Index : C : Cohen, Leonard

Structure Sub-topic of: Music A-C Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 40 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display. Frequently Asked Questions & Answers There are 10 user-asked question matches ( goto ) Special Topics Famous Blue Raincoat

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Cohen, Leonard

Whose intelligence does Cohen describe as 'average' in a poem?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Adolf Eichman. 'What did you expect? Talons? Huge incisors'



Who, apart from the man himself, was the first artist to record an entire album of Leonard Cohen songs?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Jennifer Warnes. 'Famous Blue Raincoat' contains a couple of new verses and reworkings.



Which well-known folk tune was released by Cohen with some bitter new lyrics detailing the end of a relationship?

Songs of Leonard Cohen (woodworm67)


Greensleeves. "Leaving Green Sleeves" was the last track on his 1974 album "New Skin For the Old Ceremony". It begins as per the traditional song, but soon broadens out into an embittered rant. "Scarborough Fair" has never been covered by Cohen, to my knowledge, although many artists have arranged it (Paul Simon's version, for example, was borrowed from Martin Carthy). I actually heard him sing "Loch Lomond" (unaccompanied) in London in 1993, where he worked it into his banter between songs. "Bird on a Wire" is an original, although its simple melody has the feel of an old folk song.



Which song do these lyrics belong to? 'You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception. And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music.'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Chelsea Hotel #2. 'Chelsea Hotel #2' is probably best remembered for being about Cohen's affair with Janis Joplin. The Hotel Chelsea, Manhattan, New York has had many famous inhabitants over the years: Gore Vidal, Jack Kerouac, Stanley Kubrick and Bob Dylan to name a few. The Chelsea Hotel has gained notoriety too. Sid Vicious stayed at the hotel back in 1978 with his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon, who of course was found dead in their room.



Which song do these lyrics belong to? 'and who by avalanche, who by powder, who for his greed, who for his hunger, and who shall I say is calling?'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Who by Fire. 'Who by Fire' is from Cohen's 'New Skin for the Old Ceremony' album. Cohen delved into his Jewish roots when he wrote this song, the lyrics are derived from a Jewish prayer which is recited at Yom Kippur; though Cohen's translation doesn't mirror the prayer exactly, it does capture the essence.



Which song do these beautiful lyrics belong to? 'Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone, Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon, Show me slowly what I only know the limits of'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Dance Me to the End of Love. 'Dance Me to the End of Love' is on Cohen's 'Various Positions' album which was released in 1984. One of Cohen's most-covered songs 'Hallelujah' is also on this album. I couldn't possibly list all of the people who have recorded their own version of this classic song, Jeff Buckley's version is probably the most well known and appears on his 1994 album 'Grace'.



Which Cohen song, in its original draft, contained references to the Paraclete (the Holy Ghost) and the Belsen Heap?

Songs of Leonard Cohen (woodworm67)


A Thousand Kisses Deep. The clue, perhaps, was in the rhymes. The song was originally a longer poem, edited for the sake of brevity. "Democracy" also had many more verses in its original version.



Which Cohen song do these lyrics belong to? 'Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past. We swore to each other then that our love would surely last. You kept right on loving, I went on a fast, now I am too thin and your love is too vast.'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Tonight Will be Fine. 'Tonight Will be Fine' is from Cohen's second studio album; 'Songs From a Room', which was released in 1969.



The lyrics to this song are some of Cohen's finest, which song is it? 'And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Suzanne. 'Suzanne' is from Cohen's first album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'. The lyrics to 'Suzanne' made their first appearance in 1966, a year before the release of his debut album. The lyrics appeared as a poem in Cohen's collection of poetry 'Parasites of Heaven', the poem was entitled 'Suzanne Takes you Down'.



On the tribute album, 'I'm Your Fan,' from what country do both the coverers of 'Tower of Song' come?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Australia. Nick Cave, whose 'I said to Leonard Cohen...' adlib is very touching, is from Victoria, and Robert Forster is a displaced Queenslander.



On the original (US, 1988) album cover, Cohen is seen to be eating a banana. The album contains a number of songs in an ironic disco style, and also contains a rare incursion into jazz. What is the album title?

Songs of Leonard Cohen (woodworm67)


I'm Your Man. It was released in 1988 to mixed reviews. The jazzy track was entitled "Jazz Police", an allegory of political control. Perhaps the second most famous banana on an album sleeve, after the Velvet Underground's "Andy Warhol" album.



Leonard Cohen's is arguably the most Jewish showbiz name outside of film producing. Cohen biographer Ira Nadel analyses Cohen's name quite thoroughly. Leonard's Hebrew name is?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Eliezer. Leonard is a common Anglicization of both Eliezer and Leyb. His second name is Nehemiah, or Norman.



Leonard Cohen set a poem by Frank Scott (1899-1985) to music on his late album "Dear Heather". What is the form of the poem?

Songs of Leonard Cohen (woodworm67)


Villanelle. It is the "Villanelle for Our Time": Its last lines are: "From bitter searching of the heart We rise to play a better part."



Leonard Cohen released his fifth album in 1977. The lyrics to this song, from that album, belong to which song? 'I listened to your kisses at the door, I never heard the world so clear before, You ran your bath and you began to sing, I felt so good I couldn't feel a thing.'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Paper Thin Hotel. 'Death of a Ladies man' isn't one of Cohen's better releases, though 'Paper Thin Hotel' is an excellent song and makes the album a worthy purchase. Bob Dylan and Alan Ginsberg provided backing vocals on the album's raucous closing track 'Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On'. Fortunately for Cohen fans, it was the only Cohen album to be produced by Phil Spectre.



Leonard Cohen is mentioned in which Nirvana song?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


'Pennyroyal Tea'. Kurt Cobain wanted 'a Leonard Cohen underword.' Golly gosh.



Joan Baez had an ethical and artistic problem singing what line from Leonard Cohen's oevre?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


'you've touched her perfect body with your mind'. From {Suzanne;} Baez played around with alternate lyrics before it struck her that the original line was good.



In his early song "Dress Rehearsal Rag", Cohen describes an everyday activity in a very melancholic way. What activity?

Songs of Leonard Cohen (woodworm67)


Having a shave. "Take a look at your body now, There's nothing much to save, And a bitter voice in the mirror cries: Hey prince, you need a shave. And if you can get your trembling fingers to behave Why don't you try unwrapping a stainless steel razor-blade?" An early song, which eventually made it on to his third album, "Songs of Love and Hate".



Here is another Cohen composition that has been covered by many artists; from which song are these lyrics from? 'It's four in the morning, the end of December I'm writing you now just to see if you're better'

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Famous Blue Raincoat. 'Famous Blue Raincoat' is from Cohen's third studio album 'Songs of Love and Hate' which was released in 1971. Tori Amos recorded her version of this song for the Leonard Cohen tribute album 'Tower of Song' which was released in 1995.



And what can I tell you my brother, my killer. What can I possibly say?

Leonard Cohen Lyrics (kendar)


'Famous Blue Raincoat'.



About whom or what did Cohen begin to write an MA thesis while at Columbia University?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Cohen's own book. Magnificent in the chutz-pah of it!



'I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go, When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul, I don't need to be forgiven for loving you so much, It's written in the scriptures, It's written there in blood, I even heard the angels declare it from above.' These lyrics belong to which song from the 'I'm your Man' album?

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Ain’t no Cure for Love. 'I'm your Man' was released in 1988. Three years later a tribute album 'I'm your Fan' was released, featuring an eclectic mix of artists covering Cohen's songs. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds recorded 'Tower of Song', House of Love recorded 'Who By Fire' and That Petrol Emotion recorded 'Stories of the Street' for the album.



'I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch, He said to me, you must not ask for so much. And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, She cried to me, hey, why not ask for more?' These well-known Cohen lyrics belong to which of his songs?

Waxing Lyrical with Leonard Cohen (50ftqueenie)


Bird on the Wire. 'Bird on a Wire' has been covered by many artists over the years. The most notable, in my humble opinion, is Johnny Cash's rendition, which can be found on 1994's 'American Recordings'. Cash had a voice that was distinctive enough to do the song justice.



'Dance Me to the End of Love,' which is about the Holocaust gas chambers, is also a picture book. Who did the illustrations?

Leonard Cohen (quacker)


Matisse. Apparently there's a whole range of these books.

• Who was Leonard Sly? ( goto )



• Julius, Adolph, Milton, Leonard and who else? ( goto )



• For what musical did Leonard Bernstein receive a Tony Award? ( goto )



• According to the character himself, what is Ali G's real name, not Sasha Baron Cohen which is the actor's name? ( goto )



• What did Cameron Forbes, Leonard Wood, William Taft and Frank Murphy all have in common? ( goto )



• How did fourteen-year-old Leonard Thompson make history at Toronto General Hospital on January 11, 1922? ( goto )



• Which variety show broadcast from Leeds ran for 30 years and was hosted in the latter years by Leonard Sachs and was noted for its use of high faluting English language? ( goto )



• Flossie Bennett is the oldest bridesmaid of all time at the wedding of Leonard and Edna Petchey on February 6, 1999, at St Peter's Church in Holton, East Anglia, UK. How old was she? ( goto )



• I just watched 'Memento' last night and thought it was a bit difficult to follow, can anyone else who's seen it please tell me who actually killed Leonard's wife? ( goto )



• When Dr. Cohen finally finished typing her treatise, 'The Sleeping Habits of Columbian Edible Ants,' she was rather suprised to notice that the number of digits she used to number its pages was exactly a multiple of the number of pages in the treatise itself. This substantial piece of work contains over 1,000 pages, but fewer than 10,000. Exactly how many pages does it contain? ( goto )