You Wanted It Darker? Leonard Cohen Just Passed Away.

Image by Getty Images

By Dan Friedman November 11, 2016

Leonard Cohen passed away on November 7 at the age of 82, it was announced on November 10. His influence over half a century was phenomenal. He will be missed. Tributes are already pouring in, including tweets from Bette Midler, Mia Farrow and Marc Maron.

Leonard Cohen has died. Another magical voice stilled.

— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 11, 2016

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Oh no!!! Best of the best This is awful https://t.co/3hDeuxwUQK

— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) November 11, 2016

RIP Leonard Cohen. He got out just in time.

— marc maron (@marcmaron) November 11, 2016

Cohen’s recent album, “You Want It Darker” was hailed as a haunting masterpiece and, especially in the kaddish-like title song, a possible foreshadowing of his death (“I’m ready My Lord”), which now seems prescient.

Hailing from Montreal, he inspired several generations of songwriter poets and, in this beautiful long piece by our own Ezra Glinter, reinvented a perception of the metropolis of French Canada.

This recent version of “Hallelujah” by Daniel Kahn, in Yiddish, really highlights the beautiful, plaintive majesty of the original.

The date of Leonard Cohen’s death has been amended to reflect the fact that the announcement was on November 10, but he passed away on November 7.

Dan Friedman is the former executive editor and whisky correspondent of the Forward, and is the author of a book about Tears for Fears, the ’80s emo rock band.

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