Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s; he did not launch a music career until 1967, at the age of 33. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man, co-written and produced by Phil Spector, was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz, Oriental, and Mediterranean influences. Perhaps Cohen's most famous song, "Hallelujah", was first released on his studio album Various Positions in 1984. I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions and remains his most popular album. In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.
Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. His 11th album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death.
Leonard Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Westmount, Quebec, on September 21, 1934. His Lithuanian mother, Marsha Klonitsky ("Masha"; 1905–1978), was the daughter of a Talmudic writer, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, and emigrated to Canada in 1927. His paternal grandfather, whose family had moved from Poland to Canada, was Lyon Cohen, the founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Bernard Cohen (1891–1943), who owned a substantial clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. The family observed Orthodox Judaism, and belonged to Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, to which Cohen retained connections for the rest of his life. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen told Richard Goldstein in 1967, "I had a very Messianic childhood. I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."
Cohen attended Roslyn Elementary School and completed grades seven through nine at Herzliah High School, where his literary mentor Irving Layton taught, then transferred in 1948 to Westmount High School, where he studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico García Lorca. Cohen involved himself actively beyond Westmount's curriculum, in photography, on the yearbook staff, as a cheerleader, in the arts and current events clubs, and even served in the position of president of the Students' Council while "heavily involved in the school's theater program". During that time, Cohen taught himself to play the acoustic guitar, and formed a country–folk group that he called the Buckskin Boys. After a young Spanish guitar player taught him "a few chords and some flamenco", Cohen switched to a classical guitar. He has attributed his love of music to his mother, who sang songs around the house: "I know that those changes, those melodies, touched me very much. She would sing with us when I took my guitar to a restaurant with some friends; my mother would come, and we'd often sing all night.
Cohen frequented Saint Laurent Boulevard for fun and ate at such places as the Main Deli Steak House. According to journalist David Sax, Cohen and one of his cousins would go to the Main Deli to "watch the gangsters, pimps, and wrestlers dance around the night". Cohen enjoyed the formerly raucous bars of Old Montreal as well as Saint Joseph's Oratory, which had the restaurant nearest to Westmount, for him and his friend Mort Rosengarten to share coffee and cigarettes. When Cohen left Westmount, he purchased a place on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, in the previously working-class neighbourhood of Little Portugal. He would read his poetry at assorted nearby clubs. In that period and that place, Cohen wrote the lyrics to some of his most famous songs.
The Great Event
Leonard Cohen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The great event, which will end the horror
Which will end the sorrow
Next Tuesday when the sun goes down
I will play the Moonlight Sonata backwards
This will reverse the effects of the world's mad plunge
Into suffering, for the last 200 million years
What a lovely night that would be
Become bright red again, and the retired nightingales
Pick up their dusty tails, and assert the Majesty of Creation
Leonard Cohen’s The Great Event is a surreal and abstract composition with some inherent elements of surrealism. In particular, the lyrics present a peculiar promise or expectation of something extraordinary about to happen, a grand event that would end the agony, the sadness, and the long-lasting suffering of humanity. Cohen describes this event as happening soon and reversing the impact of horror that has been inflicted upon the world for over 200 million years. The tone is otherworldly and slightly morbid, with hints of humor and sarcasm interspersed throughout the lyrics.
The final stanza of the song delivers a somewhat poetic and optimistic note. As the singer contemplates playing the Moonlight Sonata backward as a means of enacting the great event, he/she envisions a night of magical redemption, in which nature’s beauty will come out of hiding, and creation will affirm its majesty. The words “bright red,” “dusty tails,” and “majesty of creation” are all suggestive of the transient but profound moments of beauty and happiness that punctuate the bleakness and tragedy of human existence.
Line by Line Meaning
It`s going to happen very soon.
An event that will end suffering is imminent.
The great event which will end the horror.
The event will eliminate the horror of suffering that has plagued the world.
Which will end the sorrow.
The event will bring an end to sorrow and grief.
Next Tuesday, when the sun goes down,
The specific time of the great event is next Tuesday at sunset.
I will play the Moonlight Sonata backwards.
The artist plans to perform a reversal ritual to stop the world's suffering.
This will reverse the effects of the world`s mad plunge into suffering,
The ritual will end the world's freefall into a state of pain and misery.
For the last 200 million years.
The world has been in a state of suffering for an immeasurable amount of time.
What a lovely night that would be.
The artist anticipates a beautiful and joyous evening after the great event.
What a sigh of relief, as the senile robins become bright red again,
The birds will return to their vibrant and lively state, signaling the world's recovery.
And the retired nightingales,
The nightingales that have ceased to sing will resume.
Pick up their dusty tails,
The nightingales' energy and enthusiasm will revive.
And assert the majesty of creation!
The birds will act as a testament to the world's beauty and magnificence.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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