The Poetry of Leonard Cohen

I end this inaugural week of 2010, and the poetry articles that ushered in the year – as a way to help get us in a Low Density Lifestyle frame of mind – with the words of a master poet, Leonard Cohen.

Cohen, born in 1934, is a well-known singer-songwriter and author of many classic songs, including “Suzanne,” “Sisters of Mercy,” “Hallelujah,” “So Long Marianne,” “Who By Fire,” and “Everybody Knows.”

A few months I wrote an entire article about Leonard Cohen because of his fascinating life journey – the article was called The Spiritual Odyssey of Leonard Cohen.

He is truly a gifted individual and it’s safe to say, an icon.

At the top of the page, you can view his spoken word poem, A Thousand Kisses Deep. Here are the words to the poem:

Don’t matter if the road is long
Don’t matter if it’s steep
Don’t matter if the moon is gone
And the darkness is complete
Don’t matter if we lose our way
It’s written that we’ll meet
At least, that’s what I heard you say
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
You see, I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second hand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
You learned it on your father’s knee
And at your mother’s feet
But did you have to fight your way
Across the burning street
When all our vital interests lay
A thousand kisses deep

I’m turning tricks
I’m getting fixed
I’m back on boogie street
I’d like to quit the business
But I’m in it, so to speak
The thought of you is peaceful
And the file on you complete
Except what I forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

Don’t matter if you’re rich and strong
Don’t matter if you’re weak
Don’t matter if you write a song
The nightingales repeat
Don’t matter if it’s nine to five
Or timeless and unique
You ditch your life to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep

The ponies run
The girls are young
The odds are there to beat
You win a while, and then it’s done
Your little winning streak
And summon now to deal with your invincible defeat
You live your life as if it’s real
A thousand kisses deep

I hear their voices in the wine
That sometimes did me seek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
But the heart will not retreat
There’s no forsaking what you love
No existential leap
As witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep

And here are some additional Leonard Cohen videos:

The first video is Cohen doing his haunting and beautiful hymn, Hallelujah. Of this song Leonard Cohen says, “It’s, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion…. It’s a rather joyous song.”

The second is of singer/pianist Allison Crowe performing the same song – it’s really an amazing performance that will truly touch your soul. Many people have done this song; it was Rufus Wainwright’s version that was featured in the movie Shrek.

And the third video is of Leonard Cohen singing Who by Fire. The song features a saxophone introduction by the legendary sax player Sonny Rollins.

Music and Spirituality, Part 1: The Odyssey of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen singing “Everybody Knows” in London, 2008.

I’ve been writing articles for the last week on the topic of spirituality, because connecting to the spiritual dimension is an important aspect of living a Low Density Lifestyle.

For today and tomorrow’s articles, I want to tell you about two different musicians who have been on a spiritual journey for most of their professional lives, and have found a way to integrate their insights into their music.

Today I will tell you about a man who was once called “the Canadian Dylan.” His name is Leonard Cohen.

Cohen, born in 1934, is a well-known singer-songwriter and author of many classic songs, including “Suzanne,” “Sisters of Mercy,” “Hallelujah,” “So Long Marianne,” “Who By Fire,” and “Everybody Knows.”

Cohen had a deeply religious Jewish upbringing. “I had a very Messianic childhood,” he has said. “I was told I was a descendant of Aaron the high priest.”

Many of his songs and novels reflect religious, spiritual and mystical themes. The words and melody of the song “Who by Fire” echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana  and Yom Kippur, and the song “Hallelujah,” (which Rufus Wainwright sang in the movie “Shrek”) begins by evoking the biblical king David composing a song that “pleased the Lord,” and continues with references to Bathsheba and Samson.

In 1994, Cohen had enough of the music world and the material life. He took up residency at a Zen center outside Los Angeles, became an ordained Zen monk, and was given the name Jikan, meaning “silence.”

And there Leonard Cohen might have stayed, if he didn’t feel the pull of the muse and the need to produce poetry and song.  He felt called to fulfill his destiny, to live a spiritual life in the everyday world, which in the Zen tradition, is the true way to live a spiritual life.

And so, in 1999, after five years living in the Zen monastery, Cohen came out of his seclusion and returned to the secular world.

But he kept a low profile until business misfortunes – his former manager took most of his money – pushed him to go out and tour, and expose his music once again to the world. In 2008, at the age of 74, he began a world tour, and in 2009 he played in the U.S. for the first time in 15 years.

Cohen sees touring as a spiritual discipline. Roscoe Beck, Cohen’s musical director, says that even on the longest flights Cohen “sits cross-legged and straight-backed in his seat, in a monk’s posture.” When asked whether he also does yoga to build strength and agility for his stage shows, Cohen replied, “That is my yoga.”

Leonard Cohen may have lost his life as a recluse by having to go back on tour, but the world is much richer for it.

Here is a prime example of someone who has fully connected themselves to the spiritual dimension, and has allowed their life to be deeply imbued by the profound depths that the spiritual dimension has to offer.

He still is an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath even while on tour, and still squares that faith with his continued practice of Zen. Some have wondered how he manages to do both.

“Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago,” Cohen says. “Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I’ve practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief.”

Zen has also helped him to learn to “stop whining,” Cohen says, and to worry less about the choices he has made. “All these things have their own destiny; one has one’s own destiny. The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.”

Leonard Cohen is someone who has felt the pull of the Low Density Lifestyle, and has stayed true to that pull throughout his life, both professionally and personally, and we are all grateful to him for doing so.

There are 2 videos on this page. At the top of the page is a video from his 2008 tour, singing “Everybody Knows” in London. And below is one from a concert on the Isle of Wight in 1970, where he sang his classic song “Suzanne.”

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