LENNY

listening to leonard cohen's greatest hits
the early songs
beguiling acoustic arrangements
leonard's lilting fingerpicked nylon-strung guitar
the twinkling mandolins
the swinging accordians
the subtle flourishes of orchestration and hammond organ
his demure-voiced girl backing singers
somtimes a low-lying plodding bass
or a celtic fiddle
but always lenny's world-weary honey-sandpaper voice
painting vivid canvases full of mysterious imagery
suzanne the tempstress
beckoning to you
beside a river that flows ceaselessly onwards
the sisters of mercy
len's muses of the moonlit hours
the bittersweet departure of marianne
the bitter departure of another flame...
forty years on
and lenny's showing his resilience
still going strong at the age of 73
having weathered the odd storm or three along the way
all being well
we will get to see the man this weekend
when he takes the stage at glastonbury festival