The time period “nice minds assume alike” typically appears to hold numerous sense; in actuality, nice minds typically don’t assume alike. That stated, the proverb matches the shared poetic genius of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Whereas their inventive kinds would possibly differ in a musical sense, they shared a poetic strategy to songwriting and a singular eye for capturing complicated emotion with nearly seen imagery.
As some followers will know and others is not going to, the pair significantly admired one another’s work. When chatting with The Guardian about Cohen’s towering back-catalogue, Waits singled out I’m Your Man, Cohen’s 1988 eighth studio album, as certainly one of his favourites. He described it as “Euro, klezmer, chansons, apocalyptic, revelations, with that mellifluous voice. A shipwrecked Aznovar, washed up on shore. Essential songs, meditative, authoritative, and Leonard is a poet, an Additional Giant one.”
Within the concluding assertion, Waits was not unsuitable. Cohen was, in any case, a poet first and a musician second. He had spent the Nineteen Fifties and early ‘60s in pursuit of a profession in literature, having been an esteemed poet and author in his years at college and college, the place he received the Chester MacNaghten Literary Competitors for his poetry entry in 1951.
This early success and fervour for writing led Cohen to pursue this troublesome profession path, and all through his early 20s, he labored laborious to publish a number of poetry books that have been met with various ranges of crucial enthusiasm. With an aching pockets, Cohen determined to depart his hometown of Montreal, Canada searching for a life as a troubadour in New York.
Whereas Cohen discovered fame and fortune in singing his poetic verse, his ardour for literature by no means waned. Over his 5 a long time as a recording musician, the late musician stored up a wholesome output of poetry alongside, and sometimes serving as, his lyrics.
Considered one of Cohen’s later dives into poetry was impressed by a Tom Waits live performance he had seen. His phrases inform of a deep and burning admiration for his peer that nearly spills into envy. The poem, named Dream Brighton, might be learn under.
Cohen as soon as stated of his buddy: “‘Tom Waits’ entire personage is extremely elegant and stylish,” Cohen as soon as mused, “far more so than anyone round.”
Dream Brighton:
Tom Waits singing – I hear him
I’m in a theatre – I’ve given
a present to a big viewers
My present went effectively – I can’t
see him – I’m in my dressing
room – however I can hear him –
his music start – it’s so
stunning and authentic and
subtle – so a lot better
than mine – some mélange
of harshness and sweetness –
fashionable and nostalgic all
directly – even Kitsch used
so skillfully – I want I
might try this – then he
begins to sing – so nice –
I’m going down to listen to him –
anticipating an excellent
adoring crowd – however
he’s singing in a half-full
small theatre – a form
of afterthought of a
theatre – we go away collectively
he places his arm round
my shoulder – he appears to be like
good – a bit beat up –
a bit older – however in full
possession of himself
