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Leonard Cohen citations
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Leonard Cohen /leɔnaʁ kɔˈɛn/ , né le 21 septembre 1934 à Westmount et mort le 7 novembre 2016,, à Los Angeles , est un auteur-compositeur-interprète, musicien, poète, romancier et peintre canadien.

Son premier recueil de poésies paraît à Montréal en 1956 et son premier roman en 1963.

Les premières chansons de Leonard Cohen sont ancrées dans la musique folk, et chantées avec une voix grave. Dans les années 1970, ses influences se multiplient : musique pop, de cabaret et du monde. Depuis les années 1980, il chante accompagné de synthétiseurs et de choristes.

Dans tous ses travaux, Leonard Cohen reprend souvent les mêmes thèmes : l'amour-passion, la religion, la solitude, la sexualité et la complexité des relations interpersonnelles. Leonard Cohen assume sa dépression chronique depuis longtemps et ne se l'est jamais cachée ni ne l'a jamais cachée, allant jusqu'à en parler aux journalistes rassemblés à l'occasion de la conférence de presse sur son album Old Ideas.

La poésie et les chansons de Leonard Cohen ont influencé de nombreux auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes et on compte plus de 1 500 reprises de ses chansons. Cohen est introduit au Panthéon de la musique canadienne en 1991, au Panthéon des Auteurs et Compositeurs canadiens en 2006, au Rock and Roll Hall of Fame en 2008. Il est un compagnon de l'ordre du Canada depuis 2003 et grand officier de l'Ordre national du Québec depuis 2008, les plus hautes distinctions décernées respectivement par le gouvernement du Canada et le gouvernement du Québec.

Son œuvre poétique a été récompensée par le Prix Prince des Asturies des Lettres 2011. Wikipedia  

✵ 21. septembre 1934 – 7. novembre 2016
Leonard Cohen photo
Leonard Cohen: 169   citations 0   J'aime

Leonard Cohen: Citations en anglais

“Rust rust rust
in the engines of love and time”

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Leonard Cohen livre Flowers for Hitler

"Front Lawn", Flowers for Hitler (1964)

“Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another.
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.”

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Leonard Cohen

"The Stranger Song"
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)

“I told you when I came I was a stranger.”

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Leonard Cohen

"The Stranger Song"
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)

“We're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening.
The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night.”

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Leonard Cohen

"Closing Time"
The Future (1992)

“Here I stand, I'm your man.”

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Leonard Cohen

"I'm Your Man"
I'm Your Man (1988)

“People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music.”

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Leonard Cohen

As quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)

“You can say that I've grown bitter but of this you can be sure.
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor.
And there's a mighty Judgement coming
but I may be wrong…”

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Leonard Cohen

"Tower Of Song"
I'm Your Man (1988)

“Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five.”

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Leonard Cohen

Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)

“I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.”

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Leonard Cohen

Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)

“They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.”

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Leonard Cohen

"First We Take Manhattan" (written in 1986) - Leonard Cohen video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTTC_fD598A - Jennifer Warnes & Leonard Cohen video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0rZ2CPCYBQ
I'm Your Man (1988)

“God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled…”

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Leonard Cohen livre Beautiful Losers

Beautiful Losers (1966)

“This is the very contrary of dropping out. Most people can't wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out.”

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Leonard Cohen

On his living at a Zen center, as quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)

“But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
that time cannot decay,
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U. S. A.”

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Leonard Cohen

"Democracy"
The Future (1992)

“And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty.”

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Leonard Cohen

As quoted in "2011's Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters" http://www.fpa.es/en/awards/2011/leonard-cohen-1/speech/

“And sometimes when the night is slow
The wretched and the meek
We gather up our hearts and go
A Thousand Kisses Deep.”

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Leonard Cohen

"A Thousand Kisses Deep" (2001)
Other Lyrics

“Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyesI thought it was there for good so I never triedAnd Jane came by with a lock of your hairShe said that you gave it to herThat night that you planned to go clearDid you ever go clear?”

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Leonard Cohen

Famous Blue Raincoat
Songs of Love and Hate (1971)

“It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation.”

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Leonard Cohen livre The Energy of Slaves

The Energy of Slaves (1972)

“Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.
Everybody knows that the captain lied...
And everybody knows that you're in trouble...
Everybody knows it's coming apart.
Take one last look...Before it blows.
Everybody knows”

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Leonard Cohen

"Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen and collaborator Sharon Robinson.
I'm Your Man (1988)

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