The Death of Leonard Cohen
Similar to answering the
question as to one’s favourite writer is the question of favourite singer. It
changes by times and mood swings. I suppose if I was to give a quick answer as
to my favourite singers the short list would include Bob Dylan, the early Bob;
The Beatles, Niall Young, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Hank Williams, Dolores
Keane and Leonard Cohen. I was disappointed after being at concerts of Dylan
and Niall Young. I was disappointed with myself for not making a better effort
to see Bruce Springsteen in Croke Park last summer. However there was one
big positive in that I did go to hear Leonard Cohen with encouragement from a
friend. The concert was in the grounds of Lissadell House north of Sligo town.
The suave, polished Cohen had
been forced to return to touring as a result of being robbed by his manager of
much of his wealth. He had performed at Dublin venues but Lissadell was just
down the road. He had come as near as possible to me.
The setting of course was
pretty unique not just in its landscape environment but the ghost of Yeats
permeated that environment also. It was the last day of July 2010. If I
remember correctly we made our way to the performance amphitheatre via the
beach. When Leonard Cohen came on stage he quickly imbued the audience with his
spirit. He announced that he hoped we would enjoy the concert and assured us
that ‘we are going to give it our all’. He had wonderful musicians and backing
singers which layered his performance. Once he was regarded as the ‘poet
laureate of pessimism’ but now he seemed more optimistic and engaging. He is
quoted as saying ‘The older I get, the surer I am that I am not running the
show’. Indeed with the death of a muse of his and the inspiration for one of
his great songs, Norwegian Marianne Mollestad, he suggested that she “Know that
I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can
reach mine.” So it transpired.
At Lissadell he coursed
through the catalogue of iconic songs from Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy, Everybody
Knows, Chelsea Hotel and
Bird on the Wire
Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight
choir
I have tried in my way to be
free.
…….
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let
it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never
to you.
His encore song was the great
hymn Hallelujah. He suggested that many of his songs were ‘muffled prayers’ but
‘So Long, Marianne’ is just a great if forlorn love song.
‘So long, Marianne, it's time
that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and
laugh about it all again’.
At Lissadell Leonard Cohen
certainly reached out and touched his audience with his mind. It’s a fond and
meaningful memory.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Phil
Emmett on being nominated ‘Lady Golfer of the Year’ in Carrick-on-Shannon Golf
Club. It is suggested that her husband is thinking of taking up the position
of full time caddy for his achieving partner.
‘Soundings’
On a totally different theme
the said Mister Emmett suggested that he has read more poetry in this blog than
he did at secondary school. Many people remember fragments of poetry that they
touched on in school, for much of their lives. Those fragments are awakened and
expanded by references to them or tripping across them in adulthood. Poetry can
of course be challenging but there is much of it accessible also. For some
people their favourite book is a book of poetry such as a Seamus Heaney
collection. One of Heaney’s poetry collection published in 1996 is called ‘The
Spirit Level’. I think the title is really clever. For someone who wishes to
return, as it were, to poetry I suggest that you search out an anthology such
as ‘The Oxford Book of English Verse’ where a selection of the classic
recognisable poems are to be found. There are anthologies dedicated to the work
of Irish poets in English. Maybe a collection like ‘Favourite poems we learned
at school’. Actually, now that I think of it, the classic poetry book
used by many in secondary schools, ‘Soundings’, is a great collection of poems
of varying degrees of difficulty. The bonus with ‘Soundings’ is that you might
be familiar with a selection of the poems already. Also you might have a copy
in a box in the attic! If not it was re-published a short number of years ago
and I am sure it can be sourced easily enough. The first stage for many people
is overcoming their prejudice towards the medium of poetry as being too
difficult, an echo of grey school days, forced feeding and so on. Yet the
purest writing is poetry, the finest ideas and images with the most economical
use of words. Leonard Cohen was a poet first and then a singer of his
poems/songs.
Speaker of (Irish) House
I was kinda watching the
news, on Thursday evening, over my shoulder as I do when an image came up from
some Leinster House political coverage. It didn’t seem fully right. Still with
modern television technology I was able to rewind, then forward in slow-mo,
freeze, and there he was as large as life in the Ceann Comhairle’s seat our own
Eugene Murphy T.D. I only bumped him in Boyle on Monday with Micheal
Martin leader of Fianna Fail. Now he has been elevated to being Chairman of the
Dail. Since the regular Ceann Comhairle is Sean Ó Fearghaíl I presume Eugene’s
elevation is as a substitute. Still it is a pretty meteoric rise for him in
such a short time. But if Trump and Farage can do it then why cannot a more
benign likeable politician like Eugene make his own
waves.
The U.S. Election……
Epilogue
I imagine that my views on
the U.S. election are pretty clear to regular readers of these paragraphs. I
received an interesting email from a friend of mine who has been in the
U.S. going on thirty years. It shows a confusion with it all. (I have
encouraged readers before to submit short pieces/letters for consideration to
publish here. The aspiration has been that this is a community site/forum. So
please do.)
“Hi there Tony, just a few
quick comments on the election.
First would be the great
sense of relief that it is finally over. Everyone I know and talk to here are
just fed up listening to it day in and night out.
As to the result it was a
shock in some ways but I believe the comment of Bernie Sanders today that he
was disappointed with the Democratic Party as a whole because they were not in
touch with the common people. That goes a long way to describe what happened.
The campaign itself was the
most negative childish and disgraceful show of everything that is wrong with
politics here.
We watched three debates
where not one positive policy item was even touched upon. Instead they both
were delving into the past mistakes of the other side which just came across as
dirty laundry and would make anyone ashamed that these two could be considered
the best candidates that should be chosen out of the over 400 million people
here.
As to the pollsters one would
do well to remember how wrong the mainstream media were until you consider the
money involved. The Donald has claimed he spent $120 million on the campaign of
his own money there are rumours that the Democratic war chest was closer to $1
Billion. When you take into account that most of which was spent on media
advertising you can see how the different stations were forced to become a part
of the process
One of the facts that has
emerged from this whole debacle is how the news media was manipulated by the
both sides and as such have lost all credibility as independent agencies. Even
on election night we had the mainstream stations calling it fairly even until
about one thirty in the morning when Fox News were already claiming victory
about an hour ahead of that and both sides were getting the news from each
state at the same time .
And now the aftermath we have
our president elect and the lunacy continues. They are riots/protests in the
streets, you have Harvard professors telling their students that the mid-term
exams are optional for students that may be upset with the outcome. And most of
the big Ivy League schools were providing grief counselling for anyone
effected by it . Mind you we would expect that these great institutions would
be producing our future leaders so it does not bode well for us
As for Trump himself it is
emerging that he is already starting to soften his tone a little regarding the
main issues like getting rid of ‘Obama Care’. Now he is saying that certain
parts of it make sense to keep and he will not dismiss it until he has a
replacement system in place etc.
See, not to worry, he is
becoming a politician already.
Good night Irene I’ll see you
in my dreams”.
Hello To
In my list of Boyle people
abroad, two weeks ago, I missed out on a number of people as I knew I would. So
hi to Nicky in London, Niall Mc Cr. in the U.S. James Candon in Brussels,
Joseph Moran in Sydney, Catriona Moran and family in Singapore, the boys in
Vietnam, Kate Gilmartin Japan, Neil Nangle in Bahrain not Dubai, as I said last
time. I’m sure there are many more and we would like to have a more complete
list in the run up to Christmas!
Gaeilge Bheo
I see that the Roscommon
Herald is making an effort to introduce some Irish in their paper this week
(page 91). I’d like to try and improve my Irish or recover the capacity I once
had with the language. The page is being written by Fergal Jennings who now
lives near Frenchpark. I liked the idea of a short piece written in Irish and
then translated into English which facilitates the meaning of some unfamiliar
words. So I would disagree with not continuing that element of the page. Anyway
it is an effort in what has always been a difficult task.
Congratulations
Congratulations to the Boyle
U 12 Keenan Cup winning team and commiserations to the under 20 team on a close
run thing.
I meant to congratulate the
Abbey Community College’s traditional group on their recent success in Kerry
which I do now. I presume it will get a local hearing sometime. Such exercises
add a sparkle to school-going days.
Hairspray
I haven’t been there yet as I
take up my annual stewarding duties tonight Friday night. I look forward to it
as I always do. It is a great community effort and an antidote to the bleak
winter weather which has just arrived after a considerable great reprieve.
I see Abbey Community College
is also ‘putting on’ a musical next spring so that too will add to calendar of
events. Perhaps it will act as starting block for another Chris O’Dowd.
The Influence of Fox.
Barack Obama comment on U.S.
T.V. show Bill Maher “If I watched Fox News regularly I wouldn’t vote for me
either”.
No comments:
Post a Comment