Read Leonard Cohen and Philosophy Online

Authors: Jason Holt

Tags: #Philosophy, #Essays, #Music, #Individual Composer & Musician, #Poetry, #Canadian

Leonard Cohen and Philosophy (40 page)

“Be for Real,”
44
,
46

“Beneath My Hands,”
109

The Best of Leonard Cohen
(album),
64

as Biblical prophet,
217

“Bird on the Wire,”
31
,
206
,
211

Book of Longing
(poems),
222
,
223
,
228–29

Book of Mercy
(poems),
24–25
,
221
,
225

“Born in Chains,”
221

brokenness in,
24–25
,
220

and Buddhism,
172
,
217–19
,
231
,
233
,
239

“The Butcher,”
206

“Came So Far for Beauty,”
34
,
114–15

“Un Canadien Errant” (cover song),
235

“The Captain,”
35

changing lyrics of,
69

“Chelsea Hotel,”
2
,
4
,
32
,
68
,
116
,
209
,
222

“Closing Time,”
40
,
50
,
89
,
93
,
171
,
206

Cohen Live
(album),
69

collapse of irony in,
98–99

“Come Healing,”
222
,
223

and compassion,
239

“A Concert for Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Peace,”
226

“crack in the wall” lyric,
49–50

cracks of light in,
16
,
48

“Crazy to Love You,”
223

cynicism in,
99

“Dance Me to the End of Love,”
81
,
129

darkness/light in,
15–16
,
25
,
175

dark space in,
186

Dear Heather
(album),
56
,
182
,
184

death in,
134–35

“Death of a Ladies’ Man,”
116

“Democracy,”
5
,
21
,
22
,
40
,
49–50
,
93
,
95
,
220

distance/immediacy in,
96
,
98
,
113
,
116

divine disconsolation in,
220

“Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-on,”
35

dreamers/men of action in,
115

“Dress Rehearsal Rag,”
206

embezzlement from,
227

embodied metaphors in,
205–7

emotion in,
204

epistemic humility in,
218–20

“Everybody Knows,”
5
,
34
,
94
,
96
,
121
,
213
,
220

existentialism in,
25

“Famous Blue Raincoat,”
8–10
,
29
,
67–69
,
115
,
116
,
119
,
211

The Favourite Game
(novel),
76
,
79
,
84
,
109
,
144
,
185

femininity in,
27

“Field Commander Cohen,”
31
,
205

in film soundtrack,
31

“Fingerprints,”
210

“First We Take Manhattan,”
45

Flowers for Hitler
(poems),
155–56
,
162–63

     
as gnostic,
165

     
normality in,
158–59
,
165

     
radio and phone in,
163–64

     
symbolism in,
156–57
,
163–64

The Future
(album),
16
,
18
,
21
,
40
,
46
,
47
,
49
,
50
,
55
,
171

“The Future,”
20
,
21
,
33
,
41
,
42
,
94
,
168
,
172
,
221

future as apocalyptic in,
40–41

on gender relations,
28

“Going Home,”
29
,
67
,
121
,
228

“golden voice” lyric, interpretations of,
65–68
,
71

“The Great Event,”
45

“The Guests,”
36
,
205
,
236

“The Gypsy’s Wife,”
203

“Hallelujah,”
6
,
22
,
24
,
69
,
72–73
,
96
,
115
,
122
,
123
,
125
,
127
,
129
,
130
,
209
,
220
,
222
,
223
,
245–51

     
and “Amazing Grace,”
251

     
ambiguity of,
248–51

     
biblical references in,
249

     
covers of,
72–74
,
242

     
as heretical,
250

     
as meme,
244–45
,
251–52

     
as religious,
249–51

     
as secular,
248–49

healing in,
220

“Heart with No Companion,”
34
,
206

“Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,”
6–7
,
31
,
171
,
207
,
222

high and popular art in,
x–xi

and Hinduism,
217

“Humbled in Love,”
206
,
209

I Am a Hotel
(film),
203

“I Can’t Forget,”
121

iconography of,
232

“If It Be Your Will,”
6

immanence/transcendence in,
233

imperfection and intimacy in,
96
,
99

I’m Your Man
(album),
35

“I’m Your Man,”
206

infatuation in,
209

“In My Secret Life,”
122
,
205
,
208

“Iodine,”
206
,
210

irony in,
33–34
,
42
,
93–95
,
98–100
,
113

and Islam,
224–26

and Israel,
225–26

“Is This What You Wanted,”
33

“I Tried to Leave You,”
209

jealousy in,
210

Jesus in,
220
,
232

“Jewish Men,”
34

“Joan of Arc,”
12

and Judaism,
172

and Judeo-Christianity,
217–21
,
231–33

Juno award,
55

“The Land of Plenty,”
205
,
213

“Last Year’s Man,”
37
,
206

“The Law,”
221

“Leaving Green Sleeves,”
211

Let Us Compare Mythologies
(poems),
167

“Light as the Breeze,”
46
,
114
,
206
,
222

“Love Calls You by Your Name,”
206

love in,
97–98
,
209–10

“Love Itself,”
171
,
219
,
228

“Lover Lover Lover”
34
,
225

masculinities in,
27–29
,
31
,
32
,
35–37

“Master Song”
34
,
115–16

“Memories,”
35
,
203
,
206

in
Miami Vice
,
31

mind-body complexity in,
214

monastic life,
171–72

nakedness in,
46–47

“Night Comes On,”
114
,
171

and nothingness,
239–40

Old Ideas
(album),
39
,
56
,
67

Old Testament in,
34

“On That Day,”
213

“The Order of the Unified Heart” (symbolic order),
223

“Our Lady of Solitude,”
114

“Our Lady of the Torah”

     
(poem),
221

“Paper Thin Hotel,”
206
,
210
,
214

paradoxes of,
x–xi

“The Partisan,”
34

persona of,
40
,
42
,
67
,
68

as philosophical,
3

as poet,
ix

as pop star–poet,
ix–xi

Prince of Asturia Award for Literature,
82

as prophet,
217
,
229

prophetic persona of,
40
,
42

rabbinical heritage of,
172
,
218

Recent Songs
(album),
ix
,
56
,
231–33
,
235
,
236
,
238
,
240

review criticism of,
59–60

romantic love in,
117
,
120
,
122
,
222–23

sacred and profane in,
222

and self-deception,
113
,
116–17

self-interest in, and misogyny,
129

sexy irony in,
93–96

“Sing Another Song, Boys,”
61

as singer,
55–56

“A Singer Must Die,”
4
,
168
,
211

as singer-songwriter,
57–58

“Sisters of Mercy,”
210

“The Smokey Life,”
206

as Socratic,
5

solitude in,
135

“So Long, Marianne,”
170
,
209

Songs of Leonard Cohen
(album),
56
,
75

Songs of Love and Hate
(album),
68

Spanish influence on,
82

spiritualization of love in,
113–14
,
121–22
,
130–31

     
cost of,
115–16

stereotype of,
15

on stereotypes,
33–34

as Stoical,
6–7

“Stories of the Street,”
61

“Story of Isaac,”
22
,
34
,
206
,
221
,
225

Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
,
172

“The Stranger Song,”
37
,
115

and surrealism,
157

“Suzanne,”
67
,
93
,
101
,
110–11
,
129
,
130–31
,
191–92
,
199–201
,
203
,
209
,
220
,
221
,
232
,
241

     
body-perfect in,
110–11

     
covers of,
127–28

     
as teleological,
197

“Tacoma Trailer,”
51

“Take This Longing,”
106

“Take This Waltz,”
171

“Teachers,”
205
,
206
,
210

Ten New Songs
(album),
56

“There Is a War,”
29
,
81
,
209

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