A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen

A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen

by Liel Leibovitz
A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen

A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen

by Liel Leibovitz

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Overview

Brings to life a passionate poet-turned-musician and what compels him and his work.

Why is it that Leonard Cohen receives the sort of reverence we reserve for a precious few living artists? Why are his songs, three or four decades after their original release, suddenly gracing the charts, blockbuster movie sound tracks, and television singing competitions? And why is it that while most of his contemporaries are either long dead or engaged in uninspired nostalgia tours, Cohen is at the peak of his powers and popularity?

These are the questions at the heart of A Broken Hallelujah, a meditation on the singer, his music, and the ideas and beliefs at its core. Granted extraordinary access to Cohen’s personal papers, Liel Leibovitz examines the intricacies of the man whose performing career began with a crippling bout of stage fright, yet who, only a few years later, tamed a rowdy crowd on the Isle of Wight, preventing further violence; the artist who had gone from a successful world tour and a movie star girlfriend to a long residency in a remote Zen retreat; and the rare spiritual seeker for whom the principles of traditional Judaism, the tenets of Zen Buddhism, and the iconography of Christianity all align. The portrait that emerges is that of an artist attuned to notions of justice, lust, longing, loneliness, and redemption, and possessing the sort of voice and vision commonly reserved only for the prophets.

More than just an account of Cohen’s life, A Broken Hallelujah is an intimate look at the artist that is as emotionally astute as it is philosophically observant. Delving into the sources and meaning of Cohen’s work, Leibovitz beautifully illuminates what Cohen is telling us and why we listen so intensely.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393350739
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 03/23/2015
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Liel Leibovitz is host of Tablet’s daily Talmud podcast Take One and cohost of the Unorthodox podcast. Author of A Broken Hallelujah and Stan Lee and coauthor of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, he lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface 13

Prelude 19

1 "Looking for the Note" 39

2 The Soul of Canada 53

3 The Prophet in the Library 75

4 Notes from a Greek Isle 89

5 "One Big Diary, Set to Guitar Music" 113

6 Waiting for the Sun 143

7 "All Close Friends of the Artist, Please Leave" 165

8 "There Is a War" 183

9 A Secret Chord" 209

Epilogue: "A Manual for Living with Defeat" 239

Permissions 247

Notes 251

Acknowledgments 265

Index 269

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