Despite not being a religious person, I have always had an interest in Leonard Cohen, both as a singer and as a person, and so I approached this book by author Harry Freedman with an open mind. In it, he examines how Leonard Cohen used biblical and religious themes and traditions, drawn from his own faith of Judaism and Christianity, in his songs.
In his foreword, Freedman explains that he has only focused on specific song lyrics that exploit the religious sources rather than the songs in their entirety, so don’t expect a forensic deconstruction of every single Cohen song. This results in a fairly short book, but it is still concise and lucid.
After a short bio of Cohen’s childhood and maturity through his deep immersion in the Jewish faith, Freedman explores the singer’s influences and the different aspects of his songwriting in four distinct areas - “Bible as Allegory”, “Ideas From the Bible”, “Heaven and Earth” and “Prayer”. These are interspersed with interludes featuring Cohen’s artwork, his religious education etc. We see Cohen’s favourite themes come to the fore - women, war, fire, despair, love and sexual metaphor - in his song about Joan of Arc, an historical who strongly resonated with him.
Leonard Cohen once said that using biblical imagery came naturally to him and that he saw the Bible as “a collection of stories that everybody knew”. As you’d expect, the bulk of this book has the author recounting the Bible stories from which Cohen drew inspiration for his songs, and Freedman explores them in depth. Don’t let this put you off though, as Freedman vividly brings them to life in a very accessible way, There is a lot of standard biographical content mixed in, too. Freedman explores, song by song, how Cohen reworked myths and prayers, legends and allegories and leads us to an understanding of Cohen’s life as we gain a new insight into the man and his music. There is also an appendix of the songs used in the book, footnotes, illustrations and photos.
Even if you are not religious, this is an accessible book with an intriguing slant on Leonard Cohen’s work, and is recommended to all fans.