Songs of Leonard Cohen Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beautiful Losers

By turns bawdy, bohemian and surreal, this is a sixties masterpiece. "Last Year's Man" is a later song of Cohen's; "Flowers for Hitler" is an earlier collection of poetry. "Darkness at Noon" is a political novel by Arthur Koestler whose title was the inspiration for the opening lines of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding".

Answer: Having a shave

"Take a look at your body now,
There's nothing much to save,
And a bitter voice in the mirror cries:
Hey prince, you need a shave.
And if you can get your trembling fingers to behave
Why don't you try unwrapping a stainless steel razor-blade?"

An early song, which eventually made it on to his third album, "Songs of Love and Hate".

Answer: Lorca

The song was a paraphrase of a poem by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, after whom Cohen named his daughter. Both song and poem are filled with an almost painterly use of surreal imagery. Suzanne, Marianne and Nancy were all subjects of other Cohen songs.

Lorca Cohen is a photographer, who contributed a photograph for Leonard's album "Dear Heather" in 2004.

Answer: The Partisan

"The Partisan" is a war song originally written in French, accredited to Marly and Zaret. Cohen, who had been a soldier in Cuba, covered it on his second album, "Songs From a Room". It was the first cover song he released. The other three are early Cohen originals.

Answer: It was dedicated to Cohen's mother

Bizarrely enough, the album was produced by Spector, whose "wall of sound" production alienated many Cohen afficionados. Spector, not known for his modesty, also insisted on being credited as co-author of the songs. Dylan's nasal vocals can be heard deep in the mix of track 6, while the opening track is a reworked borrowing from a short poem of Cohen's.

If the dedication of his subsequent album is anything to go by, Cohen's mother was unimpressed by the sudden change of style. Some critics would agree with her.

Answer: A Thousand Kisses Deep

The clue, perhaps, was in the rhymes. The song was originally a longer poem, edited for the sake of brevity. "Democracy" also had many more verses in its original version.

Answer: I'm Your Man

It was released in 1988 to mixed reviews. The jazzy track was entitled "Jazz Police", an allegory of political control. Perhaps the second most famous banana on an album sleeve, after the Velvet Underground's "Andy Warhol" album.

Answer: Greensleeves

"Leaving Green Sleeves" was the last track on his 1974 album "New Skin For the Old Ceremony". It begins as per the traditional song, but soon broadens out into an embittered rant. "Scarborough Fair" has never been covered by Cohen, to my knowledge, although many artists have arranged it (Paul Simon's version, for example, was borrowed from Martin Carthy). I actually heard him sing "Loch Lomond" (unaccompanied) in London in 1993, where he worked it into his banter between songs. "Bird on a Wire" is an original, although its simple melody has the feel of an old folk song.

Answer: Waiting for the Miracle

The movie opens on a rolling open highway with this haunting song. It closes with Cohen's song "The Future", from the same album. "You Belong to Me" was also featured in the film, but it was sung by Bob Dylan. The other two options are film titles. "McCabe and Mrs Miller" featured various early songs by Cohen.

Answer: Villanelle

It is the "Villanelle for Our Time":

Its last lines are:

"From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a better part."