The 10 most underrated Leonard Cohen songs
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Leonard Cohen is a legend; there’s no debate about that. The Canadian artist has been mythologised to musical godliness, heralded alongside Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell as the world’s greatest songwriters. As a poet, Cohen’s voice is distinct as a window into a wondrous and genius mind. His name is rightfully written into history, but have you dived deep enough into the work that earned him the etching?
Everyone knows ‘Hallelujah’ as Cohen’s epic poem, originally made up of 80 verses, has become one of the most covered songs in history, made even more famous by Jeff Buckley’s beautiful version. Other hits like ‘So Long Marianne’ and ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ have also found their way into the timeless songbook of golden tracks. I’d say that ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ is up there, too, standing as perhaps one of the greatest heartbreak tunes ever penned.
Cohen himself would have admitted that he was more of a poet than a singer. Seen as an extension of his poetry collections and novels, his songs demand attention. They require focused ears, ready to indulge in the stories, metaphors and imagery they hold. That doesn’t always lend itself to a hit, though.
As so many of his finest moments fell to the wayside to exist as nothing but another album track or deep cut, casual listeners are missing out on greatness. With 14 studio albums, countless live recordings and a whole world of literature, Cohen can be a somewhat intimidating figure to try and get into. But beyond the top tracks and singles that, while being popular, are still utterly deserving of their position as his best work, these ten tracks need attention, too.
‘One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong’
A genius and witty take on heartache and devotion, this song is exactly why Cohen is so brilliant. Moving from one desperate scene to another, the singer tries to get his girl back while the entire world seems to fall catastrophically in love with her too. For the more literary listeners, these lyrics have endless details to analyse and read. Cohen, in typical fashion, scatters the song with spiritual and religious imagery, adding to the depths of their image.
But the beauty of this track is that the message comes through loud and clear, even without considering it too hard. Through strange and specific moments, the universal feeling of desperation finds all-consuming space. It’s a ballad in the most Cohen way possible. It was covered beautifully by Father John Misty; check that version out afterwards.
‘Love Calls You By Your Name’
This is a Cohen song through and through. It has his relentless and racing finger-picking, providing a dynamic but not distracting backing to his tale. It has his spoken word style singing and his rich 1970s voice. It has poetry by the pound.
A song about loving and leaving and everything in between, the track feels like a meditation on life itself. Once again, the track is full of religious and spiritual imagery as Cohen became interested in Buddhism. There is a cyclical circle of life energy about the track, all punctuated by the knock-out, beautiful title lyric; it should be written on the walls of galleries, museums and cathedrals, “Love calls you by your name.”
‘Field Commander Cohen’
“Field Commander Cohen, he was our most important spy,” Cohen sings. Painting himself as a kind of soldier or undercover agent, he’s spying on the music elite in this fun little ditty. It’s a track that considers Cohen’s place in the music world as he began to gain more success, moving away from his struggling artist days and into a more luxurious party, which he was never sure if he belonged.
While simultaneously contemplating his own feelings on his new fame, the track also ponders the very idea of a “starving artist” while the aim of the game always seems to be money and success. Maybe all art is aimed towards capitalist gain if the artist is honest. “I never asked but I heard you cast your lot along with the poor. / But then I overheard your prayer, / That you be this and nothing more / Than just some grateful faithful woman’s favourite singing millionaire,” he sings, giving us so much to analyse. It’s perhaps one of Cohen’s smartest songs, sung to one of his most interesting instrumentals.
‘Paper Thin Hotel’
“A heavy burden lifted from my soul / I learnt that love is out of my control,” Cohen declares like a revelation. Hearing a couple make love in the room next door, the ladies’ man considers love from a slightly cynical distance while all on his lonesome.
Sat on the love-or-hate 1977 album Death Of A Ladies Man, it was a marked moment where Cohen’s sound changed up. He put down the acoustic guitar for something much grander. As the ‘80s crept closer, the production got higher and more overbearing. It’s very different from Cohen, the folk star, but if you can embrace it, this is a track of lyrical and emotive greatness.
Like many of Cohen’s songs, this one has also been covered. Matt Maltese’s take strips it back to its lonesome lyricism in case the over-the-top instrumental of the original is a bit much.
‘Is This What You Wanted’
English students everywhere could have a field day on this song. I’m clutching my English degree in one hand and using the other to hold myself back from going through this track line by line, analysing the meaning of every lyric and image. But if you wanted to, you could.
“You were the promise at dawn / I was the morning after,” he begins. Each line spirals deeper into this sense of self-pity or doubt. Feeling utterly inferior to his lover and now somewhat bitter in her shadow, the relationship is breaking down, and Cohen is looking up at the god he made of the partner and begging for them to care. It’s angry and poisonous but still wholly dedicated in that biblical way that the writer always masters.
The Last Shadow Puppets took on this track, emphasising the seduction amongst the sad rage in their 2016 cover version.
‘Listen To The Hummingbird’
The final words on the last track of the final Leonard Cohen album are as follows: “Listen to the hummingbird. Don’t listen to me.” It’s a perfect ending for a singer who played with the idea of godliness while being dedicated to Buddhism and worshipping the world as a whole. As his closing remarks, it couldn’t be more beautiful.
‘Listen To The Hummingbird’ reveals itself to be a hauntingly beautiful track when considering its story. Adam Cohen always knew he would have to finish his father’s last album alone. During his life, Cohen had been prolific but an extremely specific perfectionist. He knew what he wanted from each of his works and wouldn’t leave it until it was done. For the other songs on his final album, his son knew how his father wanted them and followed his instructions. For ‘Listen To The Hummingbird’, he made something new from a memory.
“We were in Berlin and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver was in the studio next door to ours, making these incredible, really emotional, stirring sounds,” Cohen recalled, “And there was something about the mood that was so captivating and inspiring that it reminded me of my father’s last press conference.” Years prior, during that last conference, the writer had, unprompted, offered up a new poem, ‘Listen To The Hummingbird’. Those words served as his final public announcement, so it felt perfect for these final words.
Cohen found the best possible audio of his father reading and composed new music inspired by the sounds he heard floating through the wall, tying Bon Iver-style instrumentals with the late poet’s last comment.
‘Chelsea Hotel No.2’
Another song that deserves to be written on the walls of museums is ‘Chelsea Hotel No.2’. Not only is this simply a beautiful and devastating ode to love and loss, capturing a vast but specific feeling with the simple line “but you got away, didn’t you babe”. But the track serves as a memory box of a distinct era.
Though he came to regret making the information public knowledge, Cohen revealed that the track was about an affair he’d had with Janis Joplin. Remembering her bedroom in the iconic Chelsea Hotel, the song is a eulogy not just for Joplin but for all the lost members of Cohen’s circle and generation. Over time, it has become an anthem for all the “fallen robins” who gave the world their art and then were taken away all too soon.
‘A Bunch Of Lonesome Heroes’
Instrumentally, this could be ‘So Long Marianne’ but with a slight country twang. But instead of being an anthem for leaving your love behind for something bigger, it’s an anti-war anthem for what happens when you go off looking for freedom and find war instead. Playing with the very idea of a hero and the dangerous romanticism of army life and warfare itself, the track contrasts a jovial soundtrack with a sad tale.
“‘I’d like to tell my story’, said one of them so young and bold,” Cohen sings. Imagining soldiers in fields with no one to talk to or soldiers in bars desperate to talk about what they’ve been through, he paints a lonely portrait of the heroes America loves to glorify, especially in the Vietnam War days of the 1960s.
‘Memories’
Big, boisterous and utterly Cohen-esque, ‘Memories’ demands and deserves more attention. Cohen always had a reputation as a ladies’ man, seemingly able to flirt his way to anyone’s side, but on this track, he lets that persona utterly take over. Paired with a huge, almost Elvis Presley-inspired instrumental that feels more akin to a Vegas show or a cabaret than the old folk scene, every little decision screams seduction.
“I said won’t you let me see,” he sings, letting the tension build and build before the declaration comes, “your naked body!” It’s so sleazy in the best way, merging genuine drama with a wink and a nod. It captures Cohen’s humour and tone perfectly, and as the instrument just keeps building, it gets the glorious instrumental a grand mind like that deserves.
‘Winter Lady’
Joni Mitchell’s magic is clear not only in her own work but also in all the songs written about her. Leonard Cohen was one of several songwriters who penned an ode dedicated to this gentle track on fleeting love to her. In response, Mitchell’s track ‘Rainy Night House’ and perhaps even ‘A Case Of You’ is about Cohen.
Capturing Cohen’s early 1960s style perfectly, ‘Winter Lady’ is bigger than some of the other offerings on his 1967 album. Rather than just being his usual finger-picking guitar, he played bluesy additional details and jingling pianos to make a more thorough and atmospheric piece in an attempt to capture Mitchell’s essence and impact on him.
