Statement by Foreign Minister Steinmeier on the death of Leonard Cohen

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued the following statement in Berlin today (11 November) on the death of Leonard Cohen:

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With the death of Leonard Cohen, and following the deaths of David Bowie and Prince, we have lost yet another giant of music. With his wonderfully melancholic songs and incomparable voice, Leonard Cohen was a constant in millions of people’s lives over the course of decades, expressing life’s ruptures, indeed life itself, in lyrics full of wisdom, clarity and longing that profoundly affected his listeners. I will always remember his album “Live in London” in which once again he showed, while in his mid-seventies, why he was a fixed star in the firmament of pop.

Leonard Cohen addressed the finite nature of life for himself and for us in the heartbreakingly beautiful “Tower of Song” when he asked the legendary Hank Williams “How lonely does it get?” and bid farewell with the laconic line “You’ll be hearin’ from me, baby, long after I’m gone”. We will miss you, Leonard Cohen! Your music will continue to guide us for a long time.

from
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/161111-BM_Leonard_Cohen.html?nn=479796