Close
I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen
"Larger Image
I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen

I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen

by Sylvie Simmons

McClelland & Stewart | October 23, 2012 | Hardcover

Based on 30 ratings | Rate this
The definitive biography of one of the most emigmatic, beloved, and celebrated artists of our time.

Leonard Cohen''s extensive and successful recent worldwide tour has demonstrated that his popularity across generations and borders has never been greater. Cohen''s life is one of singular mystique. This major in-depth biography is the book Cohen''s fans have been waiting for. Acclaimed writer/journalist Sylvie Simmons has interviewed more than 100 figures from Cohen''s life and work, including his main muses; the women in his life -- from Suzanne and Marianne to Rebecca de Mornay and Anjani Thomas; artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, David Crosby, Judy Collins, and Philip Glass; his record producers; his closest friends, from childhood to adulthood; and many of the spiritual figures who have influenced his life.

Cohen, notoriously private, has granted interviews himself. Thoroughly researched and thoughtful, penetrating and lively, fascinating and revealing of stories and facts never read before, I''m Your Man offers new perspectives on Cohen and his life. It will be one of the most talked-about books of the season, and for years to come.
In Stock
This item is eligible for FREE SHIPPING.
See details
save 34%

$23.10

was $35.00

$21.94

Member Price

or, Used from $35.49

add to cart
add to wish list add to gift list

Find it in Store

See if this item is available in a store near you.

* Prices may vary in store
find it now

Reviews of I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen

1 review from our community
see all | write a review
  • 8 months ago
    A great read.
    I’m Your Man By Sylvie Simmons For so many of us it feels as if Leonard Cohen has always been here, an intimate part of our lives, and yet, essentially unknown. Famous but intensely private; expressive yet entirely enigmatic – always, it seems, hiding in plain sight. Cohen is both a challenging and rewarding subject and I’m Your Man is everything one could hope for in a biography of one of Canada’s most iconic and world acclaimed artists. Sylvie Simmons pays tribute to his majestic career while sharing an intimate portrait of the music and literary scenes that are his life’s work – from his poetry debut in 1956, to his world tour supporting Old Ideas in 2012. Any appreciation of his creative output must of course take into account his eventful life and this is where Simmons is most illuminating. She is able to manoeuver through the myths and evasions that have always surrounded the legend that is Leonard Cohen. Simmons conducted interviews with more than 100 of Cohen’s friends and associates, including Judy Collins, Rebecca De Mornay, Marianne and both Suzannes. Cohen speaks candidly about being Jewish, his lifelong search for faith, his bouts of depression, his efforts at love and finally finding peace in acknowledging ‘the crack in everything…that’s how the light gets in’. In this definitive biography, Sylvie Simmons has given us a compelling picture of this complicated, exacting and elusive artist. For fans of Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man is a gift – an opportunity to spend hours up as close as we can hope to get to this extraordinary, irresistible and enduring talent.
    …read more
    Was this review helpful?
    28
    3
    reply
Write a review using your social networks

– More About This Product –

I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen

I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen

by Sylvie Simmons

add to cart

From the Publisher

The definitive biography of one of the most emigmatic, beloved, and celebrated artists of our time.

Leonard Cohen''s extensive and successful recent worldwide tour has demonstrated that his popularity across generations and borders has never been greater. Cohen''s life is one of singular mystique. This major in-depth biography is the book Cohen''s fans have been waiting for. Acclaimed writer/journalist Sylvie Simmons has interviewed more than 100 figures from Cohen''s life and work, including his main muses; the women in his life -- from Suzanne and Marianne to Rebecca de Mornay and Anjani Thomas; artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, David Crosby, Judy Collins, and Philip Glass; his record producers; his closest friends, from childhood to adulthood; and many of the spiritual figures who have influenced his life.

Cohen, notoriously private, has granted interviews himself. Thoroughly researched and thoughtful, penetrating and lively, fascinating and revealing of stories and facts never read before, I''m Your Man offers new perspectives on Cohen and his life. It will be one of the most talked-about books of the season, and for years to come.

Format: Hardcover

Dimensions: 576 Pages, 5.91 × 9.06 × 1.57 in

Published: October 23, 2012

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Language: English

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10: 0771080409

ISBN - 13: 9780771080401

From the Critics

Leonard Cohen’s songs mix the sleazy and the sacred in ways that break down both categories. This music, delivered in Cohen’s nasal non-voice, often played on cheap synthesizers, shoddily produced, sometimes badly recorded and unreliably distributed, nevertheless finds unlikely access to words like “holy,” “saint,” and “prayer” as though to transcend its origins in the gut and the loins. Cohen has attracted many disciples and inspired many conversions. He is one of the most beloved figures in modern pop, but everyone who listens to Cohen feels he has bailed him out of impending obscurity. He is a kind of permanent alternative to whatever it is you’ve been listening to: I came to him after I’d listened too much to the Nineties West Coast band Pavement, with whom he has zero in common. Somehow I felt I’d been making a mistake, all this time, listening to other bands and singers. The feeling passed, but it’s a common one: Cohen inspires not just loyalty but a weird monogamy. Cohen has the ubiquity of Waldo or Zelig, turning up on the fringe of every picture. People who have never even heard of Cohen have heard his songs. He is a regular on movie soundtracks of all kinds. His songs created much of the power of Robert Altman’s marvelous Seventies western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller. In another vein, “Hallelujah,” his most famous song, played at the end of Shrek as the two computer-generated ogres embraced. This was an odd choice, considering the fact that the most famous lyrics from tha
read more read less

About the Author

SYLVIE SIMMONS is one of the best-known names in rock journalism. She has written for Q, Rolling Stone, Sounds, Kerrang!, Tracks, Blender, and Creem, among others. She writes for MOJO, in which she has a monthly American column and has had cover stories about Neil Young, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys , AC/DC, and Johnny Cash. She also writes for British newspapers including Times, the Sunday Sport, and the Guardian. In the US, she writes for the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • My Gift List
  • My Wish List
  • Shopping Cart