Leonard Cohen’s literary life

By Rosie Manford

While most people today have heard of Leonard Cohen, often because of his song “Hallelujah”, it wasn’t until I started researching for this article that I realised his literary output is just as impressive as his music, and that the man himself was more than the ‘King of Misery’. Cohen was a poet and novelist, famously sexual in his writings, a musician and a creative and open-minded thinker, grounded in his Jewish faith while exploring other religions and ideas, who talked candidly about his struggles with depression. Influenced by and an influencer of his time, his work still resonates today, and while perhaps deserving of the nickname ‘King of Misery’, his comments on love, isolation, religion, and social & political justice still feel extremely relevant in today’s world.

Early Life

Cohen was born on 21st September 1934 in a suburb of Montréal, Canada and was raised in an orthodox Jewish family. Cohen’s father died when he was nine, so he was raised mainly by his mother, who passed her love of music onto her son. When he was fifteen, Cohen decided to learn the acoustic guitar hoping to impress girls (a concept that might resonate with some St Andrews students). He met a Spanish immigrant who was only nineteen years old, who agreed to teach Cohen the guitar. In the three lessons they had Cohen learnt a few chords and some flamenco, but when his young teacher missed their fourth lesson Cohen went to his boarding house, where he was informed his teacher had committed suicide. While Cohen never learnt the reasons for his teacher’s death, the few lessons he received were the basis for his musical style and composition and influenced his decision to use a classical guitar.

The Start of a Literary Career

Cohen studied english literature, not music, at McGill University and by the age of 22 published his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. When he was 25 Cohen was awarded a $2,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to write a novel, which he used in combination with inherited family money to buy a house on the Greek island of Hydra where he lived for seven years. While there he fell in love with Marianne Ihlen who became his lover and muse, inspiring many songs and poems. The two remained fond of each other all their lives. Hydra at that time had become a small community of artists; remembering the island later Cohen recalled, “It was as if everyone was young and beautiful and full of talent – covered with a kind of gold dust.” Cohen was reportedly very focused, writing every day, and his literary work was recognised early on in an award winning documentary by the National Film Board called Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen.

While living on Hydra, Cohen wrote his second and final novel, Beautiful Losers. While writing he fasted claiming by denying himself food he could focus his mind on writing. After completing the book Cohen had a physical breakdown; a combination of drug abuse, fasting, and sunstroke leading to illness, hallucinations, and weight loss. Beautiful Losers initially received mixed reviews, many of them unfavourable due to some extremely sexual scenes, although a few critics raved about it (poet Bill Bissett claimed it deserved ‘easily a million stars’). Due to the controversy several bookstores refused to sell Cohen’s work, resulting in low book sales. Cohen referred to his novel as “the Bhagavad Gita of 1965” and declared at the time, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s a technical masterpiece”. While it may or may not be “the Bhagavad Gita of 1965”, Beautiful Losers is now considered a masterpiece and a part of the Canadian literary canon. At the time, however, frustrated with his lack of commercial success, Cohen moved to New York to pursue a musical career.

The First Album

While in New York, Cohen wrote and sent a song, “Suzanne”, to Judy Collins. Collins convinced Cohen, who did not see himself as a singer or guitarist, to sing the song in front of a live audience. “Suzanne” would go on to become an enduring classic and for many years was his most covered song. Cohen released his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1967, but his lack of experience in the music industry was seized upon and he lost the rights to “Suzanne”, “Stranger Song”, and “Dress Rehearsal Rag”, costing him a significant amount of money. Despite this setback, Cohen argued it was for the best, reflecting, “It’s a song that people loved, and fortunately the rights of it were stolen from me. So I felt that was perfectly justified because it would be wrong to write this song and get rich from it too.” Cohen’s album received mixed reviews at the time but is now considered a classic collection of his music.

Cohen’s perfectionism and insecurity surrounding his performances carried on throughout his life: while on tour in 1972 Cohen performed in Jerusalem where his perfectionism got the better of him. Dissatisfied with the performance, Cohen told the audience, “I really feel that we’re cheating you tonight” and walked off stage. Frustrated and upset, he said the audience should be refunded as the show was over. In his dressing room, however, Cohen found some LSD in his guitar case, shared it with his band, and returned to a thrilled audience who had patiently waited, singing traditional songs in an attempt to lure Cohen back on stage. The rest of the performance was a success. Cohen recalled that as he began singing “So Long, Marianne” a vision of Marianne appeared to him, and when he turned away to hide his tears, he noticed the other band members were crying too.

His Lowest Point?

While Marianne Ihlen was his first muse, it was with Suzanne Elrod in the 70’s that Leonard had two children: a son, Adam, and a daughter, Lorca, named after the Spanish poet who influenced Cohen from a young age.

Cohen had many love affairs and relationships, hence the title of his fifth album, Death of a Ladies’ Man (1977). While Cohen is often described as a “ladies’ man” he wrote in his poem “Titles”, “My reputation / as a Ladies’ Man was a joke / It caused me to laugh bitterly / through the ten thousand nights / I spent alone”. This album is often considered the lowest point of Cohen’s career, mostly due to producer and co-writer Phil Spector. Spector was known for being chaotic and difficult to work with, and the recording sessions were long and uncontrolled. At the time, Cohen was unhappy with the final product, feeling Spector’s influence drowned him out. Despite this, Cohen later claimed that while “It was mayhem”, he’d “do it again”. The album was received with widespread confusion as Cohen’s musical style and Spector’s producing styles clashed, creating what is still perceived as the worst of Cohen’s fourteen albums. Two years later Cohen released a new album Recent Songs which returned him to the critics’ good graces.

Not Just a Musician

Cohen was a man of many interests, and for a few years at the beginning of the 80’s he turned his attention to other projects. He co-wrote the rock musical film Night Magic about a struggling musician whose luck changes upon meeting an angel. He also wrote an experimental art film, I Am a Hotel, based on personal experiences and his song “The Guests”. Cohen features in the film as a bystander. Each of the five scenes are based off of a Cohen song and usually focus on the guests’ romantic interactions. He also published a volume of spiritual poems entitled Book of Mercy, which won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Prize. It is often referred to as a book of contemporary psalms, with Cohen calling it “a little book of prayer” and it is said to have inspired his next album, Various Positons.

Great Success at Last

In 1984, Cohen released Various Positions, his first record in five years. Cohen used a Casio keyboard instead of his usual Spanish guitar to compose many of the songs, and his voice had grown deeper over the years, giving Various Positions a new sound that most people associate with Cohen today. The album contains two of his most famous songs: “Dance Me to the End Of Love” and “Hallelujah”. Cohen’s record labels, Sony and Columbia, initially refused to release the album as they weren’t sure it would be commercially viable. Passport Records, an independent label, finally picked it up and the album is now seen as the beginning of his ‘golden era’ in music. Various Positions received good reviews at the time, although Cohen said of “Hallelujah”, “the only person who seemed to recognize the song was [Bob] Dylan…Nobody else recognized the song till quite a long time later”. Cohen spent five years working on “Hallelujah”, and went through 80 drafts  before he was happy with it. To date it has been covered by almost 200 artists, making it his most covered, and famous, song.

Cohen’s next album, I’m Your Man, became his most successful album released in the US and reached no. 1 in several European countries, making Cohen a best-selling artist. Cohen loved the cover picture (Cohen in a suit and dark glasses eating a banana). With typical self-deprecating humour, he said, “that’s everyone’s dilemma: at the times we think we’re the coolest, what everyone else sees is a guy with his mouth full of banana”. His lyric in “Tower of Song”, “I was born with the gift of a golden voice”, was a humorous nod to the way many criticised him for having a ‘flat’ voice. In spite of his voice, Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame and was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. When accepting the Canadian Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1993, Cohen joked, “Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win Vocalist of the Year”.

Faith

While remaining grounded in his Jewish faith, Cohen often expressed interest in other religions, exploring scientology in the 60’s and retreating to Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles in 1994 for five years of reflection and seclusion. While there he studied Buddhism and served as a personal assistant to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi, who figures in several poems in Book of Longing as simply ‘Roshi’. Cohen was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the retreat while still maintaining his Jewish faith, but after five years left the monastery.

Betrayed by a Friend

At the age of 69 Cohen was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour, but a year later problems began to arise. Lorca, Cohen’s daughter, began suspecting Cohen’s manager Kelley Lynch of financial impropriety. Lynch was a close friend and had been Cohen’s trusted manager for over a decade, but he discovered that for years she had been selling Cohen’s music publishing rights, and most of his money was gone. Cohen sued Lynch claiming she had taken over $5 million from him and the court ruled in his favour, awarding him $9 million. Lynch however, ignored the suit, refused to pay and despite a restraining order continued to harass Cohen for years, eventually being jailed for 18 months and given five years’ probation. Cohen refused to let Lynch’s betrayal overshadow his career; in 2005 he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, and his next book of poetry, Book of Longing, quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. When Cohen made his first public appearance in 13 years at a bookstore in Toronto on 13th May 2006, roughly 3,000 people turned up, causing the surrounding streets to be closed.

The ‘Comeback’ Tour

In 2008, Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. He also decided, reluctantly at first, to go on a world tour to recoup some of his money. He played three hour shows every night; the tour was a massive financial success, and Cohen was delighted to be working again. His career had never been better and in 2010 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Two years later he released his 12th album, Old Ideas, which became the highest charting album of his career and received glowing reviews. Cohen performed his final concert in Auckland, New Zealand on 21st December 2013.

The Final Album

In October 2016, Cohen released his 14th and final album You Want It Darker, which was greeted with critical acclaim. Cohen worked on this album with his son Adam and claimed that his physical health problems (according to his son Cohen suffered multiple fractures of his spine which gave him serious mobility issues) allowed him to focus on recording the album as he was less distracted. On 29th July 2016, Marianne Ihlen died of leukaemia. Cohen’s farewell letter to her was read at her funeral; three months before his own death Cohen had written: “I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand”. Leonard Cohen died on 7th November 2016 aged 82 in Los Angeles, California. Although Cohen had been suffering from leukaemia, he died due to a fall at his home and his funeral was held three days later in Montreal.

Legacy

Following his death two tribute murals were created of Cohen in Montreal, and on the first anniversary of his death Cohen’s family organized a memorial concert, with musicians and fans from around the globe coming together to remember him. Cohen had been working on another album before he died, entitled Thanks for the Dance, which Adam released in 2019.

Leonard Cohen was and is a fascinating figure, and while his musical career eventually overshadowed his literary career, both his unique musical style and his colourful writing style are still loved today. Cohen’s influence is hard to measure; Bob Dylan described him as the ‘number one’ songwriter of their time, while Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah is arguably more famous than the original. Perhaps Cohen’s wry claim of being ‘born with the gift of a golden voice’ is more truthful than originally intended.