Last night I stumbled upon a Leonard Cohan song on YouTube that's been out there for years, I just had never heard it. It's amazing to me how much there is that I don't know. It's ironic that this song shows up in the new Shrek movie that just came out.When I was a kid another Cohen song, Suzanne, was a popular folk song and I knew the haunting words by heart. Leonard Cohan's monotonic voice seemed to hide the beauty of his songs.
I used to hang out at a coffeehouse in Porter, Indiana, called Saturday's Child. That must be where I first heard "Suzanne" sung. Saturday's Child was run by David Sanders and his wife. I remember him playing Woody Guthrie songs on the auto harp. His wife wife had an awful voice, but that never stopped her from singing. They frequently performed between sets of their featured musicians-oftentimes students at the Old Town School of Folk Music. I particularly remember the two of them singing "We're in the Money" together! They were definitely NOT in the money! Dave had his art studio upstairs. Sometime later, Dave and his new, much younger wife, were in our La Maze class. The coffeehouse is long gone now.
I chose this version of the song simply because I could make out the words easily. It's sung by Rufus Wainwright. His voice captures the sadness of this song perfectly for me. I'll be pulling weeds on Memorial Day, remembering the coffeehouse days, with the words of Hallelujah going through my head.
Thank you to our men and women in the military. I hope you'll all be home safely by next Memorial Day.
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