History TearJerker / LeonardCohen

** Add Creator/KateMcKinnon's gut-wrenching [[http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/11/13/saturday-ngiht-live-kate-mckinnons-hillary-clinton-delivers-tearjerker-hallelulah-performance/93755628/ version]] on the November 12, 2016 episode of Series/SaturdayNightLive .

With nothing on my tongue but hallelujah".

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah".\\
"Maybe there's a god above,\\
and all I ever learned from love\\
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you."\\
"And even though it all went wrong\\

** The title song, "You Want It Darker"

* In July 2016, Cohen learned that his one-time lover and muse Marianne Ihlen (namesake of "So Long Marianne") was gravely ill and close to death. He wrote to her, a letter she received shortly before she died.
--> Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.
** The reply moreso:
--> Dear Leonard

--> Marianne slept slowly out of this life yesterday evening. Totally at ease, surrounded by close friends.

--> Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her.

--> It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength. . . . In her last hour I held her hand and hummed “Bird on the Wire,” while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left the room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words.

--> So long, Marianne . . .
*** And true to his word, Cohen himself passed only four months later.

** But the chorus of "Anthem" has been known to bring [[HeartwarmingMoments tears of an entirely different type]]:

* "And what can I tell you, my brother, my killer, what could I possibly say? I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you, I'm glad you stood in my way..."
** Although, these lines from "Famous Blue Raincoat" from ''Music/SongsOfLoveAndHate'' may be even worse: "Thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes; I thought it was there for good, so I never tried." Then it's bam! Tears welling up every time.

** ''Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody got this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died.''

** The version by Music/JohnCale, used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', is particularly gut-wrenching - and probably more affecting than the Music/RufusWainwright version on the soundtrack album. Of course, when you're talking about this song, it's all relative...

*** And true to his word, Cohen himself passed only five months later.

* "Tower of Song": ''"I said to Music/HankWilliams, 'how lonely does it get?'/Hank Williams hasn't answered yet/But I hear him coughing all night long/A hundred floors above me in the tower of song..."''

** But the chorus of "Anthem" has been known to bring [[CrowningMomentOFHeartwarming tears of an entirely different type]]:

* "Bird On The Wire" from ''Music/SongsFromARoom'', sad all the way through, but contains what is going to be L. Cohen's epitaph:

** The apogee would have to the be the version turned out by the contestants and judges on TheVoice in tribute to the Sandy Hook victims.

** ''Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody knows this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died.''

* "Hallelujah" from ''Music/NewSkinForOldCeremony''. It's been CoveredUp a lot.

* "Hallelujah". It's been CoveredUp a lot.

** See TearJerker.ReginaSpektor for her version.
** And TearJerker.JeffBuckley for his version.
** And TearJerker.{{Voltaire}} for his.

* "Bird On The Wire", sad all the way through, but contains what is going to be L. Cohen's epitaph:
-->Like a bird on the wire\\

To be free
* Everybody knows the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor; the rich get rich. That's how it goes; everybody knows.
** Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody knows this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died.

** Although, these lines from "Famous Blue Raincoat" may be even worse: "Thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes; I thought it was there for good, so I never tried." Then it's bam! Tears welling up every time.

* "The Story of Isaac", full stop. ''I was running, he was walking, and his axe was made of burning gold.''
* "Suzanne"... It's not even necessary to quote anything. The nostalgic lyrics with the melancholic guitar, the Jesus parable, and Cohen's background for the song. Just sad.

-->I was handsome, I was strong
-->I knew the words to every song
-->"Did my singing please you?"
-->"No, the words you sang were wrong."

* "Hallelujah". It's been covered by virtually every artist in existence.

** The version by Music/JohnCale, used in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek'', is particularly gut-wrenching - and probably more affecting than the Music/RufusWainwright version on the soundtrack album. Of course, when you're talking about this song, it's all relative...

** The version by John Cale, used in ''Shrek'', is particularly gut-wrenching - and probably more affecting than the RufusWainwright version on the soundtrack album. Of course, when you're talking about this song, it's all relative...

* Another Cohen song would be "Stranger Song".
-->"And then leaning on your window sill\\

I told you when I came I was a stranger."

* Bird On The Wire, sad all the way through, but contains what is going to be L. Cohen's epitaph:

* "Tower of Song": ''"I said to Hank Williams, 'how lonely does it get?'/Hank Williams hasn't answered yet/But I hear him coughing all night long/A hundred floors above me in the tower of song..."''

* Suzanne... It's not even necessary to quote anything. The nostalgic lyrics with the melancholic guitar, the Jesus parable, and Cohen's background for the song. Just sad.

** And TearJerker.Voltaire for his.