Happy 50th Anniversary to Leonard Cohen’s third studio album Songs of Love and Hate, originally released March 19, 1971.
Leonard Cohen is by far one of the most compelling artists in music history. He was one of those rare singer-songwriters that could capture all facets of human emotions in his songs, while rendering you speechless and engrossed.
His third album Songs of Love and Hate is highly regarded in his catalog and the darkest of his offerings. Every aspect of the album is more stripped down than its predecessor Songs from a Room (1969). Even the album artwork is sparse, with the front cover consisting of only Cohen's name, album title and photo, with the back cover containing nothing but a quote from a Cohen poem titled "They Locked Up A Man" that reads, “They locked up a man. / Who wanted to rule the world / The fools / They locked up the wrong man.”
Songs of Love and Hate cemented Cohen's reputation as a dark folk poet, but he grew to be somewhat dismissive of the album. In 1973, he told the NME, "I suppose you could call it gimmicky if you were feeling uncharitable towards me. I have certainly felt uncharitable towards me from time to time over that record, and regretted many things. It was over-produced and over-elaborated…an experiment that failed."
Not many others have shared Cohen's assessment of the album, however, including AllMusic’s Mark Deming, who wrote, "If Songs of Love and Hate isn't Cohen's best album, it comes close enough to be essential to anyone interested in his work."
The music on Songs of Love and Hate never overpowers the lyrics, and that's what makes it a great album. Cohen's words are delivered in a manner that makes you feel something without being dragged to a dark place. "Avalanche" is a song based on Cohen's poem "I Stepped Into an Avalanche," a cynical and stinging indictment of fake philanthropy, with notable lines like "You who wish to conquer pain / You must learn what makes me kind / The crumbs of love that you offer me / They're the crumbs I've left behind / Your pain is no credential here / It's just the shadow of my wound."
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song of hurt and acceptance written in the form of a letter about the fictional story of a love triangle between a woman named Jane, Cohen, and the man he addresses in the song. What makes this song so interesting is that Cohen paints himself as the villain, yet you feel his pain, when he reflects, "And what can I tell you my brother, my killer? What can I possibly say? / I guess that I miss you / I guess I forgive you / I'm glad you stood in my way / If you ever come by here / For Jane or for me / Well, your enemy is sleeping / And his woman is free.”
My favorite song from the album is the closing track, "Joan Of Arc," which is mainly a dialogue between Joan and the fire that will eventually kill her. In the song, Joan no longer wants to fight and accepts her fate (“Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way / You know I've watched you riding every day. / And something in me yearns to win / Such a cold and lonesome heroine / 'And who are you?' she sternly spoke. / To the one beneath the smoke / 'Why, I'm fire,' he replied ‘And I love your solitude, I love your pride.’”
The recording sessions for Songs of Love and Hate lasted four days. Cohen confessed to Throat Culture magazine that the sessions were part of a tumultuous and challenging period in his life when "absolutely everything was beginning to fall apart around me: my spirit, my intentions, my will. So I went into a deep and long depression." Songs of Love and Hate is therefore part confessional, part observational meditation on love, hate, and spirituality that lets us know that these messages don't always have to be communicated through a primal scream but relayed through a simple chat with your friend. With this album, Cohen became the dark folk poet that we were looking for and needed.
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