Yeah yeah yeah -- but did you ever read (or try to read) "Beautiful Losers"? Pee you.

THAT was one summer shot to hell and back.

...at least, thank god, there is more. Not only has Cohen left an abundance of material to be perused and listened to over and over again, but he's still at it. Depressive? Hell, people seem to love to label people like Cohen (are there actually people like Cohen? It's just a figure of speech) as "dark" and "depressing" (see Nick Drake or Richard Thompson for probably as close as anyone comes to this sort of beatiful "darkness" which is really just the shade creeping across stories about life lived). If ever anything would be "depressive" it would have to have come from "Songs From A Room", and then only because I was in a similar room at the Henry Hudson Hotel myself, four years prior to Cohen's "dark" revelation there, and by god, there is no more depressing place on earth, so much so that I was unable to put into words the horrors I was feeling. Later he came along and did it for me, with amazing grace and beauty. He survived that and filed the report. Since then it's just gotten better and better, shadow and light. To whine about "Beautiful Losers" against the backdrop of this magestic body of work is what's really depressing. R.C., a huge Thank you! Hallelujia!

What a joy it was to read Stephanie Zacharek's tribute to Leonard Cohen. Sounds like the film out now isn't quite worthy of Cohen's genius, but then what is? I've been a fan only for a few years now, and some of his work is hard to warm up to (e.g. his use of chintzy-sounding synthesizers and arrangements that don't complement his amazing voice), but when he gets it right, I feel the world fall away as if there's nothing else more important in that moment than listening to his song with an open heart. The themes of love, loss, war, betrayal, and fantasy expressed in his work are timeless. His voice is deeply affecting. May he live long and continue to share his gifts with the world.

I've only come lately to love Leonard Cohen's music.

Somehow Leonard belonged to my grade 8 teacher, Miss McGarvey, who was beautiful,emotionally detached, and about 23. All the girls idolized her. When a student asked this no nonsense English teacher what her favorite poem was, (this was in 1968) she replied "Suzanne". It was a revelation to me. A serious English teacher like Miss McGarvey preferring Cohen to Tennyson. Of course it was appropriate.

A while back I learned that Leonard Cohen found out where his old (both senses) kindergarten teacher lived (she was a family friend of ours) and sent a limo to take her to dinner. He also sent her flowers on her birthday. Ahh. Now that's a poet for you.

Depressive?

The More Best of Leonard Cohen CD is the funniest record in my entire collection.

several things pop to mind.

why has he lied to her in the first place?

what does he think he can hide three legal marriages from his lady?

she may be pregnant thinking he's the wonderful social guy who'll settle down with her.

did *she* get pregnant to try to keep him tied down?

if the baby was an "accident", does she have the right to know that he's lying to her, so she could also choose an abortion in time? knowing that he's a bigtime serial polygamist who lies about his irresponsiblilty might lead her to realize that having his baby was not such a good thing.

i know many do not approve of abortion, but it should be her choice, if she comes to realize that she has bred on an unsuitable mate.

after three marriages the guy must be relatively older, at least late twenties, early thirties. he's obviously not very mature, and *quite* selfish. how old and "mature" is the lady/girl?

whether she finds out or not, inevitably, he will tire of her and move on the next conquest hidden in deceipt.

moreover, this lady is a person, so what is she going to think of all the family members who participated in this colossal deceipt when the inevitable happens?

what will she think when they assure her that they were waiting to tell her that they'd take care of the kid knowing that she would find out they all lied?

the fellow is a jerk not only for living in lies deceipt and fraud, but also for expecting his whole family to live those lies, deceipts and frauds with him.

there's a level of sociopathy here that needs to be dealt with.

etc, etc.

i clicked the wrong page....

tommy --

It could happen to anybody. Usually doesn't, but it could. Your letter gave me the biggest laugh of the week. Plus it makes sense. It deserves a red star.

Hate to harsh the Cohen buzz, but here's a little something you probably didn't know.

Sure, I'd been a Cohen fan since the beginning and for years, the song "Suzanne" represented a defining period in my life – the emergence into something new....you know, all that peace and love stuff.

Then in the late 90's after returning from a trip to India, I went in to pick up my photos from a small custom photo shop in Northern California. The sprightly young woman behind the counter was enthralled with the pictures. They reminded her of how she and her mother had been club entertainers, dancing in costumes that looked like those in the photos.

She reached under the counter and pulled out a well-worn album. It was filled with aging photos of the two of them. As we thumbed through the pages together, she, without making much of it, casually added, "You probably don't remember the song, 'Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen, but my mother was that Suzanne."

I resisted the urge to throw myself at her feet in unabashed reverence. She explained how she and her mom had lived in a warehouse on the waterfront-- just the two of them. It was a frightening time for a little girl, but her mom was a free spirit and that was just the way life was. And yes, when "Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river, you can hear the boats go by..."

From the sounds of it, Cohen was more than just a causal platonic friend, contrary to how he tells it. She recalled how her mom and Cohen would dance in the street together in the middle of the night.

Then later, after he and the song had become famous, he dropped in once to see her. Her mother asked him to dance with her in the street. When he refused, she pleaded with him. But Cohen had gotten too big to be seen with the likes of her in public. Suzanne was crushed and felt used by Cohen.

I asked where her mother was now. Tragically, the last time she had heard, Suzanne was living on the streets in Los Angeles.