?si=pK-S2GSHHRfvaS9c
I'd say Leonard Cohen definitely has his moments and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, but his output isn't as consistant as Bob Dylan. Dylan's golden period was between say 1962-73, but Cohen's was shorter, more like 1967-73, although both produced good songs after this time line. If you want to get into Leonard Cohen I'd heartily recommend you listen to his first three albums, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room and Songs Of Love And Hate.
Blood on the Tracks isn’t part of Dylan’s golden period?
Ooops, my bad, forgot about that one. Would also probably extend Leonard Cohen's time line to around 1975 too with Death Of A Ladies Man
Interesting to hear this timeline! Makes LC somewhat more approachable….
I'd say go for it, because he is one of the most important songwriters of that era, what have you got to lose?
> Songs From A ~~Mirror~~ Room.
GIVE ME CRACK AND ANAL SEX
I had to check that that was an actual song. I have to give my vote to Cohen… Dylan never came up with a better line😂😂😂
I have seen the future and it is murder.
He has a great catalog and you should try the different eras of Cohen. He was a published poet first and then, I guess, he heard Bob and started singing with his poems. His lyrics are often more risqué than Bob’s and Leonard’s voice got better with age. Highly recommended.
I feel the same about Leonard Cohen as I do I about Chet baker. I love when they come on the station and love it more when they are done.
Ha!!
Cohen is class..as others have said it's a mood thing, you probably should be in the right mood for it but try a couple tracks and see how you go I would recommend Suzanne Sisters of Mercy That's No Way To Say Goodbye So Long Marianne Hallelujah
I’m Your Man is a great one to start with. Some of his best work on there. First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows and Tower of Song. Think it was David Browne who said it’s the first Cohen album you could listen to during the daytime.
I've never seen him and Bob in the same room, all I'm sayin.