Leonard Cohen Is Your Man

The half documentary, half tribute concert for Leonard Cohen, appropriately titled Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man was by no means a great movie, but it did manage to get me into Mr. Cohen's music more.

I'm sure most people would recognize the tune "Hallelujah" because it has been covered countless times, and has been used in a plethora of movies. But have you heard the original recording, sung by the man who wrote it? Well if you have then you've heard Leonard Cohen. Before seeing this movie, that song was one of the only ones I had heard by him. Now I'm starting to understand what I've been missing out on. Leonard Cohen's songwriting puts him in the same ring with other greats like Conor Oberst, Tom Waits, and the greatest of them all- Bob Dylan.

It is a pity that the only documentary I've seen about him turned out to not be a good one, but then again it shouldn't be a big surprise because it's rare that I find a documentary I really like. I did enjoy just listening to him speak though. Leonard Cohen seems like a man who knows a little something more about life than the rest of us and that's why you really pay attention to him. I found out that he even became a monk for awhile. He is quite unique and intriguing

The other half of the movie, the tribute concert, was mostly unmemorable. There were multiple performers but only one I had ever heard of (that would be Rufus Wainwright.) He and his sister Martha Wainwright did exceptional covers of a few of Cohen's songs. It was nice to hear other people singing Cohen's music because to tell you the truth even an up and coming fan like myself, I find that Leonard Cohen's voice can be confusing. I'm not always 100% blown away by it, so other people singing his poetry is alright by me.

Two of the members of the band U2, Bono and The Edge, made appearances in the movie. They both have been greatly influenced by Cohen. The Edge describes Cohen as if he were a religious figure. Bono says he has been humbled and humiliated by him. Bono also says that his favorite song by Leonard Cohen is "Tower of Song" which contains the lyric, "I was born like this, I had no choice, I was born with the gift of a golden voice." That may seem conceited to say about yourself, but I totally agree with him when he sings it. Here is his golden voice -





I would recommend you to skip the movie Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man because anything in it that is worth seeing is already chopped up into parts and put onto youtube. However, I would recommend you to listen to the music of Leonard Cohen, because I'm starting to really get into him myself. I'm a sucker for stand-out vocalists and adept songwriters, so he really sparks my interest. Here is one of his songs that I've fallen in love with recently -