I couldn't wipe the smile from my face as soon as he appeared stage left... he just had an 'air' about him, an 'assuredness' that warmed me from within... Damn, I wish I had his words
Ive been trying for forty years just to write words that really say something. I've been listening to Leonard now for fifty, but however I try there's never that razor cutting to the marrow of the soul If I could get out of it for just one second, if I could hold a glimpse of any of his dreams and not let them escape, even then..I would still fail to be like him. Oh! God if I had one grain of his talent I would be so grateful, Leonard I wish I could meet you IN THAT TOWER OF SONG. love you bro.
you're too right. that crowd didnt have a clue what he was going on about. It's clear that half of them never even heard 'tower of song' to know he was reciting from it. but well thats america, thats the showbiz and hollowness of it all. thankfully mr. leonard cohen is above it all.
Two days back I was as ignorant as the audience here but after having heard a few renditions of Tower of Song and coming back here..just reminds me that never laugh at anyone so that you dont get laughed at a minute later..
I enjoyed his choice to do a simple recitation of "Tower of Song," because the words are perfectly poignant on their own. They don't need to be adorned by music. But he could write some gorgeous tunes, too.
"Now you can say I have grown bitter, but of this you can be sure The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor And there's a mighty judgement coming, but I might be wrong You see you hear these funny voices in the tower of song So I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track But you'll be hearing from me, baby Long after I'm gone I'll be speaking to you sweetly, from my window in the tower of song"
i dont think all the people clapping and hootting know the actual song and make themselves look like arses, and i think leonard cohen knows it theres a cheeky smile on his face through out the whole thing he looks so out of place in those surroundings, the 20 seconds of introduction music as he walks to the stage, the hoots, the critics, the hollow pretence of it all theres something other wordly about him
Leonard Cohen has the same words to work with as you and me, but look what he does with them. And all the media attention about the new inductess was about Madonna. Go figure.
Why, oh why, does Bono have to smear his filthy image over every composer-poet? I've seen him do it to Pete Townshend, George Harrison (who hated U2, incidentally), a bevy of others and now Leonard Cohen. Otherwise an introduction worthy of Leonard's maginificence. It's nice to see Lou Reed commenting.
