When I was a teenager, I remember hearing “Suzanne,” by Leonard Cohen, for the first time. I was haunted – by the sound of Cohen’s voice, by the images in the song. I never became a HUGE fan – I liked his music a lot, but didn’t particularly educate myself either about his life or his non-musical oeuvre. I was content simply to enjoy his music.
A week or so ago, T and I saw him at the new Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. (Somehow, coincidentally, unexpectedly, bizarrely, we found ourselves seated – literally – next to L. As in, T and L shared an armrest. Hysterical. Crazy.)
Anyway, it was, for me a bit of a revelation.
Cohen is, if you don’t know,a 78-year-old Jewish balladeer and poet and novelist and former zen monk from Montreal. His voice is deep, scratchy, resonant. Sort of like Tom Waits on a lot of valium. And without Waits’s antipathy to tonality. Cohen’s voice is, in fact, beautiful, in an utterly idiosyncratic way.
I knew all of that before last night.
What I hadn’t known – perhaps because I simply hadn’t been paying attention – is that he’s not just a great musician, he’s a sex god.
I will tell you – I don’t think I have ever seen anything as sexy as him reciting the lyrics to his song, “A Thousand Kisses Deep.”
When he finished, I looked over – at T, and at L. Both of them were melted, L literally fanning herself. I felt much the same way.
It was just awesome.
Cohen is one of my favourite singers. I met him years ago just by chance. I happened to see him sitting on a restaurant patio on Canada day. He is extremely sweet and polite. I have never seen him live but I’ve heard he introduces his band members constantly.
As for his voice, he is one of the sexiest voices I know… deep, resonating. Not to mention that mind to create the lyrics, certain poems he has written to music are beyond sexy.
He’s EXACTLY like Tom Waits on valium. Genius description.
Thank you!
Yup. Awesome.
I have just recently discovered “A 1000 Kisses Deep” and love it. I’m so jealous!