Leonard Cohen : hallelujah : a new biography / Tim Footman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Footman, Tim.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cohen, Leonard, 1934-2016.

Cohen, Leonard.

Lyricists--Canada--Biography.

Lyricists.

Singers--Canada--Biography.

Singers.

Canada.

Poets, Canadian--20th century--Biography.

Poets, Canadian.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

272 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New Malden, Surrey : Chrome Dreams, 2009.

Summary:

A man of many hats, Leonard Cohen - currently in his mid seventies - is so much more than the consummate songwriter and performer most eagerly associated with his name. On top of the hugely influential music and poetry, and the shows that even now receive enormous critical acclaim, Cohen is a novelist of considerable repute, a master of dry but hilarious comedy - always ready with an amusing anecdote - and an explorer of his inner being, having spent five years in the 1990s at a Buddhist Monastery, meditating for up to 12 hours a day. All of which - and plenty more besides - make for one of the most enthralling stories in all of contemporary music.

Authoritative but often wryly amusing, this book tells the whole Cohen story from his birth in 1934 through to his triumphant 2009 concert tour. Featuring numerous new and exclusive interviews with some of Cohen's key associates and including brand new research which reveals many previously unreported details, Leonard Cohen; Hallelujah - A New Biography will remain the standard work on the man for many years to come.

Contents:

Chapter 1 I want to be the kind of hero 13

Chapter 2 The Montreal poem factory 20

Chapter 3 How many people in this city 27

Chapter 4 European monasteries 31

Chapter 5 The Spanish voices laugh 36

Chapter 6 On the very threshold of greatness 41

Chapter 7 The gargoyles of guilt 48

Chapter 8 He wants to trade the game he knows for shelter 55

Chapter 9 She gets you on her wavelength 63

Chapter 10 The beauty of the word 72

Chapter 11 A saint does not dissolve the chaos 79

Chapter 12 When I am on a pedestal 82

Chapter 13 I am only whispering 87

Chapter 14 Let's all get even 93

Chapter 15 Because it is so horrible between us 101

Chapter 16 My masterpiece unsigned 109

Chapter 17 Complain, complain, that's all you've done 116

Chapter 18 I ache in the places where I used to play 122

Chapter 19 And the mountain's going to shout amen 129

Chapter 20 The bad monk 139

Chapter 21 Live my life in Babylon 147

Chapter 22 Exceptionally kind in my old age 152

Chapter 23 It's been hell, it's been swell 157

Chapter 24 We're busted in the blinding lights 162.

Notes:

Includes discography (pages 236-258), bibliography (pages 259-264) and index.

ISBN:

9781842404720

1842404725

OCLC:

368032631