In 1967, outside of the explosion of psychedelia, contemporary folk was also enjoying quite a heyday. So many great folk albums from the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were hitting the shelves, as well as the legendary record, Songs Of Leonard Cohen. It was released on this very day in 1967. And it was the album that showed the musical talents of Leonard Cohen to the world.
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Interestingly enough, Cohen had an entirely different career before he descended into music. In the years before Columbia Records released Songs Of Leonard Cohen, he was a novelist and poet. His first professional poetry work, Let Us Compare Mythologies, dropped way back in 1956. It’s a good thing he made the transition to music. Songs Of Leonard Cohen was just the beginning of a long and illustrious career. And, somehow, it wasn’t a chart-topper back in 1967.
Leonard Cohen Was Ahead of His Time, and the Charts Didn’t Reflect His Talent
Songs Of Leonard Cohen was released on December 27, 1967. The contemporary folk and folk rock record received surprisingly mixed reviews when it was released, with some critics condemning the record for having a few brilliant songs and a lot of bummers. Pessimism wasn’t Cohen’s thing; if anything, he was honest and vulnerable in his music. Not every musician can be sunshine and rainbows, after all.
Sadly, this album didn’t reach the charting heights it deserved upon its release. Despite giving the world gorgeous songs like “Suzanne”, “So Long, Marianne”, and “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye”, the record only charted marginally. It peaked at No. 13 on the UK Albums chart and No. 83 on the Billboard 200, and also managed to make it to the Top 10 in the Netherlands.
In retrospect, though, Songs Of Leonard Cohen has earned a lot more love from fans and critics alike.
“Many artists work their whole career to create a work as singular and accomplished as ‘Songs Of Leonard Cohen’, and Cohen worked this alchemy the first time he entered a recording studio,” Mark Deming of AllMusic puts it beautifully. “Few musicians have ever created a more remarkable or enduring debut.”
Songs Of Leonard Cohen would lead to the 1969 follow-up Songs From A Room, which would earn better chart placements.
Photo by Jack Robinson/Getty Images
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