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Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

7. Leonard CohenSongs Of Leonard Cohen

He’s a romantic, and so am I. I don’t wallow in that, but I acknowledge the fact that it’s important to access that emotion in all of us. I think he does it in a gender neutral way, there’s nothing male about what he’s singing, it’s just the feelings and emotions between two people, it could be anyone. You don’t have to think of it as a guy and a girl, just think of the tenderness in there. It’s all about reaching out to people and saying ‘I felt the same’, or ‘I didn’t feel the same as you, I felt more, but you didn’t, so I had to say farewell’, or ‘I felt less and had to say farewell’. You learn a lot about relationships that way. At the time I was listening to him was when a big infatuation and love affair had fallen apart, with Steve before Gen, so Leonard Cohen and Love were the soundtrack. Love was the celebration of it, the swell of fantastic joy, then Leonard Cohen was the one where it was beautiful but we have to say goodbye, in the most beautiful way. Chris hates him. 

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Beth Orton
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