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    I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
    Unavailable
    I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
    Unavailable
    I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
    Ebook787 pages12 hours

    I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen

    By Sylvie Simmons

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen is one of the most important and influential musical artists of the past fifty years—and one of the most elusive. In I’m Your Man, journalist Sylvie Simmons, one of the foremost chroniclers of the world of rock ’n’ roll and popular music, explores the extraordinary life and creative genius of Leonard Cohen.

    I’m Your Man is an intimate and insightful appreciation of the man responsible for “Suzanne,” “Bird on a Wire,” “Hallelujah,” and so many other unforgettable, oft-covered ballads and songs.  Based on Simmons’s unparalleled access to Cohen—and written with her hallmark blend of intelligence, integrity, and style—I’m Your Man is the definitive biography of a major musical artist widely considered in a league with the great Bob Dylan.

    Readers of Life by Rolling Stone Keith Richards and Patti Smith’s phenomenal Just Kids will be riveted by this fascinating portrait of a singular musical icon.

    Editor's Note

    Unforgettable lyricist…

    Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) received wide acclaim for his poetic and enigmatic songwriting, often earning comparisons to Bob Dylan. Many of his songs, including “Hallelujah” and “Suzanne,” have entered the American musical canon.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9780062096913
    Author

    Sylvie Simmons

    Sylvie Simmons is an award-winning writer and one of the foremost music journalists working today. Born in London, she moved to Los Angeles in the late seventies and started writing about rock music for magazines such as Sounds, Creem, Kerrang! and Q. She is the author of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books, including the biography Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes and the short-story collection Too Weird for Ziggy. She has lived at various times in England, the United States, and France, and she currently lives in San Francisco, where she writes for MOJO magazine and plays the ukulele.

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    Reviews for I'm Your Man

    4/5

    103 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      fine biography with a lot of information about the childhood and ault life of Leonard. Also a good view of the historic events and interviews with himself andf people he met or where important in his life. Added are photo's made during his lifetime
    • 5/5
      A touch journalistic at times, especially when re-creating conversations, but basically a gem of an intro to the thought and world and narrative of this great singer-songwriter. Simmons writes in a inviting, volitional, conversational style, and it was a difficult book to put down.
    • 5/5
      Great stories; great writing. I liked Leonard more before I knew him.
    • 4/5
      I love Leonard Cohen's music and his voice. Guess that goes without saying since I bought and read this book!Sylvie Simmons is clearly a fan, both of the music/poetry and of the man himself. She clearly forgives all his infidelities, drug abuse and antics because he is such a great artist and a tortured soul, which makes this book come across as slightly biased towards the good side of Leonard Cohen. What I liked about this book is the poetic style of descriptions, the inclusion of some of Mr. Cohen's works, the vivid images of life on Mount Baldy. It is a style that matches all the beauty and angst of Mr. Cohen's own writings...a fitting look at such a man.
    • 4/5
      An absorbing biography of a fascinating man.
    • 5/5
      I love Leonard Cohen. I love his gravelly voice, which really should not be lovable and yet somehow manages to be incredibly sexy, and all the more so as he ages. More importantly, I love his lyrics. His rich, complex, darkly poetic lyrics that blend sex and spirituality and humanity and pain together in ways that touch both the intellect and the emotions. So I couldn't resist picking up this biography for a look back over Cohen's life and career, and I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed.Which is interesting, actually, because I have some general preferences when it comes to biography: usually, I like it best when the writer's personality largely disappears in favor of a sharp focus on the subject, and when it's made clear in the text where the biographer is drawing all her conclusions and assertions from, even -- or perhaps especially -- when describing the thoughts and attitudes and emotional states of the person she's writing about. Sylvie Simmons isn't particularly careful about doing that, and she adds a fair amount of her own personal analysis of Cohen's work. But somehow, for this particular subject, that subjectivity feels right. And it certainly doesn't hurt that, in my opinion, at least, her thoughts on Cohen's art are apt and insightful, and often quite beautifully phrased.Some aspects of Cohen's life -- the ones with the most relevance to his poetry and his music -- are explored in considerable detail, while others -- his relationship with his children or his sister, for instance -- are largely left private, which strikes me as appropriate. But all in all, it adds up to a portrait of a complex and fascinating person, and I found it a surprisingly compelling read. It's also a rather thought-provoking one, as I find myself pondering the extent to which knowing more about the origins of these songs and the man who wrote them does, or should, affect my own responses to them. It's also prompted me to go back and listen to a lot of his music again, and to fill in the inexcusable gaps in my album collection, which I think would be enough to justify the book's existence all by itself.
    • 2/5
      I've always loved Leonard Cohen's music, & I was looking forward to this book because it got such good reviews. I'm partway through & I don't know if I'll finish, because I find I do not like Leonard Cohen the person very much. Simmons' breathless, hagiographic style is too much for me too, although I acknowledge she's a good biographer in terms of organization and information.
    • 5/5
      I just loved this book. I love his music; saw him in a spectacular concert on his make back the money his manager stole from him tour; but didn't know what a fascinating life he's led. Very very well written and engrossing.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting book, telling the life of Leonard Cohen from birth to around 2011 or so, covering his career as a poet, a musican, as well as his personal and spiritual endeavours. It's amazing that one person can fit so much into a life - his life has spanned the second world war, the aftermath (albeit from Canada), and the changes of the 60s and 70s, and he rubbed shoulders with so many famous musicians, poets and writers, writing about them in his songs (apparently that scene described in the song Chelsea Hotel involved Janis Joplin). His life story would make an amazing movie. The book is interesting and comprehensive, my only complaint was that somewhere in the middle it got a bit monotonous, feeling ilke an endless list of making albums and going on tour. I think the book could have benefitted from a timeline, and a list of all his output and tribute works of various types (poetry books, records, songs, various other things).
    • 2/5
      Endless book that is mostly concerned with every tiny adjustment Cohen and others made to his music and poetry over the course of forty years, accompanied by breathless but shallow commentary on his many affairs.Read this only if you’re fascinated by the minutia of the music industry, or if you’re a fan of gossip columns.
    • 5/5
      A touch journalistic at times, especially when re-creating conversations, but basically a gem of an intro to the thought and world and narrative of this great singer-songwriter. Simmons writes in a inviting, volitional, conversational style, and it was a difficult book to put down.
    • 2/5
      Endless book that is mostly concerned with every tiny adjustment Cohen and others made to his music and poetry over the course of forty years, accompanied by breathless but shallow commentary on his many affairs.Read this only if you’re fascinated by the minutia of the music industry, or if you’re a fan of gossip columns.
    • 3/5
      I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons began real well. The earlier years of Leonard in Montreal were appealing. A rich Jew from the swanky neighbor who preferred the down and out and lived amongst them. He really was the wandering Jew in that he lived all over the world trying to write and to find himself. He spent some time win Corfu with his girlfriend, Marianne. He was considered seductive and had many affairs. By his thirties and was writing songs for some of the leading young singers and performing songs as well. It was at that time that I began to lose interest in the story. My three star rating does not reflect badly on the writing which was fine. I just became bored with his story.