By Jim Hagarty
2006
One night last week I watched a terrific musical event – the induction of Anne Murray and Leonard Cohen into the Canadian Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.
The tributes to Cohen, which made up the biggest part of the CBC show (perhaps because Anne Murray is not a songwriter) were especially stirring. This was a bit of a surprise for me because somewhere in the back of my mind I still associated Leonard Cohen with a torturous book of poetry I had the distinct misfortune to have to suffer through during an English literature appreciation course in university. I did not appreciate it. This was supposed to be a “bird” course, but it ended up being tough, thanks in part to Leonard’s very difficult book, Beautiful Losers. I never thought I was particularly stupid, but I couldn’t seem to understand a thing this guy wrote down, though everybody else around me seemed to get him just fine.
Later on, Leonard Cohen took up writing popular music and while his lyrics still sounded like something someone might scratch with a stone on the wall of a Third World prison while serving a 99-year sentence for spitting on the sidewalk, I found myself warming up to the Montreal poet to whom smiling seemed like a completely foreign act. Then 10 years ago I saw him perform his song called Tower of Song on TV and I was captivated. This guy is good, I realized that night without doubt.
But the years drifted by and I didn’t pay much attention to Leonard Cohen, except for what I’d read about him periodically in the papers. Then came last week’s show and three great musicians performed three of their favourite Cohen songs. Willie Nelson did a great version of Bird on a Wire. And k d lang was simply amazing with her stunning rendition of Hallelujah, as she hit notes no one should have been able to reach. But the best song of the night was performed by a young artist named Rufus Wainwright who marched onto the stage confidently and nailed Cohen’s Everybody Knows.
“Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows that the good guys lost.” Wow! Fortunately, l taped the show and so watched the whole thing again before going to bed Friday night. Saturday afternoon, I put the tape back in and watched Wainwright’s Everybody Knows four more times. Unbelievable.
All that day, I kept humming the song in my head, “Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows that the good guys lost.” What a song! It was about supper time, l guess, that I realized what the effect of watching Rufus Wainwright sing Everybody Knows four times in a row can be. And for the rest of that night, this is all that ran through my head.
“Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows that the good guys lost.”
From time to time, that was interrupted by the chorus: “Everybody knowwwws/Everybody knowwwws/That’s how it goessss/And everybody knowwwws.”
Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright and I spent all evening together and I’m afraid to say, all went to bed together too. I tried to get away from them but they weren’t going anywhere.
Sunday morning came, and I woke up all alone. A few clear-minded hours went by and around noon, I suddenly remembered that I had been obsessed with a song the day before. What was that song, I smiled to myself. Oh yeah: “Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows that the good guys lost.” Back it all came, double.
It is Tuesday night now as Leonard, Rufus and I write this story and there is no sign a separation is on the horizon. But that’s how it goessss. And everybody knowwwws!
