Leonard Cohen (19,284 views)

[Holsety]

Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934 - November 7, 2016)
Vocal Range: E1 - A4

Leonard Cohen is a writer, poet, and among the finest specimen to hail from Canada. At the very least, his low-voiced singer-songwriter niche is nigh unmatched in his home country. His debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen arrived in 1967, by which time Cohen was 32 years old. Given this fact, it's safe to say music was not his first career choice, but he amassed an enviable discography in a short amount of time by putting his poetry to a tune. By the time the 1980s came along, Cohen had shed a slew of styles off his back with releases like Songs of Love and Hate, New Skin for the Old Ceremony, and the Phil Spector-flavored Death of a Ladies Man. A clever re-invention of his musical style brought him a stellar comeback with the ever-present "Hallelujah" and the undeniable album I'm Your Man in 1988. Twenty years of hard work in the music industry and a long-standing nicotine habit had the side effect of pulling his storytelling baritone down to what he calls in "Tower of Song" 'the gift of a golden voice'. As Cohen's career continued, his voice would characterize all of what he wrote, and he gave us a lot to think about with his words. He passed away in 2016, but not after offering a powerful artistic statement with You Want It Darker that same year.

Significant High Notes:
A4 ("One of Us Cannot Be Wrong")
G♯4 ("One of Us Cannot Be Wrong")
G4 ("Leaving Green Sleeves")
F♯4 ("Is This What You Wanted", "Memories")
E4 ("A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes", "Diamonds in the Mine", "Is This What You Wanted", "Leaving Green Sleeves", "So Long, Marianne")
E♭4 ("First We Take Manhattan" live Coachella 2009)
D4 ("Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On", "Fingerprints", "I Left a Woman Waiting", "Is This What You Wanted", "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)", "Lover Lover Lover", "Sing Another Song, Boys", "So Long, Marianne")
C♯4 ("Bird on the Wire", "Diamonds in the Mine", "The Old Revolution", "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy", "Stories of the Street")
C4 ("Death of a Ladies' Man", "Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On", "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)", "Lover Lover Lover")
B3 ("The Butcher", "The Gypsy's Wife", "Memories", "Sing Another Song, Boys", "Tennessee Waltz" live Montreux Jazz Festival 1985)
B♭3 ("Came So Far for Beauty", "Death of a Ladies' Man", "Field Commander Cohen", "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)", "True Love Leaves No Traces")
A3 ("Hallelujah", "Joan of Arc", "The Old Revolution", "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong", "Paper Thin Hotel", "A Singer Must Die", "The Smokey Life", "Stories of the Street", "Teachers", "There Is a War", "Why Don't You Try", "The Window", "Winter Lady")

Significant Low Notes:
A2 ("Almost Like the Blues", "Ballad of the Absent Mare", "Bird on the Wire", "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes", "The Butcher", "Diamonds in the Mine", "Dress Rehearsal Rag", "Famous Blue Raincoat", "The Future", "Iodine", "The Law", "Love Calls You by Your Name", "My Oh My", "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong", "Our Lady of Solitude", "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy", "Sing Another Song, Boys", "The Smokey Life", "So Long, Marianne", "Story of Isaac", "Suzanne", "Tonight Will Be Fine", "The Traitor", "Winter Lady")
G♯2 ("Democracy", "Everybody Knows", "First We Take Manhattan", "The Gypsy's Wife", "The Land of Plenty", "Samson in New Orleans", "Story of Isaac", "Take This Waltz")
G2 ("Ain't No Cure for Love", "Born in Chains", "Born to Lose", "The Captain", "Closing Time", "Famous Blue Raincoat", "Field Commander Cohen", "Hallelujah", "Heart With No Companion", "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye", "Jazz Police", "Lady Midnight", "Last Year's Man", "The Letters", "Light as the Breeze", "Love Calls You by Your Name", "Master Song", "On That Day", "Paper Thin Hotel", "Sing Another Song, Boys", "A Singer Must Die", "Slow", "The Stranger Song", "Take This Longing", "Tennessee Waltz" live Montreux Jazz Festival 1985, "You Have Loved Enough")
F♯2 ("Amen", "Boogie Street", "Field Commander Cohen", "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" live TV appearance 1967, "The Hills", "I Can't Forget", "I'm Your Man", "If It Be Your Will", "Joan of Arc", "Nevermind", "Night Comes On", "Sisters of Mercy", "The Smokey Life", "Steer Your Way", "Suzanne", "Take This Waltz", "Tower of Song")
F2 ("Alexandra Leaving", "Always", "Anthem", "Avalanche", "Born in Chains", "By the Rivers Dark", "The Captain", "Chelsea Hotel #2", "Coming Back to You", "Democracy", "First We Take Manhattan", "Humbled in Love", "In My Secret Life", "Jazz Police", "Lady Midnight", "Love Calls You by Your Name", "Love Itself", "Master Song", "The Night of Santiago", "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" live Spain 1988, "Paper Thin Hotel", "A Singer Must Die", "Take This Longing", "A Thousand Kisses Deep")
E2 ("Ain't No Cure for Love", "Be for Real", "Bird on the Wire", "Closing Time", "The Future", "Hallelujah", "The Hills", "The Hunter's Lullaby", "I Can't Forget", "If It Be Your Will", "It's Torn", "Joan of Arc", "Lady Midnight", "Leaving the Table", "Light as the Breeze", "Morning Glory", "My Oh My", "Our Lady of Solitude", "A Singer Must Die", "Take This Longing", "Waiting for the Miracle", "Who by Fire", "Why Don't You Try", "You Want It Darker")
E♭2 ("Avalanche", "By the Rivers Dark", "First We Take Manhattan", "Go No More A-Roving", "Here It Is", "It Seemed the Better Way", "Jazz Police", "The Land of Plenty", "Last Year's Man", "Nightingale", "On the Level", "A Street", "Take This Waltz", "Thanks for the Dance", "There for You", "You Got Me Singing")
D2 ("Ain't No Cure for Love", "Alexandra Leaving", "Almost Like the Blues", "Always", "Born to Lose", "Came So Far for Beauty", "Chelsea Hotel #2", "Closing Time", "Coming Back to You", "Dance Me to the End of Love", "Field Commander Cohen", "The Goal", "Going Home", "Happens to the Heart", The Hunter's Lullaby", "I'm Your Man", "If I Didn't Have Your Love", "It's Torn", "Love Itself", "Lullaby", "Moving On", "Night Comes On", "Puppets", "Show Me the Place", "Slow", "So Long, Marianne" live Dublin 2014, "Traveling Light", "Treaty", "Undertow", "Waiting for the Miracle", "You Have Loved Enough")
C♯2 ("Amen", "Anthem", "Avalanche" live Zurich 2013, "Be for Real", "Boogie Street", "Crazy to Love You", "Democracy", "Different Sides", "Everybody Knows", "Go No More A-Roving", "I Can't Forget", "Samson in New Orleans", "Steer Your Way", "That Don’t Make It Junk", "There for You", "Tower of Song")
C2 ("Alexandra Leaving", "Always", "Banjo", "Born in Chains", "Born to Lose", "Come Healing", "Coming Back to You", "Darkness", "Dear Heather", "Hallelujah", "Happens to the Heart", "The Hunter's Lullaby", "In My Secret Life" studio/live, "It's Torn", "Leaving the Table", "Light as the Breeze", "Listen to the Hummingbird", Love Itself", "Lullaby", "Morning Glory", "The Night of Santiago", "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" live Spain 1988, "On the Level", "Puppets", "Show Me the Place", "String Reprise/Treaty", "Thanks for the Dance", "There for You", "A Thousand Kisses Deep", "Treaty", "Villanelle for Our Time", "You Have Loved Enough")
B1 ("Be for Real", "Because Of", "Boogie Street", "Can't Help Falling in Love" during an interview 1988, "Different Sides", "Everybody Knows", "The Faith", "The Goal", "Going Home", "The Hills", "I'm Your Man", "Moving On", Nevermind", "Nightingale", "On That Day", "Steer Your Way", "Tower of Song")
B♭1 ("Alexandra Leaving", "Anthem", "Anyhow", "Come Healing", "Darkness", "Dear Heather", "Here It Is", "It Seemed the Better Way", "The Letters", "Show Me the Place", "A Street", "The Teacher", "Thanks for the Dance", "That Don’t Make It Junk", "A Thousand Kisses Deep", "You Got Me Singing")
A1 ("Banjo", "Because Of", "Elvis' Rolls Royce", "The Faith", "The Goal", "Happens to the Heart", "The Hills", "Leaving the Table", "Listen to the Hummingbird", "Puppets", "String Reprise/Treaty", "Traveling Light", "Treaty")
G♯1 ("Born to Lose", "Moving On", "The Night of Santiago", "On the Level", "That Don't Make It Junk")
G1 ("If I Didn't Have Your Love", "Leaving the Table", "You Want It Darker")
E1 ("You Want It Darker")

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}
E1 ("Traveling Light" ^[1])
E♭1 ("It Seemed the Better Way) ^[1][3]
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

…………………………………………………………………………….
*Italics mark non-sung notes.
*Boldface marks a particularly impressive example of this singer's voice, relative to the singer.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album Ranges}
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967): F2 - A4
Songs from a Room (1969): E2 - E4
Songs of Love and Hate (1971): E♭2 - E4
New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974): D2-G4
Death of a Ladies Man (1977): F2-F♯4
Recent Songs (1979): D2-D4
Various Positions (1984): C2-A3
I'm Your Man (1988): B1-G♯3
The Future (1992): B♭1 - G3
Ten New Songs (2001): G♯1-F3
Dear Heather (2004): A1-E♭3
Old Ideas (2012): A1-E3
Popular Problems (2014): B♭1 - F♯3
You Want It Darker (2016): E1-E3
Thanks For The Dance (2019): G♯1 - E3

SPOILER: Click to show

{Notewatching Credits}
Baronessa
I'm Your Man (1988)

Gatr
Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
The Future (1992)
Popular Problems (2014)

Holsety
New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974)
Death of a Ladies' Man (1977)
Recent Songs (1979)
Various Positions (1984)

IhateMana
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Songs from a Room (1968)

The Long Shot
You Want It Darker (2016)

Platypus
Old Ideas (2012)

Zedd Squared
Ten New Songs (2001)
Dear Heather (2004)

Seb
Thanks For The Dance (2019, recorded 2016)

Photo by Alexander W. Thomas

[Bink]

Is he a bass or a low baritone?

[clem]

Oct 14, 2021 21:48:55 GMT Bink said:

Is he a bass or a low baritone?

Baritone at first, and then his voice started to shift way south in the 80s because of smoking and drinking, and he ended up more of a bass. 

[fallenalien]

The younger Cohen might have had a similar placement to a younger Marylin Manson.

I think the reason many people think of Cohen as an unusually low placed artist is that he pretty much did not have an upper range. I mean, the few really high notes that are listed here sound rather amateurish, imo. I doubt that he spent much of his time on this earth developing a higher register.

And by the time he started working with female vocalists more and more (Jennifer Warnes for example), he mostly stopped bothering with high notes.

[halloweenjack95]

Dec 4, 2021 14:32:40 GMT fallenalien said:

The younger Cohen might have had a similar placement to a younger Marylin Manson.

I think the reason many people think of Cohen as an unusually low placed artist is that he pretty much did not have an upper range. I mean, the few really high notes that are listed here sound rather amateurish, imo. I doubt that he spent much of his time on this earth developing a higher register.

And by the time he started working with female vocalists more and more (Jennifer Warnes for example), he mostly stopped bothering with high notes.

And you don't have to hit crazy high notes to be a great singer anyways. Especially his kind of music doesnt require that stuff.

[fallenalien]

Dec 5, 2021 14:12:05 GMT halloweenjack95 said:

Dec 4, 2021 14:32:40 GMT fallenalien said:

The younger Cohen might have had a similar placement to a younger Marylin Manson.

I think the reason many people think of Cohen as an unusually low placed artist is that he pretty much did not have an upper range. I mean, the few really high notes that are listed here sound rather amateurish, imo. I doubt that he spent much of his time on this earth developing a higher register.

And by the time he started working with female vocalists more and more (Jennifer Warnes for example), he mostly stopped bothering with high notes.

And you don't have to hit crazy high notes to be a great singer anyways. Especially his kind of music doesnt require that stuff.

His music did not suffer from it, in part because many of his songs featured female vocalists, who provided a lighter contrast to his darker sound. For example: First We Take Manhattan. 

Still it would have been interesting to hear Cohen sing in the upper parts of his voice more often. He was clearly able to, but seemed to have lacked the confidence to develop it further.

[brutalism]

fallenalien

I loved your insight on his addition of female vocalists to 'lighten' the sound of his songs. Beyond this, the marvelous voice of Sharon Robinson also adds another layer of elegance to his already ultra-classy sound.

As for why people think of him as an unusually low-placed vocalist... I think it's because he simply was that. I mean, G4-A4 aren't incredibly high notes, and he, as you said, hit them in an amateurish way when he was young to top it off. If he tried to sing an A4 at age 60-70, he would probably die in the process and we would have way less masterpieces of mr. Cohen to enjoy towards the end of time. I think he did well to preserve his voice not trying to push it. :smiley:

[fallenalien]

Dec 20, 2021 4:12:40 GMT brutalism said:

fallenalien

I loved your insight on his addition of female vocalists to 'lighten' the sound of his songs. Beyond this, the marvelous voice of Sharon Robinson also adds another layer of elegance to his already ultra-classy sound.

As for why people think of him as an unusually low-placed vocalist... I think it's because he simply was that. I mean, G4-A4 aren't incredibly high notes, and he, as you said, hit them in an amateurish way when he was young to top it off. If he tried to sing an A4 at age 60-70, he would probably die in the process and we would have way less masterpieces of mr. Cohen to enjoy towards the end of time. I think he did well to preserve his voice not trying to push it.

Thanks. I think in his younger days, he was low placed, though not a bass, more of a darker baritone like Blixa Bargeld.

I think the quality of his higher notes was the result of a lack of training. I don't think he had any formal training and notes in the upper fourth octave are clearly outside the comfort zones of voices like his.

[leafylemontree]

So, it's been like two years since the release of this album, and let me ask, is someone notewatching "Thanks for the dance"? If not, don't you mind if I try to notewatch it?

[upthebass]

Just a quick note to say thank you to the people who created this wonderful forum. I've been looking for accurate info like this everywhere but this seems to be the only site with high quality accurate range info on a huge variety of singers.

Specifically regarding Leonard Cohen, am I the only one impressed by the fact he sings an entire album (You Want it Darker) almost exclusively in the 1st(!) and 2nd octave? For bass fans like myself, this alone is a treasure. The beauty of his music on this album enhances the experience 100 fold.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

Dec 20, 2021 11:47:00 GMT leafylemontree said:

So, it's been like two years since the release of this album, and let me ask, is someone notewatching "Thanks for the dance"? If not, don't you mind if I try to notewatch it?

If you're still interested, I think the answer at this point is "no they aren't" and "yes you may".

[Seb]

it's ok I got it

[brutalism]

Thanks to whoever notewatched the posthumous album, I was waiting for it.

[Subterranean Homesick Ålien]

Sept 24, 2019 19:29:50 GMT Holsety said:

“Leonard Cohen is among the finest specimen to hail from Canada. At the very least, his low-voiced singer-songwriter niche is nigh unmatched in his home country”.

I thought that said Cohen was ‘unmatched’ as far as ‘great Songwriters from Canada’…
So, I was about to comment:
[Neil Young and Joni Mitchell]:
“Look now, we don’t want to start a big kerfuffle, but we weren’t just a couple of hosers, eh?”
…
Then, I noticed the words “low voice”… and realized that I misread the quote.

I feel as though I robbed myself of time, as well as joy-since it’d be funny to imagine Neil and Joni saying that, with a strong Canadian accent.
But I deserve it, because I’m an imbecile.

Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell are Geniuses.
I am not.