{"id":199,"date":"2009-08-22T15:38:15","date_gmt":"2009-08-22T15:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp\/?p=199"},"modified":"2009-08-22T15:38:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T15:38:15","slug":"this_song_will_not_carry_you_t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/2009\/08\/this_song_will_not_carry_you_t\/","title":{"rendered":"This Song Will Not Carry You There"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it’s 95 degrees and a million percent humidity, the only thing to love about the NYC subway system may be that inescapable space it gives you to read all the articles in the week’s New Yorker<\/i>. I probably would have skipped Sasha Frere-Jones’s piece on Leonard Cohen (“State of Grace<\/a>,” 9\/24\/09), and missed out on the chance to revisit some favorite tunes and pick up some Cohen wisdom. But it was still 30 minutes to Brooklyn and comfortably cool in the car, and so I settled in.<\/p>\n

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On Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah,” for instance, the verse melodies ascend, and the open-throated singing transforms the chorus into a kind of earnest incantation that the songwriter probably wouldn’t attempt himself. Cohen may sing about transcendence, but he seems never to fully endorse it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Later, I dug around in the virtual cupboard and played some tracks once committed to well-worn mix tapes. For a moment I was 19 again, and then suddenly I felt so very much older. <\/p>\n