When,Where,And What Was The First LC Song You Heard?

[lazariuk]

A woman I hired to sing in a coffee house sang a few songs that I liked and when I asked her about them she said that they were by this guy named Leonard Cohen and that people were trying to get him to record his first album. I told her to let me know when it came out.
The woman was Penny Lang

[seadove]

I looked up Penny Lang on the Wiki.

Funny though, I find that some of Lennie's songs sound better from other artists. For example "Hallelujah". Once I looked up that word on the Google and I heard that song from a girl who was only 11 years old from youtube. The song sounded fantastic. Even better than the original of LC.

[AdinaCohen29]

Nice thread, I want to answer too - my first time with Leonard Cohen ...

... must be about 12 years ago, I've bought my first computer and - I think everyone of us knows this - i would like to see, how much Cohen's are in the internet too

So I started 'crawler' - i think it was crawler - and searched for persons with lastname Cohen. Some of the hits were about Leonard Cohen, I read that he is a poet and singer and so on. The other day, I went to a secondhand music store to search for his music and I find the album 'Songs of love and hate' ... I've heard ''Famous blue raincoat'' ... from this moment on, a miraculous adventurejourny and 'love'story started and I hope it will never end!

best wishes
Adina Cohen
(proud to be a namesake )

[MaryB]

Adina,

What a completely different and unique way to discover LC - searching for other Cohens. And then to do some research on him before finally listening to his music - wow. I am so glad you have found him and us. Welcome to the Forum!

Best regards,
Mary

[rosered51]

1993 or 94. Watching a movie, and over the end credits came rolling "Everybody Knows." I was transfixed -- had to know everything about the man who wrote this song, and hear everything he had ever written. I was old enough to remember "Suzanne" and "So Long Marianne," but did not connect them with this. Had been a rock and roll baby, exclusively -- too hyperactive and restless to sit and actually listen to words. But by the time I heard "Everybody Knows," I was a writer myself, and had developed enough of an appreciation for the written word to understand that this was genius. Oh, and I liked the music, too.

[LisaLCFan]

1988 or 89, at a friend's place, the entire I'm Your Man album (so, First We Take Manhattan would have been the first *song*, I guess!). I was instantly hooked: the voice, the lyrics, the tunes, WOW! I've loved Leonard ever since (everything he's done), he has been my favourite since that day. He is without equals, astounding, extraordinarily talented, beautiful in every way, unique and absolutely fabulous. (Enough adjectives? There are never enough adjectives...)

[danslenoir]

The Partisan live at San Sebastian 88 on Youtube, about a year ago, I read something about him in a newspaper and decided to see what his music was like. In fact, I remember posting on this forum how just a few hours after hearing him for the first time I was trying to decide whether to buy a pair of tickets for one of his autumn dates, even though at the time I had no one to go with and £200 seemed like a lot of money to spend on an artist I had barely skimmed the surface of.

A year, and a few shows later, I can safely say LC is by far and large my favourite musical artist of all time

[Lilifyre]

Gee this is a hard one.

When: Not sure what year exactly, but in the Woodstock era (not AT Woodstock but definitely in my Hippie Daze)
Where: Probably on the radio, maybe a record...those big ole black things made out of vinyl
What song: Suzanne (I was not overly impressed at that time)

Now, that said, I didn't know it was a Leonard Cohen song. I didn't have any idea who Leonard Cohen was. The song was probably sung by Joan Baez or maybe Judy Collins.

Now, fast forward about 40 yrs more or less.

When: Whenever it was that Shrek 1 came out
Where: Watching Shrek 1 at a theater
What song: Hallelujah

It was a few years later, like this winter, that I heard THAT song (Hallelujah) again. It once again grabbed me. By this time I knew my way around the internet fairly well, so I went to YouTube to see what I could find. I found LEONARD COHEN! I discovered that HE was the genius behind Hallelujah, that HE was the genius behind a whole storehouse of songs that I had somehow missed over the last 40+ yrs. that HE was the one who spoke to my soul in his words and his music. I found that Suzanne, while OK in the version I heard in my youth (by a woman singer) suddenly held meaning and depth when sung by its creator. Hallelujah, while touching and pretty sung by Buckley or on occassion Rufus Wainwright (If he's in the mood to give it full respect), better if sung by K D Lang, was MAGNIFICENT when performed by the Master himself. I was hooked...by the man, by his music, by his poetry, by his depth.

[Lilifyre]

It was last end of autumn and here in Finland has "Idols 2008" and of course I watched that entertainig format. A young competitor named Anna Puustjärvi sings "Hallelujah" very beutifully in semifinals (or was it in semifinals, I`m not sure, I don`t remember anymore, but that`s not important ) and I really loved it. So next day I went to Youtube and searched the original version, so Cohen`s. It was a music video where Leonard sings in front of props that resemble Colosseum. In refrains a choir appears from scenery and sings with him. "How slimy ugly man and how odd voice", I thought first but when I had listened to the song a couple of time I started like Leonard`s look and voice. <<<snip>>>>
Oh, this was silly and useless story but this is how I discovered the music of Leonard Cohen.

Oh, Spice box, this is certainly NOT a silly or useless story. The YouTube video you mentioned...with the singers stepping out of the scenery...was the first one I saw of Leonard myself. I was so disappointed when YouTube took it down. I was also intrigued by hearing Hallelujah. Like you, that rapsy voice holds a special magic for me as well.

Thank you for sharing your story. We are all here because of one person, Leonard Cohen. I don't know about others, but he has opened doors in my soul that have been closed for way too long.

[schubert]

I clearly remember the first time I heard Leonard Cohen.It was late 1970 and my brother and I had gone to visit our elder brother in Sweden,which seemed very exotic at the time,anyway we were at a party when someone put on Songs of LC and Suzanne started playing and we were both blown away by it and it was nothing to do with the funny cigarettes people kept handing round!I just sat listening to this amazing sound and that voice,it was love at first hearing.
He was really big in Sweden at the time.As soon as we came home we both bought the album straight away and have followed him ever since,even now we both remember it clearly and when I play that album now it can instantly take me back to that evening.
Through good and bad times his music has always inspired me.The man is a true genius!

[phillip]

Dance me to the end of love (I listened to the whole album of various positions and I'm your man) and became a fan 21 years ago on holiday in former Yugoslavia July 1988

[satishbhawra27]

heard LC for det first time around 1972 and it was on Norwegian
radio channel NRK.

[Alsiony]

First song I ever heard was 'Bird on a wire'- totally by chance if you don't believe in fate haha- W W !!!

[Kaleid]

In the late 90's I was watching a documentary about the civil war (now there's an oxymoron) in Yugoslavia. They played 'The Partisan' at least 3-4 times in the background I was pretty much instantly hooked. So I bought the first Best of album and the rest is history as its often said..

[SuzanneT]

... it was 1989, the Czech Communists still ruled by a mysterious and came here by mistake LP I'm Your Man, I bought it because I liked the man on the packaging and sales assistant, who understand music, I recommend it. .. the first song that I heard was from Leonard I'm Your Man, it was in my bedroom and it came my partner. Its the night I had much ignored, but the LC I literally mad ... and I was not alone in that. All my life, interpret poetry and one national competition, I met with my friend, who became the same, and so decided to translate the lyrics for Leonard, and I have brought a book of translations, original texts and photographs published by its own expense, about 20 pieces - for friends. It is unique and my treasure ..