Leonard Cohen

Happy birthday, Leonard Cohen.

Born September 21, 1934, Leonard gave us a body of work that continues to reveal new depths with every listen. His songs carried poetry, longing, humor, spirituality, love and loss, all delivered in a voice that became unmistakably his own.

Today, we remember Leonard and celebrate the words and music he left behind, songs that continue to find their way into the lives of generations of listeners.

Photo by Marko Kulik, taken in Saguenay, Quebec, 2008.

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Leonard Cohen

On this day in 2010, Songs from the Road was released.

Leonard Cohen, live on stage, surrounded by the songs that had traveled with him for decades.

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Leonard Cohen

“The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say ‘Look, I don’t understand a f**king thing at all - Hallelujah! That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.”

-Leonard Cohen in an interview with John McKenna from a two-part radio broadcast on RTE Ireland in September 1988

Photographed by Tony Russell/Redferns/Getty - at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970

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Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen at the Glastonbury Festival 2008.

Photographed by Tabatha Fireman

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Leonard Cohen

“I get up very early. I like to fill those early hours with that effort. I find it clearer. The mind is very clear in those early hours.”

— Leonard Cohen

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Leonard Cohen

I’m leaving the table
I’m out of the game
I don’t know the people
In your picture frame
If I ever loved you, oh no, no
It’s a crying shame
If I ever loved you
If I knew your name

“Leaving The Table” // 2016

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Leonard Cohen

Rising above the streets of Montréal, Tower of Songs stands as a tribute to one of the city’s most beloved voices.

Unveiled in 2017 by artists El Mac and Gene Pendon as MU’s landmark 100th mural, it reminds us that Leonard’s connection to Montréal is woven into the city’s landscape, and its soul.

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Leonard Cohen

The Leonard Cohen Estate is deeply saddened by the passing of Glen Hansard.

Glen Hansard often spoke about the profound impact Leonard Cohen had on his life. This remarkable story of kindness and generosity is one we’ll never forget.

“We were [watching Leonard Cohen]… and my cousin had an epileptic fit. We were taken out by the St. John’s Ambulance, and a man with a pass came up and handed us two more tickets. He said, ‘Look, if you get out of the hospital in time, we’re playing a later show. You’re more than welcome to come back.’”

“We went to the hospital, my cousin was given a pill and he was fine, and we got back in the queue. Afterwards, Leonard came up to the room. He shook my cousin’s hand, asked him if he was okay, and shook my hand. I guess, in a way, that was really the moment where I knew this was what I wanted to follow.”

“Meeting Leonard and his big, soft, Paddy hand. This artist. This writer. Something was transferred in that moment, and I knew exactly where I wanted to be. I put all my eggs in that single basket, so in a way I was risking everything on it.”

Image and story via @doublejradio

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Leonard Cohen

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

📸 Antonio Olmos

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Leonard Cohen

Ah his fingernails, I see they’re broken,
His ships they’re all on fire.
The moneylender’s lovely little daughter
Ah, she’s eaten, she’s eaten with desire.
She spies him through the glasses
From the pawnshops of her wicked father.
She hails him with a microphone
That some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her.

Songs of Love and Hate // 1971

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