This song just came up on Pandora for me.
Wow.
Is this song in any sense “typical” of Cohen? Am I likely to like his other stuff?
-FrL-
Its one of my fasvorite of his songs. Its quite typical of the album its on (I’m Your Man) which is excellent overall except for the one song so awful you’re actually embarassed for him, Jazz Police.
Cohen’s early work is more like spoken word, with little melody, and Suzanne is his most famous song of this era. Later he became more “musical,” adding back up singers who helped cover his own singing deficiencies, and also became more overtly political.
There’s a 2-disc set called “Essential Leonard Cohen” that I would definitely recommend for a sampling of his best work.
I disagree with this characterization. I don’t really think it was like spoken word at all. He didn’t use the back up singers quite as much back then but was able to sing more melodically than he is now.
The main difference is that his voice was more nasal and less gravelly in the “early” days (scare quotes because he was already in his thirties when he made his first record). The voice that is so often described as a monotone was certainly quite capable of projecting gorgeous melodies on those early records, melodies like “So Long Marianne,” “The Stranger Song,” “Bird on a Wire,” “Seems So Long Ago, Nancy,” and “Joan of Arc.” I’d direct the OP to that last song in particular.
You’ve probably heard a cover of Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” I highly recommend checking out his other work.
Yesyesyes! (Though ‘Take This Waltz’ is especially beautiful, and Hello Again is right about ‘Jazz Police.’) Check out the album ‘I’m Your Man’ and go madly off in all directions from there.
If you like ‘Take This Waltz,’ you’ll probably enjoy ‘Ain’t No Cure For Love,’ and (from other albums) ‘Suzanne,’ ‘So Long, Marianne,’ ‘Sisters of Mercy,’ ‘Chelsea Hotel #2,’ etc., etc.
And you’ll probably recognize some songs you never knew were his, like ‘Hallelujah’ (slowly murdered on The O.C.) and ‘Everybody Knows’ (from Pump Up the Volume).