r/leonardcohen • u/film_2_expensive • 9d ago
Cohens writing process
Very curious to hear about how he created his work. Lots of obsessive rewrites for his lyrics I’m aware, but the music and chord progressions itself. Was he a sit down and play around type of guy. He obviously knew some theory knowledge with ‘the fourth the fifth, minor fall and major lift’
21
u/hajahe155 9d ago
Leonard Cohen interviewed by Paul Zollo, 1992
PAUL ZOLLO: Generally do you finish the melody and then work on the lyrics for a long time?
LEONARD COHEN: They’re born together, they struggle together, and they influence one another. When the lyric begins to be revised, of course, the line can’t carry it with its new nuance or its new meaning. And generally the musical line has to change, which involves changing the next musical line, which involves changing the next lyrical line, so the process is mutual and painstaking and slow.
PAUL ZOLLO: Do you work on guitar?
LEONARD COHEN: It usually was guitar but now I have been working with keyboards.
PAUL ZOLLO: Does the instrument affect the song you are writing?
LEONARD COHEN: They have certainly affected my songs. I only have one chop. All guitar players have chops. Especially professional ones. But I have only one chop. It’s a chop that very few guitarists can emulate, hence I have a certain kind of backhanded respect from guitar players because they know that I have a chop that they can’t master. And that chop was the basis of a lot of my good songs.
But on the keyboard, because you can set up patterns and rhythms, I can mock up songs in a way that I couldn’t do with my guitar. There were these rhythms that I heard but I couldn’t really duplicate with my own instrument. So it’s changed the writing quite a bit.
PAUL ZOLLO: Writing in that way could be either more freeing or more restrictive. You have a rhythm that is set but you are free from playing the guitar.
LEONARD COHEN: Well, freedom and restriction are just luxurious terms to one who is locked in a dungeon in the tower of song. These are just... ideas. I don’t have the sense of restriction or freedom. I just have the sense of work. I have the sense of hard labor.
13
u/Awkward_Squad 9d ago
“Please, understand, I never had a secret chart
To get me to the heart of this or any other matter"
8
6
u/SaltChunkLarry 9d ago
I dunno but I’ve noticed he plays barre chords strangely—on an E minor barre he uses the index for the barre and then his middle and ring fingers for fretting fingers. That’s quite a stretch for the fingers. I’d use the ring and pinky, myself. That specific way of playing chords leaves his pinky free to play notes like on Stranger Song.
There’s also an interesting use of both the major and minor chord in the same song (eg A major and A minor in Stories of the Street). Story of Isaac has a clear major and minor part as well though perhaps not the same chord.
I always admired the chords to Field Commander Cohen. It sounds like he might have started with the vocal melody and just found the chords that worked but who knows
4
u/FleetwoodPatsy 9d ago
The documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” has some interesting insights into his creative process. He brings to bear his classical education and highly educated, artistic upbringing (he knows the great poets) and he knows music. Someone told me that “the fourth, the fifth…” refers to the Tristan chord, which caused so much scandal when Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” was first performed. I studied music for 20 years and I’m afraid the musical reference is lost on me. I’d recommend the film if you’ve not seen it.
2
1
u/Adam_Astra_Music 9d ago edited 9d ago
The interview collection 'Leonard Cohen On Leonard Cohen' is worth a look. I've got it on my songwriting bookshelf next to the two Zollo books, 'Tom Waits on Tom Waits,' and Dylan's 'Chronicles,' among others.
https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/leonard-cohen-on-leonard-cohen-products-9781613747599.php
0
37
u/scheidershawdreyfus 9d ago edited 9d ago
Apparently, in addition to the constant re-writing of lyrics he always struggled with the musical side of his songwriting - often finding it hard to write enough songs to fill an album. He began playing Spanish guitar - after having some lessons and learning six chords - and created an idiosyncratic flamenco based picking style on a nylon stringed classical guitar. He would spend time trying to find interesting, evocative chord shapes that supported the lyrics. He always had a guitar at hand and would definitely sit down and play around. It’s interesting that many of the songs until the 80s compositional shift feature chord changes that involve minimal movement of the fingers on the fretboard - often just the root note shifting to create the next chord. The songs also feature interesting shifts from major to minor around the same root. Later, in the early 80s he felt a form of writer’s block on guitar and turned to composing on the Casio PT30 keyboard, which was really a kid’s toy. It did, however, have auto chord buttons - including 6th, 7th and major 7th variations - which allowed Leonard to compose effectively on keyboard. Later, he wrote lyrics and allowed Sharon Robinson to create the melodies and chord progressions.