I'm grateful to you, SP, for jogging my memory about those CDs for Tom, and also for bringing a smile to my face by reminding me of the great man himself.
Cohen is head-scratchingly misunderstood. I can honestly say that his music fills me with hope and joy, even when he's examining the emotional undersides of life, as he admittedly often does. You have to understand that he is a poet first and foremost i.e. a proper, long-term published professional poet, who hit on the idea of putting some of his words to music. Almost by definition, poets are introspective, digging ever deeper, prodding the vital organs of our existence and relationships. These are rarely jovial excursions.
Apart from all that, I find it impossible not to admire his sheer wordsmithery. When I went to see him in Manchester, I was staggered by just how well crafted every single line was, even though I'd heard them all before. To have them collected like this, and directed at me by the poet himself, was a great experience.
The last time we saw you you looked so much older,
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder...
But anyway, but anyway.... the thing that is widely missed is that Cohen is a very humourous bloke. Many of his songs are tongue-in-cheek and self-deprecatory, and if people don't/can't tune in to that, I can understand why they don't get him.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
