Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and artist has finally been forced to face the certainty he'd met with doubt as a creative individual. He was one of the few of his generation who forged an old age filled with new songs of dismay, passion, politics, and finally a cranky resignation of his own mortality.
There's a lover in the story / But the story is still the same / There's a lullaby for suffering / And a paradox to blame / But it's written in the scriptures / And it's not some idle claim / You want it darker / We kill the flame
And while I did initially miss the stinging nylon-string guitar and orchestrations of his early albums (SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN 1967, SONGS FROM A ROOM 1969, SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE 1971), his forays in to other forms (NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY 1974, DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN 1977), and electronics (I'M YOUR MAN 1988, THE FUTURE 1992) showed that a "folk singer" could be so much more.
YOU WANT IT DARKER was released a few weeks before his passing, and shows a man at peace with his struggles, but still willing to voice his truths.
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