Classic Album Review : Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Listen to Songs of Leonard Cohen here
Leonard Cohen was never supposed to become a singer. He’d been a critically acclaimed poet and novelist for a decade when he became fed up with precarious living and started a second career in music. Success was instantaneous. Suzanne, literally the first song he wrote, became a monster hit after Judy Collins recorded it in 1966 and his life was forever altered. Songs of Leonard Cohen came into existence the following year and consecrated Cohen in his tormented troubadour persona. Let’s examine what made this album so special and memorable.
A common misconception about Songs of Leonard Cohen is that it’s just poems read to guitar melodies. While it’s not an outright lie, it would be selling Cohen’s creative vision and John Simon’s production short. The twirling Spanish-inspired acoustic guitar has a muted quality to it. It fades in and out of the songs, giving it a dreamlike aspect that’s really important to the record. There isn’t much more instrumentation on Songs of Leonard Cohen, but you can hear subtle additions here and there. Mostly strings that are meant to ramp up emotion in strategic moments.
It’s minimalist, but deliberate. This record has a strong sonic identity.
But poetry IS the main focus on Songs of Leonard Cohen. His songwriting is so odd and groundbreaking, it’s refreshing to hear half a century later. Suzanne is a good example. That song doesn’t always rhyme. It has a loose and creative structure that allows Leonard Cohen to explore the similarities between meeting a beautiful woman and finding God. Both are sacred experiences. My favorite piece of poetry on the record is The Stranger Song, though. When Cohen tells the story of a man “reaching for the sky just to surrender'“, it hits close to home.
Word is that he was inspired by the movie The Man With the Golden Arm when he wrote it, but no one else’s ever written that accurately about not living up to what you want and who you want to be. Another powerful quality of Songs of Leonard Cohen is how it alternates between personal moments and oneiric visions. A heartfelt, but serene breakup song like the immortal So Long, Marianne next to a collection of mysterious encounters like Teachers becomes supernatural in its own right. If Marianne Ihlen lived in Leonard Cohen’s fantastic world, she was magical too:
We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark
I mean, the power of the imagery speaks for itself. Cohen found a sacredness in Marianne’s love that he felt unworthy of. It’s both beautiful and heartbreaking. I don’t think that Songs of Leonard Cohen has any major flaws to speak of. Stories of the Street is my least favorite song on the record, but it’s more unmemorable compared to the others than anything. I have a sweet spot for the closer One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, which has a joyful despair best embodies by the dissonant, drunken-like back vocals at the end. It has an energy that I really get.
I was surprised by how well Songs of Leonard Cohen aged. I’m not a folk music enthusiast in general and largely dismissed this part of his career before. But the flagship songs on this record are not its best. I love Suzanne and So Long, Marianne as much as the next guys, but The Stranger Song, Winter Lady, Teachers and One of Us Cannot Be Wrong are fucking monumental. They could stand their own on the airwaves AND in a poetry collection. Songs of Leonard Cohen is really good. It’s a monument to the originality and power of is creative vision.
8.4/10
