« Video: the Ruby Suns live in New Zealand | Main | You Tube Rodeo »
March 12, 2008
Retrohump: Sighing Eternally
Lost in the shadow of the more instantly bloggable performance piece/prank/cautionary tale cooked up by Madonna and Iggy Pop was the fact that one Leonard Cohen was also inducted into the not-so-hallowed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cohen remains something of a cult figure, even now. Where Dylan stands as a universally known cultural high fence that seems necessary to climb, Cohen's work still feels like an undiscovered piece of scenery that everyone just happens to wander by on their own. He snuck into my consciousness in small ways; a deep baritone in the soundtrack margins of myriad films, a song covered on a new record where everything else is suspiciously much worse, or even a lyrical homage like the Nirvana line paraphrased in this post's title. But Hell, they're singing the man's songs on American Idol these days. Let's not dwell on that unpleasantness. Here are two clips of the original Montreal hipster, performing classics from 1967's immortal Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Leonard Cohen - "The Stranger Song"
(Julie Felix Show, 1967)
This clip, from something called The Julie Felix Show, depicts a somewhat awkward looking Cohen sounding effortlessly profound. An overfriendly camera man frames his singing tight, as if trying to take an album cover photo with a really long exposure camera. Leonard looks pinched and hunched over like he just had a really bad night's sleep on a hazardous sofa bed. And, legend or not, no one ever really looks that cool in a turtleneck. It's a goosebump beckoner in spite of all that.
Leonard Cohen - "The Stranger Song"
Leonard Cohen - "Suzanne"
(Isle of Wight, 1970)
This performance from three years later on the Isle of Wight is not too dear. Cohen wears a famous stained waistcoast and looks generally like a vagrant, while teenage acid casualties look on confused. But these songs always had that quality anyway, so I don't mind a little scruff. The poetic musings of a down and out prophet shouldn't come from the gleaming teeth of a well dressed man. We can only hope that when Cohen embarks on his first U.S. tour in fifteen years a few months from now, he'll show up in a similarly sloppy ensemble.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at March 12, 2008 08:00 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1481
