Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist born in Montreal on 21 September 1934.
Cohen held all three vocations — music, poetry, and fiction — across his lifetime, and the range of honors he accumulated reflected that breadth. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada and received the Glenn Gould Prize. He also received a Prince of Asturias literary award, placing him in the company of writers and artists recognized by that prize.
His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added a further dimension to a body of recognition that spanned literary and musical institutions alike. Cohen died on 7 November 2016 in Los Angeles, and the Library of Congress Name Authority records him as "Cohen, Leonard, 1934–2016." His output as a writer and singer-songwriter drew on the full range of forms available to him — verse, prose, and song.
Quotes by Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen's insights on:
Poetry is a verdict that others give to language that is charged with music and rhythm and authority.
There's always a nice tune on the radio - helps you get the dishes done. I like to get the news from time to time - not too often. I don't feel deprived.
Please don't pass me by, / oh please don't pass me by, / for I am blind, but you can see, / well, I've been blinded totally,
Sure we played a stunning couple / But I never liked the part / It ain't pretty, it ain't subtle / What happens to the heart.
I was selling holy trinkets / I was dressing kind of sharp / Had a pussy in the kitchen / And a panther in the yard / In the prison of the gifted / I was friendly with the guard / So I never had to witness / What happens to the Heart.
So I work in that same beauty salon / I'm chained to the old masquerade / The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone / I follow my father's trade
Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in.
I greet you from the other side of sorrow and despair, with a love so vast and shattered it will reach you everywhere.
