Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021) - full transcript

♪ Yeah, I've heard that
There was a secret chord ♪

♪ That David played
And it pleased the Lord ♪

♪ But you don't really
Care for music ♪

♪ Do you? ♪

♪ Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth ♪

♪ The minor fall
The major lift ♪

♪ The baffled king composing
Hallelujah ♪

♪ Hallelujah... ♪

The word
"Hallelujah," of course, is so rich.

It's so abundant in resonances.

People have been
singing that word



for thousands of years,

just to affirm our
little journey here.

♪ I did my best ♪

♪ It wasn't much ♪

♪ I couldn't feel
So I tried to touch ♪

♪ I've told the truth ♪

♪ I didn't come to fool you... ♪

I just love the whole song

'cause it seems to me to sum
up so much of what Leonard is.

This relationship with God

that he struggled
with so much...

He's taking one part Biblical,

one part the woman
he slept with last night.

♪ Hallelujah... ♪



He expresses that
being alone with the divine

is what can redeem us.

He was
always a spiritual seeker.

And that gave him a dimension

that most rock stars
couldn't even fathom.

♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ Hallelu...

♪ ...jah ♪

It's nice of you to greet
my records so warmly.

You've been doing
this for a long time.

Oh, yeah.

They always suggest writers

and I always say, "Get
Larry Sloman to do this,

he's the only one who gets it."

In some respects,
I was Patient Zero

in this virus that
became "Hallelujah."

So four years ago,

I'm sitting in your house

and what amazed me was
when you showed me your books.

The documentation of these songs

and how these songs go
through this amazing process.

Especially with a
song like "Hallelujah."

I mean, book after book
after book with verses.

Well, I always thought
that I sweated over this stuff.

But I had no idea what
sweating over this stuff meant

until I found myself
in a shabby room

at the Royalton Hotel,

trying to finish "Hallelujah"

and not being able to finish it.

And I remember being in
my underwear, on the carpet,

banging my head
against the floor,

and saying, "I
can't do it anymore."

"It's too lonely,
it's too hard."

Do you think everybody takes
this much care with a pop song?

You know, you can't
begin to understand "Hallelujah"

without investigating
the long, winding path

that got Leonard to a place

where he could
tackle a song like that.

I-I mean, Leonard didn't
really even start writing songs

until he was about 30.

This month, a new
book was published in Canada,

the titleBeautiful Losers,
the author Leonard Cohen.

There are those of the audience
who know Leonard Cohen

perhaps primarily as a poet.

His eyes through my eyes
Shine brighter than love

O send out the raven
Ahead of the dove...

Leonard, in
fact, wishes not to be a poet

but a kind of modern minstrel.

He's become very excited
by the music of the mid '60s.

And recently, his joys
and sorrows of living

have come forth
as simple, beautiful

and sometimes sad songs.

Let's listen to one of them.

♪ It's true That all
the men you knew ♪

♪ Were dealers who
said They were through ♪

♪ With stealing every time
You gave them shelter... ♪

That was the very
first time he sang on television.

The novel was coming out.

And then they said,
"He's going to sing too."

And we said, "Oh, sure. Why not?

And then we'll talk
about the novel."

You must admit that, for
other people looking at you,

Leonard Cohen,
the poet, the novelist,

the scion of a Jewish
family from Montreal,

pop singer and
writer of pop songs...

All of these things, um,

they may certainly add
up to Leonard Cohen,

but they do look
rather complex at first.

Well, I think, that, uh,
you know, the, um...

The borders have... Have
faded between a lot of endeavors,

like the poet or the singer.

All those kinds of expression,

I think are completely
meaningless.

They don't mean anything to me.

It's just a matter of
what your hand falls on.

And if you can make what
your hand falls on sing,

then you can just do it...

I didn't
know him very well then.

I didn't know whether he
would hang in there with it.

After all, I knew, and
everybody did know,

that he came from a
wealthy family in Montreal,

that he'd grown up
in a lot of privilege,

and was he a dilettante?

Was he going to
drop this and say,

"Maybe I'll study
law"? Or whatever.

♪ And leaning On
the window sill ♪

♪ He'll say one day You
caused his will to weaken ♪

♪ With your love and
warmth And shelter ♪

♪ And then taking
From his wallet ♪

♪ An old schedule of trains ♪

♪ He'll say, "I told you when
I came I was a stranger" ♪

♪ "I told you when..." ♪

I came down to New York

and I visited some
agents, and they'd say:

"Turn around, kid, aren't
you too old for this game?"

I was 32 at the time.

And I didn't have
very much success

in getting the ear of anyone.

Please welcome with me

a great songwriter,
poet, novelist and friend,

Leonard Cohen.

So, Judy,
how did you and Leonard Cohen

wind up on this stage together?

Oh, my...

Well, Leonard
came to me in 1966,

and he said, "I can't sing
and I can't play the guitar,

and I don't know if this
is a song." And then he...

He sang me "Suzanne."

And I said, after he finished:

"Well, that is a song and
I'm recording it tomorrow."

It's a great thing,
because I had played it

for somebody in
Montreal, and they said:

"No, there's a lot
of songs like that."

♪ Suzanne takes your hand ♪

♪ She leads you to the river ♪

♪ She's wearing
Rags and feathers ♪

♪ From Salvation Army counters ♪

♪ And the sun pours
down Like honey ♪

♪ On our Lady of the Harbor... ♪

It was on an
album of mine calledln My Life.

And "Suzanne" was the one
that kind of drove it over the top.

So I said, "Well, you can't
hide in the shadows anymore.

You have to come
sing in public."

And I had a date here.

And, uh, it was a big
fundraiser for WBAI.

Everybody was here, I think
Jimi Hendrix was on the show.

It was a whole bunch of people.

Judy kind of
talked me into doing this.

She invited me out on
stage, and I started singing,

and the guitar was
completely out of tune,

and I was scared anyways.

So rather than
humiliate myself, I left.

He said,
"I just can't do this."

And he walked off the stage.

Terror. Ha-ha.

Sheer terror, and
everybody loved it.

I mean, they all love
you when you fall apart.

You know, they have...
They get so excited.

♪ You want
to travel blind... ♪

So I came back with him,

and then we finished
"Suzanne" together.

♪ For she's touched
Your perfect body ♪

♪ With her mind ♪

The audience was
generous. It was just nerves.

So that was the first time,
and after that, you know,

he became known for his
voice and singing his own songs.

- Standby.
- Okay.

Just a sec.

I think you're starting
a little slow, Leonard.

- Right.
- Standby, please.

There was a friend
of mine that said,

"John, there's this
poet from Canada,

he's a wonderful songwriter,
but he doesn't read music,

and he's sort of very strange.

I don't think Columbia would
be at all interested in him,

but you might be."

So I listened to this guy and...

Lo and behold, I thought
he was enchanting.

John Hammond brought
Leonard Cohen to see me and...

I do remember that meeting.

Maybe it's our common Jewish
ancestry, but I related to him.

And John said,
"Leonard is an original."

Take four.

That he's a poet and
that he will make his own way

in a special way
that's unique to him.

Just a sec. Leonard,
excuse me. That's over 20 seconds.

I don't think the
introduction should be more...

No, I wasn't
thinking of it that long.

I just want to get into it
before I started singing.

I didn't have it, in
terms of an introduction.

Take five.

He was Leonard Cohen.
No one walked in his path.

He didn't walk in
anybody else's path.

Bravo, Leonard.
Would you like to listen to it?

Yeah.

People are always telling me:

"Why don't you do something
like you did two records ago?"

I just don't want
to repeat myself.

To me, the only
really exciting thing

about the work is
finding new forms.

So I will keep on
trying to find new forms.

I met Leonard in Montreal...

in 1972.

I was performing in
Montreal at the Hotel Nelson,

and it was like a happening.

Everyone in town was there.
The place was exploding.

We were there for a
week, and it was sold out.

They were lined
up around outside.

And this quiet guy comes over

in a black suit
and stands there,

one hand in his pocket.

We started talking, he
was very complimentary

about how exciting
the music was.

Would I be interested

in talking with him
about recording?

I said, "I'm heading back
to my place in New York."

"Well, I'll come down."

I was 22?

I was unknown.

But we hit it off.

And he played me
some great songs.

And immediately I sensed
that these songs were different.

Leonard's songs
felt cinematic to me.

♪ I remember you well ♪

♪ In the Chelsea Hotel ♪

♪ You were talking so
brave And so sweet ♪

♪ Givin' me head ♪

♪ On an unmade bed ♪

♪ While the limousines ♪

♪ Wait in the street... ♪

And right away, I said:

"Boy, we could record
these and sort of drape them

in a dream, like every
one is a vignette of life."

And he sort of liked that idea,
so within a couple of months,

we recorded, I guess it
was eight or nine songs.

♪ I asked my father ♪

♪ I said "Father,
change my name..." ♪

This wasNew
Skin for the Old Ceremony.

It was the first thing
that I did with Leonard.

♪ Covered up with fear and filth
And cowardice and shame... ♪

In terms of the actual
musical style of the record,

a great deal of it is
due to John Lissauer.

He's a very young man

and certainly the most
interesting musical mind

that I've come
across in many years.

♪ Lover, lover, lover
Lover, lover, lover ♪

♪ Come back to me... ♪

We finished the record

and put together a
band and went on tour.

It was a small band,
just the five of us.

And we did a lot of cities.

We did all of Europe.

And then, after we toured
for about nine months or so,

Leonard asked me if
maybe I'd like to co-write

an album with him.

I said, "How do
you want to do it?

You want to sit around together,

or do you want me
to take your poetry

and essentially
set them to music?"

And he said,
"Well, let's do that."

And he said, "I'm gonna be
in L.A. for a couple of weeks.

Why don't you come join me?

We'll go to the Chateau Marmont,

get a couple of
rooms and write."

♪ I came so far for beauty ♪

♪ I left so much behind... ♪

So I flew out there,
and he had a piano in the room.

We came up with six songs.

It was gonna be an album
calledSongs for Rebecca.

It was thrilling.

We had rough
vocals on everything

and arrangements on everything.

It was in pretty good shape.

And he said, "All right,
I'm going to go to Hydra

for a couple of weeks.

I'm working on a book
of poetry, this and that...

I'll call you when I get
back, and we'll finish up."

And I didn't hear from him...

for eight years.

Hello? Leonard?

Yeah. Hi,
this is Larry Sloman.

I was a young reporter for
Rolling Stone Magazine in '74,

and I got the plum assignment
of doing a piece on Leonard.

Leonard? Yeah.

What's your schedule
gonna be like?

Let's make
a definite appointment

for tomorrow morning.

Do you get up
early, or do you...?

No, I usually sleep pretty late.

I'll tell you what, I'll probably
stay in Queens today

'cause I have my stereo
out at my parents' house.

Shall I call you or...?

I don't have a phone.

Tell me what time you get up.

I usually get up around 11.

So I'll probably get
into the city around,

let's say, 1:00 tomorrow.

Okay, I'll
see you then. Good.

I became
almost like an obsessive.

I mean, I literally stalked
him for three days.

And after the first
night of the first show,

went back to his hotel room,

just kept peppering him
with questions for two hours,

and he was so gracious.

He was, I think, 40 at the time.

He said, "Wouldn't
it be wonderful

if I could just
keep doing this?"

'Cause, you know, we never see

the mature man
chronicling his life.

He says, "It'd be great to hear
that experience on the stage,

and really, you know, my
goal is to become an elder."

Leonard was thinking about
those issues when he was 40

because he was
exploring his Jewish roots.

And in Jewish tradition, I think

you could start studying
Kabbalah when you're 40.

You have to wait till you're
40 to have that life experience

to be able to understand
Kabbalistic thought.

♪ Who by fire ♪

♪ Who by water ♪

♪ Who in the sunshine ♪

♪ Who in the nighttime ♪

♪ Who by high ordeal ♪

♪ Who by common trial... ♪

I was so touched as a child

by that kind of charged speech

that I heard in the synagogue,

where everything was important.

The world was
created through words,

through speech in our tradition.

♪ Who in these
realms Of love... ♪

When we were young,
Leonard would say very proudly

that his grandfather
could take a pin

and put it through the Torah

and know every word it
touched on every page.

♪ Who shall I say ♪

♪ Is calling... ♪

Leonard Cohen once
told an interviewer

that he was thinking
of changing his name.

When you're a famous
Jew, you change your name.

So that's the deal is, you
don't want to be too Jewish

'cause you'll get in
the way of your fame.

Have you ever
thought of changing your name?

Yeah, I was gonna change
my name to September.

I beg your pardon?

I was gonna change
my name to September

when I started writing
songs and singing them.

Leonard September?
No, September Cohen.

Oh.

But Cohen is such
a standard name.

Yeah, well, September
is pretty standard too.

Not for a first name.

No. Well, I thought that, uh...

You know, I always
had this feeling

that new things are beginning.

And I thought that I
would change my name

and get a tattoo.

September is how you
say Elul to a non-Jew...

'cause Elul is the month of
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur.

This is... This is
the deepest time

when God's on the throne
and we're down here,

and we come to God
with broken hearts

and God's mercies heal us.

So I think he wanted to say...

Leonard Elul.

You know, Leonard,
the man who's immersed

in the world of
the month of Elul.

♪ Who by brave assent... ♪

When I was standing
beside my tall uncles in the synagogue,

and the cantor would
catalog all the various ways

that we've sinned and died,
that moved me very much.

♪ Who by his lady's command ♪

♪ Who by his own hand... ♪

When my father
died, after his funeral,

I found myself writing
some words to him.

Then I took one
of his formal ties

and I slit it open
with a razor blade,

and I put this little note,
this little poem into the tie,

and I buried it in the garden.

♪ Who by high ordeal... ♪

I think that was the first time

I ever used language
in a sacramental way.

♪ Who in your merry,
merry Month of May ♪

♪ Who by very slow decay... ♪

Unlocking the mysteries of life
was his primary preoccupation.

So if you had any
questions along those lines,

he was... He was
the guy to talk to.

I had been
working in Los Angeles

as a session singer,

and then Leonard invited
me to go on the road with them

for the Field
Commander Cohen tour.

I was the other singer
with Jennifer Warnes.

♪ Like a baby stillborn ♪

♪ Like a beast with his horn ♪

♪ I have torn... ♪

I was, you know,
very, very young.

But I came in and felt an
immediate warmth from Leonard.

So we spent a lot of time

talking about his
overall philosophy of life.

♪ I swear by this song ♪

♪ I swear by all That I
have done wrong... ♪

He was very attuned to human
suffering around the world,

even though he was
relatively comfortable in life.

And he was constantly aware

of everyone in the world
who isn't comfortable.

♪ I saw a beggar He
was standing there... ♪

When you see the
world and you see the laws

of brute necessity
which govern it,

you realize that the only way

that you can reconcile
this veil of suffering,

the only way you can
reconcile it to sanity

is to glue your soul to prayer.

♪ A pretty woman leaning
In her darkened door... ♪

He was really on a
quest to find his path,

his spiritual path, and
he tried a million things.

Well, I've been studying

with an old Japanese
gentleman for many years.

Roshi had a
Zen center over in Europe,

so he came out and he
rode with us on the bus.

There were
a lot of wonderful things

in my own culture,
my own training,

but always in the
back of my mind

was some kind of resonating
presence in my heart.

♪ I have tried... ♪

Some sense that there was
something that could be healed.

♪ To be free ♪

I remember once I was
musing on purgatory,

and I was fearful of it.

And he said:

"This is purgatory."

And he meant the whole scene,

what we're living.

And at the same
time, he would say

what an amazing
experiment this is.

We were very young then.

Even then, it was
about the brokenness

of the community that
we both had come out of.

They had a lot of rules.

You went to school,
you got married.

You had children, you lived
in a nice house in Westmount.

That was written for us.

This is a song based
on my extremely boring

and pathetic life at Westmount
High School in Montreal,

and it's a song that I
wrote a couple of years ago

with Phil Spector.

♪ Ooh-wah-ooh ♪

♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh ♪

♪ Ooh-wah-ooh ♪

♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh ♪

♪ Frankie Laine He
was singing "Jezebel" ♪

♪ I pinned an iron
cross To my lapel... ♪

I'd been hearing that Leonard

was going to record
with Phil Spector.

Leonard's
experience with Phil Spector...

That whole thing, I
think, was Marty Machat,

who was Leonard's manager
at the time, also managed Phil.

So he put them together.

I always got the
sense that Marty didn't like me,

I was too young, it was
something I just sensed.

Maybe Marty didn't like my hair.

And so when Spector came
along, he was a legendary producer,

he might have been the most
famous producer in the world.

It was record producer as star.

So I said, "Boy, I guess
they got the real guy."

"Enough work with this kid,

we're gonna get
the real pop ringer."

♪ I know you're hungry ♪

♪ I can hear it in your voice ♪

♪ And there are Many
parts of me to touch ♪

♪ You have your choice ♪

How did
you feel about the album?

Oh, the album is a disaster.

The songs are good, but Tina
Turner should have sung it.

Or-or Bill Medley.

And working with Phil
Spector was a little tricky.

Spector imposed his
"Wall of Sound" on Leonard.

♪ But don't go home
With your hard-on ♪

♪ It will only Drive
you insane... ♪

It had bombastic orchestration,

and a lot of people
thought that the music

was competing with the lyrics.

And, you know, with Leonard,
you gotta hear the lyrics.

That happened,
uh, at a curious time in my life

because I-I was
at a very low point.

My family was breaking up,

I was living in Los Angeles,
which was a foreign city to me,

and I'd lost control of
my work and my life.

I think the breakup

of his relationship with Suzanne

was a very painful process.

Leonard,
talk a little about "Gypsy's Wife."

In a sense, the song
was written for my gypsy wife.

♪ And where Where
is my gypsy wife? ♪

But, uh, in another way,

it's just a song about, uh,

the way men and women
have lost one another.

That, uh, men and women have
wandered away from each other

and have become
gypsies to each other.

♪ I said where... ♪

"Suzanne,"
I've got to ask you about

because there was a
Suzanne in your life,

and she's the mother
of two children.

But you wrote a song
called "Suzanne,"

and someone told me today
that that was not about her.

No, I had written the song

before I met this
particular lady.

I guess I summoned her.

So it was another Suzanne?
It was another Suzanne, yeah.

♪ She says your
body Is the light ♪

♪ Your body... ♪

You have a
great reputation that goes before you,

and perhaps in your wake as
well, for being a ladies' man.

Is it well-earned?

You know,
I'm the last one to ask.

No,
you're the only one I can ask.

♪ So where... ♪

I would have
jumped off a bridge for Leonard.

I would have done anything
because I adored him.

I didn't have a
love affair with him.

I mean, he was wonderful.

Handsome...

intelligent, mysterious,
dangerous...

I mean, once you're past 25,

you sort of know.

So I knew that.

I knew dangerous when I saw it.

♪ It's too early
For the rainbow ♪

♪ It's too early
For the dove... ♪

Leonard had a way
of putting women on a pedestal.

He, I think, saw women
as part of the path

to some kind of
righteousness or enlightenment.

♪ And there is no man ♪

♪ There is no woman ♪

♪ That you can't touch... ♪

We are irresistibly
attracted to one another.

We are irresistibly
lonely for each other.

And we have to deal with this.

And the other side of that is

the same appetite for
significance in the cosmos,

where each of us understands
his solitude in the cosmos

and longs for some affirmation
by the maker of the cosmos,

by the creator.

♪ Where is my
gypsy wife Tonight? ♪

One of the reviews
I was reading said that...

Leonard's whole
career has been pulled

between holiness and horniness.

So let's talk about women.

What was your first love?

- My first love?
- Childhood sweetheart?

Sixth grade? An older aunt?

You never change, do you?

I was 50 years old
when I'd first fallen in love.

Fifty?

I never knew
what it meant before.

I'm going to be 70 next year.

No way.Yeah.

It's not funny. Don't laugh.

♪ If you want a lover ♪

♪ I'll do anything
You ask me to ♪

♪ And if you want
Another kind of love ♪

♪ I'll wear a mask for you ♪

♪ If you want a
partner Take my hand ♪

♪ Or if you wanna
Strike me down in anger ♪

♪ Here I stand ♪

♪ I'm your man ♪

I feel that
when there is an emotion

strong enough to
gather a song about it,

there's something
about that emotion

that is indestructible.

When I asked
him, he said that he'd been working

two years already
on "Hallelujah."

Then he wrote a part
in Paris, you know?

When he was staying in Paris.

And a part in my house.

You know, he was often
starting with this song.

In the morning, first thing,

coffee, then working
on "Hallelujah."

I really love when Leonard's
doing a work that is really...

bringing you all
sort of emotions

and breaking your heart,

and filling your
heart after it's broken.

You know, I don't know,
it's just beautiful to...

To be able to hear such poetry

with such beautiful
music, you know?

Would he try verses out on you?

Asking me? No, he
was never asking,

but he was playing
in front of me.

But I was not really like
somebody at a concert.

He was working. I
was working a lot.

We were both working a lot.

So I'm part of that landscape.

I feel it like that.

You are just a person,

or you could be the dog
or the cat at the moment

where there was inspiration.

It's so mysterious.

"Hallelujah" is like a
symbolist poem, you know?

It's obscure. It's very obscure.

I always see "Hallelujah"

like a bird that is
flying in a room,

and sometimes touching
the walls of the culture.

It's like a... a riddle.

Ratso knows more than me.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Of course.

The last time we talked, we
were talking about "Hallelujah."

And this is something...

You've been working on this
for as long as I've known you.

Yeah, yeah, I've
been working on that song.

And I think I-I have notes
in my present collection

of-of notebooks.

Oh, okay, here, here.

"When David played
His fingers bled

He wept for every word he said

You hear him still

You hear him singing to you"

Endless variations.

Even here, it says:

"Baby, I've been here before

I know what rooms
like this Are for"

"Baby, I've been here before

I know this room
This crooked floor"

And "Baby I've been here before

I know this room
I've walked this floor"

I mean...

These are all the
"Hallelujah" songs.

Did he ever mention
how many verses he might've written?

For some reason, the
number 180 comes to mind.

It might've been 150,
but it was a lot of verses.

Sometimes I think
that I would go along

with the old Beat philosophy:

"First thought, best thought."

But it never worked for me.

There hardly is a first
thought. It's all sweat.

No, but, I mean,
you are kind of...

transmitting the experience...

or passing it along
to another generation.

What is the experience?
It's the experience of, uh...

of work...

and of failure.

And, uh...

You just try to lay it out
as accurately as you can.

I hadn't
seen him in eight years,

'76 to '84.

And so my Leonard
days were done.

Except in 1984, I
get a phone call.

"Hey, John. How are you?"

He said, "Do you want
to make a record?"

Going back to Lissauer
to produceVarious Positions,

that may have been occasioned by

the excesses of
working with Phil Spector.

Lissauer, the arrangements

were much more subtle
and much more elegant,

and it really, I thought,

brought out the nuances
of the lyrics much better.

It was very
surprising but oddly...

uh, comforting
at the same point.

I must have always
known that we weren't done.

Hello?

Now, at this point,

he was in New York
on a semi-regular basis,

and he was staying
at the Royalton.

So he said, "Come
on up to my room.

I'll play you some songs."

So I'm in the Royalton,
and he's got his guitar out,

but he also has a little device
on his table in front of him.

Not quite as many
cymbals, but he goes...

I'm saying, "What is this?"

So I'm saying, "Jeez.

That's kind of like
Kurt Weill meets, um...

You know, it's Berlin in
the '30s or something."

And at first I thought that
he was sort of putting me on.

I mean, it's a Leonard
Cohen album, it's... It's, uh...

tactile and acoustic and
serious and deep and historic.

I said, "This electronic stuff,

that's just like a
post-disco thing."

I remember
studio sessions with Leonard...

and John.

I remember their relationship,

they were laughing a lot.

Leonard is very intense

but with no show-off of
the intensity, you know?

He's, like, producing this
incredible performance

without intending to
say, "Oh, look at me.

I'm going to do something
great and difficult.

Please, I want concentration."

It's a real creativity.

♪ Dance me
Through the curtains ♪

♪ That our kisses
Have outworn... ♪

Columbia had
asked that we do a record

that would put Leonard
on the American map.

And we had this
song, "Hallelujah,"

which was pop song-like,
and it reached out more.

It just had...

a more contemporary
possibility to it

than a lot of his stuff.

♪ Hallelujah... ♪

I could see how great it was.

And as soon as I sat at the
piano and we started to do...

Again, kind of a gospel 6/8
feel, which eventually is...

And my favorite spot
is the big hole in the end

where it goes...

The last time
through it, really just,

you think, "Oh,
please do something."

♪ Now, I've heard there
was A secret chord ♪

♪ That David played
And it pleased the Lord ♪

♪ But you don't
really Care for music ♪

♪ Do you? ♪

When I first heard it,

it had the verses
that are on the record.

And that was it.

And I never, ever asked
him about his lyrics.

I didn't ever say,
"Explain this to me,"

or, "Does this have
two meanings?"

All the things that
people wanna know.

"Jeez, what did he...?"

♪ ...composing Hallelujah ♪

I wanted to be the audience.

I wanted to make of the lyrics
what they were to the listener.

I didn't want to know too
much. And I didn't want to...

I think it's insulting in a way

to ask someone
to explain his art.

It has to explain itself.

♪ Hallelujah ♪

We're all thrilled
with this record.

And there's so much to it.

There's three
unbelievably great songs

on this album, and I
said, "We've done it.

This is really good."

And I think Columbia
is gonna like this.

They're gonna be happy.

They had their anthem

and they had a pop
tune in "Dance Me."

And it had stuff that could
catch on all over the place.

And I said, you
know, "This is it."

And, boy, was I wrong.

Sit down, my friend.

Now, your album is
called Various Positions.

I know it's available
in England, I found out.

But why can't we
get it in America?

Columbia Records
didn't want to bring it out.

Why? What happened?

They have a transorbital
frontal lobotomy?

It was time to
present the record.

Uh...

And they brought it into
the new head of Columbia,

Walter Yetnikoff.

Yetnikoff was not a Leonard guy.

And he pretty
much hated it, heh.

I visited the chief executive
of Columbia Records.

And?

First of all, he
reviewed my suit.

Then he said:

"Leonard, we know you're great,

but we don't know
if you're any good."

Really?

That record album
never came out in the States, did it?

No, Columbia Records
refused to put it out.

Why? He said, "I
don't like the mix."

I said, "You mix
it, Mr. Yetnikoff.

If that's what's going to stop
you putting out the record,

you just mix it and put it out."

To me, that was so disgusting
and terrible and heartbreaking.

Yeah. Yeah.

TheVarious Positions
is the positions of the little will.

We sense that there is a will

that is behind all things.

And we're also aware
of our own little will...

to succeed, to dominate,

to influence, to be king.

And from time to time,

things arrange themselves
in such a way that

that tiny will is annihilated.

I remember
that he was crushed after that.

All his work that
had been so intense

and doing something so
precise and so beautiful,

and then they say, "Oh, no,
no. We're not interested in this."

It's horrible. It's horrible.

It was like The
Twilight Zone for me.

You do something you're
absolutely sure is one thing,

and someone else sees it...

as reversed as possible.

I said, "Boy, I must have
no sense of the music world...

to be this wrong."

And suddenly, everyone
thought it was wrong.

And Marty made me
feel that I had somehow

ruined Leonard's record career.

He walked in, thinking it
was the greatest thing ever,

and he came out
and it was my fault.

My record career with
Columbia was pretty much done.

So I basically stopped
making records with this album.

At some point, someone said:

"Yeah, you're not working
in this town again, kid."

To me, that
was such a Philistine move.

I mean, it-it just symbolized
everything that's wrong

with those assholes
who run music labels.

I don't think that the
rejection of an album

after it's paid for...

happens that often.

That's pretty extreme, yeah.

I have no idea why
Walter rejected it.

Obviously, the album
included one classic.

The work is done.

And it's really good, man.

It is impeccable.

The stuff's down
in black and white.

Whether it comes out
or whether it's seen.

I'm telling you, this
is all for the books.

I feel I have a huge posthumous
career ahead of me, you know?

My estate will swell.

My name will flourish...
I mean, you know.

Look, "Courage is
what others can't see,

what is never affirmed.

It is made of what
you have thrown away

and then come back for."

I don't think that
Leonard ever believed

that he was not any good.