Leonard Cohen bits and pieces

from David Remnick story in New Yorker

at the clothing factory, where he picked up a useful skill for his career as a touring musician: he learned to fold suits so they didn’t wrinkle.


as he wrote in a journal, he always imagined himself as a writer, “raincoated, battered hat pulled low above intense eyes, a history of injustice in his heart, a face too noble for revenge, walking the night along some wet boulevard, followed by the sympathy of countless audiences . . . loved by two or three beautiful women who could never have him.”


“His gift or genius is in his connection to the music of the spheres,” - Bob Dylan.

Dylan went on. “In the song ‘Sisters of Mercy,’ for instance, the verses are four elemental lines which change and move at predictable intervals . . . but the tune is anything but predictable. The song just comes in and states a fact. And after that anything can happen and it does, and Leonard allows it to happen. His tone is far from condescending or mocking. He is a tough-minded lover who doesn’t recognize the brush-off. Leonard’s always above it all. ‘Sisters of Mercy’ is verse after verse of four distinctive lines, in perfect meter, with no chorus, quivering with drama. The first line begins in a minor key. The second line goes from minor to major and steps up, and changes melody and variation. The third line steps up even higher than that to a different degree, and then the fourth line comes back to the beginning. This is a deceptively unusual musical theme, with or without lyrics. But it’s so subtle a listener doesn’t realize he’s been taken on a musical journey and dropped off somewhere, with or without lyrics.”


Cohen said he had a “sweet little song” that he’d been working through, one of many, and, suddenly, he closed his eyes and began reciting the lyrics:

Listen to the hummingbird

Whose wings you cannot see

Listen to the hummingbird

Don’t listen to me.

 

Listen to the butterfly

Whose days but number three

Listen to the butterfly

Don’t listen to me.

 

Listen to the mind of God

Which doesn’t need to be

Listen to the mind of God

Don’t listen to me.

He opened his eyes, paused awhile. Then he said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to finish those songs. Maybe, who knows? And maybe I’ll get a second wind, I don’t know. But I don’t dare attach myself to a spiritual strategy. I don’t dare do that. I’ve got some work to do. Take care of business. I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me.”

Leonard Cohen and Marianne

Leonard Cohen, the great songwriter died yesterday. His love Marianne, about whom he had written one of his most important songs “So Long Marianne” and who he had not been with for years, was failing from cancer. He immediately sent her a letter:

She never mentioned that she was sick. Now, it appeared, she had only a few days left. 

Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.

Two days later, Cohen got an e-mail from Norway:

Dear Leonard

Marianne slept slowly out of this life yesterday evening. Totally at ease, surrounded by close friends.

Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her.

It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength. . . . In her last hour I held her hand and hummed “Bird on the Wire,” while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left the room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words.

So long, Marianne . . .

The daughter's uneducated hatred.

capable of transforming a house into a loving home. I cared for her for 15 years but then she had the terrible responsibility of caring for me for the next 34 years because of my extreme depression. I didn’t - couldn’t  - return her love that she so needed and was entitled to. I hurt her. She raised our daughter almost single-handedly because I traveled the world and lived in recording studios. She was alone too much. I suffered, but I made her suffer too. She is a wonderful and warm human being - with a great sense of humor. We are no longer together but I wish her the very best of luck and love






Daughter: The perspective of fiction. How the Narcissist only sees himself.

As usual, my uneducated daughter takes warmth, honesty and compliments and violently distorts it into something negative.

Daughter: Please comment more in public for the world to see:)

It is on FB, Twitter and my therainbow.com sites as well as Lily's site and yours. If you respected your Mother more or hated me less, you would be happy to read my post.

Daughter: Behold....... The Textbook Narcissist!

Heather, it is a crazy shame that you so thoroughly misunderstand even the word Narcissist. A textbook Narcissist is Donald Trump. All the performing Artists you admire have some degree of narcissism or they wouldn't have the emotional energy to move ahead in spite of the constant humiliation and rejection they face. But I shouldn't have to teach you that simple fact about narcissism - after all you have read a BOOK and therefore are an expert. It is interesting to read your last few remarks. First you distort my loving comment about your Mother into something negative, then you want me to make it public and when you learn that I have made it public, instead of being satisfied that I did want you wanted me to do, your only comment is to suggest I made it public - which you wanted me to do - as proof of textbook narcissism, which comment displays for all to see how stupid and shallow your understanding is. But don't worry, I won't hide our conversation from the public. After all, I don't want you to think I'm a narcissist for going public or is that I am a narcissist for doing what you think is the right thing to do - which is it? Am I a textbook narcissist because I keep it to myself or a textbook narcissist because I don't keep it to myself?

Love Lost

Here are a couple of pictures of the Lily Gart I knew. A beautiful woman with tenderness, kindness, generosity and deep love for me. She is capable of transforming a house into a loving home. I cared for her for 15 years but then she had the terrible responsibility of caring for me for the next 34 years because of my extreme depression. I didn’t - couldn’t  - return her love that she so needed and was entitled to. I hurt her. She raised our daughter almost single-handedly because I traveled the world and lived in recording studios. She was alone too much. I suffered, but I made her suffer too. She is a wonderful and warm human being - with a great sense of humor. We are no longer together but I wish her the very best of luck and love


There are 2 kinds of people

SMATTERINGS OF TRUTH BY BOB LEFSETZ AND PAUL KRUGMAN, WITH A COMMENT BY GART

Lefsetz

So now we can all communicate. And what we've ended up with is noise, a Tower of Babel society, where you only hear what you want to. Where Hillary fans know no Trump supporters. With all this information at our fingertips we actually know less, because we filter for our prejudices. We just reinforce what we already know, while those in power try to sell us what's advantageous to them.

Shooting black people is bad, but somehow it's now the African-Americans' fault, explain that to me, please. And if Trump loses his supporters want to overthrow the government, not realizing that Congress has nearly done this, by not promulgating legislation and not anointing a Supreme Court justice.

And the problem is we all live in a society, we're all in it together, and no one wants to live by that credo, everybody's pointing fingers at everyone else and looking for a way out. They want to separate themselves, but it can't be done. It is a big tent, it is a Great Society. And you can't win every time, you've got to do your best to understand contrary viewpoints, educate people on the facts and include them in progress.

But recently, that's become impossible to do. We planted seeds decades ago that are now sprouting and surprising us.

Come on, do you expect the poor to do the right thing when public education has been underfunded and people can't analyze the truth, never mind know where to find it?

We're constantly told the United States is the greatest country in the world!
But in many ways it's not.
And if we can't look for the truth in ourselves, how are we gonna look for the truth in our country?


Krugman

False equivalence: news organizations, afraid of being attacked for bias, give evenhanded treatment to lies and truth. Way back in 2000 I suggested that if a Republican candidate said that the earth was flat, headlines would read, “Views differ on shape of planet.” That still happens.

Remember when The Associated Press suggested scandalous undue influence based on a meeting between Hillary Clinton and a donor who just happened to be both a Nobel Prize winner and an old personal friend?

Lefsetz

How is it that there are elites in every enterprise? Who think they're better than the rest?

And the media and the pollsters and the prognosticators are all out of touch with the people. They think their power is inviolate, that what they say goes, that they know better, and if you don't hate these people, you're one of them.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD: STUPID PEOPLE AND THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE SMARTER!