Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Episode: Leonard Cohen: A Final Interview
Host: David Remnick
Date: December 26, 2017

Overview

In this intimate and moving episode, David Remnick visits legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen during the final months of his life. The episode is a rare, extended conversation weaving together stories from Cohen’s youth, reflections on artistry, spirituality, aging, and mortality, as well as memorable anecdotes, humor, and music. Despite persistent serious illness, Cohen is warm, witty, and candid about his decades-long career and the meaning-making rituals that have guided his work. The episode also features iconic songs and poetry readings, painting a vivid portrait of Cohen in his last creative stretch.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Setting and Mood: Cohen’s Final Days

• Remnick visits Cohen in his Los Angeles home, finding him physically frail but in buoyant spirits despite severe pain and knowing his life is nearing its end.
• Cohen’s graciousness and hospitality are evident from the outset.
  • Quote: "For a man who knew where life was taking him … he was the most gracious host this side of my mother." (01:37, David Remnick)

2. Origin Story: The Impact of His Father’s Death

• Cohen describes the formative moment of losing his father at age nine, a loss that fueled his lifelong compulsion to ritual and writing.
  • Quote: "I found a bow tie. I cut one of the wings … wrote something on it … and I buried it in the backyard. It was just some attraction to a ritual response to an impossible event." (02:53, Leonard Cohen)
• Writing as a sacramental act is established early and remains central to his identity.

3. The Reluctant Performer

• Cohen reflects on his stage fright, self-doubt, and the false feeling of performance.
  • Memorable Moment: He recalls resorting to drinking—three bottles of wine a night during a tour—to manage his anxiety. (07:16)
• Performance could sometimes feel like a fraud, yet moments with audiences (such as in Israel, 1972) became transformative experiences.
  • Quote: "The entire skeptical side of our tradition manifested as an actual gigantic being judging me hardly begins to describe the operation. … Those feelings have always circulated around my psyche." (09:37, Leonard Cohen)

4. Spirituality & Jewish Thought

• Despite often being cast as a quasi-religious figure, Cohen is hesitant to ascribe such intentions to his work.
  • Quote: "I don't like to be identified with Jewish thought in my own mind ... I know that I'm deeply conditioned by these." (13:38, Leonard Cohen)
• He explains the notion from Kabbalah that Jewish prayer is about “repairing the face of God.”
  • Quote: "Creation is a catastrophe. ... The specific task of the Jew is to repair the face of God." (13:38, Leonard Cohen)
• “Hallelujah” and other songs are discussed in this context. Cohen recites the famous lines:
  • "Ring the bell that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack, a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in." (15:39, Leonard Cohen singing)

5. The Craft of Songwriting

• Cohen’s writing process is painstaking and laborious, often involving dozens of discarded verses.
  • Quote: "I've often said that the reason my writing is so slow is that I have to finish the verse before I discard it." (16:15, Leonard Cohen)
  • Songs with 3-4 verses on record may have 60-80 drafts behind them. (17:02)
• Spiritual search and discipline are echoed in his lifelong involvement with Zen Buddhism, notably his decades-long association with Roshi Sasaki.
  • Quote: "It accomplishes what boot camp accomplishes, which is basically to get you to stop whining. ... It makes whining the least appropriate response to suffering." (17:51, Leonard Cohen)

6. Aging, Loss, and Renewal

• Cohen recounts his financial devastation after his manager stole his money, forcing him to return to touring in his seventies. This proved unexpectedly joyful.
  • Quote: "After this monastic period … he was funnier. He was more animated, more light-hearted, and maybe for the first time seemed really happy to be on stage." (18:37, David Remnick)
• He delivers a wry summary of a man’s stages of allure and aging:
  • Quote: "You start off irresistible, then you become resistible, then you become transparent … then you become repulsive. … But that's not the end of the story. After repulsive, you become acute. And that's where I am." (19:21–20:23, Leonard Cohen)
• Meditation, humor, and perspective become crucial for navigating physical deterioration.

7. Facing Mortality

• Illness brought clarity and focus; spiritual struggles softened into acceptance.
  • Quote: "I have some training in, we could call it mind control. ... This particular predicament is filled with many less distractions ... actually enables me to work with a little more concentration and continuity." (21:52, Leonard Cohen)
• Cohen notes the change in his inner voice:
  • Quote: "More than any time in my life I don't have that voice that says, you're fucking up. That's a tremendous blessing … really, ready to die. I hope it isn't uncomfortable. Spiritual things—Baruch Hashem—spiritual things have fallen into place for which I am deeply grateful." (23:29, Leonard Cohen)

8. The Urgency and Consolation of Artistic Work

• Even near the end, Cohen keeps working, stressing the importance of ‘tying up the strings’ as a source of comfort.
  • Quote: "Putting your house in order is one of the most comforting activities." (24:55, Leonard Cohen)
• Shares unfinished poems and songs, such as “Listen to the Hummingbird…” (25:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening song & Introduction: 00:07 – 01:44
• Cohen’s youth & father’s funeral: 02:21 – 04:07
• On performance anxiety: 06:53 – 09:37
• Judaism and spiritual motifs: 13:38 – 15:38
• Songwriting process & Zen practice: 16:05 – 18:37
• On aging and allure: 19:21 – 20:23
• Coping with illness, work as solace: 21:52 – 24:55
• Preparing for the end, unfinished work: 24:55 – 26:56

Memorable Quotes

• "It's a cliche, but it's underestimated as an analgesic on all levels. Putting your house in order is one of the most comforting activities." (24:55, Leonard Cohen)
• “The only thing that mitigates against full production is just the condition of my body because there are times I just have to lie down.” (22:50, Leonard Cohen)
• “There is a crack, a crack in everything — that's how the light gets in.” (15:39, Leonard Cohen singing)

Notable and Emotional Moments

• Cohen’s humorous plea for his hearing aid: "Sorry, darling, could you bring my hearing aid? Yes, of course. I can't hear a fuck all." (02:13, Leonard Cohen)
• The audience singing to him in Israel, Cohen tripping on acid, and the manifestation of the “skeptical Jew” as audience/judge. (08:02 – 09:37, Leonard Cohen)
• Reflection on mortality and spiritual consolation late in life. (23:29 – 24:36, Leonard Cohen)

Conclusion

This episode stands as a powerful, deeply human portrait of Leonard Cohen at the end of his life: a man unflinching before mortality, fully engaged in work, spirituality, and memory, and still possessed of wit, humor, and generosity. The interview blends storytelling, music, and reflection in a way that highlights Cohen’s enduring legacy while offering poignant lessons about creativity, faith, and the art of saying goodbye.