Cohen 本质上是个艺术家。这并不是说他没有政治观点，只是他政治观点的表达（非常不幸的是诗歌）通常比较晦涩，含糊，前后也不贯穿连通。 Cohen 出生于加拿大魁北克省一个相对富有的传统犹太移民家庭，他的父亲虽然早亡，却给他留下了一笔钱， 让他能专心做他喜欢的事。 Cohen 二十二岁起开始发表诗歌。他的第一，二本诗集（ Let Us Compare Mythologies ， 1956 ； The Spice-box of Earth, 1961 ）就 让他在北美的诗人界里树立了自己的地位 。比起很多诗人来，他是个幸运儿。
似乎和大多数犹太人后裔一样， Cohen 认为以色列的存在是合法的，却并不总认同以色列政府的政策。他的反战情绪总的来说超越了他的其他政治立场。他对战争，死亡，竞争，吸毒，爱滋等社会现象的理解也往往是从人性，博爱和民主的角度。以下这首诗就很有意思：
Millennium from "Flowers for Hitler"
This could be my little
book about love
if I wrote it--
but my good demon said:
'Lay off documents!'
Everybody was watching me
burn my books--
I swung my liberty torch
happy as a gestapo brute;
the only thing I wanted to save
was a scar
a burn or two--
but my good demon said:
'Lay off documents!
The fire's not important!'
The pile was safely blazing.
I went home to take a bath.
I phoned my grandmother.
She is suffering from arthritis.
'Keep well,' I said, 'don't mind the pain.'
'You neither,' she said.
Hours later I wondered
did she mean
don't mind my pain
or don't mind her pain?
Whereupon my good demon said:
'Is that all you can do?'
Well was it?
Was it all I could do?
There was the old lady
eating alone, thinking about
Prince Albert, Flanders Field,
Kishenev, her fingers too sore
for TV knobs;
but how could I get there ?
The books were gone
my address lists--
My good demon said again:
'Lay off documents!
You know how to get there!'
And suddenly I did!
I remembered it from memory!
I found her
pouring over the royal family tree,
'Grandma,'
I almost said,
'you've got it upside down--'
'Take a look,' she said,
'it only goes to George V.'
'That's far enough
you sweet old blood!'
'You're right!' she sang
and burned the
London Illustrated Souvenir
I did not understand
the day it was
till I looked outside
and saw a fire in every
window on the street
and crowds of humans
crazy to talk
and cats and dogs and birds
smiling at each other!
80 年代 Cohen 对世界，民主，和平和未来的关注表现在两盘很有政治倾向的唱片上： I’m Your Man (1988); The future (1992) 。他歌曲制作的风格在这期间有了很大的变化，歌词也充满了对世界的讥讽，蔑视，否定与不信任感。在 《让我们先征服曼哈顿》（First We Take Manhattan） 里 , Cohen 的黑色幽默表现得淋漓尽致，它是 Cohen 一辈子最畅销的两首歌之一：
(Sung by Joe Cocker, Cohen 的原版官方视频基调和 Cocker 有些差距。请看：http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFBKV0zVXSE）
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, I told you, I was one of those
I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that make you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
关于民主，让 Cohen 自己说他想说的吧。
对 Cohen 来说民主（ Democracy ）是个“宗教”是能把世界从屠杀中拯救出来的东西。难怪这首歌在东德和西德合并的时候相当流行
It ’ s coming through a hole in the air
from those nights in T iananmen S quare
It ’ s coming from the feel
That it ain ’ t exactly real
Or it ’ s real, but it ain ’ t exactly there
from the wars against disorder
from the sirens night and day
from the fires of the homeless
from the ashes of the gay
Democracy is coming to the U . S . A .
It ’ s coming from the sorrow i n the street
The holy places where the races meet
from the homicidal *****in g
That goes down in every kitchen
To determine who will serve and who will eat
Its coming to A merica first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It ’ s here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it ’ s here they got the spiritual thirst
It ’ s here the family ’ s broken
And it ’ s here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the U . S . A .
I ’ m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can ’ t stand the scene
And I ’ m neither left or right
I ’ m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I ’ m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I ’ m junk but I ’ m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U . S . A .
Sail on, sail on
O mighty ship of state!
To the shores of need
Past the reefs of greed
Through the squalls of hate
Sail on, sail on...
其他有名的歌包括 : Everybody Knows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27HRNm_r4U); Waiting for the Miracle; The Tower of Song; The Future; Anthem 等，虽然他的嗓音由于长期的酒和烟（ Cohen 已戒烟），在那时更适合朗诵，而不是唱歌。他的歌词继续影响，灌输了一大批新老摇滚，乡村，爵士歌手。
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