The first official radio single "Darkness" released (Jan 11)

[JudasPriest]

Enjoying it too. If I had to compare it to a Dylan track, I'd go for Things Have Changed rather than the TOOM tracks mentioned above. The new pace to the track calls it to mind. Hadn't noticed it before

[JudasPriest]

And the song doesn't take itself too seriously either. It's not trying to make a profound statement. It's comfortable with itself. I'm going to be slightly controversial here and say that I actually prefer it to Show Me The Place...

[jerry]

And the song doesn't take itself too seriously either. It's not trying to make a profound statement. It's comfortable with itself. I'm going to be slightly controversial here and say that I actually prefer it to Show Me The Place...

So do I. It's recorded much better than Show Me too.

[LisaLCFan]

And the song doesn't take itself too seriously either. It's not trying to make a profound statement. It's comfortable with itself.

Indeed! I don't get the various comments I've read in media reports by people who say that they think this song is "sad." It sounds much more tongue-in-cheek to me (and, having seen Leonard perform this song live, there was nothing sad about it at all!). This song rocks!! (And so does Leonard Cohen!)

[JudasPriest]

You're right Jerry- thank God it seems not to be plagued with any glaring sonic glitches.

The increased tempo compared to its live counterpart serves a number of purposes. It lends the song more of a driving rhythm which now cruises with an effortless air as one verse blends into the next in a kind of Everybody Knows way (without being in that league mind). The other thing that strikes me is that based on the snippets of the remaining tracks, this might be the most up tempo song of all of them and one that the album may badly need as a whole to lift things a little. I just hope that we don't end up yearning for one or two more of this type and that the balance is right. Time will tell.

Anyway, a thumbs up from me.

[LisaLCFan]

leonardcohen.com now has Darkness streaming. No download, just a link to listen (at this point). This is so exciting, only three weeks until we get the whole album!!

[jerry]

I keep checking the website for lyrics to Old Ideas but nothing yet.

[JudasPriest]

One more point. Played Show Me The Place and Darkness back to back as they are sequenced that way on the album and it works well.

[tomsakic]

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/45048-lis ... en-single/

[tomsakic]

I keep checking the website for lyrics to Old Ideas but nothing yet.

Well lyrics were on the Forum, and in the Everyman's Library edition of Leonard's poetry.

I corrected it now according to this studio version, here there are on my website: http://www.leonardcohencroatia.com/arhi ... s-darkness

I caught the darkness
It was drinking from your cup
I caught the darkness
drinking from your cup
I said is this contagious?
You said “Just drink it up”

I’ve got no future
I know my days are few
The present’s not that pleasant
Just a lot of things to do
I thought the past would last me
But the darkness got that too

I should have seen it coming
It was right behind your eyes
You were young and it was summer
I just had to take the dive
Winning you was easy
But darkness was the prize

I don’t smoke no cigarette
I don’t drink no alcohol
I ain’t had much loving yet
But that’s always been your call
Hey, I don't miss it baby
I no taste for anything at all

I used to love the rainbow
And I used to love the view
I love the early morning
I pretend that it was new
But I caught the darkness, baby
And I got it worse than you

I caught the darkness
It was drinking from your cup
I caught the darkness
drinking from your cup
I said is this contagious?
You said “Just drink it up”

[jerry]

Sorry, I meant lyrics for all of the songs.

[scocoh]

--

[remote1]

And here's a nice review: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/lu ... -with-age/

Leonard Cohen is a rare thing: a pop grandfather who just gets better with age

By Lucy Jones Music Last updated: January 11th, 2012

It's easy to forget that Leonard Cohen is pushing 80. Well, he's 77. Today he dropped a new track called Darkness on his website and Soundcloud. You can listen to it above.

The song is the second single from his new album Old Ideas (his 12th and first for eight years) which will be released on January 31. It's not cheery – "I've got no future, I know my days are few" purrs Cohen – but it's good. The track is a soft and smouldering shrug with a lyrical sting. It's based on a rhythmic guitar riff and a skittering organ with angelic backing vocals, chromatic harmonies and bluesy trills. Though some might accuse him of 'noodling' – and a colleague calls it "lounge jazz" – I think Cohen has written one of the most beautiful songs of his career.

How refreshing to hear a song by an old master that stands up to his back catalogue. Many of the greats had a couple of decades in them before petering out. I haven't found any later releases by Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, David Bowie, REM, Elvis Costello stand up to their golden ages – and I doubt McCartney's future album Kisses on the Bottom (excuse me while I puke) will match his past. But Cohen goes against the theory that the old can't write pop songs. See what you think.

And in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/ja ... sfeed=true

New music: Leonard Cohen – Darkness

The second track to be unveiled from Leonard Cohen's forthcoming album finds the veteran crooner at his brooding best

Michael Cragg
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 January 2012 11.51 GMT

A new Leonard Cohen song called Darkness, you say? Yippee! Seriously, it's very good. Darkness is the second song (you can listen to the first, the lovely Show Me the Place here) to emerge from Cohen's forthcoming Old Ideas, his first album of new material since 2004's Dear Heather. Since then, he's declared himself bankrupt, toured the world twice and had one of his songs covered by an X Factor winner.

As you can probably tell from the title, Darkness isn't a syrupy love song or a concession to contemporary dance pop. It's a stately and brooding four and a half minutes, featuring twanging guitars, warm organ swells and lovely backing vocals to underpin Cohen's creepy croon. As ever, the lyrics are pure gold, particularly the line: "I should have seen it coming/ it was red behind your eyes/ you were young and it was summer/ I just had to take a dive."

• Old Ideas is due on 31 January via Columbia.

[somewhat_nifty]

And the song doesn't take itself too seriously either. It's not trying to make a profound statement. It's comfortable with itself. I'm going to be slightly controversial here and say that I actually prefer it to Show Me The Place...

Not so controversial, I prefer it as well! It was my favourite of the new songs from the tour. Love this single version too, so great to hear him on the guitar again

[Goldin]

66,000+ plays at the first 24 hours.
Every 1.3 sec someone starts playing Darkness.