Songs ABOUT Leonard

BoHo · Post by **BoHo** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:55 pm

> An odd first post, but the Nirvana song called Pennyroyal Tea mentions his name in the verse:<<

Andrei, you know, you're right?

. . . Love, Court . . .

LOL. Not an odd first post at all, not in these parts. Ever see the 'site, Justice for Kurt: Was Cobain Murdered? Chilling stuff.

http://www.justiceforkurt.com

The only thing wrong with LC's oeuvre, in fact, is that one of his albums is called Songs Of Love And Hate and knowing *her,* well, she's so vain, she prolly thinks they's songs about her :).

Hey, it's good to hear from someone who knows the good ones with last names starting with "C" as in, I see your Pennyroyal Tea and raise you a welcome cuppa this lovely Sunday morning. Hell, I'll even add a splash of teen spirit, just so it smells good for you. Thanks for passing through. Hope you'll set a spell or two. We got swinging doors, a jukebox, and tonnes of room for blokes like you (who like LC, that much is true).

BoHo
--
THE ITEM THAT HE SENT HER:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/leonardcohen.html
ADAGIOS III — ELECTRA'S BENISON, BOUND!
http://www.oberonpress.ca/titles.pl?v=new
JUDITH FITZGERALD'S EVER-EVOLVING WRITESITE:
http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/
LEONARD COHEN'S OPEN BOOK OF LONGING:
http://tinyurl.com/yno7z7
POET PARLIAMENTAEIRIAL JUDITH FITZGERALD:
http://tinyurl.com/38ssjq
THE AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW:
http://tinyurl.com/2h6op6
SUNITI NAMJOSHI'S BRIGHTSITE:
http://tinyurl.com/37jjvy
J.F. ON AL PURDY & ELI MANDEL @ CBC:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdrdq

Manna · Post by **Manna** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:11 am

Doesn't Rufus Wainwright have a lyric somewhere that goes "Where you goin' Lenny Cohen?" Presumably in ref to Leonard's trip up the mountain?

Linda S · Post by **Linda S** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:16 am

Manna wrote:Doesn't Rufus Wainwright have a lyric somewhere that goes "Where you goin' Lenny Cohen?" Presumably in ref to Leonard's trip up the mountain?

Have not seen that lyric reported in any Rufus song/performance although Rufus has mentioned Mr. Cohen frequently in interviews. Below is the only reference to Mr. Cohen in published Rufus Wainwright lyrics.

Song: Want (CD: Want One)

I don't want to make it rain, I just want to make it simple
I don't want to see the light, I just want to see the flashlight
I don't want to know the answers to any of your questions
I don't want, no I really don't want, to be John Lennon or Leonard Cohen
I just want to be my Dad, with a slight sprinkling of my mother…….

Above lyrics obtained from http://rufus.jt.org

Rufus Wainwright official site: http://www.rufuswainwright.com/
Alternate RW site: http://www.rutopia.info/

Thanks to husband Dick for alerting me to this request.
Linda (An over the top Rufus fan)

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:16 am

Great to see you here, Linda

~ Welcome to the wife of the husband! Quite frugal with your postings

.

I don't want, no I really don't want, to be John Lennon or Leonard Cohen
I just want to be my Dad, with a slight sprinkling of my mother…….

Great lyrics, though I've never heard them... ones to make his parents proud.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Toronto.

Love,
Lizzy

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:11 pm

A friend asked me about The Pogues' (Shanon McGowan's) reference to Cohen as being "Times Square's old favourite bard". The question was is that bard "Mister Cohen" Leonard Cohen. I didn't know what to answer him after he quoted me the lyrics.

Here they are, from some online lyrics site:

Thousands Are Sailing

The island it is silent now
But the ghosts still haunt the waves
And the torch lights up a famished man
Who fortune could not save

Did you work upon the railroad
Did you rid the streets of crime
Were your dollars from the white house
Were they from the five and dime

Did the old songs taunt or cheer you
And did they still make you cry
Did you count the months and years
Or did your teardrops quickly dry

Ah, no, says he, 'twas not to be
On a coffin ship I came here
And I never even got so far
That they could change my name

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
Fortune prevailing
Across the western ocean
Their bellies full
Their spirits free
They'll break the chains of poverty
And they'll dance

In Manhattan's desert twilight
In the death of afternoon
We stepped hand in hand on Broadway
Like the first man on the moon

And "The Blackbird" broke the silence
As you whistled it so sweet
And in Brendan Behan's footsteps
I danced up and down the street

Then we said goodnight to Broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to Mister Cohen
Dear old Times Square's favorite bard

Then we raised a glass to JFK
And a dozen more besides
When I got back to my empty room
I suppose I must have cried

Thousands are sailing
Again across the ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we're mailing
Of sky-blue skies and oceans
From rooms the daylight never sees
Where lights don't glow on Christmas trees
But we dance to the music
And we dance

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Where e'er we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees
From fear of Priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies
And we dance
---------------------------------

Anyhow, the official site claims these lyrics are:

Then we said goodnight to Broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to Mister Cohan
Dear old Times Square's favorite bard

http://www.pogues.com/Releases/Lyrics/L ... sands.html

Seaching further, there's http://www.poguetry.com, the Pogues's lyrics with anotations ansd commentaries. It's absolutely Cohan, not Leonard Cohen.

Then we said goodnight to Broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hat to Mr. Cohan
Dear old Times Square's favorite bard..."

Broadway and Times Square comprise the heart of the theatre district in New York City. There's a statue of George M. Cohan in Duffy Square (thanks Sean...I'll look for it next time I get up there). Cohan was an early twentieth century American composer of such classic tunes as "Over There," "You're a Grand Old Flag," "Yankee Doodle Boy," and, of course, "Give My Regards to Broadway."

Source: http://www.poguetry.com/grace.htm

I guesss the usually mentioned fact that The Pogues are influenced by Leonard is not based on this misreading (or, actually, mishearing)

Manna · Post by **Manna** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:07 pm

I knew I had either heard or read that lyric somewhere, so I went a'hunting...

Apparently there was once a band called "Adam Again." I'd never heard this group, but from what I've read they were not willing to conform to the sound of an era. Some classified them as soul-funk, others classified them as Christian Rock. I am hereby temporarily classifying them as Leonard Cohen fans. They never achieved much fame/commercial viability and they brokeup in 2000 when one of their members died in the studio.

They have an album called "Ten Songs by Adam Again" and this song (which is not from the mentioned album):

What if I had to live here without you
Oh, I never want to know

Hey, where you goin'?
Where you goin'?
Where are you going', Lenny Cohen?

Tell me your secret
Lie if you want to keep it
Oh, I don't really want to know

Hey, where you goin'?
Where you goin'?
Where are you going', Lenny Cohen?
Don't leave us now, you gotta write one more
It's closing time for the tower door
Your lover's sleeping, I can hear her snore

I need a lover (baby)
I need a broken heart
Need to be bothered (maybe)
Dumb the end and deaf the start

I'm being selfish
I feel so helpless
So, do you really have to go
I don't really want to know where you're goin'
Where you goin'?
Lenny Cohen...

I need to capture beauty
I need another age
I need a tragic movie
A taste of tears and rage

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:39 pm

Well, they brought Leonard's work and his family into it as much as they reasonably could, didn't they, Manna

? At least, mystery is solved.

I was trying to remember, too, Tom... even with the Cohen spelling, who the [Cohan] composer was years back, whose name was the 'same' and who was likely to be considered 'the bard of Times Square' ~ that phrase didn't fit Leonard, at all... and I knew there had been someone, a famous composer, of the 'same' last name.

Thanks to both of you for your research ~ as they say [when without it], "This is how rumours get started... "

.

~ Lizzy

daveeliver · Post by **daveeliver** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:18 am

A great American singer songwriter Dan Bern(played a fantastic show at the Borderline,London on Tuesday just gone)mentions Leonard in his song Lithuania from an EP called The Swastika.

Sometimes I want to dance on Hitler's grave
And shout out: Groucho Marx, Lenny Bruce, Leonard Cohen, Philip Roth,
Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, Leonard Bernstein, Harry Houdini, Sandy Kofax!

Also some good stuff of his on youtube including Breathe(also from Tuesday)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj9Y1VEG ... er&search=[/quote]