Award-winning Canadian singer, songwriter, and poet Leonard Cohen passed away yesterday at the age of 82.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Cohen’s son Adam, also a musician, wrote “My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records. He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.”
The multi-talented artist achieved a rare trifecta of critical acclaim, commercial success, and longevity in his career, which spanned six decades. Throughout his illustrious career, Cohen released 14 albums, 13 books of poetry, two novels, one spoken word poetry album, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, won seven JUNO Awards, and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadians Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was a Companion of the Order of Canada. We’re exhausted even writing it.
If there is a silver lining that can be found in Cohen’s passing, it’s that he leaves behind an incredible body of work full of words of hope and love, words that are needed now especially at this critical time in politics and global uncertainty.
To celebrate the life and work of Leonard Cohen, we’re all remembering some of his most moving works and words, that they may continue to inspire us well into the future.
ON GRIEF
“…it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again” RIP Leonard Cohen 🙁— krysten ritter (@Krystenritter) November 11, 2016
RIP Leonard Cohen.
“Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied.”— Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) November 11, 2016
ON LOVE
“I remember you well, in the Chelsea hotel, you were famous- your heart was a legend…” see you on the other side Leonard Cohen.
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) November 11, 2016
There’s a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah#RIPLeonard— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 11, 2016
ON HOPE
“There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”RIP Leonard Cohen.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 11, 2016
“Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried, in my way, to be free.”
-Leonard Cohen— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) November 11, 2016
All rights reserved