Leonard Cohen-Last year's man

[crystalship40]

The sky light is like skin...for the drum I'll never mend...and all the rain falls down amen...on the works of last years man.

[somefreshgarbage]

This is one of the most beautiful songs ever, yet it speaks to us...to at least act as if we are free!  Don't be left in the past...

[somefreshgarbage]

Yes...we have freedom...and as such we create new works...this song is an existential comment on our lives...and as such it is living poetry...

[GalaxyHorse]

Meditation on viewing the body of a friend in the city morgue

[somefreshgarbage]

Don't be a last years man...but do we have freedom to be anything but the works of lasts years man?

Such a spiritual song...

[alexj89]

When I grow up I wanna be Leonard Cohen.

[AltheaHekate]

This was the first song I heard from LC and I was sold! The most beautiful song, I love this version with the children singing. You made a great video, love the painting fom LC.

Thank You!

Blessed Be;

Althea

[hammill88]

Una delle mie canzoni preferite...

[AnEpicNotusedName]

this makes me cry

[winggoddess]

@applefighter123 because avril is new and played on the radio, and cohen isn't either. can't very easily look up a video of someone you're not even aware of.

[TheMrbob2011]

I use to think this song was about me. Like he knew what depressions soundtrack sounded like.But I'm better now and I know it's a song for all of us.

[tsferg]

@applefighter123 Youtube is all about youth. Leonard is for an older audience.

[blueunikorn]

@tsferg i grew up listening to this! im 24 and have been listening to Leonard Cohen for 15 years :P

[tsferg]

@blueunikorn You didn't get the context in which my comment was posted. It was a reply.

[TheBlindPig1]

The angels say their are seven cups, some half fill, some overflowing. Some kingdoms everlasting, and some ere fallen forever. Some towers to paradise where build on faltiy foundations. Evil is like, (to mundra chundri) is like resonance and vibration. Evil (as freud would say) impresses greatly and is so great, that it outcome cannot be felt, til well after the event. My body is a garden.

[patsxskip]

patsxskip} The Lovers Will Rise Up And The Mountains Touch The Ground. The Children in This Song Are Beaurtiful Singers

[hustler999999]

This is just pure poetry, he is so worthy of a comparison with Auden or T.S Elliot

[supravista]

@applefighter123 The world is a better place when you choose to see it that way.

[ray5677]

I just listened to this song for the first time today and I am sure it is the most powerful song Cohen has ever written after Suzanne.

Mr. Cohen you are my savior, my philosopher, my doomed love. - A disciple from India

[LinusVanPelt111]

@applefighter123

How this is suprising to you is beyond me.

I personally wouldn't want it any other way.

[AllTheCloudsArePink]

Oh-ah, when he says Babylon the bride and then there's the "Twung" of the giutar...

[zboner150]

in 1983 i had the perpant eating its tail tatooed on me because of this song

[madaraddeumiployolbc]

online naughty woman now  benaughtyman.info

[RouksAdtas]

Hi brother needs to chat a, Asian women busizz4me.info

[tigerscriber]

I think if I had the impossible task of selecting the best of Cohen's poetry this would be it. "And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin

that the wilderness is gathering

all its children back again." - Indeed.

[jes1able]

If anyone doesnt beleive in the existance of God, they haven't heard Leonard Cohen

[francistowncar]

@jes1able if you beleive in god you dont lissen to cohen when he speaks

[shakermaker92]

@jes1able Leonard Cohen is a brilliant musician, whether there is a god or whether there isn't. To say anything else is to degrade him.

[rimef]

WONDERFULLLLL!!!

THANK'S

FAB.

[psike5000]

pure poetry. astounding.

[twiggy120]

"Bethlehem inflamed us both like the shy one at some orgy"

I'm not sure what it means but I know I love it.

[Sheila3444]

An amazing song by an amazingly talented man!

[sweetgypsywife]

Intriguing words, haunting melody , and sung by their creator....who is next year's man , and many more beyond,I hope....

[singinglawnchair]

I had a nightmare a few nights ago set to this song.

Despite that, this song is amazing on vinyl... my sister and I used to stay up late listening to The Best of Leonard Cohen on my grandma's old turntable. Amazing song.

[storeyi]

The vocals are distorted on this song which is a shame. That aside, it's very powerful.

[Leibinz]

This song really resonates for me as I have a thing for shy ones at orgy's also.

[savethestoats]

@Leibinz

Not the most beautiful of comments ... but seriously cracked me up for some crazy reason!

[XinBiDe]

@Leibinz Best comment of the year: Nominee.

[shellystonespoop]

Dude, Leonard got me through more than one terribly shitty period in my life, too. I got to see him live this year and it changed my life.

[antiquelens]

@shellystonespoop

he gets me through everything. I'd love to see him live, i'm jealous!

[samambreen]

I love this man. They don't make them like this anymore

[fergusof]

Hard to pick a favourite, but this is right up there. Think I'll actually download and pay for a couple of Leonard's tunes, since a lot of his money was scammed by his former manager.

'Garbage and diamonds?' You're being generous.

[rickyenslingertje]

What a song. See what you think of our magical version.

Greetz from Holland

Ricky & Slinger and the Flabbergasting Friends

[haloilu]

Some women wait for Jesus, some women wait for Cain...God, that's poetry!

[Viatriste]

I am totally lost as to why Cohen's music faired so poorly in the 70s and 80's. His prose and lyrics are the greatest of all time. This song is pure beauty.

[Leibinz]

My fav too.

[luigipesce]

You're so right, dear applefighter.

We lost that battle and now we're licking our deep bleeds. But remember that "we're ugly but we have the music".

[TheP3drouk]

damn right

[garfus2]

OMG thank you so much for this, sir. this is one of the best 3 LC songs ever, imho.

[adamb719]

this is my favorite album of all-time. bar none. and i listen to everything, from sinatra to death metal, and all in between. flawless album, beautiful song.

[boige]

likewise dude, from Ween to Absu to Dwight Yokam to Radiohead to Raffi . This song sorta helped me move along (more the whole album) I needed Leonard and he got me through the bullshit.  Diamonds in The Mine is a good picker upper after this hahahahaha

[norgesregenter]

Cohen is a eminent songwriter.

[poohsmate]

been listening to his songs for 35 years, and never get tired of hearing them...

He is the BEST!!!!!!!!!

[SiggiPulsa]

whats like the the name of the song about the guy who controls war and he is thousnds of years old....maybe this is not correct, but it was something like it, i heard it when i was young and i was pretty moved by it....liked to find it again

[snarfsniff]

...and so, I will join with "occiaballa": "Shhh....Just listen....just really listen"

[snarfsniff]

...flare, my nostrils were filled with the stench of war and my constant companion, adrenalin, quickened me to the earth shaking vibrations as a testimony to our violence. "The rain falls down on Last Year's Man....good night, my friends, good night"

[snarfsniff]

"...and though I wear a uniform, I was not born to fight...."

The memory of when I first heard these words are so deeply embedded in the "I" of who I am. It was on a small hill overlooking an encampment of a South Korean Artillery Unit that was shelling a distant rise known as "Charlie's Mountain" near Phan Rang, Vietnam. As the darkness of night deepened, I listened to these works, to this music being played on a small JVC portable cassette unit, my eyes captured the images of muzzle....

[Joshumitsu]

I think I can relate.

[occiaballa]

Shhh... Just listen...

[strangerlc]

you are mentioning being alive in the same time as Cohen, for if I hadn't seen him two weeks ago in nyc I would think he is not real. He gave me new meaning to... the night. Somebody brought hi gratest hits to my high school in '96... and so it started

[TarrouNZ]

This is not on the Essential Leonard Cohen album, I think it should be.

[JacobtheGreat111]

i agree, then again i think most of his songs are essential

[JacobtheGreat111]

Jesus Christ, that is the most beautiful song i have ever heard.

i thought i had heard Cohen's best but this is on a whole new level, is there no limit to this man's talent?

im so proud to be alive at the same time as him

[TarrouNZ]

Agree,

[krilin31]

Such an awesome song. I have never been a fan of his keyboard/electronic effects songs, just him, a guitar and his soul in song. Cohen rules.

[Eagleray99]

To pastaface100. I absolutely love Leonard Cohen, but I think that your comment is very funny indeed. Thank you for making me laugh out loud. Mind you, this album was as heavy as anything he's ever done and gained him his "Music-to-slit-your-wrists-to" reputation, especially Dress Rehearsal Rag. I'm off to see if you have a comment on that one. If not, I'll do my best :o)

[davedylan22]

its funny because ive never considered cohen's music to be depressing!

[Eagleray99]

Nor do I, on the whole, in fact I find it greatly uplifting, but there are one or two, including his first studio version of "Bird on the Wire". He has done some much better versions since.

[zenitius]

cohen somehow blends depressing with joy i dont know how but his gentle but strong voice definitely helps

[gyppomc1]

This was always my favourite Cohen song.

Moving, beautiful, unashamedly pretentious. I'm constantly debating with myself what a line really means :)

Shame he doesn't play it live, or at least regularly.

[pastaface100]

What a jolly little tune. I skipped to work this morning whistling the melody! Does anyone like Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by Middle of the Road? It's not exactly the same but sends a similar message. Time for lasagne and a glass of red.....

[Eagleray99]

See above

[dressrehearsalrags]

Looks like you've missed the point then. It's about painting a picture using words - not necessarily composing a logically sequential string of thoughts - art doesn't have to be like that in fact lasting, thought-provoking art doesn't usually leave you feeling spoon-fed. Interact with it, interpret it, make it your own song - that's what it's about.

[1337905]

he was a canadian who wrote songs in the 60's. beatniks were an american thing in the 50's.

wait not true, kerouac was a young canadian immigrant to america.

[Mrbojangles76]

This is my all-time favourite Cohen song. He has been with me for 14 years now.

[freund333]

This song is so cool! After 6 years i found out that my girlfriend cheated on me for 4 years. But the line at the end of this song is giving me hope to finde the true love one day! THE LOVERS WILL RISE UP!

[doll0116]

Oh well, at least you had 2 good years, which is 2 more than alot of us get!

[sdzeit]

best

[gyppomc1]

I see him this month..

[rasherface]

Me to, in Portugal...a month after seeing him in Dublin. Ah but its totally worth it.

[Craig496]

This is my favourite Cohen song.

[Wacek4444]

That's just what I needed... Thank you for uploading!

[OCOrbits]

Magnificent! One of my top 5 favorite songs by the "Great Man".

The children at the end are magical

[sergiodore]

thanks God

[elziwelz]

very depressing stuff guyss

[musicosmica]

his voice gets directly to the heart of my heart

[Gruftputze]

Everytime it gives me the creeps again...

[waytoodeep]

woooah! thanks for posting. My favourite Cohen song ever. Going to see him in Amsterdam in July. can't wait........

[suuzzee5]

Another astoundingly beautiful, dark song from the Master. Pure poetry...pure genius...

[jennjuniper1952]

this is sweet and i love the words they always stay in your head even if you have not heard them for a long time,thats what i love about leonard cohen.

[colonelrobbo]

The chidren singing at the end end is the most beautiful thing you will ever hear.

[modelerjimg]

I agree...there's an odd and haunting beauty in his songs, and his use of the children's chorus for this piece is wonderful. I'm beginning to feel old when I think about how long it was when I first bought this album...c'est la vie, c'est la guerre I guess.

[Eagleray99]

Thanks for pointing that out - it adds to the song and ends it beautifully