The songwriter Bob Dylan called a “genius”
One of the greatest strengths attributable to Bob Dylan is a good ear. Like most of his esteemed peers, the Nobel Prize winner was a true innovator, picking up threads from all corners of the musical map to create his own nuanced product. Even in his early 20s, Dylan had an aura of timelessness reserved only for the most accomplished lyricists.
Often word-dense, the folk tradition has attracted many poets since its emergence in the 19th century. Although seven years Dylan’s senior, the Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen traced the Minnesota troubadour’s trail through the New York folk scene in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
Like Dyan, Cohen won sensitive hearts worldwide with a wise, timeless voice and poetic verse to match. However, Cohen was a poet first and a musician second, unlike his American counterpart. In his early 20s, Cohen published several poetry books in his hometown of Montreal, Canada. Only when he realised that music could be a more lucrative conduit for his words did he depart for New York.
Although Cohen never achieved the same heights of popularity as Dylan, his lyricism is just as legendary within the songwriting pantheon, if a little less prolific. One only has to hear the pair’s respective oeuvres to realise they both had a refined taste in the arts, and the fact that they admired one another should come as a shock to no one.
“To me [the award] is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain,” Cohen said, reacting to Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize win during a Q&A in support of his final album, You Want It Darker.
“I think that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us: you don’t write the songs anyhow,” he said later in the session. “So if you’re lucky, you can keep the vehicle healthy and responsive over the years”.
“If you’re lucky, your own intentions have very little to do with this,” he added. “You can keep the body as well-oiled and receptive as possible, but whether you’re actually going to be able to go for the long haul is really not your own choice.”
Dylan has returned the appreciation on several occasions over the years. Once, he noted that people often overlook the late legend’s music because of his towering lyrical genius. “When people talk about Leonard, they fail to mention his melodies, which to me, along with his lyrics, are his greatest genius,” he opined. “Even the counterpoint lines – they give a celestial character and melodic lift to every one of his songs.”
“I see no disenchantment in Leonard’s lyrics at all,” Dylan added. “There’s always a direct sentiment as if he’s holding a conversation and telling you something, him doing all the talking, but the listener keeps listening.”
Listen to ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, one of Leonard Cohen’s most consummate offerings, below.
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.