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Culture

Listen to Leonard Cohen's Music in These Troubled Times

Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist, died on November 7, 2016 at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles. A year on, we remember his music for capturing some of the tumult and ecstasy the world is caught in.

‘A Singer Must Die’: A song from the early-career Cohen, where the state, individual liberty and the forces of artistic creativity face off against each other.

‘The Window’: An overlooked love song where the personal flirts with the divine.

‘Night Comes On’: One where everyday habits and political events merge together.

‘Recitation’: Sometimes Cohen is remembered for his melancholic music. But recitations like this show how humour was very much a part of his repertoire.

‘Take This Waltz’: And while he is often called an exceedingly original poet, some of his songs were translations – like this one, from a poem by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.