http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/leona...-a-1120779.html

"You want it darker" (2016)

There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame

If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker

I'm ready, my Lord

הִנֵּֽנִי‎‎ הִנֵּֽנִי‎‎



R.I.P.

"Story Of Isaac" (Songs from a room, 1969)

The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,
I was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
his blue eyes they were shining
and his voice was very cold.
He said, "I've had a vision
and you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."

R.I.P.

Hallelujah

Democracy

...
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

https://vimeo.com/120301651

Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #1

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I'm ready, my Lord

הִנֵּֽנִי‎‎ הִנֵּֽנִי‎‎

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Zitat von Times of Israel, Sep 22, 2016

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Leonard Cohen released a new song on Wednesday, which happens to be his 82nd birthday — but it isn’t quite a celebratory tune. Dense with Jewish language and themes, “You Want it Darker” will appear on the songwriter’s upcoming album of the same name (his 14th studio album) on Oct. 21. The song delivers on the promise of its title — it’s really, really dark.

The song is an eerie, minimalist rumination with strong religious elements in the lyrics. At the end of the chorus Cohen sings “Hineni, hineni; I’m ready, my lord.” Hineni is Hebrew for “here I am,” and is the response Abraham gives when God calls on him to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is also the name of a prayer of preparation and humility, addressed to God, chanted by the cantor on Rosh Hashanah. One verse also echoes the language and rhythm of the Kaddish, the prayer for mourners that reaffirms faith in God. Here’s the verse:

Magnified, sanctified be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified in the human frame
A million candles burning for a help that never came
You want it darker, we kill the flame

The song is also the product of an extensive Jewish collaboration. The track features background vocals from Gideon Zelermyer, cantor of the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in Cohen’s native Montreal, along with the Shaar Hashomayim choir. (The Shaar cantor and choir also contributed to another song on the album titled “It Seemed the Better Way,” according to the Montreal Gazette.)

The song’s dark themes and foreshadowing come as some have begun to speculate on the singer’s health and longevity. Rolling Stone points out that Cohen hasn’t performed in public since 2013. Last month he wrote an emotional letter to his former girlfriend and muse Marianne Ihlen, who died in late July.

“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,” Cohen’s letter read, according to Ihlen’s friend Jan Christian Mollestad.

“Hineni, hineni; I’m ready my lord” sounds quite eerie after reading that.

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Zitat von SPON, 11.11., 17:57

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Im Juli dieses Jahres erreicht Cohen eine E-Mail von Jan Christian Mollestad, einem engem Freund seiner einstigen Muse Marianne Ihlen. Marianne sei krank, sie leide an Krebs und hätte nur noch wenige Tage zu leben. Cohen schreibt ihr sofort zurück: "Ich denke, ich werde dir sehr bald folgen. Wisse, dass ich so dicht hinter dir bin, dass du meine Hand berühren kannst, wenn du deine Hand ausstreckst."

Zwei Tage später ist Marianne Ihlen tot. Sie soll ihre Hand ausgestreckt haben, als Freunde ihr Cohens Zeilen vorgelesen haben. Ein letzter Gruß, ein letztes "So Long" - Angehörige schreiben Cohen noch einen Brief zurück: "Ihr Segen für die Reise gab ihr zusätzliche Stärke."

Zur Veröffentlichung von Leonard Cohens letztem Album "You Want It Darker" ist in dem US-Magazin New Yorker ein hervorragendes Porträt des Singer-Songwriters erschienen, in dem der Autor die Briefe, aber auch die Beziehung zwischen dem Sänger und Marianne Ihlen beschreibt.

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http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/leona...-a-1120918.html
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/1...makes-it-darker

It Seemed the Better Way

It sounded like the truth
It seemed the better way
It sounded like the truth
But it’s not the truth today

I better hold my tongue
I better take my place
Lift this glass of blood
Try to say the grace


Shabbat shalom u'Mevurach. שבת שלום ומבורך

Aus dem Artikel des New Yorker:

Zitat von David Remnick, 'Leonard Cohen Makes It Darker', October 17, 2016

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Dylan went on driving. After a while, he told Cohen that a famous songwriter of the day had told him, “O.K., Bob, you’re Number 1, but I’m Number 2.”

Cohen smiled. “Then Dylan says to me, ‘As far as I’m concerned, Leonard, you’re Number 1. I’m Number Zero.’ Meaning, as I understood it at the time — and I was not ready to dispute it — that his work was beyond measure and my work was pretty good.”

Dylan, who is seventy-five, doesn’t often play the role of music critic, but he proved eager to discuss Leonard Cohen. I put a series of questions to him about Number 1, and he answered in a detailed, critical way—nothing cryptic or elusive.

“When people talk about Leonard, they fail to mention his melodies, which to me, along with his lyrics, are his greatest genius,” Dylan said. “Even the counterpoint lines—they give a celestial character and melodic lift to every one of his songs. As far as I know, no one else comes close to this in modern music. Even the simplest song, like ‘The Law,’ which is structured on two fundamental chords, has counterpoint lines that are essential, and anybody who even thinks about doing this song and loves the lyrics would have to build around the counterpoint lines.

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

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