Marc Hendrickx - Leonard Cohen, Yesterdays Tomorrow

Dedicated to Varlam Sjalomov (19071982) symbol of human impotence and hope

Whether you have followed the life and work of Leonard Cohen for decades or discovered him during his recent resurgence, you may find yourself looking back to his earlier life and work.

Incredible as it may seem, but Cohens career for want of another word, as the man himself despised the term has taken steep surges and declines. For instance, before his resurgence in 2008, he had become a virtual non-performer. His reputation and fame had been greatly diminished. However, this wasnt the first time this happened. Critics had written Cohen off twice before. First as early as 1970, when he struggled with what he intensely strived to be a poet and a writer. The stark contrast of this quest helped make him popular. However, it brought Cohen anxiety, fears and depression to a point where he could no longer write, let alone sing or perform as the pop world expected him to do. A little over a decade later Cohen poured his heart and soul into a collection of psalms, Book of Mercy, and an album, Various Positions. Both received a lukewarm response, at best. In the U.S., Cohens record company CBS did not even deem Various Positions worthy of release. However, the album contains such classic material that its reception stands as a telling testimony to the qualities of the music press and those in charge of the music industry

For me, thirty years Mr. Cohens junior, his work has been a constant source of inspiration. Likewise, the way in which it was perceived, proved beyond anything that the degree of success a book, play or recording enjoys is anything but related to its qualities. Success is ephemeral. The result of a number of issues which surround any given release. Godawful material can sell in vast quantities. Beautiful work might remain dormant on a shelve.

When I started to write the first edition of Yesterdays Tomorrow, the context was crucially important. Leonard Cohen was regarded as a has-been. His work cast aside. Over and done with. Which, to me, offered perfect circumstances to delve deep. I wanted to look into Cohens body of work in order to find its true value, and whether these items from Yesterday held a Tomorrow. A worth that could possibly make them last, regardless of their has-been status. Having come in direct contact with the artist through mail, I was pleased to have him give me permission from one writer to another to study his work, evaluate it, confront it, and in the end publish the outcome of my findings.

In doing so I worked hard to deliver a book that would do justice to the creative efforts Leonard Cohen put into his work for over half a century. I have tried to use my experiences as a writer from a different generation and background to act as a mirror. It goes without saying that in the end, Yesterdays Tomorrow proves just how valuable the texts were.

However, that proved to be just the beginning.

First, my book and its insights became far more popular than I had ever dared to imagine. Editions in Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and English were welcomed by eager audiences all over the globe. Then, the man himself added a new and most surprising dimension to his old work. From 2008 onwards he returned with a new lease of life, announcing a massive string of concerts, which were met with unprecedented success. Alongside this, Cohen added new material to his already existing and impressive catalogue, further expanding on his favorite themes. Lets again take a look at Cohens most impressive work and share thoughts on the depth and intensity of his words.

Marc Hendrickx

Great men are usually first understood when framed by the perspective of years. Something to give them perspective is necessary. The world is far-sighted and always confused by what takes place under its nose.

Robert W. Chambers

As the biographer of a few lives I am inclined to subscribe to the statement above from Robert Chambers. When writing a biography, its easy to fall into silly romanticism over the subjects birth house and hair locks and wanting to own it all. But I always guarded against delivering a glossy biography by triple jumping through anecdotes and quotations, and including a hagiography or academic parlando.

Yesterdays Tomorrow is not the definitive biography. Nor is it an artists life, reduced to words, but a confrontation, looking at Cohens balancing act between humor and tragedy, between ambitious dreams and pathetic failures, between a big heart and willpower, at the same time weak and strong.

This is not a book of open literary pretensions. It is humble. Literature without pretense. There are no direct answers, as they are often wrong anyway. A sentimental journey? Perhaps, if you manage to erase the negative connotation sentimentality evokes. Yet in a strange way this characterization fits this small story. After all, it draws from the literal and philosophical experiences of roaming lives and the nagging feeling that the shadow side of these lives etched its pattern more sharply than the lighter side. Carefully it registers the consequences of smaller internal and external explosions, while details are enlarged so that the totality of these details seem to suggest a more friendly human existence, averse to rarefied romanticism.

Through the years Leonard Cohen often characterized his writing as a choice of life. Here, on these pages, I openly profess the same conviction. Like Cohen, I will go on searching, toiling if need be, for subjects that are important to me and about which I need to write. Here and there in a light tone, of course, but without degenerating into the all too common banter passed off by some as reporting, I would like to keep conscience and a soul.

If you miss the train Im on

You will know that I am gone

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles

A hundred miles, a hundred miles,

a hundred miles, a hundred miles

You can hear the whistle blow

a hundred miles

Hedy West Jacques Plante Traditional

Midway this way of life were bound upon I woke to find myself in a dark wood, where the right road was wholly lost and gone. It could have been a direct quote. But today, some seventy years after Leonard Norman Cohen let out his first scream in this world, the healing, prophetic poet looks back mildly. His Divine Comedy is nearly accomplished. Yours truly on the other hand, still only stands at the fringe of the dark forest. The realm of thinkers still out of reach.

In the past I wrote about larger than life figures, important organizations or themes. Each time I clarified the world in which they moved, their drives and impact. To me, it was about an almost instinctive form of recognition. I know my subjects. Little else do I believe so intensely and with such a demanding force. An attuned soul like Leonard Cohen shares the same territory; he uses language I understand and highlights feelings which mirror my own. That is our bond. And even though I am prone to some mild admiration, I am also able to put things into perspective, a trait that is a consequence of meeting the man himself when he turned up, out of the blue, on my doorstep. No one at that age expects to be important enough to see one of his role models show up at the front door. Another result of that encounter is that I always gave my biographical subjects enough breathing space to allow each reader with a bit of common sense to do his own filling in rather than strictly delineated reporting. Squelching a rich life with a truckload full of facts and present it as a biography or study no thanks! Allow me to classify that kind of approach as an act of suffocating love.