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