RIP LEONARD COHEN

As if I wasn't sad enough... A little over a week ago I posted the following on Facebook:

Leonard and I have a close relationship, only he doesn't know it. I love his poetry, songs, and voice, even when he sings in his gravelly old man's voice, speaking more than singing the lyrics.

We have a lot in common: We are contemporaries, born in the same year in September, only three days apart. He has back trouble and is more or less "confined to barracks", as he says, and as I am. Except for the fact that he is male and a genius poet, song writer, lyricist, and singer, we are just the same. See?

Leonard's final album You Want It Darker arrived a few days ago. I didn't want it darker, and I especially didn't want it darker this way, but I love the sad, haunting album. Leonard is gone, but his music lives on.

From Rolling Stone:

"My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records," Cohen's son Adam wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. "He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor."

As we grew old together, the resonance of Leonard's songs grew ever greater and deeper over the years.

From Cohen's 2012 album Old Ideas.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --

(Declaration of Independence)

Why is it more difficult each year to celebrate the holiday? As my friend Fran says, "I do not feel unpatriotic, I feel 'apatriotic'."

Today I'll let Leonard Cohen speak for me with his song "Democracy".


  

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July.

DEMOCRACY IS COMING TO THE USA - LEONARD COHEN

I wish. I hope.

TALKING TO FACEBOOK

Facebook asks, What's on your mind?"

What's on my mind? I've been reflecting on my Lent that was pretty much non-Lent, followed by a good Holy Week, which I've not yet got together in my head enough to write about.  For Lent, I did not give up anything, nor did I do anything positive that was any different from my daily life. Daily life seems to keep me pretty much occupied and out of trouble - most of the time.  During Holy Week, I attended services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, and it was all good.  We had a nice, quiet Easter Day, which was good, too.

And then there's the ongoing puzzle of prayers I say and hymns I sing, even as I don't really believe all that I pray and sing. What's even odder is that some of my favorite hymns include theology to which I do not subscribe.

That's what is on my mind, Facebook, as though you cared.

LEONARD COHEN - 'THE STRANGER SONG'

I listened to the song the other day.  It is so beautiful, so here it is.

LEONARD COHEN - 'IF IT BE YOUR WILL'

'EVERYBODY KNOWS' - LEONARD COHEN

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

'THAT'S HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN' - FOR MOTHERAMELIA

With virtual hugs for our good friend motheramelia.

"DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE" - LEONARD COHEN

Leonard is an old man. Well, so what? I am an old lady. In fact, I believe we are the same age. The video is from a few years ago, but not so very many. Leonard has not lost his magic touch. What a gorgeous and romantic song! And the violin!

"EVERYBODY KNOWS" - LEONARD COHEN

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

LEONARD COHEN - "AIN'T NO CURE FOR LOVE"

My choice was between visuals and sound quality, so I went with sound quality.

I'm in a romantic mood. Can you tell?

"That's How The Light Gets In..."

The video nobody "got" at Filmapalooza the sequel. Not that there was anything to get, but it's much more fun if I make myself sound like a misunderstood artist. Anyway, this is our interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Anthem", which is a lovely song. Enjoy.
Dylan Wendell Cunningham and Caitlin Davidson.

Lifted from Ann at What the Tide Brings In.

Ann says:

"A video for Pentecost. How are we cracked by life? How can the Spirit get in?"