I'm Your Man : The Life of Leonard Cohen
Author(s): Sylvie Simmons
The New York Times-bestselling, definitive biography of legendary artist Leonard Cohen, now with new afterword by the author
“There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
— Leonard Cohen
The genius behind such classic songs as Suzanne, Bird on a Wire, and Hallelejuia, Leonard Cohen was one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time, a man of spirituality, emotion, and intelligence whose work explored the definitive issues of human life—sex, religion, power, meaning, love.
Yet before he even began recording, Cohen was an accomplished literary figure whose. poetry and novels brought him considerable recognition. His dual careers in music and literature have transformed one other, his songs revealing a literary quality rare in the world of popular music, and his poetry and prose informed by a rich musicality.
I’m Your Man explores the facets of Cohen’s life—from his early childhood in Montreal, to his entrée into the worlds of literature and music, his immersion in Jewish culture, obsession with Christian imagery, and deep commitment to Buddhist detachment—including the five years he spent at a monastery outside of Los Angeles and his ordainment as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist Monk—offering remarkable insight into an artist whose reach, vision, and incredible talent has had a profound impact on multiple generations of writers, poets, musicians, artists, and everyday people.
Review(s):
“I’m Your Man is the major, soul-searching biography that Leonard Cohen deserves... a mesmerizing labor of love.”
“A thoughtful celebration of the artist’s life...Simmons has deftly narrated Cohen’s evolution... In the end, this biography has the oddest effect: as soon as you finish reading it you feel an overwhelming impulse to go back and begin again, revisiting the story with what you’ve learned along the way.”
“A new gold standard of Cohen bios.”
“This is the bio Cohen has long deserved, and it makes every prior Cohen book practically unnecessary.”
“The book is a seductive tribute to a master seducer.”
“A deep, enlightening book. . . Simmons, a music journalist and short-story writer, knows how to research and write and keep a critical distance from Cohen, who opens up some but uses his usual weapons, politeness and self-deprecation, to maintain an air of mystery.”
“Leonard fought darkness through his work and... the light ultimately prevailed when he triumphantly toured the world for three years beginning in 2008... ‘You could hear the hairs stand up on people’s arms,’ writes Simmons of the hushed reverence of his audience. This book demands a similar reaction.”
“This is a revelatory biography that investigates not just an artist’s life, but the life of his art.”
“In I’m Your Man, we see not only the life of one man who was transformed by words, but how we ourselves may be transformed by them.”
“Simmons’ rich, compelling and provocative book... is a star-studded but also frank account of how the music industry really works and, at the same time, a discerning portrait of one especially important musician.”
ISBN: 9780063114906