Saturday, December 27, 2008
Solvency and rapture
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 27, 2008 at 10:32 AM EST
Leonard Cohen was right. There is a crack in everything. That, he wrote, is how the light gets in. At the moment, though, the only sign of light is the astonishing success of Mr. Cohen himself, who deserves it.
His 1984 song Hallelujah holds down the first two spots on Britain's Top 40, and number 36, too. Number one is a version sung by Alexandra Burke on X Factor, an American Idol type of show. Number two was recorded by the late Jeff Buckley. And the third is by the Montreal-born Mr. Cohen himself. Even Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, says he's a fan.
Poetic justice, one might call it. When others were getting rich, he lost his money to an allegedly unscrupulous manager. Now when others are losing their money in the worldwide economic meltdown, he is, at age 74, solvent again. Even apart from Hallelujah's miraculous ride, it has been a very good year. Mr. Cohen toured Europe and Canada, was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Undoubtedly there is a crack somewhere, but probably a very small one.
Artists are not always appreciated in their lifetimes. That does not apply to Mr. Cohen, who has succeeded as a novelist, poet, singer and, of late, a visual artist. "When he sang Hallelujah," wrote the Australian journalist Clive Simmons about a concert he gave in June, "there was almost mass hysteria. People sang along, clutching each other's arms, and many were openly weeping. It was an extraordinary and unforgettable moment, and when he finished, the place erupted. A five-minute ovation followed." The rapture seems in keeping with his themes.
As in the biblical Song of Songs, he appears to be writing about sexual love even as he writes about God - though with Mr. Cohen it may work the other way around. As a paean to God, Hallelujah is remarkable; as a love song, it's mostly unquotable here. Always, though, it has his trademark humour; people say he's a depressive, but if so, he's a very funny one.The foundation of his celebrated song, of all his songs, is poetry, of which he once said: "I was completely hooked on the stuff as a kid and, for me, the light really did stream forth. When something is said in a certain kind of way it seems to embrace the cosmos. It's not just my heart; every heart is involved. The loneliness dissolves, and you feel you are this aching creature in the midst of an aching cosmos, and that the ache is OK." Or maybe he was talking about investing. Knowing that the ache is shared doesn't make it much better; but knowing that Mr. Cohen's artistry is being celebrated means that some light, at least, is getting through.
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 27, 2008 at 10:32 AM EST
Leonard Cohen was right. There is a crack in everything. That, he wrote, is how the light gets in. At the moment, though, the only sign of light is the astonishing success of Mr. Cohen himself, who deserves it.
His 1984 song Hallelujah holds down the first two spots on Britain's Top 40, and number 36, too. Number one is a version sung by Alexandra Burke on X Factor, an American Idol type of show. Number two was recorded by the late Jeff Buckley. And the third is by the Montreal-born Mr. Cohen himself. Even Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, says he's a fan.
Poetic justice, one might call it. When others were getting rich, he lost his money to an allegedly unscrupulous manager. Now when others are losing their money in the worldwide economic meltdown, he is, at age 74, solvent again. Even apart from Hallelujah's miraculous ride, it has been a very good year. Mr. Cohen toured Europe and Canada, was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Undoubtedly there is a crack somewhere, but probably a very small one.
Artists are not always appreciated in their lifetimes. That does not apply to Mr. Cohen, who has succeeded as a novelist, poet, singer and, of late, a visual artist. "When he sang Hallelujah," wrote the Australian journalist Clive Simmons about a concert he gave in June, "there was almost mass hysteria. People sang along, clutching each other's arms, and many were openly weeping. It was an extraordinary and unforgettable moment, and when he finished, the place erupted. A five-minute ovation followed." The rapture seems in keeping with his themes.
As in the biblical Song of Songs, he appears to be writing about sexual love even as he writes about God - though with Mr. Cohen it may work the other way around. As a paean to God, Hallelujah is remarkable; as a love song, it's mostly unquotable here. Always, though, it has his trademark humour; people say he's a depressive, but if so, he's a very funny one.The foundation of his celebrated song, of all his songs, is poetry, of which he once said: "I was completely hooked on the stuff as a kid and, for me, the light really did stream forth. When something is said in a certain kind of way it seems to embrace the cosmos. It's not just my heart; every heart is involved. The loneliness dissolves, and you feel you are this aching creature in the midst of an aching cosmos, and that the ache is OK." Or maybe he was talking about investing. Knowing that the ache is shared doesn't make it much better; but knowing that Mr. Cohen's artistry is being celebrated means that some light, at least, is getting through.
# posted by Cate @ 4:50 PM 
