Memories this morning:

[Blaise (imported)]

From an e-mail I sent this morning:

The book about the Akedah and Olah I tried to recall the other day is

Carol Delaney’s Abraham on Trail: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth (Princeton and London: Princeton University Press, 1998) and the Leonard Cohen song is “The Story of Isaac”, which Judy Collins covered on her 1969 album Where Does the Time Go and which Cohen himself performs on his 1969 album Songs from a Room.

A chapter in Professor Delaney’s book is “Freud’s Blind Spot”. It seems that fathers spend as much effort killing sons as sons think about killing fathers!

In fact, the way that we kill our sons remains a core problem in the Abrahamic religions.

Aside from all that and as a kind of pointless footnote, I note that in 1968 I was not listening to much rock music. My friend [deleted]with whom I lived in San Francisco bought the wonderful Judy Collins album Wildflowers in March while I was with him in the city. Bob was a jazz musician. He was also blind, gay, and a drug dealer. Bob knew some important San Francisco rock musicians and he was active in anti-war activities. Before he had worked for the jazz library at Tulane University, he had attended law school at the University of Georgia. I knew him through Westminster House.

Though I sometimes conflate the Wildflowers album with her earlier album In My Life, I did not hear that earlier album until 1969, The songs Collins performs on Wildflowers had a strong influence on me. On the album are songs by Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Joni Mitchell, and Collins herself. An important musical scholar Joshua and Mark Abramson produced the album. I already knew Cohen one of Cohen’s songs from performance of it at Westminster House in 1967 in Athens, Georgia. The song I best liked on the Wildflowers album is Collins’ song "Albatross". Collins did not include Cohen’s most significant early songs, that he had recorded in late 1967. The most pertinent song to me on that album at the time was “Sisters of Mercy”.

Cohen’s works almost have the status of scripture to me. Twenty years ago this year, Linda, our friend [deleted], and I were once mesmerized by Cohen’s song “Take This Waltz”, a haunting gloss of a poem by Lorca. It is one of most sexually charge poems I know.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

Leonard Cohen is remarkable as a poet and as a musician. --FLO--

[tugon (imported)]

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen and sung by Judy Collins has always been an important song to me.

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and sung by Jeff Buckley from his Grace cd is incredible.

Ain't No Cure For Love by Leonard Cohen sung by Jennifer Warnes on her Famous Blue Raincoat the Songs of Leonard Cohen album.

[Blaise (imported)]

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen and sung by Judy Collins has always been an important song to me.

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and sung by Jeff Buckley from his Grace cd is incredible.

Ain't No Cure For Love by Leonard Cohen sung by Jennifer Warnes on her Famous Blue Raincoat the Songs of Leonard Cohen album.

Sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar. You indicate three of my favoite covers of Cohen's songs. I love Nick Cave's cover of "Tower of Song" on Í'm Your 'Fan and his cover of "I'm Your Man" on the DVD I'm Your Man.

C

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