So Long, Marianne
In memory of Leonard Cohen - 21.09.1934 to 07.11.2016
11th of November 2016.
It saddens my heart to think about how much impact Leonard Cohens death must have had on Aurora. It saddens my heart to maybe wake more sadness by making this song story.
Still I hope this also can be viewed as a contribution to keep the memory of Leonard Cohen and his music alive.
Sitting somewhere in Chicago, the 11th of November 2016, she wrote the following words of good bye to a musician and storyteller she loved deeply. And the same night she song her beautiful version of "So Long Marianne" to the Chicago audience:
"I know many of you share my sorrow. Today time has once again taken a beautiful mind away from us. It's strange how it stings in my chest. It's strange how we are reminded that even our heroes will have to leave this planet one day."
"We were all touched by his words. Every letter carved into our hearts making them even more beautiful. In a thousand ways time can't fully take him away from us."
"Because what he gave us has no end. Music and words like these cannot die. Because I know they will never be forgotten. We take them with us, we tell them to our children. We wrap them carefully inside little notes and sleep on them and night."
"In a way I can't help feeling he walked away with death as an old friend. Side by side, with a promise that his music will never follow them."
"Cause his words are needed by the living."
"Thank you Leonard Cohen, for teaching me so many things. For reminding me of home and my mother when I travel. For reminding me of so much beauty. For everything."
"And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
Cause you know that you can trust him
Cause he touched your perfect body
With his mind." (^35.1)
Aurora covered three Cohen songs in memory of him. The next song stories will cover these.
Sources
35.1 - Note of honor on Facebook
Oh I never knew she did this song because he died days before! So beautiful...
In the YouTube video description there is background info on Marianne. I think this may be relevant for this newsletter also, the Norwegian link, she died a few months before Leonard.
This is from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Ihlen
Marianne Christine Stang Ihlen (18 May 1935 – 28 July 2016) was a Norwegian woman who was the first wife of author Axel Jensen and later the muse and girlfriend of Leonard Cohen for several years in the 1960s. She was the subject of Cohen's 1967 song "So Long, Marianne".