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I thought I'd revive this thread, by adding "Old Ideas" to my original list.

John Etherington wrote:I thought I'd revive this thread, by adding "Old Ideas" to my original list.

Good idea, John.

And me too. Show Me The Place.

Has anyone knocked this data into a spreadsheet and published the results as a pivot table (if only I knew what that was).

Songs of Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

Songs from a Room - Tonight Will be Fine

Live at the Isle of Wight Festival - The Stranger Song

Songs of Love and Hate - Famous Blue Raincoat

Live Songs - Passing Though

New Skin for the Old Ceremony - Take This Longing / A Singer Must Die (I could not chose one song, they both are very personal to me)

Death of Ladies Man - Death of Ladies Man

Recent Songs - The Traitor

Field Commander Cohen - Memories

Various Positions - Night Comes On

I'm Your Man - Take This Waltz

The Future - Light as the Breeze

Cohen Live - Bird on a Wire

Ten New Songs - In My Secret Life

Dear Heather - Undertow / The Morning Glory (I used to listen to them as one long song)

Live in London - I Tried to Leave You

Old Ideas - Crazy to Love You

Ohhh, how difficult it is to choose... I`m thinking and thinking - and and I`m changing my choices still but it is a splendid play and pleasure - to search the memory, in search for these dearest songs

Finally my favourite songs are :

1. Songs of Leonard Cohen - Suzanne/Teachers
2. I'm Your Man - Take This Waltz/Tower of Song
3. Ten New Songs - In My Secret Life/Alexandra Leaving/A Thousand Kisses Deep
4. Various Positions - Hallelujah
5. Songs From A Room - The Partisan/Bird On The Wire
8. The Future - Closing Time/Democracy
9. Dear Heather - Morning Glory
10. Old Ideas - Amen

As you can see - I cannot however decide

I am listening to Leonard Cohen through entire my life - he is keeping me company in good and bad moments (he is comforting me, is calming me, is making me happy, is soothing sorrows, is assisting joys...).
It is hard to choose the most favourite works - but I will try.

1. Amen
2. Hallelujah
3. Bird on Wire
4. Closing Tine
5. Nights Come On
6. Crazy To Love You
7. Dance Me To The End Of Love
8. Last Year's Man
9. Famous Blue Raincoat
10. Everybody Knows
11. Don't Go Home With Your Hard On
12. There Is A War
13. I`m Your Man

david birkett wrote:Has anyone knocked this data into a spreadsheet and published the results as a pivot table (if only I knew what that was).

Well insomnia has grabbed me by the teeth tonight and so I'm doing just that - starting with everybodys favourite DEATH OF A LADIES MAN - I just love this sozzled slab of vinyl - it's a great record.

Votes so far:
True Love Leaves No traces - 0.5
Paper Thin Hotel - 0.5
Fingerprints - 1
Iodine - 1.5
I Left A Woman Waiting - 2.5
Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On - 2.5
Death Of A Ladies Man - 5.5
Memories - 6.5

So there we go folks - you clearly like it when this records nearly over - the last track of both sides gets the most votes

me; I'm voting for Iodine.

Looks like I messed up with 'Death Of A Ladies Man' I think I missed page three of this thread but lets not go home with a hardon about this...next one I've looked at is the future - and I could well have made mistakes here so feel free to make corrections
Votes so far is
Be For Real - 0
Always - 0
Tacoma Trailer - 0
Democracy - 2.5
Light as The Breeze - 3.5
The Future - 3.5
Waiting For The Miracle - 5.5
Closing Time - 6.5
Anthem - 8.75

This one's real hard to choose a 'fave' - I mean; it's not possible is it really - 'Are you back in my life to stay or is it just for today...' ouch - I know it's not an LC line but he chose it.
And then there's 'she's a hundred but she's wearing something tight'
and then on a different song we get:
'When they ask you how you're feeling, and of course you say you can't complain'...no; I'm sorry but asking for a favourite song from this record is like asking who was your favourite child or who was your favourite girlfriend. They all are and always were and always will be.

I'll vote on Be For Real but only because i can see its not had a vote and it deserves one.

I'll try to give this a go:

Songs of Leonard Cohen - So Long, Marianne
Songs From a Room - Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
Songs of Love and Hate - Avalanche
Live Songs - Passing Through
New Skin For the Old Ceremony - Take This Longing
Death of a Ladies Man - Paper Thin Hotel
Recent Songs - Ballad of the Absent Mare (My hands down, all-time favorite L.C. song)
Various Positions - The Captain
I'm Your Man - Take This Waltz
The Future - Anthem
Cohen Live - If It Be Your Will
Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 - The Gypsy's Wife
Ten New Songs - A Thousand Kisses Deep
Dear Heather - Because Of
Old Ideas - Amen

Man...This was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. Damn you, Leonard, for writing such incredible songs!!

-Chris

That's a wonderful idea, Lazysuit!

I'm not sure about my own calculations, but here we go (my own choice is underlined):

SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN
5.5 - Master Song
5.5 - Sisters of Mercy
4.5 - Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (a pure poetry, so beautiful)
3.5 - Suzanne
3.5 - The Stranger Song
3.5 - One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
3.0 - So Long, Marianne
1.0 - Teachers
- - - - Winter Lady; Stories of the Street

SONGS FROM A ROOM
11.5 - Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
4.0 - Bird on the Wire
3.0 - Story of Isaac
3.0 - A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes
3.0 - The Partisan
3.0 - Lady Midnight (it goes perfectly with Dead Song from the IOW 1970, although we're speaking about a studio version)
2.0 - Tonight Will Be Fine
1.5 - The Old Revolution
1.0 - You Know Who I Am
- - - - The Butcher

SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE
9.5 - Famous Blue Raincoat
7.0 - Avalanche
4.0 - Joan of Arc
3.5 - Last Year's Man
3.5 - Sing Another Song, Boys
1.5 - Dress Rehearsal Rag (glad you cannot upload knives together with the album from the Internet)
1.5 - Diamonds in the Mine
0.5 - Love Calls You by Your Name

NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY
12.0 - Take This Longing
4.0 - Chelsea Hotel #2
3.0 - Who by Fire
2.5 - Lover Lover Lover
2.0 - There Is a War
2.0 - I Tried to Leave You
2.0 - Leaving Greensleeves (the most truthful recording of these timeless verses)
1.0 - Is This What You Wanted
1.0 - A Singer Must Die
0.5 - Why Don't You Try
- - - - Field Commander Cohen

DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN
8.0 - Memories
7.0 - Death of a Ladies' Man
3.5 - Iodine (the only song in the world I always cannot resist to sing along)
3.0 - Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On
2.5 - Paper Thin Hotel
1.5 - I Left a Woman Waiting
1.0 - Fingerprints
0.5 - True Love Leaves No Traces

RECENT SONGS
7.0 - Ballad of the Absent Mare
6.0 - The Traitor (by the way, listen to the Bryn Mawr 1975 version, if you didn't, it's beautiful as well)
3.5 - Came So Far for Beauty
3.0 - The Guests
3.0 - The Window
2.3 - The Gypsy's Wife
1.3 - The Smokey Life
0.8 - Humbled in Love
0.5 - Our Lady of Solitude
0.5 - Un Canadien Errant (The Lost Canadien)

VARIOUS POSITIONS
7.8 - Dance Me to the End of Love
7.0 - If It Be Your Will
6.3 - Night Comes On
6.3 - Hallelujah
3.0 - Coming Back to You (another mile of silence and pure poetry again)
1.0 - The Captain
0.5 - The Law
- - - - Hunter's Lullaby; Heart With No Companion

I'M YOUR MAN
12.0 - Take This Waltz
6.0 - First We Take Manhattan
4.8 - I'm Your Man
2.5 - Everybody Knows
1.8 - Tower of Song
1.3 - Jazz Police ('cause I love jazz)
1.0 - Ain't No Cure for Love
0.5 - I Can't Forget

THE FUTURE
8.8 - Anthem
7.3 - Waiting for the Miracle (the very song that led me to LC)
6.3 - Closing Time
4.0 - The Future
3.5 - Light As the Breeze
1.0 - Be for Real
1.0 - Democracy
- - - - Always

TEN NEW SONGS
6.8 - Alexandra Leaving
6.3 - In My Secret Life
4.0 - Boogie Street (maybe because I'm a geography teacher?)
3.0 - Here It Is
2.8 - A Thousand Kisses Deep
2.5 - By the Rivers Dark
2.0 - That Don't Make It Junk
1.5 - Love Itself
1.0 - You Have Loved Enough
- - - - The Land of Plenty

DEAR HEATHER
8.0 - The Faith
5.5 - Because Of
4.5 - The Letters
3.0 - There for You (a perfect prayer?)
2.5 - Go No More A-Rowing
1.8 - Nightingale
1.6 - Villanelle for Our Time
1.5 - Morning Glory
0.5 - Undertow
0.5 - To a Teacher
- - - - On That Day; Dear Heather; Tennessee Waltz

OLD IDEAS
2.5 - Amen
1.5 - Crazy to Love You
1.0 - Darkness (and then Quasimodo the bells the bells !!!! )
- - - - Going Home; Show Me the Place; Anyhow; Come Healing; Banjo; Lullaby; Different Sides

Goldin man - I've not been here a while and it looks like you nailed it - thank you good sir - me? i'm off now to make a compilation tape of all the failed stuff
that's gonna be a great tape!

- omitting 'on that day' of course - dreadful song.

This is more difficult than I thought. So I decided to give two answers. The first song in the list below is the one I prefer RIGHT NOW. The second answer is an attempt to remember which of the songs used to be my favourite for the longest period(s) of time (considering the last 25 years or so ) ...

Songs Of Leonard Cohen - One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong - Sisters Of Mercy

Songs Of Love And Hate - Sing Another Song, Boys - Diamonds In The Mine

New Skin For The Old Ceremony - Why Don't You Try - Lover Lover Lover

Songs From A Room - A Bunch Of Lonesome Heroes - Lady Midnight

Death Of A Ladies' Man - Paper Thin Hotel - True Love Leaves No Traces
One of my favourite albums, by the way, and i don't understand that so many people dislike it, while on the other hand they know every line of Recent Songs, which I, personally, consider as one of the weaker albums ...

Recent Songs - The Gypsy's Wife - The Gypsy's Wife

Various Positions - The Captain - Hunter's Lullaby

I'm Your Man - Ain't No Cure For Love - Everybody Knows

The Future - Closing Time - Closing Time

Ten New Songs - In My Secret Life - Love Itself

Dear Heather - Villanelle For Our Time - Dear Heather

Old Ideas - Going Home - Darkness

Songs of Leonard Cohen: One of Us Cannot be Wrong
Songs from a Room: The Old Revolution
Songs of Love and Hate: Dress Rehearsal Rag
New Skin for the Old Ceremony: A Singer Must Die
Death of a Ladies' Man: Death of a Ladies' Man
Recent Songs: The Smoky Life
Various Positions: Night Comes On
I'm Your Man: Tower of Song
The Future: The Future
Ten New Songs: You Have Loved Enough
Dear Heather: The Faith/Undertow
Old Ideas: Crazy to Love You

Songs of Leonard Cohen: One of Us Cannot be Wrong
Songs from a Room: The Old Revolution
Songs of Love and Hate: Dress Rehearsal Rag
New Skin for the Old Ceremony: A Singer Must Die
Death of a Ladies' Man: Death of a Ladies' Man
Recent Songs: The Smoky Life
Various Positions: Night Comes On
I'm Your Man: Tower of Song
The Future: The Future
Ten New Songs: You Have Loved Enough
Dear Heather: The Faith/Undertow
Old Ideas: Crazy to Love You

Songs of Leonard Cohen: By far the toughest choice for me, I'd go with Suzanne. I could really name about seven different songs from this album, too many all-time greats to mention.

Songs from a Room: Tonight Will Be Fine. This is another tough call and wasn't my first choice for many years, but it has grown and grown on me over the years.

Songs of Love and Hate: Famous Blue Raincoat. Something about this song is deeply moving to me.

New Skin for the Old Ceremony: Who By Fire.

Live Songs: Please Don't Pass Me By

Death of a Ladies' Man: The epic closer, Death of a Ladies' Man.

Recent Songs: The Gypsy's Wife

Various Positions: If It Be Your Will - The best hymnal written since Amazing Grace.

I'm Your Man: Take This Waltz. Everybody Knows got me into this album but Take This Waltz ended up being my favorite post-70s Cohen song.

The Future: Anthem There is a crack in everything.

Ten New Songs: A Thousand Kisses Deep.

Dear Heather: Tennessee Waltz Yes, I am not a huge fan of this album and found the excavated live track the best of the bunch.

Old Ideas: Probably Lullaby. Ask me again in five years.