autograph from Leonard Cohen
autograph from Leonard Cohen
Hello everybody,
does anybody of you know, if it is possible to get an personal autograph from Leonard Cohen? My dad is a fan of him since the 70-ies. He was working with disabled children when one evening they were listening to music and suddenly there was one of Leonards songs. He is amazed by the voice and has all his cd's . The first song I've heard in my life was when my parents came home from the hospital with me, my dad put a disc on with "Suzanne"...I'm just writing this to describe how much the music of Leonard means to my dad. My dad turns 55 on 11th of January and I think the greatest gift I could make him would be a signed autograph of Leonard with the words "Happy birthday Christian". Does anybody know who I could contact?
Thanks so much in advance!
Nathalie
does anybody of you know, if it is possible to get an personal autograph from Leonard Cohen? My dad is a fan of him since the 70-ies. He was working with disabled children when one evening they were listening to music and suddenly there was one of Leonards songs. He is amazed by the voice and has all his cd's . The first song I've heard in my life was when my parents came home from the hospital with me, my dad put a disc on with "Suzanne"...I'm just writing this to describe how much the music of Leonard means to my dad. My dad turns 55 on 11th of January and I think the greatest gift I could make him would be a signed autograph of Leonard with the words "Happy birthday Christian". Does anybody know who I could contact?
Thanks so much in advance!
Nathalie
I joined this forum as my dad is a fan of Leonard Cohen
Nathalie your dad isn't alone in his quest. We would all like that
Get your dad to join the forum even if you can't get the autograph Jarkko has competition type things every now and again.
I see your dad is a Capricorn I am a Capricorn too. Manic depressives apparently. I wonder what birth signs the rest of the forum are maybe we Capricorns are predisposed to Leonard's music.

Get your dad to join the forum even if you can't get the autograph Jarkko has competition type things every now and again.
I see your dad is a Capricorn I am a Capricorn too. Manic depressives apparently. I wonder what birth signs the rest of the forum are maybe we Capricorns are predisposed to Leonard's music.
Autograph seekers exploit celebrities.
"At first it's flattering, then it's a pain in the ass"
Artist-friend who is also pestered for autographs
It's what they say that counts, not the hand writes it, dummy. Buy the damn CD and listen to if you want to appreciate an artist.
On the other hand, autographs seem to sell for a lot of money on Ebay to other people who also think they are worth something.
"At first it's flattering, then it's a pain in the ass"
Artist-friend who is also pestered for autographs
It's what they say that counts, not the hand writes it, dummy. Buy the damn CD and listen to if you want to appreciate an artist.
On the other hand, autographs seem to sell for a lot of money on Ebay to other people who also think they are worth something.
Happy birthday from me too Docck!
@ lightning...I'm just trying here to do a surprise for my dad, ok!?! I would love to buy a cd for him...but unfortunately he already owns all of them. I do not want do make any money with autographs, in fact I never collected autographs. It would just be the greatest gift ever for my dad if this really works out. My dad has everything he wants and he is a happy person. He never wants anything...so this would be really special gift for him. That's all I can think off.
Lizzy thanks again for your help - I sent the e-mail yesterday...now I can only hope and pray.
Nathalie
@ lightning...I'm just trying here to do a surprise for my dad, ok!?! I would love to buy a cd for him...but unfortunately he already owns all of them. I do not want do make any money with autographs, in fact I never collected autographs. It would just be the greatest gift ever for my dad if this really works out. My dad has everything he wants and he is a happy person. He never wants anything...so this would be really special gift for him. That's all I can think off.
Lizzy thanks again for your help - I sent the e-mail yesterday...now I can only hope and pray.
Nathalie
I joined this forum as my dad is a fan of Leonard Cohen
- justinburnett
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:12 am
- Location: Canada
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That's kind of an interesting perspective. How exactly does that work? I agree that a person who would get an autograph solely for the purpose of selling it is a bit of a putz, but what's wrong with a fan wanting to have the signiature of someone they admire? It's about wanting a connection with that person, to have something directly created by them. It's like the way some of us can't resist touching the things we see in art galleriesAutograph seekers exploit celebrities.

Digging through Leonard's garbage would be exploitative, selling CDRs of his live performances on Ebay is exploitative, but asking for an autograph... That seems perfectly acceptable to me. Of course, he's also well within his rights to decline.
Take care
-J-
There's more of a meaningful connection to the artist in reading his words or listening to his songs than in possessing a piece of paper with his name on it, even if he pushed the pen across the paper himself. An autograph has no intrinsic value but society has conditioned some to value it. For example see how much more a signed book is worth than an unsigned one, but why? Does it say anyhing different? Does an author who has spent much of his life writing a plentiude of meaningful words then have to sign his name a thousand times to increase the resale value of his book? Some celebs rarely give autographs, e.g. Dylan, a few even charge for them. As I said before, autograph seekers are pains in the ass.
- justinburnett
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:12 am
- Location: Canada
- Contact:
I have to disgree. Well, I disagree to a degree. I agree that society has conditioned us to believe that an autograph has intrinsic financial value. But I don't believe that my sense of the value of an autograph is dictated by society. For me, there's something fundamentally interesting about the kind of contact implied by having something personally created by a person. I think it's related to the reason I sometimes reach out and touch paintings in art galleries. It has nothing to do with financial reward. I dunno. Everyone has certain things which they consider valuable. I know plenty of people who are happy with just having the songs from an album, whereas I need the booklet and case and all that for the experience to be complete for me.An autograph has no intrinsic value but society has conditioned some to value it.
Take care
-J-