Bell Centre sings "Hallelujah"

[The Brucester]

I apologize for reporting this late, but you know how it is....
life gets in the way.
And sometimes watching a good (or bad) hockey game is another way of escaping !!!

Everybody at Bell Centre was singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R2Cx-fpxpI

Note: this was part of the ceremony for our Montreal Canadiens home opener against the visiting
Detroit Red Wings => October 11th, 2019 [ Thursday evening ]
(Montreal ended up losing that game 4-2)

ps: Montreal may have its problems, but you can count on 2 things that bring us all together.....
>>> The Montreal Canadiens & our beloved legendary poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen <<<

- Brucester

[The Brucester]

Hallelujah.....

~~~ LEONARD COHEN STILL LIVES ~~~

[mutti]

Thanks for telling us Brucester!
I love that!
Leslie

[The Brucester]

You're welcome, Leslie.

Whenever I get down on our fair city of Montreal and need a lift....
I'll visit YouTube and watch everybody at Bell Centre singing "Hallelujah" !!!

Music has always found a way to bring people together....
and most notably...Leonard Cohen

Best Regards,
- Brucester

[The Brucester]

AND...AND...AND....

About a dozen years ago...for ol' times sake:

A song Leonard Cohen and I sang at Montreal's "Beauty's" Restaurant counter, while
enjoying freshly brewed coffee with a bagel + lox sandwich, served by (owner) Hymie.

Leonard Cohen wanted to treat me but I insisted on paying for both of us.
Since I was a huge Kingston Trio fan, and Leonard sang the chorus:
"Hang down your head Tom Dooley".....so beautifully.....

>>> How could I let him pay ??? <<<

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zdE8bliGI

ps: Life is a roller-coaster ride, and you've got to fasten your seat-belts and hang on for dear life.
But that's okay....so long as you don't hang like Tom Dooley !!!

- Brucester

[The Brucester]

Speaking of the "Bell Centre" in Montreal:

Waaaaay back in the early 1960's, there was a Canadian folksinging duo known as
"Ian & Sylvia". You might have heard some of their songs:
1 - Four Strong Winds
2 - You Were On My Mind
3 - Someday Soon

Sylvia Tyson happened to be a guest at the Bell Centre resto-bar following a Montreal Canadiens hockey
game (vs Toronto Maple Leafs) a couple of years ago.

Ian & Sylvia were the ones who discovered Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot.
A reporter remarked to Sylvia...."Gee, if you and Ian spent more time in Montreal,
you could have discovered Leonard Cohen" !!! (hahaha)

Somebody asked Sylvia Tyson about a song she wrote, entitled: "You Were On My Mind".
It turned out to be a big hit (#3) for the American vocal band, "We Five".

Sylvia said she wrote that song in a bathtub. No, she wasn't taking a bath. But it was the
only place the cockroaches wouldn't go !!! She and Ian were staying at the Hotel Earle, up
in Greenwich Village, New York.

A reporter remarked: "I hope you got a good hotel rate considering the circumstances" !!!

Sylvia replied: "The cockroaches were included."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-g203otiYU
"You Were On My Mind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBiLKTmRqkY
"Four Strong Winds"

=> "All those things that don't change come what may" - Ian Tyson

- Brucester

[The Brucester]

Final note about "Bell Centre"..... and an additional note about.... "HORSES"

A friend of mine who works at the Bell Centre, invited me to her farm up in Saint Agathe, Quebec.
It's located about 30 miles north of Montreal. Three things we have in common and love dearly :
1 - Leonard Cohen
2 - The Montreal Canadiens
3 - Horses

In addition to our singing Leonard Cohen songs, we plan to do a lot of horseback riding.
Oh, and... speaking of horses:

<> "Barney"

>>> in the words of Sylvia Tyson (of Ian & Sylvia) <<<

Barney is an absolutely true song.
Ian had acquired this horse which had already been badly bruised and abused by its first owner,
and he became really close with it.

Eventually, Ian realized that his badly crippled, arthritic horse, would not make another winter,
maybe slipping on ice, and breaking a leg, so Ian put him down.

Ian was so broken up, that he couldn't even come up with the melody for the lyrics.
So I came up with the music.
It was also one of the few occasions when we wrote together.
That's me on the piano and our dear friend, David Wilcox, playing the mandolin :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCvnG8AMFo

ps: A song not just about a horse...but of love, friendship, and a tragic loss.

Brucester

[Joe Way]

Hi Brucester, I love your stories. That is a beautiful Ian & Sylvia song that I had never heard.

Thank you for posting it here.

Are you familiar with Tom Russell? Ian Tyson was one of his mentors and they've become close friends (Ian was best man at Tom's wedding).

Here is a YouTube of Tom performing a song dedicated to Ian (and about Ian) called, "I'll never leave these old horses."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yrQcADRcNA

My wife and I are seeing Tom in concert in Belfast and Dublin next week.

Joe

P. S. Tom's a big Leonard Cohen fan also.

[The Brucester]

Thank you very much, Joe.

I not only appreciate your feedback, but I never heard Tom Russell's song:
"I'll Never Leave These Old Horses" before. Loved it !!!
And the fact this song has to do with Ian Tyson, makes it even more awesome.

Speaking of Ian Tyson, when he wrote "Four Strong Winds" in Albert Grossman's apartment
(Albert was the manager for Ian & Sylvia).... the girl he had in mind was Evinia Pulos.
Somebody asked Sylvia Tyson about this girl whom Ian so often raved about.

Sylvia's reply:
"Evinia was the third person in our marriage."

In 1989, Sylvia Tyson recorded a solo album for Stony Plain Records, entitled:
"You Were On My Mind". It included a song called "Thrown To The Wolves"....
written and performed together by Sylvia Tyson & Tom Russell.

When you listen to this song (YouTube vid below), you'd swear it was Ian & Sylvia !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9KGs9py9XY
Sylvia Tyson & Tom Russell

AND...AND...AND...

Ian Tyson & Sylvia Fricker were married in 1964 and they divorced in 1975.
Sylvia had enough of Ian running around and bringing Evinia Pulos (as well as other girls)
back to their house. When the marriage was coming apart at the seams....
Sylvia folded her arms and finally told Ian:

>>> " The trouble with you is....you're you " <<<

ps: Hope you and your wife enjoy Tom Russell's concert in Belfast and Dublin next week.
Something tells me you will !!!

(would love to get your comments and observations about that show)

- Brucester

[Joe Way]

Thank you for posting “Thrown to the Wolves,” I had not heard it before. I will definitely post about the Tom Russell concerts in “Other Music.”

Anne and I are in a hotel in Chicago right now getting ready to fly to Dublin tomorrow. We’re really looking forward to seeing some of the wonderful Irish Cohenites,

Joe

[The Brucester]

Joe, you really made my day with your reference to "Irish Cohenites" (hahaha)

I will be on the lookout for your review of Tom Russell's concert. Enjoy the show !!!

Best Regards to you and Anne,

- Brucester

[The Brucester]

Last little "note" (pardon the pun) about our Canadian dynamic folksinging duo.....
=> IAN & SYLVIA

<> In the words of Sylvia Tyson:

When Ian wrote "Four Strong Winds" in our manager's apartment, up in
New York City, the song had a reference to Alberta, which happens
to be a province in Canada.

Our manager, Albert Grossman, laughed and said most Americans
probably never heard of Alberta.

So whenever Ian and I would introduce the song "Nova Scotia Farewell"
to American audiences, we'd be sure to tell them Nova Scotia was a
Canadian province.

I remember some smart-aleck screaming out......
"WHAT'S A PROVINCE" ???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noXvBFbUlJA

AND...AND...AND...

SYLVIA:
Ian, did you take a bath this morning?

IAN:
Why, is there one missing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFxLkh722rU
"Four Strong Winds" {45rpm hit single version}

- Brucester

[The Brucester]

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?"
- Joni Mitchell

This is in response to a private e-mail sent to me by "Jill" (Boston, Mass) who asked me
about another Canadian folksinger...Joni Mitchell.

I wrote her a detailed story about what I remember, but for this forum I decided to keep it simple.
Leonard Cohen & Joni Mitchell had a "fling" back in 1967 and 1968. I believe it all began at the
Newport Folk Festival, after Joni heard Leonard singing "Suzanne".

> said Joni:

"Suzanne is the most beautiful love song I have ever heard in my entire life.
Leonard Cohen's style of writing is so much more sophisticated than mine. I am totally in awe."

A reporter from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) asked Joni Mitchell, after she sang
"Both Sides Now".... if she had any particular philosophy on life?

> said Joni:

"I've always liked what Marilyn Monroe used to tell people....
that imperfection is beauty....madness is genius....
and it is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbn6a0AFfnM
"Both Sides Now" - written & performed by Joni Mitchell

"I've looked at life from both sides now,
From win and lose, and still somehow,
It's life's illusions I recall, I really don't know life at all."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77y2acO_dw
"Circle Game" - written by Joni Mitchell
performed by: Ian & Sylvia

- Brucester