Hallelujah: A Conversation with Leonard Cohen

In 1985 I was just another Leonard Cohen fan. I had been since 1968 when I heard his glorious ‘golden’ voice for the first time seeing the equally hypnotic song, Sisters of Mercy. I had seen him in concert in 1970 two 1976 and 1979. As a professional photographer, I also photographed those concerts. However, in early 1985 as I listened to Various Positions, his latest album, and loved in particular, tracks such as Hallelujah and The Night Comes On - though the latter chilled me, and that is a tale I tell in the backstory of the 1985 interview with Leonard - something told me that this time I had to actually meet and talk with the man, in-depth. I knew Leonard was due back in Dublin to do two concerts, so I all but implored a magazine editor to allow me to interview Cohen. He did. How could I have known that this interview would reroute the rest of my life and lead to me interviewing roughly 1400 celebrities, including Leonard, twice again? And to me thanking him until literally the day he died - on that day I sent him an email - for the mystical influence our first meeting and his work overall had on my life. This is the first of three books based on my interviews with and rooted in my undying passion for, the works of Leonard Coen. Hallelujah.