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This is a wonderful article about Leonard Cohen: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/89715/leonard http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-
by mkeeter 10y ago
This is a wonderful article about Leonard Cohen:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/89715/leonard http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/89715...
The quote that stood out the most for me:
"In a pursuit like rock ’n’ roll, which is entirely devoted to redemption, Cohen’s ideas were not only old but radical. His peers all insisted that salvation was at hand. To go to a Doors concert was to stare at the lithe messiah undressing on stage and believe that it was entirely possible to break on through to the other side. To see Cohen play was to gawk at an aging Jew telling you that life was hard and laced with sorrow but that if we love each other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right. To borrow a metaphor from a field never too far from Cohen’s heart, theology, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, and the rest were all good Christians, and they set themselves up as the redeemers who had to die for the sins of their fans. Cohen was a Jew, and like Jews he believed that salvation was nothing more than a lot of hard work and a small but sustainable reward."
- dang 10y agoThat article contains a wonderful story about how he calmed a hostile audience in the middle of the night at a festival in 1970. I recommend it. (Search for "Isle of Wight", the story starts there.)
- mpwoz 10y agoThank you for sharing this. If anybody wants a tear in their eye, read this article while listening to his latest album. And, optionally, a glass of wine.