Who By Fire

[clergue]

4.11 Pop goes the Weasel?

[bhenbane]

One of the coolest clips I know!

[stanniehinn]

so fuckin sick, way to go boys! clap for the back up singers too, no?

[theolcoyote]

After 5:50 it's just awkward.

[cluedo1]

@theolcoyote Thought exactly the same. Love it nonetheless ;)

[electroboysvoice]

this jewish singer reminds me of an famous Hollywood artist

[HotelMarconi77]

Ver a Sonny Rollins, en pleno apogeo, empequeñece a cualquiera. Incluso a Leonard Cohen.

[wetstreets]

Lie to me.... thanks for introducing this lovely song to me :D

[addman27]

Funny!!!

[DarkeningSkies1]

The great existentalist of jazz playing in perfect harmony with the greatest lyricist who ever lived- even if this is all David Sanborn ever managed to acheive on "Night Music", I forgive him all his middle of the road/ pop sax /dentist office music for THIS clip right here. Still blows me away.

[TheZairae]

Is that the sax guy from the Simpsons?

[MichaelPhung94]

@TheZairae Yes, Bleeding Gums Murphy was a Simpsons character created in tribute to Sonny Rollins.

[REIworker]

have safe and easy Yom Kippur fast!

[CINDYREDWOOD]

thank you that was fantastic

[EddieHaskelll]

back up vocalist, second from right.... Bellatrix LeStrange ?

[masterDA2]

@EddieHaskelll hahaha It seems so :))

[shulitager]

the sax guy is actually a muppet!! XD

[clergue]

@shulitager Sonny Rolins was the inspiration behind Zoot from the Muppets and Bleeding Gums Murphy from the Simpsons!

[vootie99]

where? when? did this occur?

[joshlawrencejazz]

Great!

[1iad]

I think that Sonny came inside to a loupe ,{look the face neuans of the guitar man} and the nowbelity and modesty reaction of LEONARD COHEN

[1iad]

I think that Sonny came inside to a loupe ,{look the face of the guitar man} and the nowbelity and modesty reaction of LEONARD COHEN

[1iad]

I think that Sonny came inside to a loupe

[jazzuffe]

Is a classic, a great one.

[l2string]

Who by the way is the beautiful backup singer that looks like a "Van Gogh" painting? MEOW !

[Studeman51]

@l2string Julie Christensen and Perla Batalla are his female back-ups, Christensen is the blonde.

[BENZION61]

There's Dave Sanborn sitting on the bar stool with alto!!!!

[thomasgrand1966]

Rollins is a god.

[addman27]

I posted this might be available on DVD or even VHS. Well it isn't. It was never realesed on ANY format to the general public. The gentman who posted this clip had a connection to get it. He was kind enough to return my email. Enjoy "Who By Fire" here. You wont find it elsewhere. With all the crap released on CD and DVD it's amazing this was overlooked. Sad! If anyone does come across it for sale, or if it happens to be released in the future, please post it. Long Live Leonard!

[addman27]

I posted this might be available on DVD or even VHS. Well it isn't. It was never realesed on ANY format to the general public. The gentman who posted this clip had a connection to get it. He was kind enough to return my email. Enjoy "Who By Fire" here. You wont find it elsewhere. With all the crap released on CD and DVD it's amazing this was overlooked. Sad! If anyone does come across it for sale, or it happens to be released in the future, please post it. Long Live Leonard!

[WavyMinds]

Is it Fidel Castro playing pipes..:)

[moboman3]

The part left out is the intro which was a sixties clip of suited Rollins as youth playing the same solo from God Bless the Child years earlier, then cut to present time of him standing there finishing the solo he attempted in that early clip.

[addman27]

All that wanted to know, (including myself). This clip is from the U.S. TV show "SUNDAY Night Live" also known as "Night Music." It Aired, February 13, 1989 with David Sanborn & Jools Holland. It's ashame that it was never put out on album or CD. He also played "Tower of Song." on the show. It might be available on a DVD collection. I'm assuming that's where this version came from. It's the BEST version of "Who By Fire" i ever heard, and I've heard all of them. Leonard is a prophet!

[ger17job]

@addman27 du hast so

[BevoDiarrea]

incredibile



[gabrielaa1]

hair on end, man

[VONPLES1]

Mister MASTER Cohen......Maciej Zembaty PADL (die)

......ze starości...z miłości.....z RADOŚCI...for YOU MASTER COHEN!!

[AaronBuzzer]

another one got romantically a-hurtain couse he never got to know how to unwind on time until he reached the age of 29 or so, remember dogs don't carry regrets

[Klyons92]

I picture Leonard when he's clapping to Sonny at the end saying, "Way to fucking go. You fucked up" Sonny's the man, I just could picture Leo sayin that

[addman27]

Amazing version of Leonard's (the Jewish poet's), tribute to Yom Kippur! Sonny plays a mean sax!

[Teefrog1]

words can not express how incredibly talented this man is..........awesome!

[honeyman198]

simply brilliant

[johannes162005]

Ich höre den Song immer wieder gerne - one of the best

[cataloger1]

When was this recorded? Was it on TV? What program?

[SimonBellTube]

pure soul.

[jOsSeLFeO]

The way Sonny Rollins moves his face, and shoulders and lips, is a poem.

The way L. Cohen applause the beauty at the end is a poem too...

[judithmargolis]

so if you ever want to observe Yom Kippur this is the central message

Rollins is spectacular

if all religious experience was like this I would have no trouble being Orthodox

[paulakhs]

stupid, totally over the top for a crass american audience.

[TheKidlid]

Great version !

[righteousvids]

when that guy said "i wanna know" at about 2:30 .. idk .. it was pretty believable.  is anyone remotely comparably to cohen in terms of poetry and musicality? would love recommendations. so experienced. so smooth.

[SINATRAMX]

@righteousvids Yeah!!!, and the 5:03... tell me, tell me.... wow....

[decemberkid12]

@righteousvids The only ones I can think of right now are Tom Waits and Dylan...

Perhaps Van Morrison and Nick Cave too.

[AminkaZakirova]

Привет))

[303Moms]

Beautiful, thank you !

[magoulianitissa]

yπέροχο, μοναδικό!!!! 

[DandyLion662]

Sonny Rollins shows off his sax with a brief interlude of Cohen's Who By Fire.

[taekwondocanada]

@DandyLion662 Thank you Captain Obvious!

[AlfredoBacellar]

Com o divino saxofone: who touch me?

[aviza12]

sax spoils it all! :@

[Luckmus]

Sonny you fucked them all

[fx662s]

the best of COHEN

[way2manyprisoners]

not bad

[Ridaeon]

~Hate the Sax personally. Hate that type of Jazz

[DarkeningSkies1]

@Ridaeon The good kind?

[Cziommer10]

This clip proves that religions should intermingle.

After all, Jesus, Mo and all those 'heavanly' guys are the same.

At the best, religions dissolve.

Above all, Cohen's tunes soar!

Paul Algra

The Netherlands.

Paul Algra, atheist

[thisissoeasy]

Wow.... absolutely brilliant.....

[lexo30]

Leonard Cohen *and* Sonny Rollins. It has seldom got any better than this. (I could do without the male backing singers, though. Especially the guy in the hat. When you have Sonny Rollins on hand, you don't need anymore interjections.)

[fx662s]

αξιον εστι ...!

[nagster1234]

Amazing stuff!!!!!!!

[Serephiel]

I must say i love this version. But that ending got a little carried away XD

[fx662s]

4:55 ...!

[saxophile1]

i know cohen is jewish but is sonny rollins part jewish? he looks like he could be

[blasketboy]

"Relax! For Fuck Sake We're all in the funnel Great stuff, NO RELEGION=a step towards a more peaceful place to live.

[sixteenman]

Rollins is the best but Cohen is horrible.Fucking hippy ! II BE DAMNED!

[BTLfanIam]

@sixteenman You obviously are lacking in class or sophistication, whatsoever. I feel sorry for those like you who have no soul or artistic depth of perception. I personally felt the sax was way over the top, and sounded out of place, actually distracting.

[sixteenman]

Rollins is the best but Cohen is horrible

[cru1k]

all his songs are hauntingly beautiful,

imo his voice just gets better as time goes by,

[StarlitHour77]

fuck sonny rollins is such a monster player. love those outside notes

[hoakiss99]

That sax doesn't belong in there . . no way . . no how

[stratocruising]

Betiamed "whatever that was supposed to mean"?

None of us know the time or manner or reason of our passing. So, "Who shall I say is calling?"

It is death, my man, and death has no mercy in this land.

[agonzalezs5955]

this is too much better than the original version

[bhstone1]

That sax is seriously annoying!

[betlamed]

I never ever got the connection with the jom kippur prayer. So it was never a haunting or sad song to me. I always just envisioned someone coming over and calling "by fire", whatever that was supposed to mean...

Interesting... in a weird way.

[jazzuffe]

The best dand he ever had, and Sonny Rollins too.

[dmason0815]

how can anyone dislike this?!

[thesealag]

@dmason0815 Exactly my thought

[thesealag]

@dmason0815 Exactly my thought

[broadfeor]

Unequaled and absolutely mind-blowing. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this.

[ncmathsadist]

This is a pleasing variation on a great song. Wonderful and refreshing.

[erduprince]

Talking of "haunting"...any of you guys ever heard Coil's rendition of the song?

[ElvisWexler]

I would have dug High Holiday services as a kid if it were done like this.

[anugraha7]

Just wondering, has anybody noticed the quotes from a famous nursery rhyme in Rollin's solo?

[dmande3]

To danmcenroe, a 1000 thanks for this video - from the "Sunday Night" music show almost 20 yrs ago, I remember it well. That show gave us many wonderful performances, but none better than this.

To glidrenyc & ruskibog935, I certainly agree with your posts, but don't waste your energy on philistines who have no ears with which to hear.  Let's just be thankful to have bright moments such as this music. If we have the least spark of divinity, it's right here.

[USAisAntiWhite]

Relax people, "the herd." It's just a sax and Kenny G is better.

[debash1234]

I can't believe I found this... two of my favorites playing together...I never would have thought.... Kinda like Joni Mitchell and Charlie Mingus! wonders neve cease!

[FlinckJanne1981]

what was that second last note rollins played?. is there a vid, where they teach to blow right way, to play low b, low c#, low a#, i fail at those, my low d sounds actually much deeper than those, cause i cant blow right, or theres something wrong with my technigue.

[soulfullyanointed]

is sonny rollins part jewish?

[ghiaccioprincipessa]

this is

ONE OF THE BEST

thxs danmcenroe

ciao^_^ciao

[equilibriumMySpace]

such a beautiful song! This is MUSIC! This is ART!

[l2string]

WHOA !!!!!!!!!!!

[DKGonzo86]

Goooood DAMN that man can blow.

[gusmanthecat1]

Awesome.

[FlinckJanne1981]

i have 150 saxophone note sheets in my computer, check my channels description to see note lists what i have, if you would like to trade some with me.

[osja85]

@FlinckJanne1981

I saw your channels. Just tell me how many notes do you have for tenor saxophone and how much would you ask for all of them?

[FlinckJanne1981]

@osja85 there are many many notes, wich dont say what instruments those are for, but those are the notes i have tryed and sounded good, but most of my sax notes are for alto, expect offcourse coltranes and rollins notes. they are 3mb sizes per 1 note sheet most of them and some can be 11 pages of long, and i have like much over 200 note sheet songs. do you know how i could mail those easily? and would you have some notes too to trade, cause i dont need money if thats whats your asking.

[osja85]

@FlinckJanne1981

OK, I misunderstud you about trade becouse I dont speak english very well. I have some sheets I've found on internet, but they are not all for saxophone. There are about 9000 files, and i have some pdfs too. I can mail to you, i'ts around 1 mb each. Just tell me your adress and i'll send it to you. Ill let you know when i find some good way for sending such big files.

[hhheld]

eines der besten Videos, welches ich je von L.C. gehört + gesehen habe. Genial !!!

[AboSaud33]

Sonny Rollins is amazing

[KATLINRIMER08]

who does not love Leonard cohen...love this ......katlin

[69Annna]

Fantástico,, precioso tema, saludos.

Anna

[phastevie]

I heard the sound of this video before I looked at it. I hope everyone knows that what they saw and heard was on of the most amazingly artistic music and poetry ever. Sonny Rollins doing his creative progressive jazz with the little ax Sanborn floating around and then Leonard and the voice. Does anyone know where this was done or others in the video. It was two worlds coming together for me.

[nedphoenix]

Music so good that it should be illegal in the United States and Texas.

[kines68]

WOW!!!!! By far the best, most vivid version of that great song I have ever heard! Thanks for having posted it here!

[ger17job]

@kines68 you have belonged, cool

[iamruby86]

i'm kinda jealous...my parents are goin' to see him on 27th semptember in hannover...

[cliffworks4321]

is that robben ford or maybe frank simes on guitar?

[PortieBhoy]

the absolute best version you will ever hear of THAT song, oh my god, Saxophone Colossus indeed.

[PortieBhoy]

the absolute best version you will ever hear of THAT song, oh my god, Saxophone Colossus indeed.

[xchekker94]

An amazing performance! Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins together is an amazing amalgam of talent. Sonny Rollins is a living legend and this amazing performace shows his greatness.

[trapperbt]

Sonny Rollins did a performance at Berklee for us in 1973. Talked about Jazz and improv. Great player great school

[glidernyc]

Sonny turned 80 this week (September 2010). For those interested, he is playing at the Beacon Theater in NYC on Friday September 10. I saw him about 4 years ago and he was as good as ever. So he is not one of these guys touring around as a shadow of their former selves. Sonny's still evolving and playing great. He's got great musician's appearing with him at the coming show -- including Jim Hall (who was on the Bridge LP), Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, etc.

[DEEPSHIfT]

this should have more views then a fucking justin bieber song!!!

[BrooklynNotQueens]

this song is taken from a Hebrew poem called Untaneh Tokef read on Rosh Hashanah.

[cohenfs]

Sonny Rollins with Leonard Cohen!?! Wow! Mindblowing. One to be played over and over again. Two music legends and they mesh sublimely.

[JanneFlinck1981]

if you look some notes, you can find some and request froms songs lists in there, in facebook site -saxophone notes-

[robitrest]

talk about feeling the music! great sax playing!

[nth1wxv1]

who in this realms of love...

[genXrVT]

I love love love this! He oozes sexiness with his intensity (but, I could say that about just about everything he does!). I love the look in his eye and the smirk from 5:04-5:08. Great version of this song.

[pexex90]

The last note might as well have been from a kazoo....or ass. hahaha

[dartdriverdon]

Outstanding! What a find! Always have loved Cohen, but add Sonny, damn!

[shawndimery]

Is that Sonny Rollins?!

[7inga7]

Wow This is great!

[blazestriker]

Simply awesome! I love both of these artists and would have never guessed that they came together for such a work of art. Bravo!

[livinginthemeadow]

so perfect, i wish there was a stuido recording like this

[martinalabelle]

great!

[martinalabelle]

great!

[lcoulman]

This was on one of those late night music shows with Sanborn as host. They used to have different types of acts that would play together at the end. This was probably the most magical moment ever with Sonny's great sax and backups by Was Not Was.

[originaltbyrd]

"black musicians ruin" ? ? ? who said that ignorance? this is a damn masterpiece of jamming cohen's folkish style with the blues! this shit cooks perfect and they ought to have made a whole album together!

i like it real good.

[Sixtiesera]

@originaltbyrd Agreed =]

[JakobMierscheid]

And who by fire, who by water,

who in the sunshine, who in the night time,

who by high ordeal, who by common trial,

who in your merry merry month of may,

who by very slow decay,

and who shall I say is calling?

[JakobMierscheid]

And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,

who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,

and who by avalanche, who by powder,

who for his greed, who for his hunger,

and who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident,

who in solitude, who in this mirror,

who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,

who in mortal chains, who in power,

and who shall I say is calling?

[torro2009]

Fuck you stupid kid, I don'nt want to offend you but you do it yourself, so I must. Just listen. These guys never bother about racism or whatever. They just care about music and love. Just listen without thinking about this stupid racisme bullshit. You wonn't need it. No one needs it. We and you are all so fucking human!! You're not a bit better then anyone else. Just a small single, fucking human kid among 6 billion others. Donn't forget. No reason at all to have an attitude.

[Sixtiesera]

@torro2009 Agreed =]

[razordaave]

@torro2009 I'm with you bro, but don't waste your energy, focus on light and love. Don't give heed to such comments

[devinesax]

NB that David Sanborn wisely gives Sonny free rein . Kenny G ? That was a joke, right ? Pleas, please tell me that was a joke.

[wurzelko]

really envy the people in the audience who attended this live

[rrpprp]

the most exciting, bold, creative version of a Leonard Cohen song I´ve ever heart.

[zeltoldimar]

Don't read the comments, just enjoy this amazing piece of art.

[sajtosdnb]

38 people forgot the "like" button:s

[ruskibog935]

And sorry, @number1saxophone, no disrespect to YOU as a musician, but Kenny G has about as much to do with jazz as Yoko Ono does to music. It's in name only. Sonny Rollins is the closest thing alive to the late, great John Coltrane.

[ruskibog935]

"All these black musicians ruin this song." Ass, get your shit straight. (profanity done). This song is based on a very haunting and somber prayer from the Hebrew bible. If there's one group of people that can embrace and understand the struggle of the Jewish people, it's Black people in America. Why do you think so many slave spirituals were Old Testament verses and Psalms set to tune? So to say that black musicians did anything but enrich this song is ludicrous. Fuck off (sorry)

[footluv69]

@ruskibog935

I couldn't agree more (to be on the save side: I absolutely agree). The pure song is the best, this is rediciolous and reminds me of going to the clubs nowadays and hearing all the nice 90s songs pumped up with boom-boom

[ThePalomino2010]

the palomino2010 no mames maricon hijo de satanas fanatico religioso lo unico k tienes k haser es disfrutar de la musica uuuuhhh

[fanofmozart]

@ruskibog935 A few months ago I made a similar comment. I really like Leonard Cohen's music, and understand how Jewish culture influences it, but I'm saddened by those listeners who find the participation by the great Sonny Rollins and other African-American musicians to be some sort of desecration of the original. You make a very important point about Black Christian appreciation of the Old Testament.

[clannames]

being a diehard cohen fan......this is rubbish....i know where i"d put the sax

[samuelcohen1]

This is the best version of this song I have ever heard. When and where was this?

Please, I need to know it.

[hyman00]

this is great

[hyman00]

Dan T of Boston. - Rollins is great but I doubt he can jam Hava Nagilah as well as you.

Hymie of Montreal

[golfomanie]

Cool song

[StevenCreates]

So cool. I love improvisation. Especially when so much talent is involved.

[ZupaDub]

..wonderful..

thanks for letting me see & hear this , appreciated

xxx

[SCOTCHSOLACE]

Just my opinion, but Sonny Rollins and Leonard Cohen are true geniuses (genii). Absolutely fabulous music - certainly what music is about.

[dngxl5]

Holy Fuxing beejesus

[ZappaGolf]

Who by fire, who's on my mind?

[WHOBYFIRE333]

the sax is so underrated this day and age talking about a hard instrument to play

[juriental]

why don't he blink with is eyes