Leonard Cohen - Canada's Poet

On March 10, Canada's Leonard Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He's been labelled "the poet laureate of pessimism", "the grocer of despair", "the godfather of gloom" and "the prince of bummers". He has, none the less, given pleasure and even laughter to the million or so people who buy his records.

I first heard of this highly-regarded poet, singer, and songwriter in October 1972 when my then to be husband asked me if I'd like to go back to his place and listen to his Leonard Cohen records. After his invitation, which I regarded as extremely original and much better than "come on up and see my etchings," I did listen to all his records and was very impressed. Brian had every one of LC's records up to that point in time and in the years to come, I gave him more. Whenever we'd go to the lake for our holidays, Brian would play LC's songs on his guitar at the campfire and I got to know all the words to "Suzanne," "So Long Marianne," "Hallelujah," "First We Take Manhattan," and others. In 1987, we saw Leonard Cohen perform live in Ottawa and he was absolutely amazing!

Two years ago, Cohen published his Book of Longing and I was able to get an autographed copy for my daughter. She treasures it as she knows how much her Dad loved Leonard Cohen. Have a listen to "Suzanne" here on youtube and you can see why he's in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and a Companion of the Order of Canada.