The Broken Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen's "Thanks for the Dance"

December 12, 2021

The Internet can help me to hide who I am, so I’ll come clean: I am not old enough to write about Leonard Cohen. I have not lived enough life. If, however, what the poet Dana Gioia says is true, “We weave / the fabric of our own existence out of words, / And the right story tells us who we are,” Cohen’s poetry can help inform my existence so that one day I might understand why the goal falls short of the reach.

Yet, my heart’s already cracked. I’ve already begun to grasp Cohen’s thesis of brokenness, his broken hallelujah. “It’s Torn,” the fifth song on Cohen’s posthumous album “Thanks for the Dance,” tells me what I'm scared to admit: life is torn everywhere. If I look around Cohen’s audience, I see people like me: people who need to know others see what they see. So I’ll write with these broken words and try to do brief justice to the music of the man who showed us the cracks.

“Thanks for the Dance” was my belated introduction to Cohen. It’s my favorite from him. Until I found Cohen, I’d never met a songwriter who understood the weariness I’ve accumulated in my life’s short span. The musical atmosphere - sparse, warm, and tired - is the perfect accompaniment to the lyrics. Leonard Cohen asked his son Adam to provide the arrangements and produce this album after he passed. Adam Cohen’s work is a loving reflection of his father’s own taste.

“Thanks for the Dance” opens with the track “Happens to the Heart.” This song continues to explore Cohen’s metanarrative: every heart cracks. It sets the scene for “It’s Torn.” The next song, “The Goal,” sounds like an album closer. In fact, I wanted it to be the closer when I first heard the album. “Listen to the Hummingbird” apprised me of my foolishness. Cohen can claim laurels only Bob Dylan challenges, but in one of music’s greatest moments of humility, the last words we hear from Cohen are an exhortation to listen to nature and to God: “Listen to the hummingbird / Don’t listen to me.”

Highlights:

• “Thanks for the Dance:” Cohen reflects on his life. Life is hell; it’s swell; it’s fun.

• “The Goal:” At age 82, Cohen sings the words I’d like to sing at his age. Accounts settled, everything taught, defeated smiles returned to those who are going down with me.

• “Listen to the Hummingbird:” Final words of wisdom from this generation’s wisest songwriter: don’t listen to him. Cohen has shed the costume he’s worn forever; he’s finally whole.