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 Lost Canadian
Leonard Cohen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Banni de ses foyers, (banned from his hearths,)
Parcourait en pleurant (travelled while crying)
Des pays etrangers. (in foreign lands.)
Parcourait en pleurant (travelled while crying)
Des pays etrangers. (in foreign lands.)
Un jour, triste et pensif, (One day, sad and pensive,)
Assis au bord des flots, (sitting by the flowing waters,)
Il adressa ces mots: (he addressed these words:)
Au courant fugitif (to the fleeing current)
Il adressa ces mots: (he addressed these words:)
"Si tu vois mon pays, (If you see my country,)
Mon pays malheureux, (my unhappy country,)
Va dire a mes amis (go tell my friends)
Que je me souviens d'eux. (that I remember them.)
Va dire a mes amis (go tell my friends)
Que je me souviens d'eux. (that I remember them.)
O jours si pleins d'appas, (O days so full of charms,)
Vous etes disparus... (you have vanished...)
Et ma patrie, helas! (And my native land, alas!)
Je ne la verrai plus. (I will see it no more.)
Et ma patrie, helas! (And my native land, alas!)
Je ne la verrai plus. (I will see it no more.)
The song A wandering Canadian (Un Canadien Errant) is a melancholic ballad written by French Canadians about the exile and displacement of the Acadians (a French-speaking people from eastern Canada) by the British Empire in 1755. This song serves as a lament for the lost identity of the exiled Acadians, who were forced to leave their homes and country. The singer of the song is a Canadian wandering and crying in foreign lands, sad and reflective. As he sits by the flowing waters, he addresses his words to the fleeing current, asking it to convey a message to his friends in his homeland, telling them that he remembers them.
The song has both a historical and emotional resonance, and it speaks to the pain of losing one's home, identity, and culture. Its mournful melody, evocative lyrics, and powerful emotional impact have made it a beloved song of loss and longing, not just for the exiled Acadians but for many other people who have experienced displacement, exile or separation from their homeland.
Leonard Cohen, a Canadian singer-songwriter, included this song on his first album, “Songs of Leonard Cohen” in 1967, and it became one of his signature songs. Cohen brought the song to an international audience and translated it into English, keeping the melody and lyrics substantially the same. The song has also been covered by numerous artists in many languages, including Celine Dion, Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, and Joan Baez, to name a few.
Line by Line Meaning
Un Canadien Errant
A Canadian who wanders
Banni de ses foyers,
Banished from his homes
Parcourait en pleurant
Traveled with tears
Des pays etrangers.
Through foreign lands.
Un jour, triste et pensif,
One day, sad and pensive,
Assis au bord des flots,
Sitting by the flowing waters,
Au courant fugitif
To the fleeing current
Il adressa ces mots:
He addressed these words:
Si tu vois mon pays,
If you see my country,
Mon pays malheureux,
My unhappy country,
Va dire a mes amis
Go tell my friends
Que je me souviens d'eux.
That I remember them.
O jours si pleins d'appas,
O days so full of charms,
Vous etes disparus...
You have vanished...
Et ma patrie, helas!
And my native land, alas!
Je ne la verrai plus.
I will see it no more.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LEONARD COHEN, M.A. GERLIN LAJOLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Vincent A.
A wandering 'Canadien'
Banished from his homeland
Travelled, weeping,
through foreign lands.
One day, sad and thoughtful,
Seated on the river's bank
To the fleeing current
He spoke these words:
"If you should see my home
My sad unhappy land
Go, say to all my friends
That I remember them
"O days once so full of charm
You are all gone away
And my homeland, alas!
I'll not see her again
"No, but with my last breath
O my dear Canada!
My sad gaze
Will go to you."
Miguel Báez Durán
What a strange beautiful mixture... Mariachi music, old song from Québec, and his anglophone accent. Long live Leonard Cohen.
Always Fourfun
"Recent Songs" is like a nugget of Beauty and this song is a strange and beautiful outlier. I am glad it got, where everybody could hear it. Even with some "imperfections", it always hits right home. I love it.
Eddy Mendoza vazquez
Gracias Leonard por tanto...un ser único...
Vincent A.
A wandering 'Canadien'
Banished from his homeland
Travelled, weeping,
through foreign lands.
One day, sad and thoughtful,
Seated on the river's bank
To the fleeing current
He spoke these words:
"If you should see my home
My sad unhappy land
Go, say to all my friends
That I remember them
"O days once so full of charm
You are all gone away
And my homeland, alas!
I'll not see her again
"No, but with my last breath
O my dear Canada!
My sad gaze
Will go to you."
Heinrich Härkönen
Mi psicólogo: El Leonard Cohen mariachi no existe, no puede lastimarte
El Leonard Cohen mariachi cantando en francés:
Catherine Mitchell Murphy
Beautiful 💕💕💕
Magda Petrescu
Wonderful ! "The Faith"....
OSE music
Un canadien à la saveur mexicaine.
musael22
A song written by a patriot sentenced to exile after the trouble of 1837. Many were sent to Australia.
concars1234
a tous mes amis, je me souviens de vous, et je t'aime dans mon coeur