Leonard Cohen’s 21 favourite songs of all time
With a voice that contains more wisdom than a library, words of gilded gold, and melodies that could silence a twittering blackbird on a spring morning, Leonard Cohen will forever be a glass of pinot in a world of fizzy pop.
His craft was poetry and written prose, almost breaking into song by accident after absconding to Greece. Given this background, he never considered himself all that comfortable in the musical world, singing in ‘Tower of Song’ that he considered Hank Williams to be “a hundred floors above” him.
But perhaps because of this humility, he always endeavoured to hone his own songs, writing countless verses of ‘Hallelujah’ before whittling them away to the perfect masterpiece we know today. This was his process, and it was one that resulted in one of the finest back catalogues in the history of music, with anthems like ‘So Long Marianne’, ‘Suzanne’, and ‘Memories’ just three that are almost guaranteed to be listened to and adored for eternity.
Sure, they might be croaked, and the melodies might occasionally creak and strain, but as he put it himself, “There is a crack, a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in.” And as his French peer, Serge Gainsbourg, affirmed, “Ugliness is superior to beauty because it lasts longer.” Not that Cohen’s crackers were ever ‘ugly’, but as he croons in ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’, it’s those who relish imperfection to whom music truly belongs.
With this poetic outlook well established, he usually fitfully lingered in the shadows, only usually mentioning those who inspired him in a philosophical sense. Alas, there were plenty of peers who he greatly admired. From Bob Dylan to ‘Blueberry Hill’, he was moved by art to a monumental degree.
And thankfully, some years ago, Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox was released and offered us a window into the musical preferences of one of our favourite artists. A collection of 21 tracks, handpicked by the folk maestro, make up the album and, with it, the publisher has shown off an array of artists that have helped to shape Cohen’s career in one form or another.
As well as including four pieces of poetry on the record, one from Allen Ginsberg, one from Federico Garcia Lorca, and two pieces from Jack Kerouac, the album is also full of Cohen’s crooning contemporaries. While not all of the songs featuring in the album have a specific quote from Cohen attached, it’s clear that he held some artists in high esteem.
That esteem wasn’t based on genre, style, or even an era, as he said when speaking with Rod Sward in 1984, “Well, like the Talmud says, there’s good wine in every generation.”
“We have a particular feeling for the music of our own generation and usually the songs we courted to are the songs that stay with us all our life as being the heavy ones,” he added. “The singers of my own period, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Ray Charles, all those singers have crossed over the generations. But we have a special kind of feeling for the singers that we use to make love to.”
All of those artists feature in the list below and offer up a pretty clear direction for Cohen’s most beloved songs, a pattern that stems from skilled writers serving up filagreed sincerity. So as well as girl group classic ‘Be My Baby’ from The Ronettes, the LP is teeming with references to literary songwriters who weren’t afraid to craft a hit. Picking Joan Baez and Judy Collins, though admittedly not performing their own songs, falls in line with his admiration for Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan.
Dylan had been a strong friendship for Cohen to rely on up until his death, the pair seemingly sharing a common bond, and being cagey about the incursions of fame. Of Dylan receiving his Nobel Prize for Literature, Cohen famously once said: “To me, [the award] is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain,” such was his admiration for his contemporary.
In the same ilk there’s Joni Mitchell. Of course, Cohen and the ‘Case of You’ singer also shared a brief love affair after the Newport Folk Festival in 1967. Speaking about Mitchell’s work in the same 1984 interview, he eulogised: “Joni was some kind of musical monster, that her gift somehow put her in another category from the other folksingers.”
Continuing, “There was a certain ferocity associated with her gift. She was like a storm. She was a beautiful young woman who had a remarkable talent.” And it certainly moved Cohen, his songwriting markedly moving in a more jazzy direction after witnessing her advanced orchestrations, which nevertheless proved seamlessly pleasing, firsthand.
Another former lover is also on the list, Janis Joplin, about whom Cohen famously wrote the song ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’. Picking up her performance of ‘Get It While You Can’ would likely have a pang of guilt attached after having splayed their romance on record for all to hear, later confirming Joplin as the mystery woman, a pronouncement he would later regret.
So, while we can’t attest, and never will be able to, whether these 21 songs are actually what Cohen would consider his complete collection of his favourite songs ever, we can at least use the playlist to reflect on the songs swirling in the welter of his own wondrous creations. Assembled by the man himself, they’re a historical document of rays that shone through the cracks of his own guarded craft.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite songs:
- ‘Careless Love’ – Josh White
- ‘Jezebel’ – Frankie Laine
- ‘Which Side Are You On?’ – Almanac Singers
- ‘La Complainte Du Partisan (The Partisan)’ – Anna Marly
- ‘Goodnight Irene’ – The Weavers
- ‘Red River Valley’ – Gene Autry
- ‘Tennessee Waltz’ – Les Paul / Mary Ford
- ‘Be My Baby’ – The Ronettes
- ‘Just One More’ – George Jones
- ‘The Great Pretender’ – The Platters
- ‘Unchained Melody’ – The Righteous Brothers
- ‘What’d I Say’ – Ray Charles
- ‘The Twist’ – Hank Ballard
- ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ – Judy Collins
- ‘Downhearted Blues’ – Alberta Hunter
- ‘Jokerman’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘California’ – Joni Mitchell
- ‘Get It While You Can’ – Janis Joplin
- ‘Gloomy Sunday’ – Billie Holiday
- ‘I Shall Be Released’ – Joan Baez
- ‘Your Cheatin Heart’ – Hank Williams
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.