Leonard Cohen Who By Fire (live with Sonny Rollins, 1989)

Great rendition of the song "Who By Fire", from "New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). Leonard Cohen & Sonny Rollins collaboration-collision performance, backed by Perla Batalla, Julie Christensen, and Was (Not Was).
Spanish subtitles (optional).
Lyrics:
And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry-merry month of may
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate
Who in these realms of love, who by something blunt
Who by avalanche, who by powder
Who for his greed, who for his hunger
And who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident
Who in solitude, who in this mirror
Who by his lady's command, who by his own hand
Who in mortal chains, who in power
And who shall I say is calling?

[@Endrit719]

Leonard Cohen looks like my grandpa who is already dead and I miss my grandpa listening to his music makes me feel connected

[@gedan_play5584]

He does not blink while he sings! Love This performance.

[@LindaDyches]

6/3/24. He is still my love his music. Can never hear. Enough!

[@brucekuehn4031]

Born in 1930, as I type this Sonny Rollins is 91 years old.

[@diment0857]

Happy 93 Sonny Rollins, saxophone colossus

[@martinaschwarz2135]

Wow, Sonny Rollins...can he play or what...He's hardly known today, but what a man...

[@Bob1Mack]

Martina, have you heard him on the Rolling Stones' _Waiting For A Friend_? Very different aesthetic, and he just fits perfectly into that arrangement, too.

[@KeithOtisEdwards]

This is just on a higher level than anything I've heard in years. Many years.

[@birdy1numnum]

*this takes my breath away and simultaneously fills up my heart.*

[@henryporter2081]

great story goes with this performance. Leonard and Sonny met for the first time during rehearsal and Sonny said he had been working on his solo for WHO BY FIRE , so Leonard said they should just wing it in rehearsal. So they did. Leonard was stunned at how powerful and innovative Sonny was and said to his people 'this guy is great... i shouldn't be playing with this genius." (paraphrasing).... after the first run-through Leonard said it was great and returned to his dressing room, a bit intimidated. Meanwhile, the great Sonny Rollins walked sheepishly up to Leonard's assistant and said "Was Mr. Cohen happy? If not I can change anything. I don't want to disappoint him." (paraphrasing)... Just shows the insecurities of both of these great men.

[@DRATER469]

Leonard almost missed his mark it seemed while watching Sonnys solo. Great vibes

[@timwhite794]

The humility of brilliant artists

[@metaphysician9]

@@timwhite794 AMEN !

[@mflambe9050]

The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter, is that his name wasn’t Henry Porter.

[@alias7888]

Good grief… what a performance ..just amazing ❤

[@merxeddie6474]

Wow!Who knew this unlikely meeting could Have produced this beautiful and profound musical synthesis,a revelation!

[@kenthompson5723]

Wow, what a complex and profound ensemble performance.

[@jazzisall1]

For those who are unfamiliar with the tenor saxophone it's an instrument which only goes down to a B flat as the lowest note. Nevertheless it is possible to play an A below that by blocking part of the bell of the horn but it's not easy to do because it takes a certain amount of physical dexterity to be able to find something to press it against. In the days of big bands or horn sections that played behind female singers the joke is and this is based on reality that the tenor player would press the bell of the horn up against one of the butt cheeks of the woman singing in front of him to hit that low A. However not everybody likes to have a saxophone bell suddenly pressed up against their rear end so generally it was only possible to do by somehow moving your body around to get the bill of the horn against your inner thigh, something not easy to do for a short or fat person. So notice at the very end of this song as Sonny Rollins plays his outro solo he ends it by bending down pressing the bell of the horn against his left knee and hits the lowest note you're going to hear on any tenor saxophone anytime. That's how brilliant this man is and why he's one of the greatest geniuses of jazz saxophone playing ever.

[@marsiooisram4694]

@King Pleasure Great story about real music being played by real musicians 👏

[@Endrit719]

thanks for this explanation, not a big fan of saxophones but surely appreciative when people master their tool

[@user-fx5ku1kx3b]

He was using his sax as a shofar at the end! Simply breathtaking❤

[@sashaashby]

i ask any and all beings to assist everyone to have financial security, excellent health, peace everywhere and for all of nature restored to perfection

[@andrerafal1013]

Sonny Rollins is awesome.

[@DanAvenell]

I'm making a Leonard Cohen Live and Duets KZbin Playlist - this is definitely going on.

[@roxfire1920]

I have loved him for 30 years

[@la1930]

Brilliant Mr Cohen! 💯❤️🇨🇦✌️🕶️ That ending is powerful emotional 🎷

[@timwhite794]

With SONNY ROLLINS!

[@trevorjoffe219]

Simply amazing. The one and only leonard!

[@jimphilidor9031]

What a unique and great version!

[@genew8]

This just hits right

[@nadiablinchikov7378]

❤❤❤

[@heeenryk]

thX

[@sssuperstacy]

WOW

[@BELENENSE]

Eita Porra...👏👏👏🎶🎶🎶🔊🔊🔊

[@annaliviful]

Je.sus. What an incredible performance all around - ❤ is this where the phrase “blown away” showed up??? So thrilled it just showed up in my feed🙏🏻

[@carnellzabolocky5528]

Used to really look forward to this show. The three greatest singer/songwriters are Jewish....Dylan, Cohen and Serge Gainsbourgh!!!!!

[@vadimkarakhanov9556]

I thought the three greatest are Dylan, Cohen, and Cave :)

[@tdirtyatl]

I see Sweet Pea Atkinson singing backup back there.

[@nealtircuit9373]

I’m sure I almost see a smile trying to crack through on Leonard’s face every time Sweet Pea hits the “tell me.”

[@fizzlefarkle9103]

no volume - I watched this the night it was on originally - no volume - that sucks

[@fizzlefarkle9103]

jody on percussion in the background

[@frankfontaine2557]

y'é crissement gossant Rollins

[@chop-logic]

Why are the English subtitles not the same as the sung and printed lyrics?

[@LeChienish]

Sorry, but I don't know. I just uploaded the spanish subtitles,

[@chop-logic]

My guess is, that the autogenerated text is "translated" from Spanish into English. @@LeChienish

[@LeChienish]

I think that's not possible because it doesn't fit with my traslation.

[@frankbidart1518]

Staggering. I’m so ignorant: I didn’t know this before.

[@user-bo7wt5cn7t]

Сакс все портит. Великая песня великого певца

[@jazzisall1]

Dave Sanborn is in awe of the master blowing what he wishes he could be able to play.

[@matthewcohn7037]

Who came first? The Muppets or Leonard Coh+'e'n and friends?

[@malegrissusran8847]

Voll daneben !