In my final year at university I was under a bit of pressure. I knew that if I were to get the grade I wanted, I would have to do really well in my final exam. It was about the French Resistance in World War II. I was usually pretty good in exams, and didn’t tend to get nervous. I preferred them to assignments that you had weeks to complete. But this one was different. I remember just staring at the big clock at the end of the hall, barely taking in the words of the examiner.
Weeks before the exam, my professor had introduced us to a song by Leonard Cohen called The Partisan. It had been adapted by Cohen from an older song called La Complainte du Partisan, written in 1943 by Emmanuel d’Astier de La Vigerie, himself a member of the Resistance. I loved it immediately. I would play it over and over again in my flat as I tried to make sense of the multitude of factions within the Resistance. Papers for my dissertation about Jean Moulin and his role in the Resistance lay scattered across my floor.
In the exam hall before the papers were handed out, all I could hear was the beat at the start of the song. Dum dum, dum dum, dum dum…
Then it happened. When the exam paper landed on my desk, I scanned each page frantically and came across a question about the song. It asked about the themes behind the lyrics and how they fit with the wider Resistance. Thank God, I thought. I must have listened to the song a hundred times.
In the end I got my best grade in three years at university for that exam. And I’m convinced that my love for Leonard Cohen’s The Partisan played a big part.
About 18 months later, I was living in Sydney, working for a magazine for expats. In those pre-Spotify days, I was always on the lookout for new sources of free music. It just so happened that in the office there was a computer with hundreds of albums on it. So I hooked up my first generation iPod and downloaded them.
That iTunes account ended up being pretty influential. In my year in Australia I first got into The Clash and Joy Division among others. And I listened to a lot of Leonard Cohen. I would listen to his songs on the walk to work in the morning. From Glebe, past the Sydney Fish Market and Darling Harbour down to Clarence Street.
Through the blistering light of early morning Sydney summer, Cohen told me about Suzanne getting you on her wavelength. He sang to me about The Famous Blue Raincoat that was torn at the shoulder.
His lyrics hit me perhaps more than any other artist.
And thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes.
I thought it was there for good, so I never tried.
Maybe it’s because of those memories of walking to work through Sydney, but Leonard Cohen has always been an artist I’ve tended to listen to in the morning. When the light starts creeping through the shutters. I listened to his songs this morning too, albeit with a heavy heart.
So thanks Leonard. Thanks for helping me pass that exam. Thanks for those early morning walks in Sydney. And for all those other mornings since.
Leave a Reply