I could always play a Leonard Cohen record or CD on a rainy day or a sleepless night, and feel a little better. He is in company with some of the greats, like Bob Dylan and Randy Newman. And so it is only important and appropriate that notice of his death would be published by the Monitor.
I heard the news on my radio, and it took some time to gather my wits and make sense of it. Cohen, as is true of myself, often suffered mental depression. Not one to shirk taking responsibility for himself and his circumstances, Cohen thus entered a Buddhist monastery in Los Angeles and, I imagine, like a fish to water took to chanting with the same zeal that made him a great recording artist.
Then he emerged recently in time to – having defeated his illness – record what many regard as another great musical effort: You Want It Darker.
I will never forget the hours I spent gathered around my record player when I was a student at St. Anselm College. Cohen, who often wrote lyrics along religious lines, helped me with my own religious questions and battles as a struggling student at a Catholic college. I would study in the chapel basement and the words to one of his most famous songs, “Bird on the Wire,” would ring in my ears.
Like a bird on the wire / like a drunk in a midnight choir / I have tried / in my way / to be free.
Now that Leonard Cohen is free, we can all feel a little freer ourselves.
Here’s to you Mr. Cohen.
TIMOTHY LANGLAIS
Concord