Leonard Cohen’s favourite songs by his favourite songwriters
It’s easy to get lost in classifications. Take two steps inside a library, and this notion will become all too clear. It’s why Leonard Cohen spent most of his life trying to defy them.
Journalists have a habit of wanting to decode and understand their subject, and usually, the first step in doing so is trying to decipher exactly what the subject is. Leonard Cohen could be lots of different things: a writer, poet, guitarist and vocalist. But perhaps the most fitting is the one that would make him wince the most.
“Singer-songwriter” is the kind of categorisation most used in such an establishment as a library. It’s cold and calculating. It feels far more clinical than the thing it is describing, which, if you’re like me, is wrapped up in the bard-like notion of a travelling songsmith who fires out ditties in return for libations and shelter. But, try as he might, a “singer-songwriter” is an accurate description.
It’s also an accurate description of a whole range of influential artists who emerged during Cohen’s troubadourian heyday. And, like Cohen, artists like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan rallied against the term. But in the 1960s, as the world of music sprang on its axis, it was a necessary distinction. Not all singers were songwriters, and, like Mitchell, not all songwriters were singers.
But, when you look at some of Cohen’s favourite songwriters of all time, you find a group of artists who not only fit the beleaguered description but, perhaps more fittingly, defined it in its entirety. Cohen’s favourite songs by those artists also speak highly of his appreciation of the craft of being blessed with both skills.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite songs:
Leonard Cohen’s favourite Bob Dylan songs
– ‘Tangled Up in Blue’
– ‘Jokerman’
– ‘Brownsville Girl’
– ‘Like A Woman’
Across the years, Cohen has delivered a few lists of favourite songs, but one man seems to appear in most of them: Bob Dylan. When Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Cohen described the win as “Like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain”. A naturally witty remark that would have certainly pleased said mountainous musician.
As for his favourite tracks by the freewheelin’ troubador, Cohen often cited ‘Tangled Up in Blue’, ‘Jokerman’ and ‘Brownsville Girl’, with the former seeming to be a particular love of his, as part of his favourite songs. And considering he once specifically asked Dylan about ‘Like A Woman’ during a famous meeting of their mercurial minds, one might expect that to enter the fray, too.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite Hank Williams song
– ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’
There aren’t many lyricists these days who would pit themselves against the work of Leonard Cohen. As erudite as a romantic poet, Cohen’s ability to be both graceful and disgraceful within a single couplet is unmatched. However, if you were to ask the man himself, he would point to another being leagues above him.
In ‘Tower of Song’, Cohen sings: “I said to Hank Williams, ‘How lonely does it get?’/ Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet/ But I hear him coughing all night long/ Oh, a hundred floors above me/ In the Tower of Song.”
About which, he clarified: “When I wrote about Hank Williams ‘a hundred floors above me in the tower of song,’ I’m not trying to present some kind of inverse modesty. I know where Hank Williams stands in the history of popular song… I feel myself a very minor writer,” he told BBC Radio One.
And when asked to make a list of his favourite songs, he was sure to include ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ as part of the selection.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite Tom Waits song
– ‘Waltzing Matilda’
Uniqueness is hard to come by in the singer-songwriter category. While it might feel new and strange, usually the brass tacks of a composition can make it hard to avoid obvious comparisons. However, nobody can doubt that Tom Waits is a unique figure in the world of music. It is undoubtedly what drew Cohen toward him.
In fact, Cohen adored him so much, he wrote a poem about him: “Tom Waits singing—I hear him / I’m in a theatre—I’ve given a show to a large audience / My show went well—I can’t see him—I’m in my dressing room / But I can hear him—his music begin—it is so beautiful and original and sophisticated—so much better than mine—some mélange of harshness and sweetness.”
Cohen also included his version of the song ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as part of a selection of his favourite songs on earth. It’s ironic that Cohen should pick a cover, but it also speaks to just how singular Waits can make a song sound.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite Roy Orbison song
– ‘House Without Windows’
You might not be overly familiar with his ouevre, but the imapct of Roy Orbison on your favourite musicians is undeniable. He is one of the most underrated songwriters of his generation, and Cohen was one among many who were inspired by the star.
Jennifer Warnes collaborated with both men and revealed that Orbison inspired Cohen: “He must have been deeply impressed by the show and was very respectful of Roy afterwards.” Around this time, Cohen cited Orbison’s ‘House Without Windows’ as one of his favourite songs.
Leonard Cohen’s favourite Joni Mitchell songs
– ‘California’
– ‘A Case of You’
Kindred spirits are hard to find, but the talent and disposition of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell seemed impossible to stop from intertwining. The two were famously friendly, with a brief romance not tarnishing the respect they held for one another. In a 1984 interview, he said, “Joni was some kind of musical monster, that her gift somehow put her in another category from the other folksingers. 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.”
It makes sense that, when asked to select his favourite songs on two separate occasions, he has leaned into his love of Mitchell and picked ‘California’ and ‘A Case of You’, with many suggesting that the latter was actually written about the Canadian, though that has never been confirmed.
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