Leonard Cohen reading an excerpt from Beatiful Losers

"You plagued me like the moon. I knew you were bound by old laws of suffering and obscurity. I am fearful of the cripple's wisdom. A pair of crutches, a grotesque limp can ruin a stroll which I begin in a new suit, clean-shaven, whistling. I envied you the certainty that you would amount to nothing. I coveted the magic of torn clothes. I was jealous of the terrors I constructed for you but could not tremble before myself. I was never drunk enough, never poor enough, never rich enough. All this hurts, perhaps it hurts enough. It makes me want to cry out for comfort. It makes me stretch my hands out horizontally. Yes, I long to be President of the new Republic. I love to hear the armed teenagers chant my name outside the hospital gates. Long live the Revolution! Let me be President for my last thirty days."

[@TheLenyon]

My God, Leonard, how do you do it

[@simonlevett4776]

I think a lot of people over the years have asked the same question.

[@redadamearth]

Acid. He wrote "Beautiful Losers" on a LOT of acid at a house in Greece.

[@tomskc]

Leonard Cohen read parts of the novel on 14 February 1966, during a poetry reading at the 92nd Street YMHA (Young Men’s Hebrew Association) in New York. The whole hour has being recorded and available for years.

[@jimih8539]

Still one of my all time fav books 🙏

[@qu1nnny]

should i read it???

[@jimih8539]

@@qu1nnny Definitely put it on your bucket list 🙏

[@simonlevett4776]

It's terrible. I like some of his songs, Winter Lady being a stand out song, but Beautiful Losers was unreadable. @@qu1nnny

[@fiorellafenati5395]

dearly beloved

[@mayash4870]

Никогда не слышала ничего даже отдаленно напоминающего эту музыку высших миров.

[@sweetgypsywife]

(Nurse) Mary is jiggling, endangering the journey.... Very funny,... amazingly well written!! LC..genius! God is alive ...Magic is afoot....(and variations)

[@faraway2686]

Sweet Gypsy Wife I wonder if your hair still sleeps like a golden storm upon your pillow? 🙏❤️

[@lynale990]

Sometimes I related him to Al Pacino.

[@jameskennedy721]

Cohen only recalled a fraction of what F discovered and told him about . But those were enough clues to fuel his journey of discovery that the music albums were messages - updates - about .

[@bartonknight2677]

What's up with you all saying this isn't Leonard Cohen. Y'all must be ... new. Go back and listen to his old interviews. Then. Get a life. 🤠

[@christinewilliams4515]

It def is 😮

[@MrMolgen]

Hey yami26lc Where is this audio clip from?

[@arricammarques1955]

Once ridiculed & reviled upon release. It's considered a classic debut novel.

[@simonlevett4776]

Beautiful Losers was his second novel, wasn't it ?

[@estherjudah7606]

Virgina wolf To the Lighthouse Stream of consciousness Main character killed in the (brackets)

[@izatafactnow]

Legend! Read this book 8 times easy... certain noted passages way way more

[@morph628]

How do you guys work through the image of the "telephone dance" between F and Edith?

[@donsimon5412]

morph628 w an on

[@MSYNGWIE12]

Explain to me. One of my eternal bedside table books, a choice for A Year On A Desert Island pick. I LOVE, ADORE, THIS MAN, THIS BOOK. Will somebody explain their perception of this passage...A great book, sanctioned by Leonard, Savage Grace or Savage Fields, by a Canadian scholar- hit the mark mostly. Deals with the too oft over-looked, Bruce Cockburn too. Leonard IS SO FUNNY, SO MANY CRITICS, SO CALLED MUSIC LOVERS, miss his delightful witt. I miss him so. Anybody out there who hasn't read this book ( consider it, O.T. ) read it! Will heal you more than basket weaving or play dough...Namaste, Z. ( I love you Leonard, from one of your gypsy wives...I wonder what Suzanne Elrod is doing these days...)

[@caylastrudel899]

@@MSYNGWIE12 wasup, how are you friend

[@morph628]

I think this is F speaking. Does anyone know for sure?

[@davidmunteanu2146]

Yes it is.

[@elizabethhurtado2829]

Edith, my grandmother was also known as Julia. Julia/Edith. Go ahead and sing and judge my father again for his disability because in my eyes he will always be more of a man than you.

[@faraway2686]

The irony of Cohen v trump

[@UnknownDnB]

Are you still wondering? Tell me this answer! Tell me who F is and who is who

[@MSYNGWIE12]

A desert island must have- an astonishing, sublime, seditious, "dirty" novel in the pre-politically era of censorship- I've read it many times and will never completely understand all of it but I laugh and ponder and yes I STILL fantasize about being in bed with this glorious man and I always will- my husband knows and just shrugs! Magic is afoot...Namaste Leonard, many miss you...😊

[@helenadelgado-cohen6603]

That is not Leonard Cohen

[@jojones4685]

What do you mean?

[@patriciadavidson6765]

As sure as day follows night, this is Leonard Cohen speaking. He is a master of his spoken words

[@abigailpatriciadole3167]

This is him when he was much younger.

[@pranavbhatia8163]

Umm. Pretty sure it’s him.

[@michellesupper1303]

That is Leonard Cohen

[@mariaduarte-bm1bf]

I dont think this is Leonard-s voice.....

[@angelicaluce3230]

Yes, it is. I knew him - then - and now, 40 years later - and it's Leonard

[@MarcusP52]

It's him as a young man. His voice deepened with age.

[@mariacahill5226]

NOT LEONARD COHEN VOICE, SHAME ON YOU!

[@genevievegrandinettibourgo2319]

It is his young voice with canadian accent

[@helenadelgado-cohen6603]

That is not Leonard Cohen

[@MadMusicologist]

Why do you think so? There are some more clips of him in younger age, it's the same voice.

[@juliatikhonov3735]

It's him 100%