According to Wikipedia: “Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work has explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships.[2] Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 2011, Cohen received a Princess of Asturias Awards for literature.”
“His mother, Marsha (Masha) Klonitsky, was the daughter of a Talmudic writer, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry.His paternal grandfather, whose family had emigrated from Poland, was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial clothing store, died when Cohen was 9 years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that ‘I had a very Messianic childhood.’ He told Richard Goldstein in 1967, “I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest.’“
Read the entire entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen
Listening through the songs on his first five albums, one is struck by the amount of images and concepts of a Qabalistic nature that are used and used appropriately, though typically NOT addressing Qabalisic subjects per se. It just seems like Qabala was the vocabulary he found best suited to expressing the themes at hand. It would appear that he had a solid working knowledge of the subject though these songs were written when he was single and much younger than the age at which one, traditionally, is supposed to embark on Qabalistic studies.
Here’ the lyrics to “You Know Who I Am” from his Songs from A Room album.
I cannot follow you, my love,
you cannot follow me.
I am the distance you put between
all of the moments that we will be.You know who I am,
you’ve stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.Sometimes I need you naked,
sometimes I need you wild,
I need you to carry my children in
and I need you to kill a child.You know who I am,
you’ve stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.If you should ever track me down
I will surrender there
and I will leave with you one broken man
whom I will teach you to repair.You know who I am,
you’ve stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.I cannot follow you, my love,
you cannot follow me.
I am the distance you put between
all of the moments that we will be.You know who I am,
you’ve stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.http://www.leonardcohen.com/home
