Letters to the Editor
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my entries were better
Those aren't his best songs, and Audiophile's job as a contest judge should not be to prop up that unemployed person's self esteem, or to pat yourselves on the back for recognizing faux wit. Here were my entrees (despite the contradiction, you didn't prohibit people from entering more than one best song). I encourage all particapants to post their entrees here as homage to Cohen.
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Suzanne is the best song.
It expresses the miraculous in the ordinary, first with the tea
being “all the way from China” and then with Jesus as a tragic sailor. No lover can view his or her beloved the same after
listening to Suzanne! We see that love transforms mundane
things like oranges and tea into things that justify existence.
Essential wisdom from Cohen!
Jon Cogburn
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The Stranger Song is the best song.
When other musicians made adolescent cartoons of the old traveling man blues motif, Cohen produced something of great beauty and sadness. Like Stevens’ “Wild World” this made generation Xers as children first suspect that the adult world contained adventure and tragedy. The melody is immortal and the song also contains one of the best personifications of Cohen’s underrated guitar style.
Jon Cogburn
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The Partisan is the best song.
Alone of among English adaptations of d'Astier and Marly’s "La complainte du partisan," Cohen communicates the true price of heroism (overwhelming despair, loss, and futility) while at the same time showing the heroic to be heroic. For contrast, listen to Joan Baez’ dishonest wimpy gun-free version. Or imagine Bob Dylan’s angry sneer of a voice trying to communicate such complexity.
I did seven entrees and couldn't get a runner up?
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Famous Blue Raincoat is the best song.
It is haunting and beautiful. The narrator was shattered by his friend sleeping with his wife. But being shattered saved both his marriage and him from being a jerk. He forgives his
pathetic friend, who has not managed the transition from roux.
And Leonard Cohen said in an interview that the famous raincoat
was really his own tattered blue Burberry.
Jon Cogburn
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Joan of Arc is the best song.
This was during a lost weekend in New Orleans in my friend’s
apartment listening to Songs of Love and Hate. I was grimy. My friend argued with his girlfriend. Neither of them could
apologize and ratchet things down. At the beginning of Joan of
Arc she walked out. The song somehow contradicted and
underlined my friend’s tragedy and our hangovers.
Jon Cogburn
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Chelsea Hotel #2 is the best song.
She “prefers handsome men;” he’s an exception. Music makes up
for being ugly, yet she “turned her back on the crowd.” He
doesn’t think of her often, yet he’s singing about her. Cohen
is haunted because he bragged about it being Janis Joplin, and
now can’t figure out how to apologize to a ghost. But the song
already does that.
Jon Cogburn
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Everybody Knows is the best song.
“Success verbs” are such that one who sincerely asserts “x Ys that P” is committed to P. But: (1) collectively the P’s here are absurdly negative, bordering on the humorous, (2) there is a sense in which we can suspect something to be true without admitting it to be so, and for Cohen “everybody knows” these things. Great music too.
Jon Cogburn
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Delightful!
Jon Cogburn, you are sadder than "Is This What You Wanted". Unless you were going for a poorly calculated pose of arch dudgeon, your post made my day. 'Twas as seven quickly jotted blue-book entries.
love, luck, and lollipops!
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Oh, and for what it's worth
I didn't enter the contest because I'm, like, way cooler than all recorded sound.
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You're kidding, right?
Someone thinks that "Stevens'" (ooh, so deep that he gets the last-name-only treatment) "Wild World" was written to someone besides his fragile, all-too-precious self?
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Jon Cogburn...
...will now hold his breath until he turns blue.
"I am clever! I am! Admit it! I am most clever!"
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Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen? Loved his songs in the seventies. But face it, that was 40 years ago. Mozart lives forever, but Cohen?
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response to all the playa haters
Yeah, massive spelling errors and lack of formatting took some of the sting out of my tantrum.
For the next contest I'll not only hold my breath until I turn blue, but also wail and bang my head on the kitchen floor. That will show the lot of you of what a true Cohen fan is capable.
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job loss? Nope.
Jon~
I'm happy for your enthusiasm of Leonard's work and sorry you did not win.
It took me a while to figure out what you were talking about in your original post about "unemployment", but then I realized you read the word "son" as "job." It was not a 'job' I lost.
Peace,
Laurie
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I believe...
I was the handwritten letter. I wrote my response ala "Famous Blue Raincoat."
Alas! Congrats to the winners.
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apology
Laurie,
Obviously whatever harm my being obnoxious has caused here is infinitesmal compared to your loss, but please accept my apologies.
I think I read the word as "job" because my brain couldn't accept the horror of what you've been through.
Cohen is lucky to have a fan of such grace as is manifested by your letter.
Jon
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Jon, Been there, done that...
I really appreciate the apology. Of course you would not have said what you did without the simple mistake of mis-reading what I wrote. I hope you don't let this make you feel badly beyond this point. We've all said and done things out of misunderstandings that we wish we hadn't. Besides, it shows how passionate you are about the subject.
You caused me no harm. Only gave me a mini-mystery to figure out.
take care,
Laurie