"The revelation that Leonard Cohen can number Prince Charles among his fervent fans, as the prince reveals in a TV interview involving himself, his two sons and presenters Ant and Dec, comes as a surprise. Charles's musical interests have previously oscillated between the Three Degrees, with whom he danced on stage as a bachelor, and Gustav Holst, whose 'Jupiter' he chose for his first wedding. Altogether different is the image of our future king nodding along to 'Ain't no Cure for Love' or trudging after Diana's cortege with 'Hey, That's no Way to Say Goodbye' running through his head.So, at a stroke, Prince Charles has risen in the estimation of all those 50 somethings (like me) whose life in the early 1970s was lived to the miserabilist soundtracks of Laughing Len. Maybe Charles will be quite a good king after all.
Yet here's Charles on screen recommending Cohen to his sons as 'wonderful... I mean the orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and everything. He's a remarkable man and he has this incredibly laid-back, gravelly voice. It's terrific stuff'."
21 May 2006
The master of gas oven rock
It is perhaps the most unexpected revelation of the year. The Observer uses it as an excuse to profile the great man (here):
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Very pleased to see you are a fan too.
I have all sorts of sins in my closet.
I was surprised, however, that the Observer didn't mention the great cover version of the Cohen songs by Jennifer Warnes (Famous Blue Raincoat), which is almost as good as the real thing.
And I've never really understood why people go on about 'Suzanne' and 'That's No Way...' while neglecting 'Stranger Song' and 'The Master Song'. But I suppose I'm just an aging hippy...
Post a Comment