Leonard Cohen On Track

An enigma,Leonard Norman Cohen was possibly the most improbable bohemian intellectualsongwriter/singer in music history. He was certainly the working-class hero,the peoples' poet, the suicidal lamenter of doom and the purveyor of popularsongs. But the truth is even more complex. Throughout his life, there werejuxtapositions of the most unlikely life choices and influences. To havefashioned a mishmash of ideas, styles and influences into a successful,long-lasting musical career is nothing short of amazing. He blended secular, mystical, sexual andreligious themes into ambiguous poetic tapestries and devised an intricate,unique musical style. He possessed a deep baritone voice that, althoughmesmerising, was sometimes in danger of sounding monotonous. Leonard was ableto fuse these elements into a distinctive amalgam that somehow worked on manylevels. He did not look the part, play the game or conform to any rules, butLeonard touched hearts and minds all over the world, while writing someremarkable songs, including 'Halleluyah' and 'Suzanne'. Focusing equally on this popular earlyalbums, his more experimental mid-period and his final, late-careerrenaissance, this book analyses and interprets every album and every individualsong to shed light on the phenomenon of Leonard Cohen.