Over his long, prolific career, the late, great Leonard Cohen wrote about the travails of love as thoroughly and as profoundly as anyone else. You could make quite the playlist out of just those songs alone, one that will have you marveling at his mastery of the language and his piercing insights.
We decided we’d do a mini-playlist of such songs, giving you one classic each from each of the six decades that Cohen released music. Sit back and enjoy, or, if you’ve gone through something similar to what the song’s express so meaningfully, maybe have a nice wallow.
1960s: “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”
To start off Side B of Songs from Leonard Cohen, his debut album from 1967, Cohen delivers the one-two punch of “So Long, Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” two different views of the denouement of a relationship. Either one could have fit this list quite well. We chose the latter because it’s more of a bite-sized morsel. It’s also maybe more relatable to the typical relationship that has run its course and should be sent off with equanimity instead of rancor.
1970s: “Ballad of the Absent Mare”
While his debut album is unassailable in terms of the sheer quantity of classic songs contained on it, the 1979 record Recent Songs can make a case as the Cohen album that sustains a consistency of feeling the best. There’s an undercurrent of wry heartbreak running through all these songs, with a bevy of narrators who are wise enough to identify their romantic pitfalls, but still unable to avoid them. And the epic closing allegory “Ballad of the Absent Mare” sums that vibe up beautifully.
1980s: “Coming Back to You”
Released in 1984, Various Positions is largely known as the album that gave us Cohen’s version of “Hallelujah.” Tucked away unassumingly is this soulful little number that features a narrator who realizes his past follies and is determined to right the ship by returning to the one with whom he should have stayed. It’s uncertain if he’s talking about a lover or a higher power. But the sense he might not be able to make it back in time is what lingers here.
1990s: “Waiting for the Miracle”
There wasn’t as much from which to choose in this decade, as Cohen took most of it off while focused on spiritual matters. Luckily, the only album from the decade, The Future, is quite an effective one. And “Waiting for the Miracle” qualifies here. While it might not be solely focused on relationship matters, the song, which Cohen wrote with frequent collaborator Sharon Robinson, details how all other priorities, including romance, are damaged by a single-minded quest.
2000s: “Alexandra Leaving”
Cohen came back from his break with Ten New Songs in 2001, and songs like this beauty, co-written with Sharon Robinson, show his powers hadn’t weakened. The degree of difficulty is high, as Cohen takes the bones of an antiquated poem about the doomed Roman statesman Antony and transforms it into a treatise on how someone who is about to be left behind by a lover shouldn’t shrink from the feeling, but rather embrace it in all its rich sorrow.
2010s: “Thanks for the Dance”
Due to financial issues, Cohen churned out albums at a rapid pace in the final decade of his life, which means we had a hard time choosing from all the heartbroken gems from this time period. “Crazy to Love You” and “Treaty” both received strong consideration. But we went with “Thanks for the Dance,” the title track of his 2019 swan song, for the way it combines the hurt from many missed opportunities to get it right with gratitude for having had those chances in the first place.
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