Leonard

I'm devastated.

I've been searching for years for a musician whose music I can sink my music into.  Finally, earlier this year, I found him.  But today he died.

Composer of such gems as Hallelujah, Dance Me to the End of Love, and Take this Waltz, Leonard Cohen has - had - it all: the voice, the guitar, the mind, the intellect, the emotions, the sense of humour.  He had this brilliant ability to embrace the tensions of opposites in life: hope and despair, joy and sorrow, optimism and cynicism.  He could be both extremes at the same time.

His music was beyond categorization: pop, rock, soul, gospel, even country.  Of the typical categories, folk would probably describe him best, at least for me.

I heard someone describe his genre as "Truth".  Someone else categorized him as "Good".

Poet-singer?

Cohenesque?

Singer-songwriter?

Apparently when he was asked how to categorize his music, he replied with "Deeply agreeable to the heart."  That suffices, I think.

I will be listening for his music for the rest of my life I'm sure.  He was such a prolific writer, it will take me a good 2 years to even familiarize myself with his music, much less begin to understand and integrate it.

Lord have mercy on his soul.