The Sun Also Rises

Yes, if we look just at year-end lists then A&W is her most acclaimed song since Video Games.

I'm so glad that A&W is getting the praise it so deserves in the end of year lists so far. 
It's a career-defining song. It's perfect in every way. 

OH MY FUCKING GOD! CONGRATULATIONS! YOU BOTH LOOK SO COOL!
 
And I also think that this belongs probably in the sightings topic!
 
But that's so awesome that you got to meet her!
Omg yes, her bangs hahah! Luv that!

I don't even know if this is the right place to post this, but I met someone very special last Sunday! 
 

 

 
 

I'm so glad that A&W is getting the praise it so deserves in the end of year lists so far. 
It's a career-defining song. It's perfect in every way. 

I'm so glad that A&W is getting the praise it so deserves in the end of year lists so far. 
It's a career-defining song. It's perfect in every way. 

I'm so glad that A&W is getting the praise it so deserves in the end of year lists so far. 
It's a career-defining song. It's perfect in every way. 

I'm so glad that A&W is getting the praise it so deserves in the end of year lists so far. 
It's a career-defining song. It's perfect in every way. 

Apocalypse Now (Top 10 movie for me!) vs There Will Be Blood

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/ranked-the-best-international-albums-of-2023/a431062369.html
 
ocean blvd at #6
A&W at #1

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest vs Apocalypse Now

Agreed 1000x. Avalanche is gut wrecking and there are so many ways to interpret the song (from a religious or agnostic or atheist standpoint). My personal reading would be a conversation between the same person, something along the lines of "I can't help but feel somewhat like my body marred my soul" (although I think Lana comes from a different perspective) ... and the way that Cohen contemplates suicidal thoughts during Dress Rehearsal Rag is absolutely chilling ... I especially like this line`;

"But you've used up all your coupons except the one that seems
To be written on your wrist along with several thousand dreams" 

In context to the rest of the song ... he really was a master of words. It's his darkest album (for me), and it doesn't have the light at the end of the tunnel that Ocean Blvd has, although it shares so many of the same themes that make each album great! 

As for Lana referencing Leonard Cohen, here's a few I can think of: 
 
Most recently, in Kintsugi, the beautiful repeated lyric

“That’s how the light shines in
That’s how the light shines in
That’s how the light gets in." 

Is a reference to one of Leonard's most famous songs, Anthem, in which the lyrics go: 

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in"

Anthem is a stunning song that I recommend you all check out. It's one of the most beautiful sentiments I've ever heard of in my life and truly comforting. Many people have used the song to help cope with grief, which is what I suspect Lana was doing (as a Leonard fan) around the time the events in Kintsugi took place. Then, in her beautiful mind, she managed to turn the sentiment into her own metaphor and make it her own. 
  In Mariners Apartment complex: 

"You lose your way, just take my hand
You're lost at sea, then I'll command your boat to me again
Don't look too far, right where you are, that's where I am
I'm your man"

Is a reference to Leonard's song "I'm Your Man," which Lana subverts. Here's Leonards; 

"If you want a partner, take my hand, or If you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man."

It's actually a fairly tragic song about love, telling how he will do anything his lover wants, even becoming a completely different person to suit her needs. Particularly notable of course is the common sentiment of "take my hand" as well as the phrase "I'm your man." Mariners Apartment Complex also reminds me a bit of the Leonard song "Suzanne," I can't quite put my finger on why though. 
  Finally, on "Venice Bitch," Lana makes a subtle reference that I almost missed in the bridge; 

"La-la-la-la-la-la, losers, beautiful losers" 

Which references Leonard's book of the same name. It was his last book he published before he became a singer/songwriter. You can read more about Beautiful Losers here, it's interesting thinking about how it fits into the "feel" of Venice Bitch!  Please let me know if I missed any and please contribute to this thread, Leonard really deserves it. 

I can't believe one of the most eminent poets and lyricists of our age, Leonard Cohen, doesn't have a thread on LanaBoards! 
 

 
Leonard Cohen (1934 - 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, social and political conflict, and sexual and romantic love, desire, regret, and loss.
 
Known as a poet before he was a songwriter, Leonard Cohen touched the hearts of many people with his poetry and songs, including Lana, who wrote on an Instagram caption after his passing, 
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t kind of break my heart that I never got to tell you how much you changed me,” she wrote underneath. “Not that it would’ve mattered to ya, it’s just that other than Bob and Joan you were the only person I ever really felt spoke my language. I love you as a real fan and I always looked for a little bit of you in all of my future friends. God bless.”
 
She has referenced Leonard Cohen many times throughout her body of work. Also, she has sung a Leonard Cohen cover, "Chelsea Hotel #2," with Leonard's son, Adam Cohen. Iconic! 
 
Please post below about how Leonard Cohen's work has impacted your life, Leonard's inspiration that can be found in Lana's songs, and of course, your favourite songs, albums. etc. 

https://www.facebook.com/leonardcohen/posts/in-a-1997-interview-with-stina-dabrowski-at-mount-baldy-zen-center-leonard-cohen/10155468401454644/
& thanks lol! 

What is the source for this? (Also, everyone needs to look her up, so I'm noting the correct spelling of Simone Weil's name)

Good to see this thread is popping. I strongly recommend the album 'Songs of Love and Hate' for fans of Ocean Blvd - it uses similar song structures and themes, and is simply a masterpiece.
 

I can't lie, the writing reminds me of what an AI-written stereotype of what a bad Lana song would be like. 
 
The "summer's getting hotter," is a Lana mainstay, "screaming fuck baleciaga" (screaming black lives matter?), heartattack and vine is an album but it also reminds me of "hollywood and vine," I'll make it darker is probably a Leonard Cohen reference  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nmHymgM7Y), but the way the last line is framed in the song sounds almost mocking.
 
I don't know, it's a really weird one, I can't vibe with it at all and like you said it does come across as pretentious (and strangely unauthentic). I wonder what Lana wrote on it. 
 
Edit: I'm very rarely critical and overly negative like this, but I just don't like the song. The most annoying thing is I feel like it had so much missed potential lyrically. It's almost there, but it's just not hitting the way it should. 

If I could like this twice I would...

I absolutely adore that album and those lyrics you chose ... 
I find myself singing Who By Fire to myself all the time. 
 
My favourite from the album is probably Who By Fire or Lover, Lover, Lover, it's heartbreakingly beautiful. Especially the live slightly slower version. I really relate to these lyrics, 
 
"I asked my father, I said, "Father, change my name
The one I'm using now, it's covered up with fear and filth and cowardice and shame""
 
His writing is so timeless, it will always be relevant. I miss him so much too. Like Lana said, he's a kindred soul who spoke my language 

Here's a few of my favourite Leonard live duets  I love him singing solo (as originally sung), but I also love hearing him sing with other legends and greats. 
 
 
Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye has some of my favourite Leonard lyrics. Simple, but heartbreakingly beautiful. Like, 

"You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me
It's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea"
 
and,

"I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow, hey, that's no way to say goodbye"
 
 
 
Probably my favourite Leonard Cohen song because of this verse, 
"And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone"
 
It's probably some of my favourite lyrics of all time 
 

Thanks for showing this thread so much love everyone, I'm so happy to hear that there are many Lipsters who love Leonard's music as much as me 

Omg I still think that might be a perfect description for her honestly 
 
 
Absolutely. It's a lyrical masterpiece. It's probably in my top-5 all time favourite songs. Honestly aside from Jeff Buckley's I don't like the covers of Hallelujah very much as they don't quite capture the feeling of Leonard's lyrics, but it's ... urgh just too good. 
 
This verse!!

"Well, maybe there's a God above
As for me all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
But it's not a crime that you're hear tonight
It's not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light
No, it's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah"
 

 
 
That upbeat music and then .... those iconic, pessimistic lyrics 

It's such a stunning album, sparse and full of musings on death and God and faith. It's the perfect final album for a genius like Leonard Cohen 
 
When I first found out that Leonard Cohen passed, I absolutely sobbed (nearly) all day. It was like I was mourning a friend. 
 
If anyone wants to cry, then you should read about his relationship with one of his muses, Marianne. She died in 2016, and when Leonard found out she had only a few days left to live, her wrote her this letter: “Dear Marianne, I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up, just as yours has too. I’ve never forgotten your love and beauty. But you know that. I don’t have to say any more. Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Endless love and gratitude. Your Leonard.” He died just a few months after her. 

I listened to this song, that he wrote to her back in 1967, and just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. 
 
 
Edit: Here's an interesting article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/30/leonard-cohen-marianne-ihlen-love-affair-of-a-lifetime-nick-broomfield-documentary-words-of-love