Leonard Cohen - Story of Isaac (live performance 1985)

[underthenorthernstar]

This song is the voice of reason over faith. Great tune.

[stenton63]

messalina79 thank so mutch classe

[leosky2]

Leo Cohen is great ... I spent a whole year listening to your wonderful songs. This is a special one... biblical and so symbolic...

[stanleysoldman]

more canadian class

[addman27]

A bibical Jewish story put to music...Brillant!

[PrZemek44]

It's funny, Cohen has always been more popular in Poland than his native Canada... Seriously! There are people here who never heard of thim.

[blandatious]

a great friend of mine passed away five years ago. we used to have a few beers listening to music and comparing mythologies. when i saw cohen last year the tears i cried were for him. story of isaac was not played but no matter. I once read that Cohen was "an unlikely survivor". Maybe Isaac could be descibed just so. My buddy once said empty seats are like unforgotten friends. I often think of that especially hearing this, his favorite Cohen song. May bluebirds sing him to sleep

[icebytes]

Roy Buchanan Version blew me away.

[Marc329]

@icebytes

Yes! Roy's version is fairly faithful to this. Both are amazing. Great emotion and guitar work in both.

[2p0p]

i think it's about the need to stop all the killing/hurting that's done in God's/authority's name..."you must not do it anymore"

[jlnoames]

norway 85 is even better (but this vcrsion is also fabulous)

[yangcy]

I love the guitar here -it adds some otherworldly feel to the whole story.

[jwalker100666]

I first heard this song from a Roy Buchanan album, and it blew me away. Do yourselves a favor and go listen.

[lilifyre]

While I certainly can't flaw the music or the arrangement, it is the words and their meaning that bring tears to my eyes. This story is as old as time itself, but Leonard uncovers the hidden message here. I am an incest survivor. Truly, "a scheme is not a vision, you never have been tempted by a demon or a god." To those who "build an altar to sacrifice your children, you MUST not do it anymore." In incest there is no consent!

[Msoolala]

Have you thought it could also relate to sending our children to war or other lesser deaths for the glory of god or the glory of the 'man'

[lilifyre]

@Msoolala It goes much deeper than that.

[9erfandex]

@lilifyre I don't know anything about a secret message, but it is a given, that any L. Cohen song is going to contain some incredible and powerful lyrics, but it is the arangement musically that absolutely nails it, for me, anyway! Regardless, God Save Leonard Cohen!

[jonthebaptist1]

Its not about incest. It is the Biblical story of Isaac where God told Isaac's father to sacrifice him upon an altar and God sent an angel to stop him at the last minute.

[lilifyre]

@jonthebaptist1 How do you know that it is NOT about incest? Yes, it is a retelling of the Biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac. If you were at all familiar with Leonard Cohen you would know that his poetry is seldom about just one thing. What I have said is that FOR ME it expresses the same emotions, the same dynamics as one who has survived incest. I am speaking of my OWN experience and how the words of this song effect ME personally.

[jonthebaptist1]

How do you know it is? I am very familiar with Leonard Cohen and his songs. The sarcasm and symbolism are usually pretty straight forward. I'm sorry that you were molested, but why are you sharing it in a public YouTube forum?  I can see where you'd get that from the song and I'm not going to take that away from you. Art is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. I hope you are getting help for any lingering affective problems.

[lilifyre]

@jonthebaptist1 Did I say that the message this song had for me was something that Leonard intended? No. I said, it was MY reaction based on MY experiences. As to why I choose to share my experience on a public forum, why shouldn't I? If another person hadn't chosen to share her experience in a public forum I would probably be where I was for almost 40 years...hiding in a shame that was not mine. If I can be a voice for one other person than I have done my job. Don't blame the victim!

[jonthebaptist1]

I'm not blaming the victim. I'm sorry that it happened to you and I hope that your story can help someone else. But there was no context for you to make such a comment. It just seems a little histrionic, that's all.

[lilifyre]

@jonthebaptist1 The brilliance of good poetry, and Leonard writes GOOD POETRY, is that it means exactly what you think it means. There are no WRONG answers or interpretations. As to my earlier post where I spoke of a "hidden" message, I did NOT say "secret".  Each of us react to any poem based on our own experiences. The whole, in this case, is greater than the sum of its parts.

[CurtisMateer]

One of Leonard's more beautiful harmonic structures. I was inspired to use something similar in a recent original setting of a poetic spiritual text...if you listen you may hear the similarity as well...would you allow this as a video response please? As a hommage ultimately to Mr Cohen...

[9erfandex]

messalina79 thank you very much, this is simply WONDERFUL! I Love L. Cohen, and this may just possibly be his best By God tune of all time! I really groove on his combo, and the arrangement is stunning! As always thanks and praise be to You Tube for the available space, and to the aforementioned messalina79 for taking the precious time and expending the energy necessary to share this noteworthy performance from the genius that is LEONARD COHEN, God save him, and of course: ROCK ON SHINDIGGERS!!!

[Sentya]

Thank you!

[blandatious]

messalia, saw the master recently and would have begged him for this. means so much to me, a dear friend of mine who passed away and myself used to listen to it over and over. A work of poetry, a work of genius its words relevant now today as much as ever. sorry for going on!!! thanks

[Petiber]

messalina, I want to thank you for sharing those amazing videos of leonard. Such great performances of such obsecure songs. thank you!

[Eagleray99]

This is a lovely comment, although it is not an obscure song, but one of his early standards.

[ThisPoetsFan]

Thank you again for these gems.