Line #17 Music/SongsOfLeonardCohen


1	[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8aa977e26d2e27a8a3e0a30afccb8715.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:225:''"We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky..."'']]
3
4	->''"For now I need your hidden love\
5	I'm cold as a new razor blade\
6	You left when I told you I was curious\
7	I never said that I was brave"''
8	-->-- '''So Long, Marianne'''
9
10	''Songs of Leonard Cohen'' is the debut album by Music/LeonardCohen, released in 1967 through Creator/ColumbiaRecords. Cohen was already established as a published poet; his first book of poetry, ''Let Us Compare Mythologies'', was published in 1956, eleven years before ''Songs of Leonard Cohen''. He was persuaded by Music/JudyCollins, amongst others, to set some of his poems to music. Collins had already adapted and recorded Cohen's poem "Suzanne Takes You Down", from his 1966 collection ''Parasites Of Heaven'', as "Suzanne" for her 1966 album ''In My Life'', and the song kicks off this album. ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'' set the tone for much of Cohen's career; the songs are predominantly melancholy and deal with parting, depression, self-harm and suicide, but also feature interwoven themes of sex, religion and politics with a dry and self-effacing wit and intelligent, profound lyrics. It also established a pattern of being much more popular in Europe than in his native North America.
11
12	Three of the songs in this album were used as the musical accompaniment for Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/McCabeAndMrsMiller'': "The Stranger Song", "Sisters of Mercy", and "Winter Lady".
13
14	----
15	!! Tracklist:
16	[[AC: Side One]]
17	# "Suzanne" - 3:48
18	# "Master Song" - 5:55
19	# "Winter Lady" - 2:15
20	# "The Stranger Song" - 5:00
21	# "Sisters of Mercy" - 3:32
22
23	[[AC: Side Two]]
24	[numlist:6]
25	# "So Long, Marianne" - 5:38
26	# "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" - 2:55
27	# "Stories of the Street" - 4:35
28	# "Teachers" - 3:01
29	# "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" - 4:23
30	[/numlist]
31	----
32	!!Tropes associated with this album:
33
34	* AlliterativeTitle: "The '''S'''tranger '''S'''ong", "'''S'''tories of the '''S'''treet".
35	* AntiLoveSong:
36	** "Winter Lady"
37	-->''Trav'ling lady stay awhile\
38	until the night is over.\
39	I'm just a station on your way,\
40	I know I'm not your lover.''
41	* AsTheGoodBookSays:
42	** "Suzanne"
43	--->''And Jesus was a sailor\
44	When he walked upon the water\
45	And he spent a long time watching\
46	From his lonely wooden tower\
47	And when he knew for certain\
48	Only drowning men could see him\
49	He said "All men will be sailors then\
50	Until the sea shall free them"\
51	But he himself was broken\
52	Long before the sky would open\
53	Forsaken, almost human\
54	He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone\
55	And you want to travel with him\
56	And you want to travel blind\
57	And you think maybe you'll trust him\
58	For he's touched your perfect body with his mind''.
59	** "Stranger Song"
60	--->''He was just some Joseph looking for a manger''
61	* BigEater: "Teachers"
62	-->''I ate and ate and ate\
63	no I did not miss a plate''
64	-->''Several girls embraced me then\
65	I was embraced by men\
66	Is my passion perfect?\
67	'No, do it once again''.
68	* BreakupSong:
69	** "Winter Lady": although he wants her to come back to bed and stay for a while longer.
70	** "So Long Marianne":
71	--->''It's time we began / to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh, about it all again''.
72	** "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye":
73	--->''But now it's come to distances and both of us must try''.
74	* ButNowIMustGo: "Stranger Song".
75	-->''And then leaning on your window sill\
76	he'll say one day you caused his will\
77	to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter\
78	And then taking from his wallet\
79	an old schedule of trains, he'll say\
80	I told you when I came I was a stranger\
81	I told you when I came I was a stranger.''
82	* CharacterTitle: "Suzanne" and "So Long Marianne".
83	* CoverVersion: ZigZagged with "Suzanne". It was published by Cohen as a poem, but previously recorded as a song by both Music/JudyCollins and Music/JoniMitchell. So he covered a song he wrote the words to, in essence.
84	* CrapsackWorld: "Stories of the Street":
85	--> ''The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas''.
86	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The black-and-white album cover is not only monochrome but sepia-tinted. something that suggested old-fashionedness even in 1967. Cohen was 33 when the album appeared, not exactly in the first flush of youth for a rock star.
87	* DownerEnding: It's all relative, as there aren't many upper moments. But:
88	** "Winter Lady": Ends with the singer pleading with his one-night-stand to come back for the rest of the night even as she stands in the doorway ready to leave.
89	** The whole album concludes with "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong", which ends with something like a wail of despair. Although the song does have an air of tongue-in-cheek self-parody about it.
90	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Stories of the Street":
91	--> ''I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come\
92	The cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone\
93	But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk\
94	All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us?\
95	And where do all these highways go, now that we are free?\
96	Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me?''
97	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: All of the songs on the album were written and performed by Cohen.
98	* FaceOnTheCover: Unsmiling, sepia-tinted and framed in black. Don't expect a bundle of laughs. Which isn't to say there aren't any.
99	* FreudianTrio: "Master Song" can be construed as being about conflicts between aspects of the personality.
100	* TheGambler: "The Stranger Song" uses poker as a metaphor for an abusive relationship.
101	* IntercourseWithYou: "Suzanne", based on Cohen's real-life relationship with Montreal social hostess Suzanne Verdal. Both Cohen and Verdal have publicly averred that their relationship was strictly platonic and the sexual implications were pure (or impure if you prefer) wishful thinking on Leonard's part.
102	* LyricalDissonance: "So Long Marianne" is rather jaunty, especially by Cohen's standards. So the references to depression and suicide come as quite a shock.
103	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: "Suzanne", she shows the narrator all the secret places around the docks, is "kinda crazy", and almost becomes a kind of mythic figure by the end of the song.
104	* NaughtyNuns: In "The Sisters of Mercy" the sisters take your confession as you lie down beside them.
105	* NonAppearingTitle: The album title does not appear in any of the songs. More surprisingly, the song title does not appear in the lyrics of "Master Song", "Winter Lady", "The Stranger Song" or "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong".
106	* OneWomanSong: "Suzanne" and "So Long Marianne".
107	* OneWordTitle: "Teachers"
108	* ProductPlacement: "Stories Of The Street"
109	-->''The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas''
110	* RummageSaleReject: "Suzanne" is described as "wearing rags and feathers / from Salvation Army counters."
111	* SecondPersonNarration: "The Stranger Song"
112	* SelfTitledAlbum: "Songs of Leonard Cohen".
113	* ShoutOut: "Suzanne" was covered in Dutch, by Herman Van Veen.
114	* TheSomethingSong: "The Stranger Song".
115	* WordSaladLyrics: All the way through, but "Teachers" in particular takes some unravelling. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" starts to sound like he's playing with his audience.

Context Music / SongsOfLeonardCohen