1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:23,153 --> 00:00:25,721 [CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 4 00:00:29,768 --> 00:00:32,380 [BAND PLAYING "HALLELUJAH"] 5 00:00:41,867 --> 00:00:46,611 ♪ Yeah, I've heard that There was a secret chord ♪ 6 00:00:46,785 --> 00:00:50,572 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 7 00:00:50,746 --> 00:00:55,359 ♪ But you don't really Care for music ♪ 8 00:00:55,533 --> 00:00:56,534 ♪ Do you? ♪ 9 00:00:59,407 --> 00:01:04,325 ♪ Well, it goes like this The fourth, the fifth ♪ 10 00:01:04,499 --> 00:01:08,807 ♪ The minor fall The major lift ♪ 11 00:01:08,981 --> 00:01:14,291 ♪ The baffled king composing Hallelujah ♪ 12 00:01:16,772 --> 00:01:20,297 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 13 00:01:20,471 --> 00:01:24,606 COHEN: The word "Hallelujah," of course, is so rich. 14 00:01:24,780 --> 00:01:27,087 It's so abundant in resonances. 15 00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:31,047 People have been singing that word 16 00:01:31,221 --> 00:01:33,571 for thousands of years, 17 00:01:33,745 --> 00:01:37,097 just to affirm our little journey here. 18 00:01:38,968 --> 00:01:41,057 ♪ I did my best ♪ 19 00:01:41,231 --> 00:01:43,190 ♪ It wasn't much ♪ 20 00:01:43,364 --> 00:01:47,107 ♪ I couldn't feel So I tried to touch ♪ 21 00:01:47,281 --> 00:01:49,152 ♪ I've told the truth ♪ 22 00:01:49,326 --> 00:01:51,546 ♪ I didn't come to fool you... ♪ 23 00:01:53,504 --> 00:01:55,289 CLARKSON: I just love the whole song 24 00:01:55,463 --> 00:02:00,032 'cause it seems to me to sum up so much of what Leonard is. 25 00:02:00,207 --> 00:02:02,296 ROBINSON: This relationship with God 26 00:02:02,470 --> 00:02:05,212 that he struggled with so much... 27 00:02:05,386 --> 00:02:08,040 He's taking one part Biblical, 28 00:02:08,215 --> 00:02:11,653 one part the woman he slept with last night. 29 00:02:11,827 --> 00:02:15,004 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 30 00:02:15,178 --> 00:02:17,659 FINLEY: He expresses that being alone with the divine 31 00:02:17,833 --> 00:02:20,183 is what can redeem us. 32 00:02:20,357 --> 00:02:23,360 SLOMAN: He was always a spiritual seeker. 33 00:02:23,534 --> 00:02:24,883 And that gave him a dimension 34 00:02:25,057 --> 00:02:28,452 that most rock stars couldn't even fathom. 35 00:02:28,626 --> 00:02:31,020 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 36 00:02:32,282 --> 00:02:38,419 CHOIR: ♪ Hallelu... 37 00:02:38,593 --> 00:02:41,770 ♪ ...jah ♪ 38 00:02:51,954 --> 00:02:53,912 It's nice of you to greet my records so warmly. 39 00:02:54,086 --> 00:02:55,305 You've been doing this for a long time. 40 00:02:55,479 --> 00:02:57,612 Oh, yeah. 41 00:02:57,786 --> 00:02:59,788 COHEN: They always suggest writers 42 00:02:59,962 --> 00:03:01,964 and I always say, "Get Larry Sloman to do this, 43 00:03:02,138 --> 00:03:03,531 he's the only one who gets it." 44 00:03:03,705 --> 00:03:04,967 [COHEN CHUCKLES] 45 00:03:05,141 --> 00:03:10,581 In some respects, I was Patient Zero 46 00:03:10,755 --> 00:03:14,237 in this virus that became "Hallelujah." 47 00:03:15,804 --> 00:03:18,110 So four years ago, 48 00:03:18,285 --> 00:03:20,417 I'm sitting in your house 49 00:03:20,591 --> 00:03:23,507 and what amazed me was when you showed me your books. 50 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:27,903 The documentation of these songs 51 00:03:28,077 --> 00:03:31,559 and how these songs go through this amazing process. 52 00:03:31,733 --> 00:03:33,735 Especially with a song like "Hallelujah." 53 00:03:35,954 --> 00:03:39,654 I mean, book after book after book with verses. 54 00:03:39,828 --> 00:03:43,875 COHEN: Well, I always thought that I sweated over this stuff. 55 00:03:44,049 --> 00:03:46,661 But I had no idea what sweating over this stuff meant 56 00:03:46,835 --> 00:03:50,317 until I found myself in a shabby room 57 00:03:50,491 --> 00:03:52,710 at the Royalton Hotel, 58 00:03:52,884 --> 00:03:55,539 trying to finish "Hallelujah" 59 00:03:57,541 --> 00:04:00,196 and not being able to finish it. 60 00:04:00,370 --> 00:04:05,506 And I remember being in my underwear, on the carpet, 61 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,335 banging my head against the floor, 62 00:04:08,509 --> 00:04:11,120 and saying, "I can't do it anymore." 63 00:04:11,294 --> 00:04:13,949 "It's too lonely, it's too hard." 64 00:04:14,123 --> 00:04:17,257 Do you think everybody takes this much care with a pop song? 65 00:04:23,045 --> 00:04:25,874 SLOMAN: You know, you can't begin to understand "Hallelujah" 66 00:04:26,048 --> 00:04:29,181 without investigating the long, winding path 67 00:04:29,356 --> 00:04:30,879 that got Leonard to a place 68 00:04:31,053 --> 00:04:34,448 where he could tackle a song like that. 69 00:04:34,622 --> 00:04:38,278 I-I mean, Leonard didn't really even start writing songs 70 00:04:38,452 --> 00:04:40,323 until he was about 30. 71 00:04:45,763 --> 00:04:48,288 SOLES: This month, a new book was published in Canada, 72 00:04:48,462 --> 00:04:53,293 the titleBeautiful Losers, the author Leonard Cohen. 73 00:04:53,467 --> 00:04:56,121 There are those of the audience who know Leonard Cohen 74 00:04:56,296 --> 00:04:58,210 perhaps primarily as a poet. 75 00:04:58,385 --> 00:05:02,780 His eyes through my eyes Shine brighter than love 76 00:05:02,954 --> 00:05:06,306 O send out the raven Ahead of the dove... 77 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,612 CLARKSON: Leonard, in fact, wishes not to be a poet 78 00:05:08,786 --> 00:05:10,745 but a kind of modern minstrel. 79 00:05:10,919 --> 00:05:13,748 He's become very excited by the music of the mid '60s. 80 00:05:13,922 --> 00:05:16,185 And recently, his joys and sorrows of living 81 00:05:16,359 --> 00:05:18,883 have come forth as simple, beautiful 82 00:05:19,057 --> 00:05:21,016 and sometimes sad songs. 83 00:05:21,190 --> 00:05:22,322 Let's listen to one of them. 84 00:05:24,062 --> 00:05:26,674 [COHEN PLAYING "THE STRANGER SONG" ON GUITAR] 85 00:05:26,848 --> 00:05:29,938 ♪ It's true That all the men you knew ♪ 86 00:05:30,112 --> 00:05:32,723 ♪ Were dealers who said They were through ♪ 87 00:05:32,897 --> 00:05:36,597 ♪ With stealing every time You gave them shelter... ♪ 88 00:05:36,771 --> 00:05:39,251 CLARKSON: That was the very first time he sang on television. 89 00:05:39,426 --> 00:05:40,992 The novel was coming out. 90 00:05:41,166 --> 00:05:43,255 And then they said, "He's going to sing too." 91 00:05:43,430 --> 00:05:45,040 And we said, "Oh, sure. Why not? 92 00:05:45,214 --> 00:05:47,956 And then we'll talk about the novel." 93 00:05:48,130 --> 00:05:50,698 You must admit that, for other people looking at you, 94 00:05:50,872 --> 00:05:52,700 Leonard Cohen, the poet, the novelist, 95 00:05:52,874 --> 00:05:55,746 the scion of a Jewish family from Montreal, 96 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,270 pop singer and writer of pop songs... 97 00:05:58,445 --> 00:05:59,924 All of these things, um, 98 00:06:00,098 --> 00:06:01,491 they may certainly add up to Leonard Cohen, 99 00:06:01,665 --> 00:06:04,842 but they do look rather complex at first. 100 00:06:05,016 --> 00:06:09,064 Well, I think, that, uh, you know, the, um... 101 00:06:09,238 --> 00:06:14,286 The borders have-- Have faded between a lot of endeavors, 102 00:06:14,461 --> 00:06:16,941 like the poet or the singer. 103 00:06:17,115 --> 00:06:19,161 All those kinds of expression, 104 00:06:19,335 --> 00:06:21,076 I think are completely meaningless. 105 00:06:21,250 --> 00:06:22,643 They don't mean anything to me. 106 00:06:22,817 --> 00:06:25,602 It's just a matter of what your hand falls on. 107 00:06:25,776 --> 00:06:28,126 And if you can make what your hand falls on sing, 108 00:06:28,300 --> 00:06:30,302 then you can just do it... 109 00:06:30,477 --> 00:06:32,783 CLARKSON: I didn't know him very well then. 110 00:06:32,957 --> 00:06:34,959 I didn't know whether he would hang in there with it. 111 00:06:35,133 --> 00:06:37,875 After all, I knew, and everybody did know, 112 00:06:38,049 --> 00:06:41,531 that he came from a wealthy family in Montreal, 113 00:06:41,705 --> 00:06:44,316 that he'd grown up in a lot of privilege, 114 00:06:44,491 --> 00:06:46,275 and was he a dilettante? 115 00:06:46,449 --> 00:06:48,625 Was he going to drop this and say, 116 00:06:48,799 --> 00:06:50,671 "Maybe I'll study law"? Or whatever. 117 00:06:52,499 --> 00:06:55,066 ♪ And leaning On the window sill ♪ 118 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,809 ♪ He'll say one day You caused his will to weaken ♪ 119 00:06:58,983 --> 00:07:02,030 ♪ With your love and warmth And shelter ♪ 120 00:07:02,204 --> 00:07:04,728 ♪ And then taking From his wallet ♪ 121 00:07:04,902 --> 00:07:07,252 ♪ An old schedule of trains ♪ 122 00:07:07,427 --> 00:07:11,300 ♪ He'll say, "I told you when I came I was a stranger" ♪ 123 00:07:12,867 --> 00:07:13,694 ♪ "I told you when..." ♪ 124 00:07:13,868 --> 00:07:15,391 COHEN: I came down to New York 125 00:07:15,565 --> 00:07:17,872 and I visited some agents, and they'd say: 126 00:07:18,046 --> 00:07:20,788 "Turn around, kid, aren't you too old for this game?" 127 00:07:20,962 --> 00:07:23,181 I was 32 at the time. 128 00:07:23,355 --> 00:07:25,445 And I didn't have very much success 129 00:07:25,619 --> 00:07:27,316 in getting the ear of anyone. 130 00:07:27,490 --> 00:07:29,361 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 131 00:07:33,583 --> 00:07:35,063 COLLINS: Please welcome with me 132 00:07:35,237 --> 00:07:40,198 a great songwriter, poet, novelist and friend, 133 00:07:40,372 --> 00:07:41,286 Leonard Cohen. 134 00:07:41,461 --> 00:07:43,811 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 135 00:07:43,985 --> 00:07:46,161 INTERVIEWER: So, Judy, how did you and Leonard Cohen 136 00:07:46,335 --> 00:07:47,510 wind up on this stage together? 137 00:07:49,512 --> 00:07:51,862 Oh, my... 138 00:07:52,036 --> 00:07:55,692 Well, Leonard came to me in 1966, 139 00:07:55,866 --> 00:07:58,652 and he said, "I can't sing and I can't play the guitar, 140 00:07:58,826 --> 00:08:01,002 and I don't know if this is a song." And then he... 141 00:08:01,176 --> 00:08:03,570 [PLAYING "SUZANNE" ON PIANO]He sang me "Suzanne." 142 00:08:05,485 --> 00:08:06,529 [CHUCKLES SOFTLY] 143 00:08:06,703 --> 00:08:08,400 And I said, after he finished: 144 00:08:08,575 --> 00:08:11,665 "Well, that is a song and I'm recording it tomorrow." 145 00:08:11,839 --> 00:08:15,233 [PLAYING "SUZANNE" ON GUITAR] 146 00:08:15,407 --> 00:08:17,845 COHEN: It's a great thing, because I had played it 147 00:08:18,019 --> 00:08:19,803 for somebody in Montreal, and they said: 148 00:08:19,977 --> 00:08:22,763 "No, there's a lot of songs like that." 149 00:08:22,937 --> 00:08:27,594 ♪ Suzanne takes your hand ♪ 150 00:08:28,943 --> 00:08:32,076 ♪ She leads you to the river ♪ 151 00:08:32,250 --> 00:08:36,559 ♪ She's wearing Rags and feathers ♪ 152 00:08:36,733 --> 00:08:41,129 ♪ From Salvation Army counters ♪ 153 00:08:41,303 --> 00:08:45,655 ♪ And the sun pours down Like honey ♪ 154 00:08:45,829 --> 00:08:51,705 ♪ On our Lady of the Harbor... ♪ 155 00:08:51,879 --> 00:08:54,534 COLLINS: It was on an album of mine calledIn My Life. 156 00:08:54,708 --> 00:08:57,798 And "Suzanne" was the one that kind of drove it over the top. 157 00:08:57,972 --> 00:09:00,496 So I said, "Well, you can't hide in the shadows anymore. 158 00:09:00,670 --> 00:09:02,367 You have to come sing in public." 159 00:09:02,542 --> 00:09:04,500 And I had a date here. 160 00:09:04,674 --> 00:09:08,199 And, uh, it was a big fundraiser for WBAI. 161 00:09:08,373 --> 00:09:10,767 Everybody was here, I think Jimi Hendrix was on the show. 162 00:09:10,941 --> 00:09:13,727 It was a whole bunch of people. 163 00:09:13,901 --> 00:09:16,730 COHEN: Judy kind of talked me into doing this. 164 00:09:16,904 --> 00:09:19,646 She invited me out on stage, and I started singing, 165 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:21,604 and the guitar was completely out of tune, 166 00:09:21,778 --> 00:09:23,911 and I was scared anyways. 167 00:09:24,085 --> 00:09:27,131 So rather than humiliate myself, I left. 168 00:09:27,305 --> 00:09:28,785 COLLINS: He said, "I just can't do this." 169 00:09:28,959 --> 00:09:30,439 And he walked off the stage. 170 00:09:30,613 --> 00:09:33,094 Terror. Ha-ha. 171 00:09:33,268 --> 00:09:35,183 Sheer terror, and everybody loved it. 172 00:09:35,357 --> 00:09:37,185 I mean, they all love you when you fall apart. 173 00:09:37,359 --> 00:09:39,013 You know, they have-- They get so excited. 174 00:09:39,187 --> 00:09:41,015 [CHUCKLES] 175 00:09:41,189 --> 00:09:44,496 BOTH: ♪ You want to travel blind... ♪ 176 00:09:44,671 --> 00:09:46,107 COLLINS: So I came back with him, 177 00:09:46,281 --> 00:09:48,109 and then we finished "Suzanne" together. 178 00:09:48,283 --> 00:09:51,591 ♪ For she's touched Your perfect body ♪ 179 00:09:51,765 --> 00:09:53,593 ♪ With her mind ♪ 180 00:09:53,767 --> 00:09:56,596 COHEN: The audience was generous. It was just nerves. 181 00:09:56,770 --> 00:09:59,207 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 182 00:09:59,381 --> 00:10:02,427 So that was the first time, and after that, you know, 183 00:10:02,602 --> 00:10:06,736 he became known for his voice and singing his own songs. 184 00:10:08,869 --> 00:10:11,045 HAMMOND: Standby. Take 2.MAN: Okay. 185 00:10:11,219 --> 00:10:13,743 [COHEN PLAYING INTRO ON GUITAR] 186 00:10:16,877 --> 00:10:18,269 HAMMOND: Just a sec. 187 00:10:18,443 --> 00:10:20,707 I think you're starting a little slow, Leonard. 188 00:10:20,881 --> 00:10:22,491 COHEN: Right.HAMMOND: Standby, please. 189 00:10:27,017 --> 00:10:28,628 There was a friend of mine that said, 190 00:10:28,802 --> 00:10:31,935 "John, there's this poet from Canada, 191 00:10:32,109 --> 00:10:34,677 he's a wonderful songwriter, but he doesn't read music, 192 00:10:34,851 --> 00:10:37,767 and he's sort of very strange. 193 00:10:37,941 --> 00:10:40,814 I don't think Columbia would be at all interested in him, 194 00:10:40,988 --> 00:10:43,338 but you might be." 195 00:10:43,512 --> 00:10:46,689 So I listened to this guy and... 196 00:10:46,863 --> 00:10:48,778 Lo and behold, I thought he was enchanting. 197 00:10:50,737 --> 00:10:54,305 John Hammond brought Leonard Cohen to see me and... 198 00:10:56,307 --> 00:10:58,832 I do remember that meeting. 199 00:10:59,006 --> 00:11:04,141 Maybe it's our common Jewish ancestry, but I related to him. 200 00:11:04,315 --> 00:11:08,145 And John said, "Leonard is an original." 201 00:11:08,319 --> 00:11:10,452 HAMMOND: Take four. 202 00:11:10,626 --> 00:11:13,934 DAVIS: That he's a poet and that he will make his own way 203 00:11:14,108 --> 00:11:17,720 in a special way that's unique to him. 204 00:11:17,894 --> 00:11:20,592 HAMMOND: Just a sec. Leonard, excuse me. That's over 20 seconds. 205 00:11:20,767 --> 00:11:22,682 I don't think the introduction should be more... 206 00:11:22,856 --> 00:11:24,814 COHEN: No, I wasn't thinking of it that long. 207 00:11:24,988 --> 00:11:27,121 I just want to get into it before I started singing. 208 00:11:27,295 --> 00:11:29,384 I didn't have it, in terms of an introduction. 209 00:11:29,558 --> 00:11:31,255 HAMMOND: Take five. 210 00:11:31,429 --> 00:11:34,215 He was Leonard Cohen. No one walked in his path. 211 00:11:34,389 --> 00:11:36,304 He didn't walk in anybody else's path. 212 00:11:36,478 --> 00:11:38,698 [♪♪♪] 213 00:11:44,529 --> 00:11:46,706 HAMMOND: Bravo, Leonard. Would you like to listen to it? 214 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:47,968 COHEN: Yeah. 215 00:11:56,367 --> 00:11:58,152 COHEN: People are always telling me: 216 00:11:58,326 --> 00:12:02,112 "Why don't you do something like you did two records ago?" 217 00:12:02,286 --> 00:12:04,158 I just don't want to repeat myself. 218 00:12:06,377 --> 00:12:08,075 To me, the only really exciting thing 219 00:12:08,249 --> 00:12:10,120 about the work is finding new forms. 220 00:12:12,253 --> 00:12:14,864 So I will keep on trying to find new forms. 221 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:18,738 [ORIGINAL VERSION OF "HALLELUJAH" PLAYING] 222 00:12:24,613 --> 00:12:26,746 LISSAUER: I met Leonard in Montreal... 223 00:12:28,356 --> 00:12:29,400 in 1972. 224 00:12:31,794 --> 00:12:35,842 I was performing in Montreal at the Hotel Nelson, 225 00:12:36,016 --> 00:12:38,583 and it was like a happening. 226 00:12:38,758 --> 00:12:40,629 Everyone in town was there. The place was exploding. 227 00:12:40,803 --> 00:12:42,544 We were there for a week, and it was sold out. 228 00:12:42,718 --> 00:12:44,111 They were lined up around outside. 229 00:12:44,285 --> 00:12:46,461 And this quiet guy comes over 230 00:12:46,635 --> 00:12:48,506 in a black suit and stands there, 231 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:51,466 one hand in his pocket. 232 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:53,816 We started talking, he was very complimentary 233 00:12:53,990 --> 00:12:55,600 about how exciting the music was. 234 00:12:55,775 --> 00:12:57,428 Would I be interested 235 00:12:57,602 --> 00:12:59,604 in talking with him about recording? 236 00:12:59,779 --> 00:13:01,911 I said, "I'm heading back to my place in New York." 237 00:13:02,085 --> 00:13:03,652 "Well, I'll come down." 238 00:13:03,826 --> 00:13:05,480 I was 22? 239 00:13:07,699 --> 00:13:09,484 I was unknown. 240 00:13:09,658 --> 00:13:12,879 But we hit it off. 241 00:13:13,053 --> 00:13:15,185 And he played me some great songs. 242 00:13:15,359 --> 00:13:18,623 And immediately I sensed that these songs were different. 243 00:13:20,321 --> 00:13:22,802 Leonard's songs felt cinematic to me. 244 00:13:22,976 --> 00:13:26,457 ♪ I remember you well ♪ 245 00:13:26,631 --> 00:13:29,591 ♪ In the Chelsea Hotel ♪ 246 00:13:29,765 --> 00:13:34,814 ♪ You were talking so brave And so sweet ♪ 247 00:13:38,295 --> 00:13:40,471 ♪ Givin' me head ♪ 248 00:13:40,645 --> 00:13:43,387 ♪ On an unmade bed ♪ 249 00:13:43,561 --> 00:13:46,086 ♪ While the limousines ♪ 250 00:13:46,260 --> 00:13:48,088 ♪ Wait in the street... ♪ 251 00:13:50,525 --> 00:13:52,179 LISSAUER: And right away, I said: 252 00:13:52,353 --> 00:13:55,965 "Boy, we could record these and sort of drape them 253 00:13:56,139 --> 00:13:59,795 in a dream, like every one is a vignette of life." 254 00:13:59,969 --> 00:14:03,016 [PLAYING "LOVER, LOVER, LOVER"] 255 00:14:03,190 --> 00:14:06,758 And he sort of liked that idea, so within a couple of months, 256 00:14:06,933 --> 00:14:09,892 we recorded, I guess it was eight or nine songs. 257 00:14:10,066 --> 00:14:13,591 ♪ I asked my father ♪ 258 00:14:13,765 --> 00:14:17,378 ♪ I said "Father, change my name..." ♪ 259 00:14:17,552 --> 00:14:19,641 LISSAUER: This wasNew Skin for the Old Ceremony. 260 00:14:19,815 --> 00:14:22,905 It was the first thing that I did with Leonard. 261 00:14:23,079 --> 00:14:28,389 ♪ Covered up with fear and filth And cowardice and shame... ♪ 262 00:14:28,563 --> 00:14:31,392 COHEN: In terms of the actual musical style of the record, 263 00:14:31,566 --> 00:14:34,003 a great deal of it is due to John Lissauer. 264 00:14:35,613 --> 00:14:37,398 He's a very young man 265 00:14:37,572 --> 00:14:40,967 and certainly the most interesting musical mind 266 00:14:41,141 --> 00:14:43,012 that I've come across in many years. 267 00:14:43,186 --> 00:14:46,886 ♪ Lover, lover, lover Lover, lover, lover ♪ 268 00:14:47,060 --> 00:14:48,670 ♪ Come back to me... ♪ 269 00:14:48,844 --> 00:14:50,498 LISSAUER: We finished the record 270 00:14:50,672 --> 00:14:53,022 and put together a band and went on tour. 271 00:14:53,196 --> 00:14:55,111 It was a small band, just the five of us. 272 00:14:57,070 --> 00:14:58,941 And we did a lot of cities. 273 00:14:59,115 --> 00:15:01,161 We did all of Europe. 274 00:15:01,335 --> 00:15:05,121 And then, after we toured for about nine months or so, 275 00:15:05,295 --> 00:15:07,863 Leonard asked me if maybe I'd like to co-write 276 00:15:08,037 --> 00:15:10,083 an album with him. 277 00:15:10,257 --> 00:15:12,041 I said, "How do you want to do it? 278 00:15:12,215 --> 00:15:13,477 You want to sit around together, 279 00:15:13,651 --> 00:15:15,262 or do you want me to take your poetry 280 00:15:15,436 --> 00:15:17,177 and essentially set them to music?" 281 00:15:17,351 --> 00:15:19,309 And he said, "Well, let's do that." 282 00:15:19,483 --> 00:15:21,616 [COHEN'S "CAME SO FAR FOR BEAUTY" PLAYING] 283 00:15:24,967 --> 00:15:27,274 And he said, "I'm gonna be in L.A. for a couple of weeks. 284 00:15:27,448 --> 00:15:28,797 Why don't you come join me? 285 00:15:28,971 --> 00:15:30,538 We'll go to the Chateau Marmont, 286 00:15:30,712 --> 00:15:32,148 get a couple of rooms and write." 287 00:15:34,194 --> 00:15:38,981 ♪ I came so far for beauty ♪ 288 00:15:41,288 --> 00:15:45,640 ♪ I left so much behind... ♪ 289 00:15:50,253 --> 00:15:53,474 LISSAUER: So I flew out there, and he had a piano in the room. 290 00:15:53,648 --> 00:15:56,085 We came up with six songs. 291 00:15:56,259 --> 00:15:58,696 It was gonna be an album calledSongs for Rebecca. 292 00:15:58,870 --> 00:16:01,134 It was thrilling. 293 00:16:01,308 --> 00:16:02,787 We had rough vocals on everything 294 00:16:02,962 --> 00:16:04,224 and arrangements on everything. 295 00:16:04,398 --> 00:16:06,530 It was in pretty good shape. 296 00:16:06,704 --> 00:16:08,968 And he said, "All right, I'm going to go to Hydra 297 00:16:09,142 --> 00:16:10,534 for a couple of weeks. 298 00:16:10,708 --> 00:16:13,581 I'm working on a book of poetry, this and that... 299 00:16:13,755 --> 00:16:15,931 I'll call you when I get back, and we'll finish up." 300 00:16:17,715 --> 00:16:19,152 And I didn't hear from him... 301 00:16:20,631 --> 00:16:22,459 for eight years. 302 00:16:28,117 --> 00:16:30,641 [PHONE LINE RINGS, THEN CLICKS] 303 00:16:30,815 --> 00:16:32,339 COHEN: Hello?SLOMAN: Leonard? 304 00:16:32,513 --> 00:16:34,341 COHEN: Yeah. Hi, this is Larry Sloman. 305 00:16:34,515 --> 00:16:38,780 I was a young reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine in '74, 306 00:16:38,954 --> 00:16:42,871 and I got the plum assignment of doing a piece on Leonard. 307 00:16:44,916 --> 00:16:46,440 Leonard? Yeah. 308 00:16:46,614 --> 00:16:48,137 What's your schedule gonna be like? 309 00:16:48,311 --> 00:16:49,486 COHEN: Let's make a definite appointment 310 00:16:49,660 --> 00:16:51,053 for tomorrow morning. 311 00:16:51,227 --> 00:16:52,750 Do you get up early, or do you...? 312 00:16:52,924 --> 00:16:55,014 SLOMAN: No, I usually sleep pretty late. 313 00:16:55,188 --> 00:16:57,668 I'll tell you what, I'll probably stay in Queens today 314 00:16:57,842 --> 00:17:00,149 'cause I have my stereo out at my parents' house. 315 00:17:00,323 --> 00:17:01,977 COHEN: Shall I call you or...? 316 00:17:02,151 --> 00:17:03,544 SLOMAN: I don't have a phone. 317 00:17:03,718 --> 00:17:05,285 COHEN: Tell me what time you get up. 318 00:17:05,459 --> 00:17:07,591 SLOMAN: I usually get up around 11. 319 00:17:07,765 --> 00:17:09,419 So I'll probably get into the city around, 320 00:17:09,593 --> 00:17:11,073 let's say, 1:00 tomorrow. 321 00:17:11,247 --> 00:17:12,857 COHEN: Okay, I'll see you then. Good. 322 00:17:13,032 --> 00:17:15,034 [LINE CLICKS] 323 00:17:15,208 --> 00:17:18,907 SLOMAN: I became almost like an obsessive. 324 00:17:19,081 --> 00:17:21,040 I mean, I literally stalked him for three days. 325 00:17:21,214 --> 00:17:23,477 And after the first night of the first show, 326 00:17:23,651 --> 00:17:25,479 went back to his hotel room, 327 00:17:25,653 --> 00:17:28,003 just kept peppering him with questions for two hours, 328 00:17:28,177 --> 00:17:30,005 and he was so gracious. 329 00:17:30,179 --> 00:17:32,225 He was, I think, 40 at the time. 330 00:17:32,399 --> 00:17:33,530 He said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful 331 00:17:33,704 --> 00:17:35,054 if I could just keep doing this?" 332 00:17:35,228 --> 00:17:36,838 'Cause, you know, we never see 333 00:17:37,012 --> 00:17:41,277 the mature man chronicling his life. 334 00:17:41,451 --> 00:17:45,194 He says, "It'd be great to hear that experience on the stage, 335 00:17:45,368 --> 00:17:47,762 and really, you know, my goal is to become an elder." 336 00:17:47,936 --> 00:17:51,070 [COHEN'S "WHO BY FIRE" PLAYING] 337 00:17:51,244 --> 00:17:54,334 Leonard was thinking about those issues when he was 40 338 00:17:54,508 --> 00:17:57,989 because he was exploring his Jewish roots. 339 00:17:58,164 --> 00:18:00,427 And in Jewish tradition, I think 340 00:18:00,601 --> 00:18:03,952 you could start studying Kabbalah when you're 40. 341 00:18:04,126 --> 00:18:07,086 You have to wait till you're 40 to have that life experience 342 00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:10,741 to be able to understand Kabbalistic thought. 343 00:18:10,915 --> 00:18:15,006 ♪ Who by fire ♪ 344 00:18:15,181 --> 00:18:18,227 ♪ Who by water ♪ 345 00:18:18,401 --> 00:18:22,101 ♪ Who in the sunshine ♪ 346 00:18:22,275 --> 00:18:25,539 ♪ Who in the nighttime ♪ 347 00:18:25,713 --> 00:18:29,108 ♪ Who by high ordeal ♪ 348 00:18:29,282 --> 00:18:31,153 ♪ Who by common trial... ♪ 349 00:18:33,373 --> 00:18:34,896 COHEN: I was so touched as a child 350 00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:38,378 by that kind of charged speech 351 00:18:38,552 --> 00:18:41,120 that I heard in the synagogue, 352 00:18:41,294 --> 00:18:43,383 where everything was important. 353 00:18:45,646 --> 00:18:47,300 The world was created through words, 354 00:18:47,474 --> 00:18:49,867 through speech in our tradition. 355 00:18:50,041 --> 00:18:54,176 ♪ Who in these realms Of love... ♪ 356 00:18:54,350 --> 00:18:59,312 BACAL: When we were young, Leonard would say very proudly 357 00:18:59,486 --> 00:19:03,316 that his grandfather could take a pin 358 00:19:03,490 --> 00:19:06,406 and put it through the Torah 359 00:19:06,580 --> 00:19:11,237 and know every word it touched on every page. 360 00:19:13,369 --> 00:19:15,197 ♪ Who shall I say ♪ 361 00:19:17,504 --> 00:19:19,549 ♪ Is calling... ♪ 362 00:19:19,723 --> 00:19:21,638 Leonard Cohen once told an interviewer 363 00:19:21,812 --> 00:19:24,772 that he was thinking of changing his name. 364 00:19:24,946 --> 00:19:27,601 When you're a famous Jew, you change your name. 365 00:19:29,864 --> 00:19:32,040 So that's the deal is, you don't want to be too Jewish 366 00:19:32,214 --> 00:19:34,216 'cause you'll get in the way of your fame. 367 00:19:34,390 --> 00:19:37,176 INTERVIEWER: Have you ever thought of changing your name? 368 00:19:37,350 --> 00:19:39,221 Yeah, I was gonna change my name to September. 369 00:19:41,005 --> 00:19:42,616 I beg your pardon? 370 00:19:42,790 --> 00:19:44,531 I was gonna change my name to September 371 00:19:44,705 --> 00:19:46,576 when I started writing songs and singing them. 372 00:19:50,363 --> 00:19:52,408 Leonard September?No, September Cohen. 373 00:19:52,582 --> 00:19:53,540 Oh. 374 00:19:53,714 --> 00:19:55,411 [CHUCKLES] 375 00:19:55,585 --> 00:19:59,546 But Cohen is such a standard name. 376 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:01,939 Yeah, well, September is pretty standard too. 377 00:20:02,113 --> 00:20:04,203 Not for a first name. 378 00:20:04,377 --> 00:20:06,205 No. Well, I thought that, uh... 379 00:20:06,379 --> 00:20:07,989 You know, I always had this feeling 380 00:20:08,163 --> 00:20:11,471 that new things are beginning. 381 00:20:11,645 --> 00:20:13,473 And I thought that I would change my name 382 00:20:13,647 --> 00:20:15,823 and get a tattoo. 383 00:20:15,997 --> 00:20:19,392 September is how you say Elul to a non-Jew... 384 00:20:21,350 --> 00:20:23,744 'cause Elul is the month of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. 385 00:20:23,918 --> 00:20:26,050 This is-- This is the deepest time 386 00:20:26,225 --> 00:20:28,314 when God's on the throne and we're down here, 387 00:20:28,488 --> 00:20:30,098 and we come to God with broken hearts 388 00:20:30,272 --> 00:20:31,665 and God's mercies heal us. 389 00:20:31,839 --> 00:20:33,928 So I think he wanted to say... 390 00:20:34,102 --> 00:20:36,409 Leonard Elul. 391 00:20:36,583 --> 00:20:39,499 You know, Leonard, the man who's immersed 392 00:20:39,673 --> 00:20:42,241 in the world of the month of Elul. 393 00:20:43,459 --> 00:20:46,984 ♪ Who by brave assent... ♪ 394 00:20:47,158 --> 00:20:50,336 COHEN: When I was standing beside my tall uncles in the synagogue, 395 00:20:50,510 --> 00:20:53,774 and the cantor would catalog all the various ways 396 00:20:53,948 --> 00:20:57,386 that we've sinned and died, that moved me very much. 397 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,084 ♪ Who by his lady's command ♪ 398 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:02,870 ♪ Who by his own hand... ♪ 399 00:21:03,044 --> 00:21:06,656 When my father died, after his funeral, 400 00:21:06,830 --> 00:21:09,920 I found myself writing some words to him. 401 00:21:12,053 --> 00:21:15,056 Then I took one of his formal ties 402 00:21:15,230 --> 00:21:18,102 and I slit it open with a razor blade, 403 00:21:18,277 --> 00:21:21,802 and I put this little note, this little poem into the tie, 404 00:21:21,976 --> 00:21:24,457 and I buried it in the garden. 405 00:21:24,631 --> 00:21:26,197 ♪ Who by high ordeal... ♪ 406 00:21:26,372 --> 00:21:28,025 I think that was the first time 407 00:21:28,199 --> 00:21:31,464 I ever used language in a sacramental way. 408 00:21:31,638 --> 00:21:35,163 ♪ Who in your merry, merry Month of May ♪ 409 00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:39,602 ♪ Who by very slow decay... ♪ 410 00:21:39,776 --> 00:21:44,607 Unlocking the mysteries of life was his primary preoccupation. 411 00:21:44,781 --> 00:21:45,347 [CHUCKLES] 412 00:21:48,176 --> 00:21:51,440 So if you had any questions along those lines, 413 00:21:51,614 --> 00:21:53,921 he was-- He was the guy to talk to. 414 00:22:02,408 --> 00:22:04,323 ROBINSON: I had been working in Los Angeles 415 00:22:04,497 --> 00:22:06,150 as a session singer, 416 00:22:06,325 --> 00:22:09,676 and then Leonard invited me to go on the road with them 417 00:22:09,850 --> 00:22:11,765 for the Field Commander Cohen tour. 418 00:22:13,897 --> 00:22:16,683 I was the other singer with Jennifer Warnes. 419 00:22:16,857 --> 00:22:23,472 ♪ Like a baby stillborn ♪ 420 00:22:23,646 --> 00:22:29,435 ♪ Like a beast with his horn ♪ 421 00:22:29,609 --> 00:22:32,829 ♪ I have torn... ♪ 422 00:22:33,003 --> 00:22:35,005 I was, you know, very, very young. 423 00:22:35,179 --> 00:22:37,312 [ROBINSON LAUGHS] 424 00:22:37,486 --> 00:22:41,534 But I came in and felt an immediate warmth from Leonard. 425 00:22:41,708 --> 00:22:43,144 So we spent a lot of time 426 00:22:43,318 --> 00:22:45,712 talking about his overall philosophy of life. 427 00:22:45,886 --> 00:22:49,933 ♪ I swear by this song ♪ 428 00:22:50,107 --> 00:22:55,112 ♪ I swear by all That I have done wrong... ♪ 429 00:22:55,286 --> 00:22:59,029 He was very attuned to human suffering around the world, 430 00:22:59,203 --> 00:23:03,338 even though he was relatively comfortable in life. 431 00:23:03,512 --> 00:23:06,080 And he was constantly aware 432 00:23:06,254 --> 00:23:09,388 of everyone in the world who isn't comfortable. 433 00:23:09,562 --> 00:23:13,783 ♪ I saw a beggar He was standing there... ♪ 434 00:23:13,957 --> 00:23:16,960 COHEN: When you see the world and you see the laws 435 00:23:17,134 --> 00:23:19,398 of brute necessity which govern it, 436 00:23:19,572 --> 00:23:22,313 you realize that the only way 437 00:23:22,488 --> 00:23:26,361 that you can reconcile this veil of suffering, 438 00:23:26,535 --> 00:23:29,886 the only way you can reconcile it to sanity 439 00:23:30,060 --> 00:23:32,628 is to glue your soul to prayer. 440 00:23:32,802 --> 00:23:37,720 ♪ A pretty woman leaning In her darkened door... ♪ 441 00:23:37,894 --> 00:23:42,072 He was really on a quest to find his path, 442 00:23:42,246 --> 00:23:47,643 his spiritual path, and he tried a million things. 443 00:23:47,817 --> 00:23:49,340 COHEN: Well, I've been studying 444 00:23:49,515 --> 00:23:53,344 with an old Japanese gentleman for many years. 445 00:23:53,519 --> 00:23:56,304 ROBINSON: Roshi had a Zen center over in Europe, 446 00:23:56,478 --> 00:23:58,567 so he came out and he rode with us on the bus. 447 00:24:01,048 --> 00:24:03,006 COHEN: There were a lot of wonderful things 448 00:24:03,180 --> 00:24:04,747 in my own culture, my own training, 449 00:24:04,921 --> 00:24:07,054 but always in the back of my mind 450 00:24:07,228 --> 00:24:10,579 was some kind of resonating presence in my heart. 451 00:24:10,753 --> 00:24:13,495 ♪ I have tried... ♪ 452 00:24:13,669 --> 00:24:17,151 Some sense that there was something that could be healed. 453 00:24:17,325 --> 00:24:24,201 ♪ To be free ♪ 454 00:24:29,685 --> 00:24:32,558 [♪♪♪] 455 00:24:40,348 --> 00:24:45,788 I remember once I was musing on purgatory, 456 00:24:45,962 --> 00:24:50,271 and I was fearful of it. 457 00:24:50,445 --> 00:24:52,186 And he said: 458 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:54,318 "This is purgatory." 459 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,192 And he meant the whole scene, 460 00:24:58,366 --> 00:24:59,933 what we're living. 461 00:25:00,107 --> 00:25:02,979 And at the same time, he would say 462 00:25:03,153 --> 00:25:06,200 what an amazing experiment this is. 463 00:25:14,687 --> 00:25:15,688 We were very young then. 464 00:25:18,691 --> 00:25:22,738 Even then, it was about the brokenness 465 00:25:22,912 --> 00:25:27,787 of the community that we both had come out of. 466 00:25:29,832 --> 00:25:32,792 They had a lot of rules. 467 00:25:32,966 --> 00:25:36,665 You went to school, you got married. 468 00:25:36,839 --> 00:25:42,192 You had children, you lived in a nice house in Westmount. 469 00:25:42,366 --> 00:25:45,021 That was written for us. 470 00:25:51,593 --> 00:25:54,074 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 471 00:25:54,248 --> 00:25:58,078 This is a song based on my extremely boring 472 00:25:58,252 --> 00:26:02,517 and pathetic life at Westmount High School in Montreal, 473 00:26:02,691 --> 00:26:05,607 and it's a song that I wrote a couple of years ago 474 00:26:05,781 --> 00:26:07,261 with Phil Spector. 475 00:26:09,089 --> 00:26:11,526 ♪ Ooh-wah-ooh ♪ 476 00:26:11,700 --> 00:26:14,398 ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh ♪ 477 00:26:14,573 --> 00:26:17,314 ♪ Ooh-wah-ooh ♪ 478 00:26:17,488 --> 00:26:20,970 ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh ♪ 479 00:26:21,144 --> 00:26:24,060 ♪ Frankie Laine He was singing "Jezebel" ♪ 480 00:26:26,541 --> 00:26:30,371 ♪ I pinned an iron cross To my lapel... ♪ 481 00:26:30,545 --> 00:26:33,069 LISSAUER: I'd been hearing that Leonard 482 00:26:33,243 --> 00:26:35,550 was going to record with Phil Spector. 483 00:26:37,770 --> 00:26:39,598 SLOMAN: Leonard's experience with Phil Spector... 484 00:26:39,772 --> 00:26:41,861 That whole thing, I think, was Marty Machat, 485 00:26:42,035 --> 00:26:44,690 who was Leonard's manager at the time, also managed Phil. 486 00:26:45,821 --> 00:26:48,607 So he put them together. 487 00:26:48,781 --> 00:26:51,131 LISSAUER: I always got the sense that Marty didn't like me, 488 00:26:51,305 --> 00:26:53,568 I was too young, it was something I just sensed. 489 00:26:53,742 --> 00:26:54,787 Maybe Marty didn't like my hair. 490 00:26:57,224 --> 00:27:00,314 And so when Spector came along, he was a legendary producer, 491 00:27:00,488 --> 00:27:02,621 he might have been the most famous producer in the world. 492 00:27:04,927 --> 00:27:06,537 It was record producer as star. 493 00:27:08,235 --> 00:27:12,631 So I said, "Boy, I guess they got the real guy." 494 00:27:12,805 --> 00:27:14,328 "Enough work with this kid, 495 00:27:14,502 --> 00:27:17,070 we're gonna get the real pop ringer." 496 00:27:18,941 --> 00:27:20,682 ♪ I know you're hungry ♪ 497 00:27:20,856 --> 00:27:23,772 ♪ I can hear it in your voice ♪ 498 00:27:23,946 --> 00:27:27,254 ♪ And there are Many parts of me to touch ♪ 499 00:27:27,428 --> 00:27:29,430 ♪ You have your choice ♪ 500 00:27:29,604 --> 00:27:32,433 CLARKSON: How did you feel about the album? 501 00:27:32,607 --> 00:27:35,218 Oh, the album is a disaster. 502 00:27:35,392 --> 00:27:38,787 The songs are good, but Tina Turner should have sung it. 503 00:27:38,961 --> 00:27:41,094 Or-or Bill Medley.[CHUCKLES] 504 00:27:41,268 --> 00:27:43,966 And working with Phil Spector was a little tricky. 505 00:27:44,140 --> 00:27:48,231 Spector imposed his "Wall of Sound" on Leonard. 506 00:27:48,405 --> 00:27:53,106 ♪ But don't go home With your hard-on ♪ 507 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,152 ♪ It will only Drive you insane... ♪ 508 00:27:56,326 --> 00:27:59,025 SLOMAN: It had bombastic orchestration, 509 00:27:59,199 --> 00:28:01,897 and a lot of people thought that the music 510 00:28:02,071 --> 00:28:04,073 was competing with the lyrics. 511 00:28:04,247 --> 00:28:07,033 And, you know, with Leonard, you gotta hear the lyrics. 512 00:28:14,693 --> 00:28:17,043 COHEN: That happened, uh, at a curious time in my life 513 00:28:17,217 --> 00:28:19,219 because I-I was at a very low point. 514 00:28:19,393 --> 00:28:21,395 My family was breaking up, 515 00:28:21,569 --> 00:28:24,920 I was living in Los Angeles, which was a foreign city to me, 516 00:28:25,094 --> 00:28:29,925 and I'd lost control of my work and my life. 517 00:28:30,099 --> 00:28:31,231 SLOMAN: I think the breakup 518 00:28:31,405 --> 00:28:33,189 of his relationship with Suzanne 519 00:28:33,363 --> 00:28:35,670 was a very painful process. 520 00:28:35,844 --> 00:28:38,673 [COHEN'S "GYPSY'S WIFE" PLAYING] 521 00:28:38,847 --> 00:28:40,414 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 522 00:28:46,725 --> 00:28:49,162 INTERVIEWER: Leonard, talk a little about "Gypsy's Wife." 523 00:28:52,426 --> 00:28:55,298 COHEN: In a sense, the song was written for my gypsy wife. 524 00:28:55,472 --> 00:29:00,260 ♪ And where Where is my gypsy wife? ♪ 525 00:29:00,434 --> 00:29:02,044 But, uh, in another way, 526 00:29:02,218 --> 00:29:04,090 it's just a song about, uh, 527 00:29:04,264 --> 00:29:07,615 the way men and women have lost one another. 528 00:29:07,789 --> 00:29:11,532 That, uh, men and women have wandered away from each other 529 00:29:11,706 --> 00:29:14,970 and have become gypsies to each other. 530 00:29:15,144 --> 00:29:17,756 ♪ I said where... ♪ 531 00:29:17,930 --> 00:29:19,366 INTERVIEWER 1: "Suzanne," I've got to ask you about 532 00:29:19,540 --> 00:29:21,368 because there was a Suzanne in your life, 533 00:29:21,542 --> 00:29:23,457 and she's the mother of two children. 534 00:29:23,631 --> 00:29:25,328 But you wrote a song called "Suzanne," 535 00:29:25,502 --> 00:29:28,375 and someone told me today that that was not about her. 536 00:29:28,549 --> 00:29:30,246 No, I had written the song 537 00:29:30,420 --> 00:29:32,727 before I met this particular lady. 538 00:29:32,901 --> 00:29:34,381 I guess I summoned her. 539 00:29:34,555 --> 00:29:36,818 So it was another Suzanne?It was another Suzanne, yeah. 540 00:29:39,690 --> 00:29:43,825 ♪ She says your body Is the light ♪ 541 00:29:43,999 --> 00:29:46,436 ♪ Your body... ♪ 542 00:29:46,610 --> 00:29:49,613 INTERVIEWER 2: You have a great reputation that goes before you, 543 00:29:49,788 --> 00:29:52,051 and perhaps in your wake as well, for being a ladies' man. 544 00:29:52,225 --> 00:29:53,922 Is it well-earned? 545 00:29:54,096 --> 00:29:55,968 COHEN: You know, I'm the last one to ask. 546 00:29:56,142 --> 00:29:58,666 INTERVIEWER 2: No, you're the only one I can ask. 547 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,669 ♪ So where... ♪ 548 00:30:01,843 --> 00:30:03,758 COLLINS: I would have jumped off a bridge for Leonard. 549 00:30:03,932 --> 00:30:05,760 I would have done anything because I adored him. 550 00:30:05,934 --> 00:30:07,240 I didn't have a love affair with him. 551 00:30:07,414 --> 00:30:08,807 I mean, he was wonderful. 552 00:30:08,981 --> 00:30:11,026 Handsome... 553 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,595 intelligent, mysterious, dangerous... 554 00:30:14,769 --> 00:30:15,857 [CHUCKLES] 555 00:30:17,772 --> 00:30:19,730 I mean, once you're past 25, 556 00:30:19,905 --> 00:30:22,342 you sort of know. 557 00:30:22,516 --> 00:30:24,344 So I knew that. 558 00:30:24,518 --> 00:30:26,737 I knew dangerous when I saw it. 559 00:30:32,352 --> 00:30:37,966 ♪ It's too early For the rainbow ♪ 560 00:30:38,140 --> 00:30:42,014 ♪ It's too early For the dove... ♪ 561 00:30:42,188 --> 00:30:44,886 ROBINSON: Leonard had a way of putting women on a pedestal. 562 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:50,587 He, I think, saw women as part of the path 563 00:30:50,761 --> 00:30:53,329 to some kind of righteousness or enlightenment. 564 00:30:53,503 --> 00:30:56,115 ♪ And there is no man ♪ 565 00:30:56,289 --> 00:30:59,161 ♪ There is no woman ♪ 566 00:30:59,335 --> 00:31:01,207 ♪ That you can't touch... ♪ 567 00:31:03,905 --> 00:31:06,603 COHEN: We are irresistibly attracted to one another. 568 00:31:06,777 --> 00:31:09,519 We are irresistibly lonely for each other. 569 00:31:09,693 --> 00:31:11,957 And we have to deal with this. 570 00:31:12,131 --> 00:31:14,655 And the other side of that is 571 00:31:14,829 --> 00:31:18,180 the same appetite for significance in the cosmos, 572 00:31:18,354 --> 00:31:21,836 where each of us understands his solitude in the cosmos 573 00:31:22,010 --> 00:31:26,232 and longs for some affirmation by the maker of the cosmos, 574 00:31:26,406 --> 00:31:28,277 by the creator. 575 00:31:28,451 --> 00:31:32,716 ♪ Where is my gypsy wife Tonight? ♪ 576 00:31:32,891 --> 00:31:35,241 [RATSO] One of the reviews I was reading said that... 577 00:31:35,415 --> 00:31:37,025 Leonard's whole career has been pulled 578 00:31:37,199 --> 00:31:38,853 between holiness and horniness. 579 00:31:39,027 --> 00:31:40,594 So let's talk about women. 580 00:31:40,768 --> 00:31:43,771 What was your first love? 581 00:31:43,945 --> 00:31:46,513 [COHEN] My first love? [RATSO] Childhood sweetheart? 582 00:31:46,687 --> 00:31:49,908 Sixth grade? An older aunt? 583 00:31:50,082 --> 00:31:51,170 [SLOMAN CHUCKLES] 584 00:31:51,344 --> 00:31:54,521 [COHEN] You never change, do you? 585 00:31:54,695 --> 00:31:56,740 I was 50 years old when I'd first fallen in love. 586 00:31:56,915 --> 00:31:58,655 [RATSO] Fifty? 587 00:31:58,829 --> 00:32:01,789 [COHEN] I never knew what it meant before. 588 00:32:01,963 --> 00:32:04,531 [COHEN'S "I'M YOUR MAN" PLAYING] 589 00:32:09,101 --> 00:32:11,494 I'm going to be 70 next year. 590 00:32:11,668 --> 00:32:14,019 INTERVIEWER: No way.Yeah. 591 00:32:14,193 --> 00:32:16,064 It's not funny. Don't laugh. 592 00:32:26,031 --> 00:32:28,859 ♪ If you want a lover ♪ 593 00:32:29,034 --> 00:32:35,605 ♪ I'll do anything You ask me to ♪ 594 00:32:35,779 --> 00:32:41,655 ♪ And if you want Another kind of love ♪ 595 00:32:41,829 --> 00:32:44,223 ♪ I'll wear a mask for you ♪ 596 00:32:46,747 --> 00:32:50,794 ♪ If you want a partner Take my hand ♪ 597 00:32:50,969 --> 00:32:56,061 ♪ Or if you wanna Strike me down in anger ♪ 598 00:32:58,237 --> 00:33:00,021 ♪ Here I stand ♪ 599 00:33:01,675 --> 00:33:03,764 ♪ I'm your man ♪ 600 00:33:05,809 --> 00:33:08,508 COHEN: I feel that when there is an emotion 601 00:33:08,682 --> 00:33:11,119 strong enough to gather a song about it, 602 00:33:11,293 --> 00:33:12,816 there's something about that emotion 603 00:33:12,991 --> 00:33:14,340 that is indestructible. 604 00:33:21,042 --> 00:33:23,436 ISSERMANN: When I asked him, he said that he'd been working 605 00:33:23,610 --> 00:33:26,091 two years already on "Hallelujah." 606 00:33:26,265 --> 00:33:29,529 Then he wrote a part in Paris, you know? 607 00:33:29,703 --> 00:33:32,271 When he was staying in Paris. 608 00:33:32,445 --> 00:33:35,187 And a part in my house. 609 00:33:35,361 --> 00:33:38,059 You know, he was often starting with this song. 610 00:33:39,930 --> 00:33:41,323 In the morning, first thing, 611 00:33:41,497 --> 00:33:44,109 coffee, then working on "Hallelujah." 612 00:33:46,111 --> 00:33:48,983 [♪♪♪] 613 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:57,687 I really love when Leonard's doing a work that is really... 614 00:33:57,861 --> 00:33:59,515 [EXHALES DEEPLY] 615 00:33:59,689 --> 00:34:01,343 ...bringing you all sort of emotions 616 00:34:01,517 --> 00:34:03,476 and breaking your heart, 617 00:34:03,650 --> 00:34:06,522 and filling your heart after it's broken. 618 00:34:06,696 --> 00:34:10,135 You know, I don't know, it's just beautiful to... 619 00:34:10,309 --> 00:34:15,009 To be able to hear such poetry 620 00:34:15,183 --> 00:34:17,272 with such beautiful music, you know? 621 00:34:19,100 --> 00:34:20,884 INTERVIEWER: Would he try verses out on you? 622 00:34:22,364 --> 00:34:24,192 Asking me? No, he was never asking, 623 00:34:24,366 --> 00:34:25,846 but he was playing in front of me. 624 00:34:27,935 --> 00:34:31,808 But I was not really like somebody at a concert. 625 00:34:31,982 --> 00:34:33,854 He was working. I was working a lot. 626 00:34:34,028 --> 00:34:35,899 We were both working a lot. 627 00:34:36,074 --> 00:34:37,901 So I'm part of that landscape. 628 00:34:38,076 --> 00:34:40,382 I feel it like that. 629 00:34:40,556 --> 00:34:43,037 You are just a person, 630 00:34:43,211 --> 00:34:46,301 or you could be the dog or the cat at the moment 631 00:34:46,475 --> 00:34:48,782 where there was inspiration. 632 00:34:51,654 --> 00:34:53,917 It's so mysterious. 633 00:34:54,092 --> 00:34:56,572 "Hallelujah" is like a symbolist poem, you know? 634 00:34:58,313 --> 00:35:00,315 It's obscure. It's very obscure. 635 00:35:02,404 --> 00:35:03,623 I always see "Hallelujah" 636 00:35:03,797 --> 00:35:06,756 like a bird that is flying in a room, 637 00:35:06,930 --> 00:35:11,457 and sometimes touching the walls of the culture. 638 00:35:11,631 --> 00:35:12,806 It's like a-- a riddle. 639 00:35:16,940 --> 00:35:18,551 Ratso knows more than me. 640 00:35:18,725 --> 00:35:20,161 Oh, yeah, yeah. Of course. 641 00:35:24,731 --> 00:35:29,605 The last time we talked, we were talking about "Hallelujah." 642 00:35:29,779 --> 00:35:31,651 And this is something... 643 00:35:31,825 --> 00:35:34,828 You've been working on this for as long as I've known you. 644 00:35:35,002 --> 00:35:37,570 COHEN: Yeah, yeah, I've been working on that song. 645 00:35:37,744 --> 00:35:39,833 And I think I-I have notes in my present collection 646 00:35:40,007 --> 00:35:41,965 of-of notebooks. 647 00:35:51,149 --> 00:35:53,063 COHEN: Oh, okay, here, here. 648 00:35:53,238 --> 00:35:55,675 "When David played His fingers bled 649 00:35:55,849 --> 00:35:58,199 He wept for every word he said 650 00:35:58,373 --> 00:35:59,722 You hear him still 651 00:35:59,896 --> 00:36:01,463 You hear him singing to you" 652 00:36:03,378 --> 00:36:05,728 Endless variations. 653 00:36:05,902 --> 00:36:06,860 Even here, it says: 654 00:36:07,034 --> 00:36:08,470 "Baby, I've been here before 655 00:36:08,644 --> 00:36:12,344 I know what rooms like this Are for" 656 00:36:12,518 --> 00:36:13,736 "Baby, I've been here before 657 00:36:13,910 --> 00:36:15,825 I know this room This crooked floor" 658 00:36:15,999 --> 00:36:17,914 And "Baby I've been here before 659 00:36:18,088 --> 00:36:19,742 I know this room I've walked this floor" 660 00:36:19,916 --> 00:36:21,527 I mean... 661 00:36:21,701 --> 00:36:24,573 These are all the "Hallelujah" songs. 662 00:36:32,538 --> 00:36:35,671 INTERVIEWER: Did he ever mention how many verses he might've written? 663 00:36:39,501 --> 00:36:42,591 For some reason, the number 180 comes to mind. 664 00:36:42,765 --> 00:36:44,680 [LAUGHS] 665 00:36:44,854 --> 00:36:47,683 It might've been 150, but it was a lot of verses. 666 00:36:49,729 --> 00:36:51,731 Sometimes I think that I would go along 667 00:36:51,905 --> 00:36:53,515 with the old Beat philosophy: 668 00:36:53,689 --> 00:36:56,039 "First thought, best thought." 669 00:36:56,214 --> 00:36:58,781 But it never worked for me. 670 00:36:58,955 --> 00:37:01,654 There hardly is a first thought. It's all sweat. 671 00:37:03,612 --> 00:37:05,179 No, but, I mean, you are kind of... 672 00:37:05,353 --> 00:37:08,182 transmitting the experience... 673 00:37:08,356 --> 00:37:10,315 or passing it along to another generation. 674 00:37:12,795 --> 00:37:16,146 What is the experience? It's the experience of, uh... 675 00:37:16,321 --> 00:37:18,323 of work... 676 00:37:18,497 --> 00:37:20,977 and of failure. 677 00:37:21,151 --> 00:37:22,370 And, uh... 678 00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:29,377 You just try to lay it out as accurately as you can. 679 00:37:34,382 --> 00:37:36,428 [PLAYING AND HUMMING SOFTLY] 680 00:37:39,387 --> 00:37:42,085 LISSAUER: I hadn't seen him in eight years, 681 00:37:42,260 --> 00:37:43,696 '76 to '84. 682 00:37:45,698 --> 00:37:47,613 And so my Leonard days were done. 683 00:37:47,787 --> 00:37:51,530 Except in 1984, I get a phone call. 684 00:37:53,923 --> 00:37:56,665 [IMITATES COHEN] "Hey, John. How are you?" 685 00:37:56,839 --> 00:37:59,842 He said, "Do you want to make a record?" 686 00:38:00,016 --> 00:38:03,498 SLOMAN: Going back to Lissauer to produceVarious Positions, 687 00:38:03,672 --> 00:38:06,327 that may have been occasioned by 688 00:38:06,501 --> 00:38:08,851 the excesses of working with Phil Spector. 689 00:38:10,375 --> 00:38:12,377 Lissauer, the arrangements 690 00:38:12,551 --> 00:38:14,292 were much more subtle and much more elegant, 691 00:38:14,466 --> 00:38:16,468 and it really, I thought, 692 00:38:16,642 --> 00:38:19,209 brought out the nuances of the lyrics much better. 693 00:38:20,907 --> 00:38:24,606 It was very surprising but oddly... 694 00:38:24,780 --> 00:38:27,870 uh, comforting at the same point. 695 00:38:28,044 --> 00:38:29,959 I must have always known that we weren't done. 696 00:38:30,133 --> 00:38:31,178 [PHONE RINGING] 697 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:36,618 Hello? 698 00:38:36,792 --> 00:38:38,316 LISSAUER: Now, at this point, 699 00:38:38,490 --> 00:38:41,057 he was in New York on a semi-regular basis, 700 00:38:41,231 --> 00:38:42,798 and he was staying at the Royalton. 701 00:38:42,972 --> 00:38:45,061 So he said, "Come on up to my room. 702 00:38:45,235 --> 00:38:47,020 I'll play you some songs." 703 00:38:47,194 --> 00:38:50,589 So I'm in the Royalton, and he's got his guitar out, 704 00:38:50,763 --> 00:38:56,246 but he also has a little device on his table in front of him. 705 00:38:56,421 --> 00:38:57,944 [CLICKS] 706 00:38:58,118 --> 00:38:59,728 [PERCUSSIVE BEAT PLAYING] 707 00:39:02,557 --> 00:39:04,167 Not quite as many cymbals, but he goes... 708 00:39:09,782 --> 00:39:10,826 I'm saying, "What is this?" 709 00:39:13,307 --> 00:39:14,700 [LISSAUER HUMMING] 710 00:39:19,444 --> 00:39:21,924 So I'm saying, "Jeez. 711 00:39:22,098 --> 00:39:25,319 That's kind of like Kurt Weill meets, um... 712 00:39:25,493 --> 00:39:28,757 You know, it's Berlin in the '30s or something." 713 00:39:28,931 --> 00:39:32,326 And at first I thought that he was sort of putting me on. 714 00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:36,156 I mean, it's a Leonard Cohen album, it's-- It's, uh... 715 00:39:36,330 --> 00:39:41,248 tactile and acoustic and serious and deep and historic. 716 00:39:41,422 --> 00:39:43,206 I said, "This electronic stuff, 717 00:39:43,381 --> 00:39:45,557 that's just like a post-disco thing." 718 00:39:45,731 --> 00:39:48,124 [SINGERS HUMMING "DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE"] 719 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,303 ISSERMANN: I remember studio sessions with Leonard... 720 00:39:54,653 --> 00:39:55,784 and John. 721 00:39:57,743 --> 00:39:59,222 I remember their relationship, 722 00:39:59,397 --> 00:40:00,485 they were laughing a lot. 723 00:40:03,618 --> 00:40:05,359 Leonard is very intense 724 00:40:05,533 --> 00:40:08,797 but with no show-off of the intensity, you know? 725 00:40:08,971 --> 00:40:13,193 He's, like, producing this incredible performance 726 00:40:13,367 --> 00:40:16,239 without intending to say, "Oh, look at me. 727 00:40:16,414 --> 00:40:18,285 I'm going to do something great and difficult. 728 00:40:18,459 --> 00:40:20,200 Please, I want concentration." 729 00:40:20,374 --> 00:40:22,768 It's a real creativity. 730 00:40:22,942 --> 00:40:25,161 ♪ Dance me Through the curtains ♪ 731 00:40:25,335 --> 00:40:27,860 ♪ That our kisses Have outworn... ♪ 732 00:40:28,034 --> 00:40:30,602 LISSAUER: Columbia had asked that we do a record 733 00:40:30,776 --> 00:40:33,779 that would put Leonard on the American map. 734 00:40:33,953 --> 00:40:35,737 And we had this song, "Hallelujah," 735 00:40:35,911 --> 00:40:41,177 which was pop song-like, and it reached out more. 736 00:40:41,351 --> 00:40:43,963 It just had... 737 00:40:44,137 --> 00:40:46,269 a more contemporary possibility to it 738 00:40:46,444 --> 00:40:47,619 than a lot of his stuff. 739 00:40:49,185 --> 00:40:51,536 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 740 00:40:51,710 --> 00:40:53,712 I could see how great it was. 741 00:40:53,886 --> 00:40:57,585 And as soon as I sat at the piano and we started to do... 742 00:40:57,759 --> 00:41:00,588 [PLAYING "HALLELUJAH" INTRO, HUMMING] 743 00:41:04,766 --> 00:41:08,117 Again, kind of a gospel 6/8 feel, which eventually is... 744 00:41:15,124 --> 00:41:17,605 And my favorite spot is the big hole in the end 745 00:41:17,779 --> 00:41:18,867 where it goes... 746 00:41:23,785 --> 00:41:25,613 [IMITATES QUICK DRUMMING, THEN HUMMING] 747 00:41:27,528 --> 00:41:29,487 The last time through it, really just, 748 00:41:29,661 --> 00:41:31,184 you think, "Oh, please do something." 749 00:41:31,358 --> 00:41:32,968 [SIGHS] 750 00:41:33,142 --> 00:41:36,494 [COHEN'S "HALLELUJAH" PLAYING] 751 00:41:36,668 --> 00:41:41,368 ♪ Now, I've heard there was A secret chord ♪ 752 00:41:41,542 --> 00:41:45,590 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 753 00:41:45,764 --> 00:41:49,550 ♪ But you don't really Care for music ♪ 754 00:41:49,724 --> 00:41:50,986 ♪ Do you? ♪ 755 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:52,727 LISSAUER: When I first heard it, 756 00:41:52,901 --> 00:41:54,555 it had the verses that are on the record. 757 00:41:54,729 --> 00:41:56,296 And that was it. 758 00:41:56,470 --> 00:41:58,907 And I never, ever asked him about his lyrics. 759 00:41:59,081 --> 00:42:01,127 I didn't ever say, "Explain this to me," 760 00:42:01,301 --> 00:42:03,085 or, "Does this have two meanings?" 761 00:42:03,259 --> 00:42:04,565 All the things that people wanna know. 762 00:42:04,739 --> 00:42:05,827 "Jeez, what did he...?" 763 00:42:06,001 --> 00:42:08,656 ♪ ...composing Hallelujah ♪ 764 00:42:08,830 --> 00:42:10,876 I wanted to be the audience. 765 00:42:11,050 --> 00:42:14,793 I wanted to make of the lyrics what they were to the listener. 766 00:42:14,967 --> 00:42:17,709 I didn't want to know too much. And I didn't want to... 767 00:42:17,883 --> 00:42:19,667 I think it's insulting in a way 768 00:42:19,841 --> 00:42:22,365 to ask someone to explain his art. 769 00:42:22,540 --> 00:42:23,889 It has to explain itself. 770 00:42:24,063 --> 00:42:30,678 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 771 00:42:34,029 --> 00:42:35,509 We're all thrilled with this record. 772 00:42:35,683 --> 00:42:36,815 And there's so much to it. 773 00:42:36,989 --> 00:42:38,947 There's three unbelievably great songs 774 00:42:39,121 --> 00:42:40,427 on this album, and I said, "We've done it. 775 00:42:40,601 --> 00:42:41,820 This is really good." 776 00:42:41,994 --> 00:42:43,212 [ALL EXCLAIM] 777 00:42:45,388 --> 00:42:46,868 And I think Columbia is gonna like this. 778 00:42:47,042 --> 00:42:48,348 They're gonna be happy. 779 00:42:48,522 --> 00:42:49,958 They had their anthem 780 00:42:50,132 --> 00:42:52,352 and they had a pop tune in "Dance Me." 781 00:42:52,526 --> 00:42:55,181 And it had stuff that could catch on all over the place. 782 00:42:55,355 --> 00:42:58,576 And I said, you know, "This is it." 783 00:42:58,750 --> 00:42:59,751 And, boy, was I wrong. 784 00:43:02,014 --> 00:43:03,972 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 785 00:43:09,151 --> 00:43:10,022 Sit down, my friend. 786 00:43:13,721 --> 00:43:16,289 Now, your album is called Various Positions. 787 00:43:16,463 --> 00:43:18,596 I know it's available in England, I found out. 788 00:43:18,770 --> 00:43:20,728 But why can't we get it in America? 789 00:43:20,902 --> 00:43:23,905 Columbia Records didn't want to bring it out. 790 00:43:24,079 --> 00:43:25,385 Why? What happened? 791 00:43:25,559 --> 00:43:28,040 They have a transorbital frontal lobotomy? 792 00:43:28,214 --> 00:43:30,042 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 793 00:43:30,216 --> 00:43:31,957 It was time to present the record. 794 00:43:32,131 --> 00:43:34,046 Uh... 795 00:43:34,220 --> 00:43:37,571 And they brought it into the new head of Columbia, 796 00:43:37,745 --> 00:43:39,791 Walter Yetnikoff. 797 00:43:39,965 --> 00:43:42,271 Yetnikoff was not a Leonard guy. 798 00:43:42,445 --> 00:43:44,796 And he pretty much hated it, heh. 799 00:43:44,970 --> 00:43:49,931 I visited the chief executive of Columbia Records. 800 00:43:50,105 --> 00:43:51,193 And? 801 00:43:51,367 --> 00:43:53,543 First of all, he reviewed my suit. 802 00:43:53,718 --> 00:43:56,111 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 803 00:43:56,285 --> 00:43:58,157 Then he said: 804 00:43:58,331 --> 00:44:00,855 "Leonard, we know you're great, 805 00:44:01,029 --> 00:44:02,814 but we don't know if you're any good." 806 00:44:02,988 --> 00:44:05,817 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 807 00:44:05,991 --> 00:44:06,948 Really? 808 00:44:07,122 --> 00:44:08,689 [♪♪♪] 809 00:44:14,695 --> 00:44:17,437 CLARKSON: That record album never came out in the States, did it? 810 00:44:17,611 --> 00:44:21,833 No, Columbia Records refused to put it out. 811 00:44:22,007 --> 00:44:25,532 Why?He said, "I don't like the mix." 812 00:44:25,706 --> 00:44:28,448 I said, "You mix it, Mr. Yetnikoff. 813 00:44:28,622 --> 00:44:31,233 If that's what's going to stop you putting out the record, 814 00:44:31,407 --> 00:44:32,757 you just mix it and put it out." 815 00:44:36,151 --> 00:44:40,242 To me, that was so disgusting and terrible and heartbreaking. 816 00:44:40,416 --> 00:44:41,853 Yeah. Yeah. 817 00:44:48,381 --> 00:44:51,079 COHEN: TheVarious Positions is the positions of the little will. 818 00:44:53,038 --> 00:44:54,648 We sense that there is a will 819 00:44:54,822 --> 00:44:58,130 that is behind all things. 820 00:44:58,304 --> 00:45:02,438 And we're also aware of our own little will... 821 00:45:02,612 --> 00:45:04,658 to succeed, to dominate, 822 00:45:04,832 --> 00:45:07,139 to influence, to be king. 823 00:45:08,793 --> 00:45:10,490 And from time to time, 824 00:45:10,664 --> 00:45:12,884 things arrange themselves in such a way that 825 00:45:13,058 --> 00:45:14,712 that tiny will is annihilated. 826 00:45:17,758 --> 00:45:20,326 ISSERMANN: I remember that he was crushed after that. 827 00:45:20,500 --> 00:45:22,720 All his work that had been so intense 828 00:45:22,894 --> 00:45:26,288 and doing something so precise and so beautiful, 829 00:45:26,462 --> 00:45:29,161 and then they say, "Oh, no, no. We're not interested in this." 830 00:45:29,335 --> 00:45:31,250 It's horrible. It's horrible. 831 00:45:31,424 --> 00:45:33,295 It was like The Twilight Zone for me. 832 00:45:33,469 --> 00:45:35,820 You do something you're absolutely sure is one thing, 833 00:45:35,994 --> 00:45:37,952 and someone else sees it... 834 00:45:38,126 --> 00:45:41,739 as reversed as possible. 835 00:45:41,913 --> 00:45:44,480 [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] 836 00:45:44,654 --> 00:45:48,223 I said, "Boy, I must have no sense of the music world... 837 00:45:49,921 --> 00:45:50,748 to be this wrong." 838 00:45:52,837 --> 00:45:54,882 And suddenly, everyone thought it was wrong. 839 00:45:57,711 --> 00:46:01,280 And Marty made me feel that I had somehow 840 00:46:01,454 --> 00:46:04,457 ruined Leonard's record career. 841 00:46:04,631 --> 00:46:06,894 He walked in, thinking it was the greatest thing ever, 842 00:46:07,068 --> 00:46:08,722 and he came out and it was my fault. 843 00:46:12,857 --> 00:46:17,905 My record career with Columbia was pretty much done. 844 00:46:18,079 --> 00:46:20,821 So I basically stopped making records with this album. 845 00:46:22,997 --> 00:46:24,390 At some point, someone said: 846 00:46:24,564 --> 00:46:26,827 "Yeah, you're not working in this town again, kid." 847 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:32,137 SLOMAN: To me, that was such a Philistine move. 848 00:46:32,311 --> 00:46:36,315 I mean, it-it just symbolized everything that's wrong 849 00:46:36,489 --> 00:46:38,970 with those assholes who run music labels. 850 00:46:41,407 --> 00:46:45,063 I don't think that the rejection of an album 851 00:46:45,237 --> 00:46:47,674 after it's paid for... 852 00:46:49,241 --> 00:46:50,851 happens that often. 853 00:46:53,985 --> 00:46:55,464 That's pretty extreme, yeah. 854 00:46:57,075 --> 00:47:01,993 I have no idea why Walter rejected it. 855 00:47:02,167 --> 00:47:05,561 Obviously, the album included one classic. 856 00:47:08,086 --> 00:47:09,696 COHEN: The work is done. 857 00:47:11,524 --> 00:47:12,786 And it's really good, man. 858 00:47:14,353 --> 00:47:16,311 It is impeccable. 859 00:47:16,485 --> 00:47:18,357 The stuff's down in black and white. 860 00:47:18,531 --> 00:47:20,750 Whether it comes out or whether it's seen. 861 00:47:20,925 --> 00:47:24,711 I'm telling you, this is all for the books. 862 00:47:24,885 --> 00:47:29,324 I feel I have a huge posthumous career ahead of me, you know? 863 00:47:29,498 --> 00:47:32,458 My estate will swell. [SLOMAN & COHEN LAUGH] 864 00:47:32,632 --> 00:47:34,329 My name will flourish... I mean, you know. 865 00:47:40,988 --> 00:47:46,602 Look, "Courage is what others can't see, 866 00:47:46,776 --> 00:47:48,343 what is never affirmed. 867 00:47:50,563 --> 00:47:52,739 It is made of what you have thrown away 868 00:47:52,913 --> 00:47:54,045 and then come back for." 869 00:47:57,570 --> 00:47:59,702 I don't think that Leonard ever believed 870 00:47:59,877 --> 00:48:02,270 that he was not any good. 871 00:48:02,444 --> 00:48:04,011 I don't think he ever believed that. 872 00:48:04,185 --> 00:48:06,057 I don't think, no matter who told him, 873 00:48:06,231 --> 00:48:09,016 what titan of the record industry told him, 874 00:48:09,190 --> 00:48:11,105 or what sales figures they could show him, 875 00:48:11,279 --> 00:48:13,064 he would ever believe that he wasn't any good. 876 00:48:14,543 --> 00:48:17,068 ♪ Now I look for her always ♪ 877 00:48:17,242 --> 00:48:19,940 ♪ I'm lost in this calling ♪ 878 00:48:20,114 --> 00:48:24,771 ♪ And I'm tied to the roots Of some prayer ♪ 879 00:48:24,945 --> 00:48:26,642 CLARKSON: I don't think he would let anybody 880 00:48:26,816 --> 00:48:27,992 destroy him in that way. 881 00:48:29,776 --> 00:48:34,259 I think he always knew that he was very strong. 882 00:48:34,433 --> 00:48:39,481 ♪ And the night comes on And it's very calm ♪ 883 00:48:39,655 --> 00:48:44,051 ♪ I want to cross over I want to go home ♪ 884 00:48:44,225 --> 00:48:46,924 ♪ But she says, "Go back ♪ 885 00:48:48,403 --> 00:48:50,753 ♪ Go back to the world" ♪ 886 00:48:53,713 --> 00:48:55,193 SLOMAN: The album eventually came out... 887 00:48:57,064 --> 00:49:00,546 on some dipshit label out of New Jersey. 888 00:49:03,766 --> 00:49:05,855 COHEN: It came out in a very tiny company. 889 00:49:06,030 --> 00:49:08,206 We had to scurry around to find somebody 890 00:49:08,380 --> 00:49:09,816 just to print the records. 891 00:49:13,254 --> 00:49:16,214 LISSAUER: SoVarious Positions and "Hallelujah" 892 00:49:16,388 --> 00:49:20,696 had gone completely unheralded and unrecognized. 893 00:49:20,870 --> 00:49:23,351 [SOFT STATIC CRACKLING OVER SPEAKER] 894 00:49:26,746 --> 00:49:28,661 There's a lot of stuff that's really good, 895 00:49:28,835 --> 00:49:31,446 nobody really is turned up to, you know? 896 00:49:31,620 --> 00:49:33,448 Most of the things that you're exposed to 897 00:49:33,622 --> 00:49:35,885 are just the things you hear on the radio. 898 00:49:36,060 --> 00:49:39,193 [GUITAR PLAYING "HALLELUJAH"] 899 00:49:39,367 --> 00:49:42,109 COHEN: Nobody heard of "Hallelujah" at that time. 900 00:49:42,283 --> 00:49:44,329 Except Dylan. 901 00:49:44,503 --> 00:49:49,595 And Dylan was singing the song in some of his concerts, 902 00:49:49,769 --> 00:49:52,728 which was a wonderful affirmation. 903 00:49:52,902 --> 00:49:56,950 DYLAN: ♪ You say there was A secret chord ♪ 904 00:49:57,124 --> 00:50:01,128 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 905 00:50:01,302 --> 00:50:05,437 ♪ But you don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 906 00:50:09,528 --> 00:50:13,401 ♪ It goes like this The fourth, the fifth ♪ 907 00:50:13,575 --> 00:50:18,276 ♪ The minor fall And the major lift ♪ 908 00:50:18,450 --> 00:50:21,714 SLOMAN: I've had many conversations with Bob about Leonard's work. 909 00:50:21,888 --> 00:50:26,197 So "Hallelujah" is a song right up Bob's alley. 910 00:50:26,371 --> 00:50:28,503 INTERVIEWER: Why? 911 00:50:28,677 --> 00:50:31,245 Because it's, um... 912 00:50:31,419 --> 00:50:34,161 Bob is another spiritual seeker. Bob-- 913 00:50:34,335 --> 00:50:38,209 Heh, I mean, you know, Bob is a spiritual chameleon. 914 00:50:38,383 --> 00:50:44,302 DYLAN: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 915 00:50:48,393 --> 00:50:51,918 FEMALE REPORTER: What impact did Bob Dylan have on you personally? 916 00:50:52,092 --> 00:50:57,619 The last time Mr. Dylan and I met was at a café 917 00:50:57,793 --> 00:51:02,059 in the 14th Arrondissement in Paris, France, 918 00:51:02,233 --> 00:51:06,976 a day after Mr. Dylan's triumphant concert there. 919 00:51:07,151 --> 00:51:09,892 It was a pleasant conversation, 920 00:51:10,067 --> 00:51:14,114 a conversation that could be described as "shop talk," 921 00:51:14,288 --> 00:51:17,552 in which we traded lyrics, 922 00:51:17,726 --> 00:51:20,729 both of us astounded at the other's genius. 923 00:51:20,903 --> 00:51:23,297 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 924 00:51:23,471 --> 00:51:27,258 SLOMAN: I've heard a lot of different versions of the Paris café. 925 00:51:27,432 --> 00:51:30,261 One version of it goes that Bob 926 00:51:30,435 --> 00:51:32,785 said how much he liked "Hallelujah." 927 00:51:32,959 --> 00:51:36,136 And Leonard said, "Yeah, 928 00:51:36,310 --> 00:51:39,661 it took me seven years to write that song." 929 00:51:39,835 --> 00:51:42,360 I said it was a couple of years. Actually, it was more than that. 930 00:51:42,534 --> 00:51:44,101 But I was ashamed to tell him 931 00:51:44,275 --> 00:51:46,451 exactly how long it took, and then, 932 00:51:46,625 --> 00:51:48,235 the conversation went on, 933 00:51:48,409 --> 00:51:50,890 and I praised one of the songs he wrote. 934 00:51:51,064 --> 00:51:54,589 It was called "I and I" from an album called Infidels. 935 00:51:54,763 --> 00:51:56,635 I asked him how long he took to write it. 936 00:51:56,809 --> 00:51:57,592 He said, "15 minutes." 937 00:51:59,812 --> 00:52:00,900 Bob was kidding. 938 00:52:04,512 --> 00:52:06,819 He also once said that he wrote the Lenny Bruce song 939 00:52:06,993 --> 00:52:08,473 in the back of a taxicab. 940 00:52:10,866 --> 00:52:12,955 COHEN: There are people that write great songs 941 00:52:13,130 --> 00:52:16,698 in the back of taxicabs, but my songs take a long time 942 00:52:16,872 --> 00:52:19,832 to bring to completion, and I don't know what the process is. 943 00:52:20,006 --> 00:52:23,575 But I know that perseverance is the essential element. 944 00:52:25,490 --> 00:52:26,839 HANSARD: I love that. 945 00:52:27,013 --> 00:52:29,407 I love the fact that he worked hard for those words... 946 00:52:29,581 --> 00:52:31,191 It-it, uh... 947 00:52:31,365 --> 00:52:33,193 It makes us feel better about ourselves. 948 00:52:33,367 --> 00:52:35,848 Dylan was like, "Yeah, I wrote it in the back of the cab." 949 00:52:36,022 --> 00:52:39,417 It's like, yeah, okay, okay, you probably did, but come on. 950 00:52:39,591 --> 00:52:41,201 [CHUCKLING] You know. 951 00:52:41,375 --> 00:52:43,464 Come down to earth, you know. 952 00:52:43,638 --> 00:52:47,164 Come down, stand among us for a moment, you know. 953 00:52:47,338 --> 00:52:49,078 It is a gift. 954 00:52:49,253 --> 00:52:51,342 Of course, you have to keep your tools sharp, 955 00:52:51,516 --> 00:52:54,954 and you have to keep your skill in a condition of operation. 956 00:52:55,128 --> 00:52:58,697 But the real song, where that comes from, 957 00:52:58,871 --> 00:53:00,960 no one knows. That is grace. That is a gift. 958 00:53:01,134 --> 00:53:02,744 And, uh... 959 00:53:02,918 --> 00:53:04,093 That is... 960 00:53:04,268 --> 00:53:05,660 That is not yours. 961 00:53:10,099 --> 00:53:12,406 If I knew where songs came from, 962 00:53:12,580 --> 00:53:14,930 I would go there more often. 963 00:53:15,104 --> 00:53:18,151 ♪ If it be your will ♪ 964 00:53:20,675 --> 00:53:25,027 ♪ That I speak no more... ♪ 965 00:53:25,202 --> 00:53:27,943 FINLEY: One time when we really talked about creative process, 966 00:53:28,117 --> 00:53:30,598 Leonard acknowledged there's something called the Bat Kol, 967 00:53:30,772 --> 00:53:32,687 which in the Talmud is the, uh... 968 00:53:32,861 --> 00:53:35,908 The feminine voice of God that extends into people. 969 00:53:39,433 --> 00:53:41,261 The Bat Kol arrives, 970 00:53:41,435 --> 00:53:44,786 and if you're in her service, you write down what she says. 971 00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:46,005 And then she goes away. 972 00:53:47,659 --> 00:53:49,443 So the baffled king is: 973 00:53:49,617 --> 00:53:51,097 "I just wrote the secret chord 974 00:53:51,271 --> 00:53:54,448 and I don't even know how I got it. 975 00:53:54,622 --> 00:53:58,235 But what I think I did is I made myself open to the Bat Kol." 976 00:53:58,409 --> 00:54:01,107 ♪ If a voice be true... ♪ 977 00:54:03,283 --> 00:54:04,850 Refine yourself enough 978 00:54:05,024 --> 00:54:07,026 that the Bat Kol recognizes that you're open. 979 00:54:08,636 --> 00:54:09,724 She arrives. 980 00:54:09,898 --> 00:54:12,074 ♪ I will sing to you... ♪ 981 00:54:12,249 --> 00:54:14,338 You speak. 982 00:54:14,512 --> 00:54:17,428 She departs. And you polish it. 983 00:54:19,168 --> 00:54:23,216 ♪ All your praises They shall ring ♪ 984 00:54:23,390 --> 00:54:25,740 INTERVIEWER: Various Positions is the name of the album. 985 00:54:25,914 --> 00:54:29,831 And at the same time, same year, we haveBook of Mercy. 986 00:54:30,005 --> 00:54:32,573 How didBook of Mercy come about? 987 00:54:32,747 --> 00:54:35,184 COHEN: It's a book of prayer. 988 00:54:35,359 --> 00:54:37,926 ♪ If it be your will ♪ 989 00:54:40,625 --> 00:54:43,758 ♪ If there is a choice ♪ 990 00:54:43,932 --> 00:54:46,021 The songs are related, of course. 991 00:54:46,195 --> 00:54:49,198 I think everybody's work is all of one piece. 992 00:54:51,549 --> 00:54:55,422 ♪ Let your mercies Spill on all ♪ 993 00:54:55,596 --> 00:54:59,426 ♪ These burning hearts in hell ♪ 994 00:55:02,386 --> 00:55:04,344 ♪ If it be your will ♪ 995 00:55:06,477 --> 00:55:07,956 ♪ To make us well... ♪ 996 00:55:10,916 --> 00:55:14,093 INTERVIEWER: At one point, I think you say, perhaps at more than one point, 997 00:55:14,267 --> 00:55:16,965 you say, "Though I don't believe." 998 00:55:17,139 --> 00:55:18,880 COHEN: I say that a couple of times: 999 00:55:19,054 --> 00:55:21,709 "Though I don't believe, I come to you now 1000 00:55:21,883 --> 00:55:23,798 and I lift my doubt to your mercy." 1001 00:55:23,972 --> 00:55:26,845 ♪ In our rags of light... ♪ 1002 00:55:27,019 --> 00:55:30,152 That kind of conversation with eternity, 1003 00:55:30,327 --> 00:55:32,894 oh, it certainly is deep in the Jewish tradition 1004 00:55:33,068 --> 00:55:35,941 of questioning God. 1005 00:55:36,115 --> 00:55:39,205 And I think it's a legitimate concern. 1006 00:55:39,379 --> 00:55:41,033 ♪ If it be your will ♪ 1007 00:55:43,601 --> 00:55:47,431 ♪ If it be your will ♪ 1008 00:55:55,874 --> 00:55:58,833 SLOMAN: I guess it was 1988, 1009 00:55:59,007 --> 00:56:01,445 Leonard goes on tour and... 1010 00:56:01,619 --> 00:56:05,274 he starts singing "Hallelujah," and all of a sudden... 1011 00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:08,669 new lyrics. 1012 00:56:08,843 --> 00:56:10,584 INTERVIEWER: Is there any verse 1013 00:56:10,758 --> 00:56:12,151 that actually no one has ever heard of 1014 00:56:12,325 --> 00:56:13,587 that you could tell us? 1015 00:56:16,198 --> 00:56:18,462 There are. I don't know how distinguished they are. 1016 00:56:18,636 --> 00:56:21,203 But there are a lot of verses to the song "Hallelujah." 1017 00:56:21,378 --> 00:56:23,336 They go like this: 1018 00:56:23,510 --> 00:56:25,773 "Baby, I've been here before 1019 00:56:25,947 --> 00:56:28,254 I know this room I've walked this floor" 1020 00:56:30,125 --> 00:56:32,780 ♪ You see I used to live alone ♪ 1021 00:56:35,130 --> 00:56:36,480 ♪ Before I knew you ♪ 1022 00:56:38,395 --> 00:56:40,440 I said, "Wait a minute. 1023 00:56:40,614 --> 00:56:42,399 We're not in the Old Testament anymore." 1024 00:56:42,573 --> 00:56:45,314 ♪ I've seen your flag On the marble arch ♪ 1025 00:56:45,489 --> 00:56:46,577 ♪ But love... ♪ 1026 00:56:46,751 --> 00:56:48,100 It's more secular. 1027 00:56:48,274 --> 00:56:50,842 It's like a completely different song. 1028 00:56:51,016 --> 00:56:53,105 And I'm saying to myself, "What the fuck?" 1029 00:56:53,279 --> 00:56:59,067 ♪ It's a broken Hallelujah... ♪ 1030 00:57:01,548 --> 00:57:03,028 SLOMAN: You said some interesting things about 1031 00:57:03,202 --> 00:57:04,856 the reason you rewrote some of these songs 1032 00:57:05,030 --> 00:57:06,945 because you felt that it was inauthentic 1033 00:57:07,119 --> 00:57:09,338 to write religious songs anymore. 1034 00:57:09,513 --> 00:57:11,906 COHEN: In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with it. 1035 00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:14,561 It's whether you can get behind it. 1036 00:57:14,735 --> 00:57:17,259 I had the King David song. 1037 00:57:17,434 --> 00:57:21,307 It was easy for me to use that Biblical metaphor 1038 00:57:21,481 --> 00:57:24,179 until the time came when I choked on the words 1039 00:57:24,353 --> 00:57:26,704 because it simply wasn't direct enough. 1040 00:57:29,228 --> 00:57:31,709 ♪ There was a time You let me know ♪ 1041 00:57:34,233 --> 00:57:38,455 ♪ What's really Going on below ♪ 1042 00:57:38,629 --> 00:57:44,591 ♪ But now you never Even show it to me, do you? ♪ 1043 00:57:48,247 --> 00:57:53,339 ♪ But I remember When I moved in you ♪ 1044 00:57:53,513 --> 00:57:57,822 ♪ Yes, and the Holy Dove She was moving too ♪ 1045 00:57:57,996 --> 00:58:01,347 ♪ Yes, and every single breath ♪ 1046 00:58:01,521 --> 00:58:06,570 ♪ That we drew was Hallelujah ♪ 1047 00:58:08,180 --> 00:58:10,704 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1048 00:58:13,185 --> 00:58:16,101 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1049 00:58:16,275 --> 00:58:19,234 COHEN: I wanted to push the song deep into the secular world, 1050 00:58:19,408 --> 00:58:20,758 into the ordinary world. 1051 00:58:20,932 --> 00:58:25,545 ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪ 1052 00:58:25,719 --> 00:58:28,896 ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪ 1053 00:58:33,379 --> 00:58:36,556 HANSARD: "Hallelujah" was a word that you don't really get to use 1054 00:58:36,730 --> 00:58:38,776 without sounding too religious. 1055 00:58:40,255 --> 00:58:41,996 Leonard pulled that word out of the sky 1056 00:58:42,170 --> 00:58:43,432 and pulled it down to the earth, 1057 00:58:43,607 --> 00:58:45,783 and made the word okay again. 1058 00:58:45,957 --> 00:58:48,786 And hip again and usable again, you know? 1059 00:58:50,962 --> 00:58:52,267 Thank you so much, friends. 1060 00:58:52,441 --> 00:58:54,356 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 1061 00:58:58,970 --> 00:59:01,059 SLOMAN: Fast-forward a couple of years 1062 00:59:01,233 --> 00:59:04,323 and I was hanging out at Leonard's office, 1063 00:59:04,497 --> 00:59:06,630 and his then-manager 1064 00:59:06,804 --> 00:59:11,025 told me that, uh, they were doing a tribute album. 1065 00:59:11,199 --> 00:59:13,027 It was going to be a tribute album 1066 00:59:13,201 --> 00:59:15,856 to Leonard calledI'm Your Fan. 1067 00:59:16,030 --> 00:59:18,511 Could I suggest people to be on it? 1068 00:59:18,685 --> 00:59:20,905 And I had worked for years with John Cale, 1069 00:59:21,079 --> 00:59:21,993 writing lyrics with John. 1070 00:59:23,864 --> 00:59:27,389 And John loves Leonard's work. 1071 00:59:27,564 --> 00:59:30,175 So I said, "Yeah, Cale would be perfect." 1072 00:59:30,349 --> 00:59:32,090 [THE VELVET UNDERGROUND'S "SUNDAY MORNING" PLAYING] 1073 00:59:32,264 --> 00:59:36,529 ♪ Sunday morning... ♪ 1074 00:59:36,703 --> 00:59:38,575 INTERVIEWER: We welcome John Cale to the studio today. 1075 00:59:38,749 --> 00:59:40,402 One of the founders of the Velvet Underground, 1076 00:59:40,577 --> 00:59:42,187 worked with Nico and Lou Reed, 1077 00:59:42,361 --> 00:59:44,189 and pretty much everybody else you'd care to think of 1078 00:59:44,363 --> 00:59:47,018 during an extraordinary 50-year career, 1079 00:59:47,192 --> 00:59:49,411 at the forefront of innovation in rock and pop music. 1080 00:59:49,586 --> 00:59:51,370 John Cale joins us. 1081 00:59:51,544 --> 00:59:53,372 One of the things I thought we'd have to discuss 1082 00:59:53,546 --> 00:59:55,374 is the role that you played 1083 00:59:55,548 --> 00:59:57,768 in reviving Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." 1084 00:59:57,942 --> 00:59:59,813 How did you cotton on to the potential, 1085 00:59:59,987 --> 01:00:01,510 the power of Leonard Cohen's song 1086 01:00:01,685 --> 01:00:04,339 long before other solo artists recorded it? 1087 01:00:04,513 --> 01:00:06,298 CALE: Well, I remember seeing Leonard doing it 1088 01:00:06,472 --> 01:00:08,866 at the Beacon in New York. 1089 01:00:09,040 --> 01:00:10,389 I hadn't heard it before, 1090 01:00:10,563 --> 01:00:12,521 and it just knocked me sideways. 1091 01:00:12,696 --> 01:00:15,612 So I thought, I could do this as a solo piano thing. 1092 01:00:15,786 --> 01:00:18,527 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 1093 01:00:18,702 --> 01:00:20,529 This is an experiment. 1094 01:00:20,704 --> 01:00:22,619 This song was written by Leonard Cohen. 1095 01:00:22,793 --> 01:00:24,751 [PLAYING "HALLELUJAH"][AUDIENCE CHEERS LOUDLY] 1096 01:00:31,279 --> 01:00:34,848 ♪ I heard there was A secret chord ♪ 1097 01:00:35,022 --> 01:00:39,070 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 1098 01:00:39,244 --> 01:00:43,988 ♪ But you don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 1099 01:00:44,162 --> 01:00:46,425 HANSARD: I remember John Cale covering that song. 1100 01:00:46,599 --> 01:00:48,383 I remember going, "Wow, what a deep cut. 1101 01:00:48,557 --> 01:00:51,038 You've just picked a song of Leonard's that I know, 1102 01:00:51,212 --> 01:00:54,041 but not a lot of people know that tune." 1103 01:00:54,215 --> 01:00:55,913 SLOMAN: Then I called up John and said: 1104 01:00:56,087 --> 01:00:58,045 "John, there's different verses. 1105 01:00:58,219 --> 01:01:00,352 There's the song that's on the album, 1106 01:01:00,526 --> 01:01:02,746 and then there's the song he's doing live. 1107 01:01:02,920 --> 01:01:04,878 See if you can get all the verses." 1108 01:01:05,052 --> 01:01:07,751 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1109 01:01:07,925 --> 01:01:12,016 CALE: Well, I got a ton of verses that are really gorgeous. 1110 01:01:12,190 --> 01:01:14,061 But some of them I couldn't sing myself. 1111 01:01:14,235 --> 01:01:15,889 Some of them were about religion 1112 01:01:16,063 --> 01:01:19,023 and reflecting Leonard's background. 1113 01:01:19,197 --> 01:01:21,765 So I took the cheeky verses. 1114 01:01:21,939 --> 01:01:25,116 ♪ There was a time You let me know ♪ 1115 01:01:25,290 --> 01:01:28,641 ♪ What's really Going on below ♪ 1116 01:01:28,815 --> 01:01:32,906 ♪ But now you never show it To me, do you? ♪ 1117 01:01:35,692 --> 01:01:39,173 ♪ I remember When I moved in you ♪ 1118 01:01:39,347 --> 01:01:42,742 ♪ And the Holy Dove Was moving too ♪ 1119 01:01:42,916 --> 01:01:49,009 ♪ And every breath We drew was Hallelujah ♪ 1120 01:01:49,183 --> 01:01:51,272 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1121 01:01:51,446 --> 01:01:54,754 The spareness of that version was beautiful to me. 1122 01:01:56,408 --> 01:01:59,716 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1123 01:01:59,890 --> 01:02:01,282 John has a real talent 1124 01:02:01,456 --> 01:02:04,938 for pulling away all of the unnecessary stuff. 1125 01:02:05,112 --> 01:02:08,899 ♪ Maybe there's a God above ♪ 1126 01:02:09,073 --> 01:02:11,902 ♪ But all I ever learned From love... ♪ 1127 01:02:12,076 --> 01:02:14,818 SLOMAN: And it was great that he was combining the spiritual 1128 01:02:14,992 --> 01:02:18,386 and the secular versions of that song. 1129 01:02:18,560 --> 01:02:20,737 Cale really owned that song. 1130 01:02:20,911 --> 01:02:23,391 He really made it personal. 1131 01:02:23,565 --> 01:02:26,177 ♪ It's not somebody Who's seen the light... ♪ 1132 01:02:26,351 --> 01:02:29,267 But again, that's because, you know, 1133 01:02:29,441 --> 01:02:32,444 Cale's a guy like Leonard who's been through the wars. 1134 01:02:32,618 --> 01:02:33,445 So, you know. 1135 01:02:33,619 --> 01:02:36,622 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1136 01:02:36,796 --> 01:02:43,237 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1137 01:02:45,979 --> 01:02:47,851 [AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 1138 01:02:52,203 --> 01:02:54,858 CLARKSON: I do not remember the first time I heard "Hallelujah." 1139 01:02:56,337 --> 01:02:57,774 But I'm pretty sure 1140 01:02:57,948 --> 01:02:59,601 that the first time I heard "Hallelujah," 1141 01:02:59,776 --> 01:03:02,256 Leonard wasn't singing it. 1142 01:03:02,430 --> 01:03:05,433 I think I must have heard Jeff Buckley? 1143 01:03:07,131 --> 01:03:08,523 The first version of "Hallelujah" 1144 01:03:08,697 --> 01:03:10,395 I heard was Jeff Buckley. 1145 01:03:10,569 --> 01:03:11,657 Jeff Buckley. 1146 01:03:15,095 --> 01:03:19,012 I don't know, the Jeff Buckley seems to be theversion 1147 01:03:19,186 --> 01:03:21,710 because I'm even shocked sometimes, 1148 01:03:21,885 --> 01:03:23,538 even when you go on the Internet, 1149 01:03:23,712 --> 01:03:25,758 and sometimes you see people on television, they say: 1150 01:03:25,932 --> 01:03:28,717 "Now I'm going to sing a song by Jeff Buckley." 1151 01:03:28,892 --> 01:03:30,415 And it's "Hallelujah." 1152 01:03:32,460 --> 01:03:34,506 Hi, I'm Mick Grondahl.And I'm Jeff Buckley. 1153 01:03:34,680 --> 01:03:36,856 And you're watching 120 Minuteson MTV. 1154 01:03:41,556 --> 01:03:43,167 INTERVIEWER: Jeff Buckley and "Hallelujah" 1155 01:03:43,341 --> 01:03:44,777 probably wouldn't have come together 1156 01:03:44,951 --> 01:03:45,822 were it not for St. Ann's. 1157 01:03:47,171 --> 01:03:47,867 How did that happen? 1158 01:03:49,390 --> 01:03:50,957 Oh, heh. 1159 01:03:51,131 --> 01:03:52,437 By accident. 1160 01:03:54,395 --> 01:03:56,180 You know, "Arts at St. Ann's" 1161 01:03:56,354 --> 01:03:58,269 was a music theater series 1162 01:03:58,443 --> 01:04:01,402 in this important landmark church. 1163 01:04:01,576 --> 01:04:04,623 And we were just starting to do these multi-artist shows 1164 01:04:04,797 --> 01:04:07,452 that investigated somebody's body of work. 1165 01:04:08,932 --> 01:04:10,368 And Hal Willner and I 1166 01:04:10,542 --> 01:04:12,849 were doing this homage to Tim Buckley. 1167 01:04:16,026 --> 01:04:18,550 ♪ You turn and run away ♪ 1168 01:04:18,724 --> 01:04:20,552 WILLNER: Janine and I got in touch 1169 01:04:20,726 --> 01:04:23,511 with Tim Buckley's manager, Herb Cohen. 1170 01:04:23,685 --> 01:04:26,427 He said, "You know he has a son." 1171 01:04:26,601 --> 01:04:28,995 Or someone said, "He has a son." I went, "Is he good?" 1172 01:04:29,169 --> 01:04:30,779 He went, "He's better than his father." 1173 01:04:30,954 --> 01:04:33,043 ♪ Let me sing a song ♪ 1174 01:04:33,217 --> 01:04:34,653 I've always played music, 1175 01:04:34,827 --> 01:04:36,829 I just have never pursued the music business. 1176 01:04:37,003 --> 01:04:41,007 I never sent a tape to anyone or shopped myself. 1177 01:04:41,181 --> 01:04:43,880 And then the beautiful people at St. Ann's, 1178 01:04:44,054 --> 01:04:45,272 they asked me to come. 1179 01:04:50,103 --> 01:04:53,106 WILLNER: And when he walked into the church that day, 1180 01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:55,674 he was obviously the type that you could put 1181 01:04:55,848 --> 01:04:58,111 in any situation to do anything. 1182 01:04:58,285 --> 01:05:00,679 You could just tell. It's just an instinctual thing, 1183 01:05:00,853 --> 01:05:02,942 hearing him sing three notes, watching him play guitar, 1184 01:05:03,116 --> 01:05:05,814 talking to him about the different music he liked. 1185 01:05:05,989 --> 01:05:08,687 He was a magic man. 1186 01:05:08,861 --> 01:05:12,952 ♪ Once I was a soldier ♪ 1187 01:05:15,650 --> 01:05:19,393 ♪ And I fought On foreign sands for you... ♪ 1188 01:05:21,221 --> 01:05:22,657 FELDMAN: And then at the very end, 1189 01:05:22,831 --> 01:05:24,790 Jeff's guitar string broke. 1190 01:05:24,964 --> 01:05:27,271 So he sang it a cappella. 1191 01:05:27,445 --> 01:05:31,101 ♪ Do you ever... ♪ 1192 01:05:31,275 --> 01:05:32,929 And you could see the full range of his voice. 1193 01:05:33,103 --> 01:05:39,979 ♪ ...remember me ♪ 1194 01:05:44,070 --> 01:05:46,855 NICHOLS: Something had been unleashed, you know. 1195 01:05:47,030 --> 01:05:48,683 So he stuck around. 1196 01:05:51,512 --> 01:05:54,951 INTERVIEWER: You can be heard performing live at the Sin-é. 1197 01:05:55,125 --> 01:05:57,127 BUCKLEY: Oh, yeah. 1198 01:05:57,301 --> 01:05:59,520 DOYLE: He came in looking for a gig. 1199 01:05:59,694 --> 01:06:01,348 And things developed very quickly. 1200 01:06:02,828 --> 01:06:03,916 I believe it was Hal Willner, 1201 01:06:04,090 --> 01:06:05,483 actually, told him to come in. 1202 01:06:07,746 --> 01:06:09,356 WILLNER: He started playing once a week. 1203 01:06:10,749 --> 01:06:11,880 That was his workshop. 1204 01:06:14,057 --> 01:06:17,060 And he would just play whatever songs he was learning. 1205 01:06:17,234 --> 01:06:19,714 He wasn't playing any originals. 1206 01:06:19,888 --> 01:06:22,065 BUCKLEY: I figured to pick my favorite artists 1207 01:06:22,239 --> 01:06:24,981 and artists that move a lot of people, or just move me. 1208 01:06:27,809 --> 01:06:30,073 FELDMAN: Jeff would play music for me a lot, 1209 01:06:30,247 --> 01:06:31,900 and it was a very natural thing 1210 01:06:32,075 --> 01:06:34,164 for me to share "Hallelujah" with him 1211 01:06:34,338 --> 01:06:36,122 because we'd been doing projects 1212 01:06:36,296 --> 01:06:37,994 at St. Ann's with John Cale. 1213 01:06:38,168 --> 01:06:40,648 And I had heard John's version of "Hallelujah," 1214 01:06:40,822 --> 01:06:42,389 which I loved. 1215 01:06:42,563 --> 01:06:44,391 CALE: ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1216 01:06:44,565 --> 01:06:48,830 And somewhere in there, I played John's song for him. 1217 01:06:49,005 --> 01:06:52,312 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1218 01:06:52,486 --> 01:06:58,144 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1219 01:06:59,928 --> 01:07:04,020 "Hallelujah" is a Leonard Cohen song. 1220 01:07:04,194 --> 01:07:07,936 ♪ Yeah, but, baby I've been here before... ♪ 1221 01:07:08,111 --> 01:07:09,547 I do the John Cale version. 1222 01:07:09,721 --> 01:07:11,592 ♪ And I've walked This floor... ♪ 1223 01:07:11,766 --> 01:07:14,291 I just learned it one night before a gig at Sin-é. 1224 01:07:14,465 --> 01:07:17,076 ♪ Before I knew you... ♪ 1225 01:07:17,250 --> 01:07:18,295 It's a great song. 1226 01:07:20,123 --> 01:07:21,167 I wish I wrote it. 1227 01:07:22,864 --> 01:07:24,475 DOYLE: I didn't know the song. 1228 01:07:24,649 --> 01:07:26,042 I knew it when he sang it. 1229 01:07:26,216 --> 01:07:27,695 That was my introduction to it. 1230 01:07:27,869 --> 01:07:31,917 It was amazing, and everybody knew it was amazing. 1231 01:07:32,091 --> 01:07:34,615 Everybody knew he was amazing. 1232 01:07:34,789 --> 01:07:36,617 So he's on his way. 1233 01:07:36,791 --> 01:07:37,923 [CHUCKLES] 1234 01:07:38,097 --> 01:07:40,404 So I brought the A&R guy, 1235 01:07:40,578 --> 01:07:42,667 Steve Berkowitz, down there to see him. 1236 01:07:42,841 --> 01:07:46,192 The first time that I heard about Jeff was... 1237 01:07:46,366 --> 01:07:49,674 Hal and I are walking across St. Mark's Place. 1238 01:07:49,848 --> 01:07:51,893 He said, "Buckley's kid plays in here sometimes." 1239 01:07:52,068 --> 01:07:55,767 And he points at this little dusty club called Sin-é. 1240 01:07:55,941 --> 01:07:58,335 And, um, we looked in the window and there he was. 1241 01:08:02,948 --> 01:08:06,517 After, like, one or two songs, I just grabbed Hal by the arm. 1242 01:08:06,691 --> 01:08:08,562 "Am I hearing everything I think I'm hearing?" 1243 01:08:08,736 --> 01:08:10,086 And he goes, "Yeah, you are." 1244 01:08:17,963 --> 01:08:19,399 [CLAP ECHOES] 1245 01:08:19,573 --> 01:08:21,184 [BUCKLEY EXHALES SHARPLY] 1246 01:08:21,358 --> 01:08:23,229 [PLAYING INTRO TO "HALLELUJAH"] 1247 01:08:32,064 --> 01:08:35,720 BERKOWITZ: "Hallelujah," which is so emotional and spiritual 1248 01:08:35,894 --> 01:08:39,724 and so open to feeling and interpretation... 1249 01:08:41,421 --> 01:08:42,988 Good choice for Jeff Buckley. 1250 01:08:46,209 --> 01:08:49,255 Jeff was an instrument of Leonard's and that song 1251 01:08:49,429 --> 01:08:50,604 to turn it into something else. 1252 01:08:55,131 --> 01:08:58,612 His guitar playing on that is astounding. 1253 01:08:58,786 --> 01:09:01,267 People always talk about his voice, which obviously... 1254 01:09:01,441 --> 01:09:06,316 But his guitar playing is, like, crazy good. 1255 01:09:06,490 --> 01:09:09,275 FELDMAN: I think, musically, he made it his own. 1256 01:09:09,449 --> 01:09:10,972 Leonard wrote a beautiful song, 1257 01:09:11,147 --> 01:09:14,628 and then Jeff made it sound like an angel was singing it. 1258 01:09:14,802 --> 01:09:18,545 ♪ Your faith was strong But you needed proof ♪ 1259 01:09:18,719 --> 01:09:21,592 ♪ You saw her bathing On the roof ♪ 1260 01:09:21,766 --> 01:09:25,726 ♪ Her beauty in the moonlight Overthrew you ♪ 1261 01:09:28,207 --> 01:09:31,776 ♪ She tied you To a kitchen chair ♪ 1262 01:09:31,950 --> 01:09:34,866 ♪ She broke your throne And she cut your hair ♪ 1263 01:09:35,040 --> 01:09:40,045 ♪ And from your lips She drew the Hallelujah ♪ 1264 01:09:41,481 --> 01:09:45,703 ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪ 1265 01:09:45,877 --> 01:09:47,966 BERKOWITZ: Jeff didn't make it a better song. 1266 01:09:48,140 --> 01:09:49,707 It was already a great song. 1267 01:09:49,881 --> 01:09:52,231 You know, Leonard wrote it. 1268 01:09:52,405 --> 01:09:55,930 But he did elevate the plateau of visibility for that song 1269 01:09:56,104 --> 01:09:59,673 to the rest of the world in a more popular vein 1270 01:09:59,847 --> 01:10:03,547 and maybe a less forbidding way than those dark, grumbly voices 1271 01:10:03,721 --> 01:10:05,549 of those older guys who had done it, 1272 01:10:05,723 --> 01:10:07,551 whether it was Cale or Leonard or Dylan. 1273 01:10:07,725 --> 01:10:10,989 BUCKLEY: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1274 01:10:11,163 --> 01:10:14,035 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1275 01:10:14,210 --> 01:10:18,301 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1276 01:10:18,475 --> 01:10:22,740 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1277 01:10:22,914 --> 01:10:25,830 WASSER: I did see him end the show often with that song. 1278 01:10:27,962 --> 01:10:29,442 It was so effective. 1279 01:10:30,878 --> 01:10:32,315 It's just him. 1280 01:10:32,489 --> 01:10:36,232 ♪ Hall... ♪ 1281 01:10:38,321 --> 01:10:39,844 And it's very exposed. 1282 01:10:41,062 --> 01:10:43,151 ♪ Hall... ♪ 1283 01:10:43,326 --> 01:10:48,809 And he did make it sort of overtly sexual, um, 1284 01:10:48,983 --> 01:10:51,247 which, I think, was really fun for him to do. 1285 01:10:51,421 --> 01:10:54,075 ♪ --lujah ♪ 1286 01:10:54,250 --> 01:11:01,126 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1287 01:11:05,696 --> 01:11:07,698 [AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 1288 01:11:11,267 --> 01:11:12,616 What was the question? 1289 01:11:12,790 --> 01:11:14,444 [REPORTER] It was about Leonard Cohen. 1290 01:11:14,618 --> 01:11:16,097 Do you know whether he's heard... ? 1291 01:11:16,272 --> 01:11:17,751 I hope he never hears it. 1292 01:11:17,925 --> 01:11:18,883 Why? 1293 01:11:20,276 --> 01:11:21,538 [SIGHS] 'Cause... 1294 01:11:23,366 --> 01:11:24,541 Uh... 1295 01:11:24,715 --> 01:11:26,194 I don't know. 1296 01:11:26,369 --> 01:11:29,241 To me, it sounds more like a boy singing it. 1297 01:11:29,415 --> 01:11:32,070 [BUCKLEY VOCALIZING] 1298 01:11:42,559 --> 01:11:44,169 Jeff didn't live to see "Hallelujah" 1299 01:11:44,343 --> 01:11:45,997 becoming the song it did. 1300 01:11:50,915 --> 01:11:54,048 But after he died, of course, 1301 01:11:54,222 --> 01:11:56,921 a lot of people came to his version of that song. 1302 01:12:00,664 --> 01:12:02,666 KENNEDY: This song was played by a gentleman that 1303 01:12:02,840 --> 01:12:04,929 is probably one of my biggest influences 1304 01:12:05,103 --> 01:12:06,844 and a number of other people's as well. 1305 01:12:07,018 --> 01:12:09,629 We owe a great debt to Mr. Jeff Buckley. 1306 01:12:12,763 --> 01:12:15,635 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1307 01:12:17,550 --> 01:12:20,292 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1308 01:12:21,685 --> 01:12:24,209 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1309 01:12:24,383 --> 01:12:25,993 [CROWD CHEERING] 1310 01:12:26,167 --> 01:12:29,606 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1311 01:12:29,780 --> 01:12:31,651 The question is, if he hadn't died, 1312 01:12:31,825 --> 01:12:34,262 would that song have taken the place it did? 1313 01:12:36,308 --> 01:12:37,222 To Jeff Buckley. 1314 01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:45,186 "Hallelujah"? 1315 01:12:45,361 --> 01:12:47,363 [CROWD CHEERS] 1316 01:12:47,537 --> 01:12:49,147 Is that what you're saying? 1317 01:12:51,410 --> 01:12:52,368 All right, what the hell. 1318 01:12:54,718 --> 01:12:56,807 CARLILE: For me, Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" 1319 01:12:56,981 --> 01:13:00,158 is paramount to why I sing and how I sing. 1320 01:13:00,332 --> 01:13:02,726 Hearing those lyrics come out of his mouth 1321 01:13:02,900 --> 01:13:04,989 was the first time it really got me. 1322 01:13:06,991 --> 01:13:08,601 I became immediately obsessed with it. 1323 01:13:10,255 --> 01:13:11,822 I would put it on repeat 1324 01:13:11,996 --> 01:13:13,432 next to my head when I'd go to sleep. 1325 01:13:13,606 --> 01:13:14,781 I had a little boom-box CD player. 1326 01:13:14,955 --> 01:13:16,566 And just listen to it all night long. 1327 01:13:16,740 --> 01:13:20,787 And it kind of informed a lot of my dreams and visions. 1328 01:13:20,961 --> 01:13:23,137 It was what was causing me 1329 01:13:23,311 --> 01:13:26,227 to reconcile my faith and my sexuality at the time. 1330 01:13:26,402 --> 01:13:28,229 It was what was helping me... 1331 01:13:30,057 --> 01:13:32,886 feel a part of that narrative. 1332 01:13:33,060 --> 01:13:36,847 ♪ Well, darling I've been here before ♪ 1333 01:13:37,021 --> 01:13:40,067 ♪ I've seen this room I've walked these floors ♪ 1334 01:13:40,241 --> 01:13:45,856 ♪ You know I used to live alone Before I knew you... ♪ 1335 01:13:46,030 --> 01:13:49,468 It evokes some of the most primitive human desires. 1336 01:13:49,642 --> 01:13:51,209 And it marries it with a concept 1337 01:13:51,383 --> 01:13:52,732 that so many of us struggle with, 1338 01:13:52,906 --> 01:13:54,430 which is spirituality. 1339 01:13:54,604 --> 01:13:57,694 ♪ It's a cold And it's a broken ♪ 1340 01:13:57,868 --> 01:14:01,654 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1341 01:14:01,828 --> 01:14:03,221 Leonard Cohen somehow understood 1342 01:14:03,395 --> 01:14:06,093 that "Hallelujah" wasn't a church song, 1343 01:14:06,267 --> 01:14:10,489 but that it was actually a moment of realization that... 1344 01:14:10,663 --> 01:14:12,230 life can be desperately hard. 1345 01:14:12,404 --> 01:14:15,146 And for me, that was just something I really wanted to say 1346 01:14:15,320 --> 01:14:16,974 every day to myself, 1347 01:14:17,148 --> 01:14:20,412 as I was going through that phase of coming-of-age 1348 01:14:20,586 --> 01:14:24,024 and trying to understand, um... 1349 01:14:24,198 --> 01:14:27,288 what it meant to be young, faithful and gay. 1350 01:14:27,463 --> 01:14:34,078 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1351 01:14:38,735 --> 01:14:41,128 ♪ Hey, Hallelujah ♪ 1352 01:14:43,653 --> 01:14:46,482 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 1353 01:14:46,656 --> 01:14:47,831 Thank you very much! 1354 01:14:49,659 --> 01:14:52,531 [♪♪♪] 1355 01:15:06,371 --> 01:15:09,330 COHEN: You're watching an in-concert profile of me. 1356 01:15:09,505 --> 01:15:11,811 I don't want to say too much about myself 1357 01:15:11,985 --> 01:15:14,074 because most of you don't know who I am, 1358 01:15:14,248 --> 01:15:16,294 and those of you who do already know something 1359 01:15:16,468 --> 01:15:19,732 about my curious career and my marginal presence 1360 01:15:19,906 --> 01:15:22,692 on the edge of the music scene for the past 30 years. 1361 01:15:22,866 --> 01:15:25,433 One reason I've hung around so long 1362 01:15:25,608 --> 01:15:27,827 is it takes me four or five years to do an album. 1363 01:15:31,875 --> 01:15:35,182 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1364 01:15:37,576 --> 01:15:40,448 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1365 01:15:40,623 --> 01:15:41,667 [INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE] 1366 01:15:51,677 --> 01:15:54,898 ♪ Maybe there's a God above ♪ 1367 01:15:55,072 --> 01:16:00,730 ♪ As for me All I ever learned from love ♪ 1368 01:16:00,904 --> 01:16:02,993 ♪ Is how to shoot at someone ♪ 1369 01:16:03,167 --> 01:16:05,691 [LAUGHS] 1370 01:16:05,865 --> 01:16:09,390 ♪ Who outdrew you... ♪ 1371 01:16:09,565 --> 01:16:13,003 COHEN: I had a great sense of disorder in my life, 1372 01:16:13,177 --> 01:16:16,702 of chaos, of depression, of distress. 1373 01:16:16,876 --> 01:16:19,270 I had no idea where this came from, 1374 01:16:19,444 --> 01:16:23,579 and the prevailing psychoanalytic explanations 1375 01:16:23,753 --> 01:16:27,191 didn't seem to address the things I felt. 1376 01:16:27,365 --> 01:16:34,241 ♪ A broken Hallelujah ♪ 1377 01:16:34,415 --> 01:16:38,332 ALL: ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1378 01:16:38,506 --> 01:16:42,162 At a certain point, I'd finished the tour, 1379 01:16:42,336 --> 01:16:44,948 and I'd been drinking a lot, 1380 01:16:45,122 --> 01:16:47,603 which became progressively more distressing. 1381 01:16:49,779 --> 01:16:55,611 And I didn't see much more future in show business. 1382 01:16:55,785 --> 01:17:00,050 ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪ 1383 01:17:05,969 --> 01:17:09,581 ♪ I did my best I know it wasn't much ♪ 1384 01:17:09,755 --> 01:17:15,674 ♪ I could not feel that is why I learned to touch ♪ 1385 01:17:15,848 --> 01:17:18,808 INTERVIEWER: You've been spending a lot of time outside of Los Angeles. 1386 01:17:18,982 --> 01:17:20,984 COHEN: That's right. There's a Zen monastery 1387 01:17:21,158 --> 01:17:22,594 that I've been living at on Mount Baldy, 1388 01:17:22,768 --> 01:17:25,423 about 6500 feet up. 1389 01:17:25,597 --> 01:17:27,164 [GONG SOUNDING] 1390 01:17:33,170 --> 01:17:35,694 BACAL: I visited him up at Mount Baldy. 1391 01:17:37,522 --> 01:17:40,133 It was a primordial rock pile. 1392 01:17:40,307 --> 01:17:41,874 [♪♪♪] 1393 01:17:44,790 --> 01:17:47,271 It was not a comforting place. 1394 01:17:47,445 --> 01:17:49,012 [CHUCKLES] 1395 01:17:49,186 --> 01:17:52,711 Well, Zen practice isn't comforting either. 1396 01:17:52,885 --> 01:17:55,801 It's, uh... It's not for the meek. 1397 01:18:00,023 --> 01:18:01,851 COHEN: It's a rigorous life. 1398 01:18:04,114 --> 01:18:05,942 It's designed to overthrow you. 1399 01:18:10,163 --> 01:18:11,817 If it isn't a matter of survival, 1400 01:18:11,991 --> 01:18:14,211 of life and death, of healing or sickness, 1401 01:18:14,385 --> 01:18:16,561 then I don't think anyone in their right mind 1402 01:18:16,735 --> 01:18:18,824 would undertake this kind of training. 1403 01:18:22,828 --> 01:18:24,830 INTERVIEWER: So it's almost like medicine for you, then? 1404 01:18:27,703 --> 01:18:31,010 COHEN: Well, it's a very careful and precise investigation 1405 01:18:31,184 --> 01:18:34,274 into the self that was urgent for me. 1406 01:18:34,448 --> 01:18:36,494 If you're sitting in a meditation hall 1407 01:18:36,668 --> 01:18:38,626 for four or five hours a day, 1408 01:18:38,801 --> 01:18:42,021 you kind of get straight with yourself. 1409 01:18:42,195 --> 01:18:45,459 So this is not on the level of a religious conversion. 1410 01:18:45,633 --> 01:18:47,984 It's closer to science than religion. 1411 01:18:51,248 --> 01:18:54,860 INTERVIEWER: Do you find it inspiring as a writer? 1412 01:18:55,034 --> 01:18:58,298 COHEN: I think it's like peeling away the layers of the onion, 1413 01:18:58,472 --> 01:19:00,257 which is the process I've always used 1414 01:19:00,431 --> 01:19:02,520 in writing anyways. 1415 01:19:02,694 --> 01:19:04,348 You keep discarding the stuff 1416 01:19:04,522 --> 01:19:08,178 that is too easy or too much of a slogan. 1417 01:19:08,352 --> 01:19:10,615 Yeah, this kind of practice is valuable, 1418 01:19:10,789 --> 01:19:14,140 but there's no guarantee that any kind of training 1419 01:19:14,314 --> 01:19:17,709 or environment or situation results in a good song. 1420 01:19:20,973 --> 01:19:23,933 BACAL: He told me that when he sat in Zazen, 1421 01:19:24,107 --> 01:19:25,804 he was writing songs. 1422 01:19:27,632 --> 01:19:29,808 That's not exactly what one would think 1423 01:19:29,982 --> 01:19:32,376 you're doing in Zazen. 1424 01:19:32,550 --> 01:19:36,075 In Zazen, you would clear your mind. 1425 01:19:36,249 --> 01:19:38,817 [COHEN'S "ANTHEM" PLAYING] 1426 01:19:46,346 --> 01:19:49,610 ♪ The birds They sang ♪ 1427 01:19:49,785 --> 01:19:51,961 ♪ At the break of day ♪ 1428 01:19:53,963 --> 01:19:55,834 ♪ Start again ♪ 1429 01:19:57,314 --> 01:19:59,882 ♪ I heard them say ♪ 1430 01:20:01,535 --> 01:20:04,800 ♪ Don't dwell ♪ 1431 01:20:04,974 --> 01:20:08,542 ♪ On what has passed away ♪ 1432 01:20:08,716 --> 01:20:12,285 ♪ Or what is yet to be ♪ 1433 01:20:12,459 --> 01:20:14,766 INTERVIEWER: Why did you leave Mount Baldy? 1434 01:20:14,940 --> 01:20:16,724 COHEN: I felt I'd been there long enough, 1435 01:20:16,899 --> 01:20:18,944 and I found myself saying to Roshi 1436 01:20:19,118 --> 01:20:21,381 that I think it's time to go down the hill for a while. 1437 01:20:23,688 --> 01:20:27,039 ♪ The Holy Dove ♪ 1438 01:20:27,213 --> 01:20:29,955 ♪ She will be caught again ♪ 1439 01:20:32,262 --> 01:20:35,569 ♪ Bought and sold ♪ 1440 01:20:35,743 --> 01:20:38,268 ♪ Then bought again ♪ 1441 01:20:38,442 --> 01:20:42,011 ♪ The Dove is never free... ♪ 1442 01:21:12,563 --> 01:21:14,913 ♪ There is a crack ♪ 1443 01:21:15,087 --> 01:21:19,831 ♪ A crack in everything ♪ 1444 01:21:20,005 --> 01:21:23,400 ♪ That's how the light Gets in ♪ 1445 01:21:23,574 --> 01:21:26,359 ♪ That's how The light gets in ♪ 1446 01:21:31,756 --> 01:21:34,150 SLOMAN: "Hallelujah," you know, obviously had wings, 1447 01:21:34,324 --> 01:21:36,195 but what was the thing that really broke it? 1448 01:21:36,369 --> 01:21:38,415 When was the first movie version? 1449 01:21:38,589 --> 01:21:43,072 It was just Cale, then Buckley... 1450 01:21:43,246 --> 01:21:44,682 And then... 1451 01:21:44,856 --> 01:21:46,553 INTERVIEWER: And then Shrek. Shrek. 1452 01:21:48,555 --> 01:21:50,470 So Shrekreally broke it. 1453 01:21:50,644 --> 01:21:53,343 I have not seen Shrek. 1454 01:21:53,517 --> 01:21:56,824 And I actually just need to check, is that a cartoon? 1455 01:21:56,999 --> 01:21:59,349 ♪ The years start comin' And they don't stop comin' ♪ 1456 01:21:59,523 --> 01:22:01,612 ♪ Fed to the rules And I hit the ground runnin' ♪ 1457 01:22:01,786 --> 01:22:03,875 ♪ Didn't make sense Not to live for fun... ♪ 1458 01:22:04,049 --> 01:22:06,617 JENSON: This was the first of its kind. 1459 01:22:06,791 --> 01:22:09,881 They weren't traditional fairytale characters. 1460 01:22:10,055 --> 01:22:12,492 And the music was different. 1461 01:22:12,666 --> 01:22:17,715 It just reflected our comedic aesthetics and... 1462 01:22:17,889 --> 01:22:19,282 what would keep us, 1463 01:22:19,456 --> 01:22:21,458 keep our butts in a seat watching a movie. 1464 01:22:21,632 --> 01:22:23,155 ["HALLELUJAH" PLAYING] 1465 01:22:23,329 --> 01:22:25,941 And I'd been a fan of Leonard Cohen 1466 01:22:26,115 --> 01:22:28,247 since the early '90s. 1467 01:22:28,421 --> 01:22:31,598 ♪ I heard there was A secret chord... ♪ 1468 01:22:31,772 --> 01:22:33,861 I came across him throughI'm Your Fan, 1469 01:22:34,036 --> 01:22:37,778 and John Cale's version of "Hallelujah." 1470 01:22:37,953 --> 01:22:40,303 I just played that over and over and over again. 1471 01:22:40,477 --> 01:22:42,827 And one of the first jobs I was given, 1472 01:22:43,001 --> 01:22:46,265 as a newer director on the movie, 1473 01:22:46,439 --> 01:22:48,267 was "figure this moment out." 1474 01:22:48,441 --> 01:22:52,576 ♪ Baby, I've been here before ♪ 1475 01:22:52,750 --> 01:22:55,579 ♪ I know this room I've walked this floor... ♪ 1476 01:22:55,753 --> 01:22:59,104 It's just this interesting, complex mix of feelings 1477 01:22:59,278 --> 01:23:02,978 that you don't often see in a family movie. 1478 01:23:03,152 --> 01:23:05,154 But we all agreed we loved it. 1479 01:23:05,328 --> 01:23:07,330 And Aron Warner, our producer, said: 1480 01:23:07,504 --> 01:23:10,246 "Okay, that's great. Go figure it out." 1481 01:23:10,420 --> 01:23:12,291 So I worked with the lyrics, 1482 01:23:12,465 --> 01:23:16,208 trimming down the song to edit out the naughty bits 1483 01:23:16,382 --> 01:23:20,212 and get the song down to, you know, a couple of minutes. 1484 01:23:22,649 --> 01:23:24,695 INTERVIEWER: What are the naughty bits? 1485 01:23:24,869 --> 01:23:27,480 JENSON: Oh, "Tied you to a kitchen chair," 1486 01:23:27,654 --> 01:23:30,135 and all of the very personal lyrics 1487 01:23:30,309 --> 01:23:32,224 that had to do with the specific 1488 01:23:32,398 --> 01:23:33,965 sexual aspect of the relationship. 1489 01:23:34,139 --> 01:23:36,576 And we trimmed down choruses 1490 01:23:36,750 --> 01:23:40,189 and then re-storyboarded to that version. 1491 01:23:40,363 --> 01:23:43,583 COHEN: John Cale asked me for a bunch of lyrics. 1492 01:23:43,757 --> 01:23:46,282 Is his in Shrek or is that Rufus Wainwright's? 1493 01:23:46,456 --> 01:23:47,979 INTERVIEWER: That's a good question. 1494 01:23:48,153 --> 01:23:49,459 I think it's Rufus's. 1495 01:23:49,633 --> 01:23:52,201 [WAINWRIGHT PLAYING "HALLELUJAH" ON PIANO] 1496 01:23:55,073 --> 01:23:57,597 WAINWRIGHT: What's interesting about my relationship to "Hallelujah" 1497 01:23:57,771 --> 01:23:59,425 is that I didn't know the song at all. 1498 01:23:59,599 --> 01:24:01,645 I didn't know Jeff Buckley's version. 1499 01:24:01,819 --> 01:24:04,300 I didn't know Leonard Cohen's version. 1500 01:24:04,474 --> 01:24:07,607 ♪ I heard there was A secret chord... ♪ 1501 01:24:07,781 --> 01:24:10,741 But what occurred was that I was on DreamWorks Records, 1502 01:24:10,915 --> 01:24:14,049 and DreamWorks was also making the movieShrek. 1503 01:24:14,223 --> 01:24:16,747 And there was some kind of backroom deal... 1504 01:24:16,921 --> 01:24:18,618 [CHUCKLES] 1505 01:24:18,792 --> 01:24:21,404 ...that was struck between the powers that be 1506 01:24:21,578 --> 01:24:23,623 at the animation studio and the record company. 1507 01:24:28,933 --> 01:24:32,719 So I recut John Cale's version in the studio, 1508 01:24:32,893 --> 01:24:35,853 assuming that it would be in the movie. 1509 01:24:36,027 --> 01:24:39,074 But then they came back to us and they said: 1510 01:24:39,248 --> 01:24:42,164 "Unfortunately, the filmmakers 1511 01:24:42,338 --> 01:24:44,862 have decided to keep John Cale's version in." 1512 01:24:45,036 --> 01:24:49,040 'Cause they thought his voice matched Shrek more, heh-heh! 1513 01:24:49,214 --> 01:24:51,260 Yes, it was rejected for the movie. 1514 01:24:51,434 --> 01:24:53,175 [INTERVIEWER LAUGHS]And that was just me. 1515 01:24:53,349 --> 01:24:54,785 [BOTH LAUGH] 1516 01:24:54,959 --> 01:24:56,787 Sorry, I'm really sorry. 1517 01:24:56,961 --> 01:24:58,528 I love John Cale's version. 1518 01:24:58,702 --> 01:25:01,705 John Cale is one of my all-time favorite artists, 1519 01:25:01,879 --> 01:25:06,753 but I can see how there's more of a kind of Welsh, 1520 01:25:06,927 --> 01:25:11,018 sour quality, which I could see would work better with Shrek 1521 01:25:11,193 --> 01:25:15,458 than my gorgeous, you know, 22-year-old tenor. 1522 01:25:15,632 --> 01:25:19,592 WAINWRIGHT: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1523 01:25:19,766 --> 01:25:23,466 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1524 01:25:23,640 --> 01:25:26,251 JENSON: Look, I love Rufus Wainwright. He's fantastic. 1525 01:25:26,425 --> 01:25:29,080 And it's a beautiful, beautiful version. 1526 01:25:29,254 --> 01:25:31,300 But it always felt too young to me. 1527 01:25:32,866 --> 01:25:35,086 It felt like someone's first heartbreak. 1528 01:25:35,260 --> 01:25:38,611 ♪ Baby, I've been here before ♪ 1529 01:25:38,785 --> 01:25:42,398 ♪ I know this room And I've walked this floor ♪ 1530 01:25:42,572 --> 01:25:47,403 ♪ I used to live alone Before I knew you ♪ 1531 01:25:47,577 --> 01:25:50,319 So I just put my foot down. 1532 01:25:50,493 --> 01:25:55,802 But the caveat that was arranged 1533 01:25:55,976 --> 01:26:00,503 was that my version would be on the soundtrack. 1534 01:26:00,677 --> 01:26:03,070 ANNOUNCER: Shrek. Music from the original motion picture. 1535 01:26:03,245 --> 01:26:04,681 Wow! 1536 01:26:04,855 --> 01:26:11,166 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1537 01:26:11,340 --> 01:26:13,342 JENSON: And as the years went by, 1538 01:26:13,516 --> 01:26:16,997 watching any of the talent shows on TV, 1539 01:26:17,172 --> 01:26:18,695 somebody would sing it 1540 01:26:18,869 --> 01:26:20,784 and somebody would play it with a ukulele. 1541 01:26:20,958 --> 01:26:23,874 And it was always the, you know, Shrekversion, 1542 01:26:24,048 --> 01:26:28,705 the shortened version that has all the naughty bits taken out. 1543 01:26:28,879 --> 01:26:30,620 [LAUGHS] 1544 01:26:30,794 --> 01:26:34,450 ["AMERICAN IDOL" THEME PLAYING] 1545 01:26:34,624 --> 01:26:36,408 So just give us a little background, 1546 01:26:36,582 --> 01:26:37,888 why this song for Lee? 1547 01:26:38,062 --> 01:26:39,672 I like him as a person. 1548 01:26:39,846 --> 01:26:42,327 And I wanted him to do something 1549 01:26:42,501 --> 01:26:45,504 which shows that he's got the potential to be a great artist. 1550 01:26:45,678 --> 01:26:48,159 That's why I chose this song, I love this song. 1551 01:26:48,333 --> 01:26:51,075 Singing live for your votes, here's "Hallelujah." 1552 01:26:51,249 --> 01:26:53,120 [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 1553 01:26:53,295 --> 01:26:56,341 ♪ Baby, I've been here Before... ♪ 1554 01:26:56,515 --> 01:27:00,650 ♪ I've seen this room And I've walked this floor... ♪ 1555 01:27:00,824 --> 01:27:05,481 ♪ I used to live alone Before I knew you... ♪ 1556 01:27:07,831 --> 01:27:12,923 ♪ Now I've heard there was A secret chord that... ♪ 1557 01:27:13,097 --> 01:27:14,098 [WHISPERS] 1558 01:27:15,752 --> 01:27:17,493 ♪ And it pleased the Lord... ♪ 1559 01:27:17,667 --> 01:27:21,148 ♪ Maybe there's a God above... ♪ 1560 01:27:21,323 --> 01:27:24,848 ♪ All I've ever learned From love... ♪ 1561 01:27:25,022 --> 01:27:31,681 ♪ Is how to shoot somebody Who outdrew you... ♪ 1562 01:27:31,855 --> 01:27:35,641 CHOIR: ♪ Hallelujah ♪♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1563 01:27:35,815 --> 01:27:39,689 CHOIR: ♪ Hallelujah ♪♪ Oh, Hallelujah ♪ 1564 01:27:39,863 --> 01:27:44,346 CHOIR: ♪ Hallelujah ♪♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1565 01:27:44,520 --> 01:27:51,396 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1566 01:27:53,529 --> 01:27:56,009 [AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 1567 01:27:56,183 --> 01:27:57,315 COWELL: That was just... 1568 01:27:58,838 --> 01:28:01,754 I mean, seriously, incredible. 1569 01:28:01,928 --> 01:28:04,888 Thank you, Simon.COWELL: You've gotta win. 1570 01:28:05,062 --> 01:28:07,543 If you want the winner's single to be released by Alexandra, 1571 01:28:07,717 --> 01:28:09,588 you have to vote for her. 1572 01:28:18,380 --> 01:28:21,644 INTERVIEWER: Leonard Cohen, let me ask you about "Hallelujah." 1573 01:28:21,818 --> 01:28:24,647 It took on a whole new energy this past Christmas. 1574 01:28:24,821 --> 01:28:26,779 It appeared Number 1 and Number 2 1575 01:28:26,953 --> 01:28:28,738 on the UK bestseller charts. 1576 01:28:28,912 --> 01:28:33,003 And your version from 1984 was also in the top 40. 1577 01:28:33,177 --> 01:28:34,613 What did you make of that? 1578 01:28:34,787 --> 01:28:36,398 Well, of course, 1579 01:28:36,572 --> 01:28:40,445 there were certain ironic and amusing sidebars, 1580 01:28:40,619 --> 01:28:43,622 you know, because the record that it came from 1581 01:28:43,796 --> 01:28:47,234 wasn't considered good enough for the American market. 1582 01:28:47,409 --> 01:28:49,976 It wasn't put out, so there was a certain sense of 1583 01:28:50,150 --> 01:28:51,935 a mild sense of revenge... 1584 01:28:53,545 --> 01:28:55,417 that arose in my heart. 1585 01:28:55,591 --> 01:28:58,115 INTERVIEWER: What is the magic of "Hallelujah"? 1586 01:28:58,289 --> 01:29:00,117 I don't know. 1587 01:29:00,291 --> 01:29:04,121 You know, one is always trying to write a good song and... 1588 01:29:04,295 --> 01:29:05,818 like everything else, 1589 01:29:05,992 --> 01:29:08,473 you put in your best effort, but you can't... 1590 01:29:08,647 --> 01:29:11,302 command the consequences, so... 1591 01:29:11,476 --> 01:29:15,175 Of course, I was happy that the song was being used, 1592 01:29:15,350 --> 01:29:18,527 but I think people ought to stop singing it for a little while. 1593 01:29:21,051 --> 01:29:23,314 Leonard was kidding.INTERVIEWER: You think? 1594 01:29:23,488 --> 01:29:25,664 Yes, yes. You know... 1595 01:29:25,838 --> 01:29:27,927 I mean, I think he was tickled pink 1596 01:29:28,101 --> 01:29:31,148 that everybody and their sister were singing this song. 1597 01:29:36,806 --> 01:29:39,896 [BRAKES SQUEAL, THEN DOOR WARNING BELL DINGS] 1598 01:29:40,070 --> 01:29:45,292 ♪ You don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 1599 01:29:47,164 --> 01:29:50,907 ♪ It goes like this The fourth, the fifth ♪ 1600 01:29:51,081 --> 01:29:52,909 ♪ The minor fall... ♪ 1601 01:29:53,083 --> 01:29:55,477 [PLAYING "HALLELUJAH"] 1602 01:30:03,049 --> 01:30:05,791 CARLILE: What a song can do when it gets out into the world, 1603 01:30:05,965 --> 01:30:08,751 despite its challenges, is really, really fascinating. 1604 01:30:08,925 --> 01:30:12,232 ALL: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1605 01:30:12,407 --> 01:30:15,235 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1606 01:30:15,410 --> 01:30:17,803 "Hallelujah" really beat the odds 1607 01:30:17,977 --> 01:30:19,457 in that it's its own thing now. 1608 01:30:21,590 --> 01:30:24,506 It's its own person, and it has its own life. 1609 01:30:24,680 --> 01:30:27,465 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1610 01:30:29,859 --> 01:30:32,949 People love it for their weddings and their engagements. 1611 01:30:35,299 --> 01:30:37,780 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1612 01:30:39,259 --> 01:30:40,478 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1613 01:30:40,652 --> 01:30:42,437 And their dark times. 1614 01:30:46,397 --> 01:30:50,096 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1615 01:30:50,270 --> 01:30:53,404 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1616 01:30:53,578 --> 01:30:55,450 CHURCH: It always feels like every time you hear the song 1617 01:30:55,624 --> 01:30:57,234 that something big has just happened. 1618 01:30:59,323 --> 01:31:01,456 You don't just hear the song and pass by the song 1619 01:31:01,630 --> 01:31:04,154 and move to the next song. 1620 01:31:04,328 --> 01:31:07,853 I love that it doesn't matter if you're agnostic 1621 01:31:08,027 --> 01:31:09,638 or Christian or Jewish or whatever... 1622 01:31:09,812 --> 01:31:13,685 There's parts of the song that apply to you. 1623 01:31:14,860 --> 01:31:15,818 And they're all right, 1624 01:31:15,992 --> 01:31:17,559 none of them are wrong. 1625 01:31:21,345 --> 01:31:22,912 I'm going to try something here. 1626 01:31:23,086 --> 01:31:25,131 This could go bad. 1627 01:31:25,305 --> 01:31:27,264 I was at Red Rocks, and earlier in the day, 1628 01:31:27,438 --> 01:31:29,266 I was listening to a mix. 1629 01:31:29,440 --> 01:31:35,490 And by chance, Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" came on my iPod. 1630 01:31:35,664 --> 01:31:38,580 I had never played the song, but I had a little slot 1631 01:31:38,754 --> 01:31:42,018 that was kind of a question-mark slot on the set list. 1632 01:31:42,192 --> 01:31:44,542 I didn't say anything to the band beforehand. 1633 01:31:44,716 --> 01:31:46,979 They didn't know I was gonna do it. 1634 01:31:47,153 --> 01:31:50,896 ♪ I heard there was A secret chord ♪ 1635 01:31:51,070 --> 01:31:54,073 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 1636 01:31:54,247 --> 01:31:57,120 ♪ But you don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 1637 01:31:57,294 --> 01:32:00,471 [AUDIENCE WHOOPING] 1638 01:32:00,645 --> 01:32:02,865 ♪ It goes like this The fourth, the fifth ♪ 1639 01:32:03,039 --> 01:32:06,999 ♪ The minor fall The major lift ♪ 1640 01:32:07,173 --> 01:32:11,482 ♪ The baffled king Composing Hallelujah ♪ 1641 01:32:13,005 --> 01:32:14,746 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1642 01:32:16,443 --> 01:32:17,662 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1643 01:32:17,836 --> 01:32:19,751 What I didn't anticipate, 1644 01:32:19,925 --> 01:32:22,275 'cause I'm still pretty new to this song, 1645 01:32:22,449 --> 01:32:24,626 I didn't anticipate the way the crowd would react. 1646 01:32:26,105 --> 01:32:28,804 [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 1647 01:32:31,633 --> 01:32:33,678 I mean, there are 10,000 people between two rocks 1648 01:32:33,852 --> 01:32:36,812 in-in what looks like a cathedral. 1649 01:32:36,986 --> 01:32:38,465 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1650 01:32:40,337 --> 01:32:42,121 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1651 01:32:42,295 --> 01:32:44,471 And for me, that was one of those nights that, 1652 01:32:44,646 --> 01:32:47,431 when it's all said and done and all over, 1653 01:32:47,605 --> 01:32:49,955 I'm not gonna remember a lot of things, probably, 1654 01:32:50,129 --> 01:32:52,654 but I'm going to remember singing "Hallelujah," 1655 01:32:52,828 --> 01:32:55,526 night one at Red Rocks, no doubt. 1656 01:32:55,700 --> 01:32:59,312 And I'll remember the people, and I'll remember... 1657 01:32:59,486 --> 01:33:01,184 the way they responded to the song. 1658 01:33:01,358 --> 01:33:03,490 It was... 1659 01:33:03,665 --> 01:33:04,796 just like being in church. 1660 01:33:06,755 --> 01:33:08,974 [ALL CHEERING] 1661 01:33:21,857 --> 01:33:25,251 [COHEN'S "IN MY SECRET LIFE" PLAYING] 1662 01:33:25,425 --> 01:33:29,386 ♪ In my secret life... ♪ 1663 01:33:29,560 --> 01:33:31,388 DABROWSKI: So where are you now? 1664 01:33:31,562 --> 01:33:33,738 COHEN: You know, nothing's over till it's over, 1665 01:33:33,912 --> 01:33:36,436 but I find myself in a graceful moment. 1666 01:33:38,221 --> 01:33:40,702 So the depressions that you suffered from very much 1667 01:33:40,876 --> 01:33:41,833 in your earlier days? 1668 01:33:43,400 --> 01:33:44,749 They've lifted. 1669 01:33:47,360 --> 01:33:48,884 They've lifted completely. 1670 01:33:49,058 --> 01:33:50,407 ♪ I saw you this morning ♪ 1671 01:33:50,581 --> 01:33:52,017 It's not so much that I... 1672 01:33:52,191 --> 01:33:54,106 ♪ You were moving so fast... ♪ 1673 01:33:54,280 --> 01:33:56,674 I got what I was looking for, but the, um... 1674 01:33:58,415 --> 01:33:59,808 the search itself dissolved. 1675 01:34:02,941 --> 01:34:05,727 SLOMAN [CHUCKLES]: It sounds like you had an amazing moment of clarity 1676 01:34:05,901 --> 01:34:08,338 or revelation or whatever. 1677 01:34:08,512 --> 01:34:11,341 COHEN: It wasn't as dramatic as that, there were no bright lights 1678 01:34:11,515 --> 01:34:13,343 but something did happen, 1679 01:34:13,517 --> 01:34:15,127 and God knows I want to celebrate it. 1680 01:34:15,301 --> 01:34:16,868 But I certainly know 1681 01:34:17,042 --> 01:34:19,218 that any analysis of it would be futile. 1682 01:34:19,392 --> 01:34:20,263 SLOMAN: Right. 1683 01:34:22,395 --> 01:34:27,226 ♪ And we're still making love ♪ 1684 01:34:27,400 --> 01:34:32,536 ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ In my secret life ♪ 1685 01:34:35,670 --> 01:34:38,194 ♪ In my secret life ♪ 1686 01:34:40,239 --> 01:34:42,807 ♪ I smile when I'm angry... ♪ 1687 01:34:42,981 --> 01:34:45,505 ROBINSON: We were working on new material. 1688 01:34:45,680 --> 01:34:48,117 So he was coming over to my studio and... 1689 01:34:48,291 --> 01:34:50,902 One day he came over and he said: 1690 01:34:51,076 --> 01:34:54,384 "You know, I went to the ATM and there's no money. 1691 01:34:54,558 --> 01:34:55,864 I've been ripped off." 1692 01:34:58,823 --> 01:35:01,260 INTERVIEWER: I want to make sure I've said this clearly, 1693 01:35:01,434 --> 01:35:03,915 you found out that your business manager 1694 01:35:04,089 --> 01:35:06,918 had basically stolen all your money, 1695 01:35:07,092 --> 01:35:08,703 the money that had been made 1696 01:35:08,877 --> 01:35:10,356 from selling your song publishing, 1697 01:35:10,530 --> 01:35:13,316 and your retirement funds. 1698 01:35:13,490 --> 01:35:15,492 COHEN: That's true. Yes, that's the way it was. 1699 01:35:17,973 --> 01:35:20,932 COLLINS: He really turned everything over to his assistant. 1700 01:35:23,239 --> 01:35:24,719 He signed everything off to her. 1701 01:35:24,893 --> 01:35:29,506 She could do anything she wanted with everything that he had. 1702 01:35:29,680 --> 01:35:30,986 Something that... 1703 01:35:31,160 --> 01:35:33,597 [SIGHS] ...apparently is very dangerous. 1704 01:35:33,771 --> 01:35:35,773 [♪♪♪] 1705 01:35:35,947 --> 01:35:37,470 COHEN: It was enough to put a dent in your mood, 1706 01:35:37,644 --> 01:35:38,297 you know what I mean? 1707 01:35:38,471 --> 01:35:40,125 [CHUCKLES] 1708 01:35:40,299 --> 01:35:41,474 INTERVIEWER: Is there a feeling that, 1709 01:35:41,648 --> 01:35:43,389 "Now I better get back to work?" 1710 01:35:43,563 --> 01:35:45,130 COHEN: Sure. 1711 01:35:45,304 --> 01:35:47,480 But I joke about the economic pressures. 1712 01:35:47,654 --> 01:35:50,266 I really did have to get back to work for that reason, 1713 01:35:50,440 --> 01:35:54,009 but there's also another kind of pressure. 1714 01:35:54,183 --> 01:35:58,100 You know, 70 is indisputably not youth. 1715 01:35:58,274 --> 01:36:00,319 I don't say it's extreme old age, 1716 01:36:00,493 --> 01:36:03,540 but it is the foothills of old age, 1717 01:36:03,714 --> 01:36:07,022 and that urgent invitation to complete one's work 1718 01:36:07,196 --> 01:36:10,460 is very much in my life. 1719 01:36:10,634 --> 01:36:14,159 And it's more urgent than the economic necessity. 1720 01:36:14,333 --> 01:36:18,468 That the two coincide is just a coincidence. 1721 01:36:28,130 --> 01:36:31,611 [LINE RINGS, THEN CLICKS] 1722 01:36:31,786 --> 01:36:33,918 COHEN: Great talking to you.SLOMAN: Yeah! 1723 01:36:34,092 --> 01:36:36,225 COHEN: I haven't spoken to you for a long time. 1724 01:36:36,399 --> 01:36:39,358 SLOMAN: I remember last time we talked, you were worrying about 1725 01:36:39,532 --> 01:36:42,753 what was a dignified position for an old guy like you, 1726 01:36:42,927 --> 01:36:45,408 going from coffee shop to coffee shop with your guitar? 1727 01:36:45,582 --> 01:36:46,626 COHEN: Right. 1728 01:36:46,801 --> 01:36:49,238 [♪♪♪] 1729 01:36:49,412 --> 01:36:52,328 SLOMAN: So are you gonna, uh, tour? 1730 01:36:52,502 --> 01:36:57,202 COHEN: I may because it's a good solution to old age and death. 1731 01:36:57,376 --> 01:36:59,335 Just play till you drop.SLOMAN: Right. 1732 01:36:59,509 --> 01:37:01,250 COHEN: And you keep your work alive, 1733 01:37:01,424 --> 01:37:03,034 and your chops get better and better. 1734 01:37:03,208 --> 01:37:04,819 [SLOMAN CHUCKLES] 1735 01:37:04,993 --> 01:37:08,170 It's a matter of establishing priorities. 1736 01:37:08,344 --> 01:37:11,260 SLOMAN: So Leonard came out again. 1737 01:37:11,434 --> 01:37:13,523 But I think he was... 1738 01:37:13,697 --> 01:37:15,351 kind of apprehensive 1739 01:37:15,525 --> 01:37:18,354 in how, you know, he'd be received 1740 01:37:18,528 --> 01:37:20,269 'cause it'd been so long. 1741 01:37:20,443 --> 01:37:23,098 He wasn't at all confident that it was going to work. 1742 01:37:25,622 --> 01:37:30,105 And that's why we started the tour in a very small venue. 1743 01:37:32,281 --> 01:37:34,022 [BAND TUNING INSTRUMENTS] 1744 01:37:38,461 --> 01:37:42,030 COHEN: You know, even when I was in the monastery at Mount Baldy, 1745 01:37:42,204 --> 01:37:45,163 there were times when I would ask myself: 1746 01:37:45,337 --> 01:37:49,080 "Are you really never going to get up on a stage again?" 1747 01:37:49,254 --> 01:37:52,910 The idea of performing was always unresolved. 1748 01:37:55,826 --> 01:37:58,698 I don't mean to suggest I'm not at all anxious. 1749 01:37:58,873 --> 01:38:02,354 [SINGING INDISTINCTLY] 1750 01:38:02,528 --> 01:38:04,922 But fortunately, this band is so good. 1751 01:38:06,663 --> 01:38:08,186 We jelled in the rehearsal hall. 1752 01:38:11,450 --> 01:38:13,409 ROBINSON: We rehearsed for a long time. 1753 01:38:13,583 --> 01:38:16,238 An unusually long time. 1754 01:38:16,412 --> 01:38:17,630 Three months, I think. 1755 01:38:21,983 --> 01:38:25,638 Leonard really honored his audiences. 1756 01:38:25,812 --> 01:38:28,032 He said every night before the show: 1757 01:38:28,206 --> 01:38:29,947 "We're gonna give you everything we've got." 1758 01:38:30,121 --> 01:38:31,993 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 1759 01:38:39,565 --> 01:38:42,133 [BAND PLAYING "TOWER OF SONG"] 1760 01:38:46,311 --> 01:38:51,142 ♪ Now my friends are gone And my hair is gray ♪ 1761 01:38:51,316 --> 01:38:55,233 ♪ I ache in the places Where I used to play ♪ 1762 01:38:55,407 --> 01:38:57,192 ♪ And I'm crazy for love ♪ 1763 01:38:59,237 --> 01:39:01,065 ♪ But I'm not comin' on ♪ 1764 01:39:04,982 --> 01:39:08,246 ♪ I'm just paying my rent Every day ♪ 1765 01:39:08,420 --> 01:39:10,857 ♪ In the Tower of Song ♪ 1766 01:39:11,032 --> 01:39:13,425 [ALL VOCALIZING] 1767 01:39:13,599 --> 01:39:15,514 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING] 1768 01:39:23,000 --> 01:39:25,350 [AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 1769 01:39:31,139 --> 01:39:34,229 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 1770 01:39:34,403 --> 01:39:37,188 ♪ I was born like this ♪ 1771 01:39:37,362 --> 01:39:39,190 ♪ I had no choice ♪ 1772 01:39:39,364 --> 01:39:44,282 ♪ I was born with the gift Of a golden voice ♪ 1773 01:39:44,456 --> 01:39:49,548 ♪ And 27 angels From the Great Beyond ♪ 1774 01:39:49,722 --> 01:39:53,291 [BACKUP SINGERS VOCALIZING] 1775 01:39:53,465 --> 01:39:56,860 ♪ Yeah, they tied me To this table right here ♪ 1776 01:39:57,034 --> 01:39:59,036 ♪ In the Tower of Song ♪ 1777 01:40:05,695 --> 01:40:08,480 It's been a long time since I stood out here. 1778 01:40:08,654 --> 01:40:12,528 It was about, uh, 14 years ago. 1779 01:40:12,702 --> 01:40:18,142 I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream. 1780 01:40:18,316 --> 01:40:20,231 [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] 1781 01:40:23,626 --> 01:40:26,237 ♪ Now you can say That I've grown bitter ♪ 1782 01:40:26,411 --> 01:40:28,587 ♪ But of this You may be sure ♪ 1783 01:40:28,761 --> 01:40:30,937 ♪ The rich have got Their channels ♪ 1784 01:40:31,112 --> 01:40:33,027 ♪ In the bedrooms Of the poor ♪ 1785 01:40:33,201 --> 01:40:36,813 ♪ And there's a mighty judgment Coming ♪ 1786 01:40:36,987 --> 01:40:38,771 ♪ But I may be wrong ♪ 1787 01:40:38,945 --> 01:40:42,210 [BACKUP SINGERS VOCALIZING] 1788 01:40:42,384 --> 01:40:45,952 ♪ You see, I hear These funny voices ♪ 1789 01:40:46,127 --> 01:40:48,129 ♪ In the Tower of Song ♪ 1790 01:41:02,360 --> 01:41:03,231 Don't stop. 1791 01:41:09,585 --> 01:41:11,804 Sublime. 1792 01:41:11,978 --> 01:41:14,198 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 1793 01:41:20,117 --> 01:41:23,164 Thanks so much, friends. 1794 01:41:23,338 --> 01:41:25,383 It's been a real privilege 1795 01:41:25,557 --> 01:41:27,516 and honor to play for you tonight. 1796 01:41:31,128 --> 01:41:34,827 ROBINSON: And then, of course, it just grew from there. 1797 01:41:35,001 --> 01:41:38,614 They kept booking concerts and they kept being sold out. 1798 01:41:38,788 --> 01:41:41,834 It was like, "Oh, okay," and we just kept going. 1799 01:41:42,008 --> 01:41:44,098 [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 1800 01:41:44,272 --> 01:41:46,187 This isFresh Air, I'm Terry Gross, 1801 01:41:46,361 --> 01:41:47,840 back with Leonard Cohen. 1802 01:41:48,014 --> 01:41:50,626 The great songwriter and singer is back on the road, 1803 01:41:50,800 --> 01:41:52,541 doing his first tour in 15 years. 1804 01:41:52,715 --> 01:41:54,586 ♪ When they said ♪♪ They said ♪ 1805 01:41:54,760 --> 01:41:56,327 ♪ Repent ♪♪ Repent ♪ 1806 01:41:56,501 --> 01:41:58,982 ♪ Repent ♪♪ Repent ♪ 1807 01:41:59,156 --> 01:42:02,464 ♪ I wonder what they meant ♪ 1808 01:42:02,638 --> 01:42:04,379 ♪ When they said ♪ ♪ They said ♪ 1809 01:42:04,553 --> 01:42:06,294 ♪ Repent ♪♪ Repent ♪ 1810 01:42:06,468 --> 01:42:11,690 ♪ Repent ♪♪ Repent ♪ 1811 01:42:11,864 --> 01:42:13,910 SLOMAN: One of the remarkable things about Leonard 1812 01:42:14,084 --> 01:42:17,696 is how much he throws himself into whatever he does. 1813 01:42:17,870 --> 01:42:20,221 ♪ Of the ancient Western... ♪ 1814 01:42:20,395 --> 01:42:23,180 Look at him, close to 80. 1815 01:42:23,354 --> 01:42:25,400 People his age are more worried 1816 01:42:25,574 --> 01:42:27,576 about getting to the early-bird dinner special. 1817 01:42:29,230 --> 01:42:31,406 ♪ And a white man dancing... ♪ 1818 01:42:31,580 --> 01:42:33,799 SLOMAN: I mean, Leonard is on-stage 1819 01:42:33,973 --> 01:42:35,540 for three hours jumping up and down, 1820 01:42:35,714 --> 01:42:37,977 and skipping off at the end of a three-hour set. 1821 01:42:38,152 --> 01:42:39,588 Here we go. 1822 01:42:47,639 --> 01:42:50,033 [AUDIENCE WHISTLING, CHEERING] 1823 01:42:53,428 --> 01:42:55,386 GROSS: What have you learned being back on-stage 1824 01:42:55,560 --> 01:42:57,258 for the first time in 15 years? 1825 01:42:57,432 --> 01:43:00,043 Learned? I-- I don't know, 1826 01:43:00,217 --> 01:43:03,568 it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, as you know. 1827 01:43:03,742 --> 01:43:07,181 I don't know if I've learned anything, but I've been, um... 1828 01:43:07,355 --> 01:43:10,096 I've been grateful that it's going well. 1829 01:43:10,271 --> 01:43:12,708 Because... 1830 01:43:12,882 --> 01:43:14,275 you never know what's gonna happen 1831 01:43:14,449 --> 01:43:15,972 when you step on the stage. 1832 01:43:16,146 --> 01:43:20,933 ♪ Now I've heard There was a secret chord ♪ 1833 01:43:21,107 --> 01:43:25,068 ♪ That David played And it pleased the Lord ♪ 1834 01:43:25,242 --> 01:43:30,552 ♪ But you don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 1835 01:43:32,902 --> 01:43:34,904 The only way you can sell a concert 1836 01:43:35,078 --> 01:43:37,863 is to put yourself at risk. 1837 01:43:38,037 --> 01:43:41,215 And if you don't do that, people know, 1838 01:43:41,389 --> 01:43:44,087 and they go home with a feeling that they liked the songs, 1839 01:43:44,261 --> 01:43:46,568 but, you know, they prefer to listen to them at home. 1840 01:43:46,742 --> 01:43:50,528 ♪ Hallelujah... ♪ 1841 01:43:50,702 --> 01:43:53,923 But if you can really stand at the center of your song, 1842 01:43:54,097 --> 01:43:56,360 if you can inhabit that space 1843 01:43:56,534 --> 01:43:58,580 and really stand 1844 01:43:58,754 --> 01:44:02,148 for the complexity of your own emotions, 1845 01:44:02,323 --> 01:44:04,890 then everybody feels good. 1846 01:44:05,064 --> 01:44:07,241 The musicians feel good and you feel good 1847 01:44:07,415 --> 01:44:09,199 and the people who've come feel good. 1848 01:44:13,203 --> 01:44:16,989 ♪ Well, your faith was strong But you needed proof ♪ 1849 01:44:17,163 --> 01:44:21,733 ♪ You saw her bathing On the roof ♪ 1850 01:44:21,907 --> 01:44:26,999 ♪ Her beauty and the moonlight Overthrew you ♪ 1851 01:44:30,394 --> 01:44:34,790 ♪ She tied you To a kitchen chair ♪ 1852 01:44:34,964 --> 01:44:38,620 ♪ She broke your throne And she cut your hair ♪ 1853 01:44:38,794 --> 01:44:40,752 ♪ And from your lips ♪ 1854 01:44:40,926 --> 01:44:46,628 ♪ She drew the Hallelujah ♪ 1855 01:44:46,802 --> 01:44:52,590 ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah... ♪ 1856 01:44:52,764 --> 01:44:55,289 LISSAUER: When people hear "Hallelujah," 1857 01:44:55,463 --> 01:44:58,640 it must be something so universal. 1858 01:44:58,814 --> 01:45:02,165 It's really, really powerful. 1859 01:45:02,339 --> 01:45:04,123 Now, that's a big deal. 1860 01:45:04,298 --> 01:45:07,431 We don't get to be involved in very many things that... 1861 01:45:07,605 --> 01:45:09,825 hit people as strongly as that does. 1862 01:45:09,999 --> 01:45:13,959 ♪ Well, maybe There's a God above ♪ 1863 01:45:14,133 --> 01:45:19,617 ♪ As for me, all I ever learned From love is ♪ 1864 01:45:19,791 --> 01:45:24,535 ♪ How to shoot at someone Who outdrew you ♪ 1865 01:45:27,408 --> 01:45:31,107 ♪ But it's not a cry That you hear tonight ♪ 1866 01:45:31,281 --> 01:45:33,239 ♪ No, it's not some pilgrim ♪ 1867 01:45:33,414 --> 01:45:35,764 ♪ Who claims To have seen the light ♪ 1868 01:45:35,938 --> 01:45:39,811 ♪ It is a cold And a very broken ♪ 1869 01:45:39,985 --> 01:45:42,553 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1870 01:45:44,468 --> 01:45:46,992 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1871 01:45:48,646 --> 01:45:50,605 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1872 01:45:53,390 --> 01:45:55,784 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1873 01:45:57,525 --> 01:46:02,399 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1874 01:46:06,272 --> 01:46:10,973 PALMER: I was doing my first-ever solo show at Coachella, 1875 01:46:11,147 --> 01:46:13,845 and I remember looking at the lineup and going: 1876 01:46:14,019 --> 01:46:16,370 "Oh, my God! Leonard Cohen." 1877 01:46:18,894 --> 01:46:22,854 Seeing Leonard Cohen felt like a beautiful, holy moment, 1878 01:46:23,028 --> 01:46:28,207 to be outside with all of those people watching him. 1879 01:46:31,385 --> 01:46:33,125 It was a church moment. 1880 01:46:35,998 --> 01:46:40,002 SPEKTOR: You get this feeling of having a modern prayer. 1881 01:46:42,396 --> 01:46:45,877 I think that's why people were coming to the shows so much 1882 01:46:46,051 --> 01:46:49,141 because they were getting that feeling. 1883 01:46:51,100 --> 01:46:53,319 Even how he thanked everybody, 1884 01:46:53,494 --> 01:46:55,234 everybody in the crew, 1885 01:46:55,409 --> 01:46:57,541 and all the different jobs that people did 1886 01:46:57,715 --> 01:46:58,629 to put together the show. 1887 01:47:00,849 --> 01:47:02,328 It was like an instruction manual 1888 01:47:02,503 --> 01:47:04,461 on how to be in the world. 1889 01:47:04,635 --> 01:47:09,031 It's like you can be this good, you really can. 1890 01:47:09,205 --> 01:47:12,948 ♪ I did my best It wasn't much ♪ 1891 01:47:13,122 --> 01:47:15,516 ♪ I couldn't feel ♪ 1892 01:47:15,690 --> 01:47:17,561 ♪ So I learned to touch ♪ 1893 01:47:17,735 --> 01:47:19,607 ♪ I've told the truth ♪ 1894 01:47:19,781 --> 01:47:23,785 ♪ I did not come here To Coachella to fool you ♪ 1895 01:47:23,959 --> 01:47:26,309 [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 1896 01:47:26,483 --> 01:47:28,572 ♪ And even though... ♪ 1897 01:47:28,746 --> 01:47:30,531 COLLINS: People who respond to him in the way they do, 1898 01:47:30,705 --> 01:47:33,229 and they respond to him all over the world, of course, 1899 01:47:33,403 --> 01:47:35,057 are responding to something that is different. 1900 01:47:37,712 --> 01:47:40,541 You're getting things that are so deep and so resonant 1901 01:47:40,715 --> 01:47:42,586 in your own spiritual journey, 1902 01:47:42,760 --> 01:47:45,807 that you are benefitting from his. 1903 01:47:45,981 --> 01:47:48,418 And that's of course the highest compliment 1904 01:47:48,592 --> 01:47:49,898 to a poet or a songwriter. 1905 01:47:51,726 --> 01:47:54,685 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1906 01:47:56,557 --> 01:48:03,389 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1907 01:48:03,564 --> 01:48:06,131 [CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING] 1908 01:48:14,009 --> 01:48:17,229 SLOMAN: Leonard closed his 2009 tour with an emotional concert 1909 01:48:17,403 --> 01:48:22,844 on September 24th at the Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv. 1910 01:48:23,018 --> 01:48:25,237 It was three days after his 75th birthday. 1911 01:48:27,065 --> 01:48:28,458 Leonard made a plea 1912 01:48:28,632 --> 01:48:31,374 for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, 1913 01:48:31,548 --> 01:48:33,289 then raised his hands 1914 01:48:33,463 --> 01:48:36,031 and gave the priestly benediction. 1915 01:48:36,205 --> 01:48:37,772 So, dear friends... 1916 01:48:37,946 --> 01:48:41,645 [IN HEBREW] 1917 01:48:53,527 --> 01:48:55,746 [AUDIENCE CHEERING WILDLY] 1918 01:49:00,490 --> 01:49:02,274 [IN ENGLISH] God bless you. Good night, friends. 1919 01:49:18,464 --> 01:49:21,032 [COHEN'S "SAMSON IN NEW ORLEANS" PLAYING] 1920 01:49:40,182 --> 01:49:42,793 COHEN: I think it was Tennessee Williams said: 1921 01:49:42,967 --> 01:49:45,491 "Life is a fairly well-written play 1922 01:49:45,666 --> 01:49:47,363 except for the third act." 1923 01:49:49,321 --> 01:49:52,368 The beginning of the third act, in my case, 1924 01:49:52,542 --> 01:49:55,458 seems to be very, very well-written. 1925 01:49:55,632 --> 01:50:00,985 But the end of the third act, of course, when the hero dies, 1926 01:50:01,159 --> 01:50:03,814 that, generally speaking, from what one can observe, 1927 01:50:03,988 --> 01:50:05,816 can be rather tricky. 1928 01:50:08,253 --> 01:50:10,821 [COHEN'S "LEAVING THE TABLE" PLAYING] 1929 01:50:10,995 --> 01:50:13,868 Should I read a couple of these? 1930 01:50:20,309 --> 01:50:24,966 "Ducking away to write and write feverishly, 1931 01:50:25,140 --> 01:50:29,318 if two words a day constitutes a fever." 1932 01:50:32,974 --> 01:50:35,411 "Many pressing concerns, 1933 01:50:35,585 --> 01:50:39,850 but ignoring most of them in favor of a finished lyric." 1934 01:50:42,331 --> 01:50:45,160 "Not interested in anything else, 1935 01:50:45,334 --> 01:50:49,338 and this interest fairly fragile also." 1936 01:50:51,732 --> 01:50:53,908 "Another beautiful day." 1937 01:50:57,781 --> 01:50:59,914 It's the broken Hallelujah. 1938 01:51:02,438 --> 01:51:07,051 ♪ I don't need a reason ♪ 1939 01:51:07,225 --> 01:51:11,882 ♪ For what I became ♪ 1940 01:51:12,056 --> 01:51:16,452 ♪ I've got these excuses ♪ 1941 01:51:16,626 --> 01:51:21,283 ♪ They're tired and lame ♪ 1942 01:51:21,457 --> 01:51:27,419 ♪ I don't need a pardon No, no, no, no, no ♪ 1943 01:51:27,593 --> 01:51:30,945 ♪ There's no one left To blame ♪ 1944 01:51:31,119 --> 01:51:33,164 ♪ I'm leaving the table ♪ 1945 01:51:37,299 --> 01:51:41,129 ♪ I'm out of the game ♪ 1946 01:51:55,796 --> 01:51:59,364 [PIANO PLAYING "HALLELUJAH"] 1947 01:52:17,382 --> 01:52:21,256 ♪ I heard there was A secret chord ♪ 1948 01:52:21,430 --> 01:52:25,129 ♪ David played And it pleased the Lord but ♪ 1949 01:52:27,305 --> 01:52:30,831 ♪ You don't really care For music, do you? ♪ 1950 01:52:33,747 --> 01:52:38,882 ♪ Well, it goes like this The fourth, the fifth ♪ 1951 01:52:39,056 --> 01:52:43,539 ♪ The minor fall The major lift ♪ 1952 01:52:43,713 --> 01:52:49,588 ♪ The baffled king Composing Hallelujah ♪ 1953 01:52:52,113 --> 01:52:54,506 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1954 01:52:57,683 --> 01:53:00,730 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1955 01:53:00,904 --> 01:53:03,298 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1956 01:53:05,126 --> 01:53:08,825 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1957 01:53:08,999 --> 01:53:15,876 ♪ Hal... ♪ 1958 01:53:18,313 --> 01:53:19,880 ♪ ...lelujah ♪ 1959 01:53:20,054 --> 01:53:26,930 ♪ Hallelujah ♪ 1960 01:53:31,892 --> 01:53:33,458 [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING] 1961 01:53:38,550 --> 01:53:44,818 ♪ Hallelu... ♪ 1962 01:53:52,869 --> 01:53:56,917 ♪ ...lujah ♪ 1963 01:53:57,091 --> 01:53:58,962 [AUDIENCE CHEERING] 1964 01:54:03,445 --> 01:54:09,364 You look around and you see a world that is impenetrable, 1965 01:54:09,538 --> 01:54:11,975 that, uh, cannot be made sense of. 1966 01:54:13,847 --> 01:54:16,371 You either raise your fist, 1967 01:54:16,545 --> 01:54:19,069 or you say, "Hallelujah." 1968 01:54:19,243 --> 01:54:20,679 I try to do both. 1969 01:54:33,518 --> 01:54:36,130 [COHEN'S "YOU GOT ME SINGING" PLAYING] 1970 01:55:01,459 --> 01:55:03,200 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1971 01:55:05,115 --> 01:55:08,684 ♪ Even though the news is bad ♪ 1972 01:55:08,858 --> 01:55:10,294 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1973 01:55:12,340 --> 01:55:15,952 ♪ The only song I ever had ♪ 1974 01:55:16,126 --> 01:55:17,606 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1975 01:55:19,913 --> 01:55:22,959 ♪ Ever since the river died ♪ 1976 01:55:23,133 --> 01:55:25,048 ♪ You got me thinking ♪ 1977 01:55:25,222 --> 01:55:28,573 ♪ Of the places we could hide ♪ 1978 01:55:30,619 --> 01:55:32,229 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1979 01:55:34,449 --> 01:55:37,843 ♪ Even though the world Is gone ♪ 1980 01:55:38,018 --> 01:55:39,497 ♪ You got me thinking ♪ 1981 01:55:41,412 --> 01:55:44,850 ♪ That I'd like to carry on ♪ 1982 01:55:45,025 --> 01:55:46,635 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1983 01:55:48,898 --> 01:55:52,162 ♪ Even though It all looks grim ♪ 1984 01:55:52,336 --> 01:55:54,860 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1985 01:55:55,035 --> 01:55:57,559 ♪ The Hallelujah hymn ♪ 1986 01:55:59,865 --> 01:56:01,345 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1987 01:56:03,391 --> 01:56:06,829 ♪ Like a prisoner in a jail ♪ 1988 01:56:07,003 --> 01:56:10,267 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1989 01:56:10,441 --> 01:56:14,010 ♪ Like my pardon's In the mail ♪ 1990 01:56:14,184 --> 01:56:17,753 ♪ You got me wishing ♪ 1991 01:56:17,927 --> 01:56:21,278 ♪ Our little love would last ♪ 1992 01:56:21,452 --> 01:56:23,541 ♪ You got me thinking ♪ 1993 01:56:23,715 --> 01:56:26,980 ♪ Like those people Of the past ♪ 1994 01:56:29,025 --> 01:56:30,244 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1995 01:56:32,811 --> 01:56:36,032 ♪ Even though The world is gone ♪ 1996 01:56:36,206 --> 01:56:39,818 ♪ You got me thinking ♪ 1997 01:56:39,993 --> 01:56:42,865 ♪ That I'd like to carry on ♪ 1998 01:56:43,039 --> 01:56:46,738 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 1999 01:56:46,912 --> 01:56:50,481 ♪ Even though It all went wrong ♪ 2000 01:56:50,655 --> 01:56:52,744 ♪ You got me singing ♪ 2001 01:56:52,918 --> 01:56:56,009 ♪ The Hallelujah song ♪ 2002 01:56:59,316 --> 01:57:01,231 [BACKUP SINGERS VOCALIZING] 2003 01:57:21,425 --> 01:57:26,691 ♪ Singing the Hallelujah song ♪