My last post about Leonard Cohen’s early recordings has me excited to curate this conversation about someone we all seem to care so much about. Leonard’s not everyone’s bag and it’s really wonderful to see so many folks interested in the man’s complex, felt lyricism.

Not sure if I can find more unique documents to share about the man, but this film is another great take on Cohen’s beginnings that I’ve never seen before. This one delves back just a little farther into the roots of Cohen’s aesthetic which can seem mysterious and even self-generated without a closer look.

When we think about Bob Dylan’s work, it’s easy to draw the line directly through Ramblin’ Jack Elliot to Woody Guthrie and then out from there to the 1000 starry points that make up the constellation of American vernacular music. As a Canadian with a connection to the French language, Cohen’s music is particularly European, but it all starts with his high school Country/Western band, The Buckskin Boys. In Cohen’s songs, Hank Williams drinks a shot with Allen Ginsberg and Federico Garcia Lorca while the Buddha reads the Torah to L. Ron Hubbard. Here, Ray Charles’ rhythm and blues becomes entangled with the chanson traditions embodied by Jacques Brel, and they both find their place in the exquisite verses and high melodies of this most gifted singer/songwriter.

Here is Leonard Cohen’s Lonesome Heroes…

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Not only was Woody Guthrie the father of folk music, he also knew how to make a New Year’s resolution. The Brain Pickings site explains:

As a lover and maker of lists, I often agree with Umberto Eco that “the list is the origin of culture.” But, more than that, it can also be a priceless map of personal aspiration, as is the case of the kinds of lists we make this time of year — resolution lists. This particular one, penned by the great Woody Guthrie in 1942 at the tender-but-just-wise-enough age of 30, is an absolute gem of humor, earnestness, and pure humanity.

Here is Woody Guthrie’s Resolution List, 1942:

1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good — fruit — vegetables — milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes — look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed cloths often
13. Read lots good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Dont get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but dont waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war — beat fascism
28. Love mama
29. Love papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight

Thanks for reading the blog this year! Here is a special New Year’s gift: David Carradine starring as Woody Guthrie in the Academy-Award-winning film Bound for Glory. Happy New Year!

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Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Music posts.