Leonard Cohen 9/21/1934 – 11/10/2016

by Bryan

10 comments

1 Badtux { 11.11.16 at 1:37 am }

At least he went out on a high note. “You Want It Darker” is good. *REALLY* good. As good as — or better than — anything he ever did before it. I am glad that his son Adam, got to spend the year with him to make it with his dad, and I am glad that he got to see it released to vast critical acclaim and at least modest sales before he took that final trip to join his beloved Marianne in death.

2 Bryan { 11.11.16 at 12:42 pm }

Joan Baez covers introduced me to his music. Like a lot of singer-songwriters, their songs usually start out better known than they are.

3 JuanitaM { 11.11.16 at 9:44 pm }

I spent a portion of yesterday evening listening to his music. As a result, I have been hearing “So long, Marianne” in the back of my mind today, over and over. As earworms go, it’s a lovely one.

Rest in peace.

4 Bryan { 11.12.16 at 9:53 pm }

You have to listen ‘hard’ to understand where he is going, and it will probably be quite different places for different people. If you are going to have an earworm, his songs are much better than most.

5 Badtux { 11.13.16 at 6:38 pm }

Cohen apparently died before the 10th. The 10th was when they announced it. Apparently they waited until he had been buried with a traditional Jewish ritual in the family plot in Montreal before they made the announcement, in hopes of preventing the funeral and burial from becoming a zoo.

I am glad that he got to be with his daughter and son so much in his final two years — he lived with his daughter, his son lived just down the street and was there every day. Spending time with a dying parent who has all their wits still about them and enough time to wrap things up is a blessing of which we are too often deprived.

6 Bryan { 11.13.16 at 9:09 pm }

He spent a lot of time touring in order to make up for what he lost by fraud/mismanagement, so it was good that he died at home surrounded by family. Both of my parents died at home under hospice supervision. It made it possible to say what needed saying.

If they chose a traditional Jewish funeral and internment, that would have been impossible with a mass of people.

7 Badtux { 11.15.16 at 9:57 am }

I doubt his service was traditional traditional, because getting his body from Los Angeles to Montreal to be interred in the family plot would have required embalming, which is prohibited under Orthodox tradition. But the tradition of sitting shiva for three days likely would have still applied. So he likely died on the 7th, and the announcement was made after the three days.

8 Bryan { 11.15.16 at 7:17 pm }

Yes, the embalming is prohibited by a lot of different sects, but it is definitely required to cross a national border. The burial needs to occur within 3 days, but the family sits shiva for a week.

9 Badtux { 11.15.16 at 10:11 pm }

Reform Jews tend to sit shiva for three days, not a week. Orthodox Jews, of course, sit for a week. I have no idea what Conservative Jews sit, maybe they split the difference like in most things Jewish heh. I have no idea what variety his family is, other than that they’re not Orthodox (embalming would pretty much preclude that).

10 Bryan { 11.16.16 at 11:38 am }

I have only known Conservative and Orthodox Jews well, from being neighbors, landlords, and working with them. I’m sure that some of the people I knew were Reformed, but so Reformed it wasn’t apparent they were Jewish. Using Yiddish phrases in New York indicates you are from ‘The City’ more than you are Jewish.