UNDER THE INFLUENCE: MONTREAL ARTISTS REFLECT ON LEONARD COHEN
Li’l Andy on Everybody Knows and I’m Your Man, which he’ll be performing Thursday:
“Everybody Knows describes the predicament that a lot of us feel that we’re in, in the world. A lot of us feel that things are horribly wrong and unjust, things are very sorrowful and there’s a lot of evil out there; but even though everyone is aware of that, we have to go about living our lives. “I’m Your Man is special because it both accentuates and adds hefty grains of salt to his reputation of being a ladies’ man. He’s not putting himself across as a great Casanova. He’s saying, ‘Whatever you want me to be, I will become that for you.’”
Brad Barr on Beautiful Losers:
“I read it right away upon moving to Montreal in 2005. It flipped my head upside down. I couldn’t believe it was the same person (as the guy who wrote the albums New Skin for the Old Ceremony and Songs From a Room). I was amazed by how incredibly raunchy he is in that book, how fearless he is. I had never read anything that poetic in prose form. I think I read it 2 1/2 times in a twoyear period. Since then, I’m always checking in with him — he and Bob Dylan are always standing over my shoulder.”
Basia Bulat on her introduction to Cohen:
“He was one of my first musical experiences outside of stuff I was listening to as a kid. I had a very dear friend who on the first day of high school got me three CDs. Two were very Montreal — Rufus Wainwright and Leonard Cohen; the other one was Belle and Sebastian. That was what we listened to that year. She had just got her driver’s licence and we drove around listening to Leonard Cohen.”
Rawi Hage on Cohen’s broad appeal:
“I’m a fan of his music, of his life and of his intellect. He’s a Montrealer. There’s something esoteric and accessible about his music. He’s a man who was constantly searching (and asking) the big questions. I think he was searching in many venues, whether through Judaism or Buddhism. He came to a point where he integrated his own way through many philosophies and religions.”
Cantor Gideon Zelermyer on being asked to sing on Cohen’s final album, You Want It Darker:
“To be part of his legacy puts everything in perspective. Wow — it’s amazing. He reached back to his roots. (The album) is an homage to his Montreal congregation. To have that be recognized in that way was very special to me, to the choir and to the (Jewish) community.”