You Want It Darker

I was given an advance copy of You Want It Darker a week or so before its release; it has been a pretty constant companion ever since and I'm still enjoying it immensely. Old Ideas was a masterpiece in my view, but I wasn't nearly so impressed with Popular Problems and wondered whether Leonard Cohen had another really good album in him. He had. This is it.

Aged 82 now, Cohen is looking death squarely in the face throughout this album which has a very valedictory feel to it. The images of getting out of the game and the flame going out each occur in two separate songs, he sings "I'm angry and I'm tired all the time," and so on, and he's still dealing with the ideas of sin, grace and resignation which have underpinned so much of his work for so long. I'm pleased to see the old social bite still there among the spirituality in lines like "As he died to make men holy, Let us die to make things cheap," and there's rage against those who use religion as an excuse for hate, killing and oppression, ("I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim"), as well as a wry take on his…er…lively sexual past: “I don’t need a lover; the wretched beast is tame.”

A large part of what makes Cohen's songs and lyrics so great (and I don't use that word lightly here) is that he often works less by addressing an idea directly and more by allusion and suggestion which, with his genuine poetic ability, allows him sometimes to express something of the inexpressible. This means that it is often a mistake to try to ascribe too specific a meaning to his lyrics, but it seems to me that throughout much of this album, even while talking about love and relationships, Cohen contemplating his own mortality, and wrestling with his relationship with his God, which has never been an easy one. Lines like "I'm so sorry for that ghost I made you be, Only one of us was real and that was me," and "A million candles burning for the help that never came" show that's still true; he isn't expecting an easy, loving reconciliation and is possibly expecting nothing at all. It is met with typical Cohen insight and honesty which permeates the whole album and which I find very powerful and profoundly moving.

You Want It Darker was produced by Cohen's son Adam, who has done a superb job, I think. The sound isn't quite what we've become used to; there's rather less of the female backing sound from the likes of the Webb Sisters, for example, and there are strings and choirs (some with a Gospel tinge) in places, and also a good deal of mournful, Klezmer influenced violin (not a plywood one, judging by its lovely sound). The arrangements and production serve the songs and Cohen's performances beautifully and Leonard himself sort-of-speaks, sort-of-sings much of the time, while managing to imply the melody somehow. As we all know, he was born with the gift of a golden voice, and it sounds fabulous here. Of course it's weary and full of cracks, but there's still a magnificent depth to it - a sort of whispered basso profundo - and he puts these songs across like the master he is. The effect of the whole thing is absolutely mesmerising.

Old Ideas closed with Cohen in Old Tom Cat mode with Different Sides. You Want It Darker ends very differently with an absolutely stunning reprise of Treaty, superbly arranged for string quartet and with Cohen reciting just a few lines, sounding rather like Last Words, to close the song and the album. It's a masterstroke, I think; it's a perfect summing up of the mood of the album and leaves me moved and in silence every time I listen to it.

It may be too early to use words like "masterpiece," but I strongly suspect that time will show You Want It Darker to be among Cohen's finest work. I hope very much that this isn't to be his last album, but if it is, it's a fitting way for one of the very greatest of singer-songwriters to bow out. I think this is a real gem.

Addendum, 11th November 2016:

When we were very young
We all played and sang and loved your songs
And you have spoken to me ever since.

Half a lifetime later
And much too soon,
When my lovely, lovely sister’s
Wasted and mutilated body finally failed
She asked that you should sing her into the fire.

Your music has sounded throughout my life
And you have spoken wisdom to me.
Your chords have pleased the Lord;
May He be good to you
And in your heavenly mansion
May there be tea and oranges
And an unmade bed.

I wish you peace.

Moments ago, I read that Leonard Cohen had died. For the last weeks, since the death of Marianne , I anticipated the gracefulness of his exit. He told us the time had come and so it has. If grief can be extended to one never really known to me, I felt a loss in the parts of my memory that held his words. He was the weaver of the dreams that comes this way but once. He was the paladin of life's emotions. Tonight I will listen to his songs. see his face, hear his voice. I will let him pass by me as slowly as i can. And in the moment before I wrote this , I listened to " You Want It Darker" and closed the light. It comes to us all but I wanted Leonard to sing so sweetly to his Lord that he would stay with us just a bit longer.

If you were wondering if Leonard Cohen’s latest CD “You Want It Darker” would be just some half-hearted musings by an old man in the night of his life, have no fear. This CD is terrific in every way: from the lyrics, the backup vocals, the fantastic instrumental playing, and the beautifully packaged CD. Unlike some recording artists, Mr. Cohen, who is also a visual artist, seems to put as much thought into the photography and artwork as he does his always beautiful lyrics. (In this instance Cohen’s photograph is by his son Adam whose help he maintains was crucial in getting the CD finished.) Leonard for years has used great backup vocals that complement his bass voice. On this CD he is joined by Alison Krause, Dana Glover, Athena Andreadis, Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Chorus and (as the social media folk would say “OMG”) Cantor Gideon Y. Zelermyer (on the title cut “You Want it Darker.”)

The nine offerings are all exquisitely gorgeous. The lyrics are quintessential Cohen. As always, he tells all the truth but with a slant. His Bible imagery has the usual Cohen twist: “I seen you change the water into wine/I seen you change it back into water too.” He writes about love (when it works and when it doesn’t), resignation, peace in old age, death—and with such beautiful imagery. “If I Didn’t Have Your Love” is a prime example: “If the stars were all unpinned/And a cold and bitter wind/Swallowed up the world/Without a trace“ is poetry of the highest order. Although I like all the songs, “You Want It Darker” barely edges out “Treaty” as my favorite after several listenings, at least for today. It has to be listened to to be believed. Here are the first two verses:

If you want it darker
I’m out of the game;
If you are the healer
I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory
Then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Magnified and sanctified
Be Thy Holy Name
Vilified and crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Henini Henini (Translated from the Hebrew: “Here Am I.”)
I’m ready, my Lord

If this CD is Mr. Cohen’s swan song—and we hope not-- it is a glorious finish to a long and distinguished career. (I would have given him the Nobel Prize for Literature along with Bob Dylan so there would have been a tie.) To paraphrase W. H. Auden’s words on the death of William Butler Yeats, the day of his death will be a dark cold day.

This is absolutely one of Leonard Cohen's best albums, which is saying an awful lot. The songs are achingly beautiful. He returns to familiar themes but with new twists. If it is his last album then this is exactly the way to say goodbye.