Leonard Cohen vs. Bruce Springsteen
 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love these two singers. Mostly Leonard Cohen for his voice and Bruce Springsteen for his lyrics. But these two musicians are the first two of his tastes that my dad shared with me, so there's always that.

That being said, this isn't a versus thread, or even a "What Music Is Important To You" thread. Like I said, Bruce Springsteen has great lyrics "Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge/drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain." and Leonard Cohen a great voice. It's that when I look at music I tend to pick between these two attributes. I have to ask you, what do you think? Do you think music is a cross atwixt a great singer or what they're saying?

Wait...Cohen for his voice and Springsteen for his lyrics? I would think most people would find that backward.

Really? I disagree. That being said, the question still stands.

I've recently discovered a woman named Serena Ryder, and her songs A Little Bit Of Red, and Weak In The Knees, have fantastic lyrics.

Leonard Cohen wrote "Hallelujah". I think that says it all right there.

Cohen for lyrics, Springsteen for voice.

Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland

The rangers had a homecoming in harlem late last night
And the magic rat drove his sleek machine over the jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The rat pulls into town rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance and disappear down flamingo lane

Well the maximum lawman run down flamingo chasing the rat and the barefoot
Girl
And the kids round here look just like shadows always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand down in jungleland

The midnight gangs assembled and picked a rendezvous for the night
Theyll meet `neath that giant exxon sign that brings this fair city light
Man theres an opera out on the turnpike
Theres a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cops, cherry tops, rips this holy night
The streets alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanished unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades hustling for the record machine
The hungry and the hunted explode into rocknroll bands
That face off against each other out in the street down in jungleland

In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls are dancing to the records that the d.j. plays
Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on, just a look and a whisper, and theyre gone

Beneath the city two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender in a bedroom locked
In whispers of soft refusal and then surrender in the tunnels uptown
The rats own dream guns him down as shots echo down them hallways in the
Night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside the streets on fire in a real death waltz
Between flesh and whats fantasy and the poets down here
Dont write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand but they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in jungleland

=======

I rest my case. Not saying Cohen doesn't have great stuff. I just know a lot more Springsteen stuff.

Yeah, Cohen is an amazing writer, but a terrible terrible terrible singer, which is why he gets covered a lot.

Seriously, every time I listen to him sing I start to suspect he might be tone deaf.

Also: Given the title, I'm kind of sad that this wasn't a fight thread. I mean, sure, it woulda gotten combined into the vrs thread, but still...

Feel free to match them up there.

I sometimes wonder what the other verses of "Hallelujah" were. Cohen supposedly wrote upwards of 80 verses trying to write the song, and supposedly 15 made the final cut, though I'm sure I've not heard 15 different verses combined over the various covers. Probably most Hallelujah covers end up being covers of John Cale's version. Unless I'm mistaken and it had different verses than Jeff Buckley's version.

Well here's Leonard Cohen singing it, so I would imagine this is about as complete as it gets.

Edit: Changed link. Didn't realize the former was cut off.

Edit 2: Proof of the amount this man gets covered.

Allison Crowe
Sheryl Crow
Bon Jovi
Rufus Wainwright (one of my favorites)
John Cale
Jeff Buckley (lots of people think this is the best one)
K.D. Lang

And I could go on.