A collection of Leonard Cohen’s favourite folk songs
As one of the most revered folk songwriters of all time, it’s never a surprise to see people celebrate the work of Leonard Cohen when they reel off their favourite folk songs in history. Considering that as a genre, its recorded origins go back further than most, there’s a wealth of folk music from through the ages to be discovered, and yet Cohen’s work rises tall among his peers and predecessors as standing the test of time.
From songs like ‘Suzanne’ and ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ that grace his masterful debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, to other beloved tracks such as ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Bird on the Wire’, there’s no shortage of brilliant tracks in his repertoire that continually get the nod from other folk aficionados. Cohen’s past as a poet would always feel like the perfect fit to be backed up with folk instrumentation, and the often simplistic and forlorn songs he wrote to accompany his poetry allowed both elements space to be noticed.
While he would attempt to reinvent himself as a schmaltzy synth-pop artist in the 1980s, veering as far away from folk as possible, it was never meant as a complete dismissal of the genre that he was rooted in, and he would return to this original style towards the end of his career, with records such as Old Ideas and You Want It Darker being among some of his most acclaimed work.
Yet, for all of Cohen’s contributions to the world of folk music, it’s not often that we get to hear the tracks that stir something in him from the genre, and he rarely ever chose to compile a definitive list of his own favourite folk music. Given that he’s almost a decade older than most of the artists who are often considered to be his contemporaries, such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, it’s reasonable to assume that he would have been brought up listening to earlier examples of folk music than the aforementioned artists, though his tastes did stretch much further than folk.
In 2010, the release of CD compilation Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox compiled 25 tracks that have in some way inspired the Canadian singer-songwriter, and among them were a number of jazz artists, country singers, and, of course, a smattering of folk that had played a significant part in his life. While we can’t be certain that these are his absolute favourite songs of all time, the release certainly gave some insight into his listening habits, and revealed six folk songs in particular that have been on constant rotation for him.
Picking out the 1941 Union song ‘Which Side Are You On?’ by Pete Seeger’s old group The Almanac Singers and Russian-born French chanteuse Anna Marly’s similarly anti-fascist anthem ‘La Complainte Du Partisan’ from 1943, Cohen readily picked out some older songs to showcase his taste in folk, with the latter famously having been covered by Cohen himself and Joan Baez.
Baez also makes it onto the tracklist with her rendition of Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’, while another cover from Judy Collins of Seeger’s ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ also features, as does The Weavers’ interpretation of the traditional American folk song ‘Goodnight, Irene’. Rounding out the folk selections of the tracklist is Joni Mitchell’s ‘California’, one of the standout tracks from her 1971 album, Blue.
Listen to Cohen’s selection in the playlist below.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite folk songs:
- ‘Which Side Are You On?’ – Almanac Singers
- ‘La Complainte Du Partisan (The Partisan)’ – Anna Marly
- ‘Goodnight Irene’ – The Weavers
- ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ – Judy Collins
- ‘California’ – Joni Mitchell
- ‘I Shall Be Released’ – Joan Baez
