The people telling us to give Trump a chance are the same overpaid wankers who missed the tsunami that got him elected.

The most educated person I’ve ever known was Tony Wilson, majordomo of Factory Records. Want to know more? Pull up “24 Hour Party People,” the movie they made about his life. You’ll learn about the Hacienda, Happy Mondays and the genesis of dance music culture, it will not be a wasted two hours.

And being with Anthony H. Wilson was never a waste of time.

Tony’s dead now. The Big C got him back in 2007. He was fine just the fall before, when I was in Manchester, he had a conference there called “In The City,” and although it never made much money, it was a fountain of stimulation. Tony dug down deep into the music archives and extracted such people as Hank Shocklee, the legendary hip-hop producer, as well as attracting luminaries like Matthew Knowles and seemingly everybody who was anybody in the English music business. That’s where I met Richard Russell, the most successful A&R man working today, with a track record almost as good as Pixar’s, as well as coming face to face with Chris Blackwell and so many other famous names.

I always flew in the day before so Tony and I could hang. We’d catch up on our personal lives, the state of the music business, and then Tony would teach me history, give me a tour of the landmarks, take me to Liverpool to see the Mersey… He once took me to Town Hall and told me the backstory of paintings that went back hundreds of years, each and every one of them.

And he also told me about his first job out of Cambridge, at Granada Television, being the man behind the scenes at the TV news.

Now Tony’s version of the story was that the anchor screwed up. The anchor blamed the problem on Tony.

And what was the problem?

The European football scores were reversed. This was the late night Saturday news, and the anchor said the winner was the loser and the loser was the winner and…

On Monday morning the big boss called Tony into his office and said he was going to fire him.

Tony was aghast. He believed it wasn’t his fault and this was a bad beginning and who cared about these foreign scores anyway?

Which is exactly what the big boss said. That no one cared about the European football scores on the late night telecast. But if they couldn’t even get that right, the viewers would wonder what else were they getting wrong!

This story always stuck with me. It’s the tells that make you suspicious. The guy who brags he’s so rich and then shows up in a Ford Fiesta. The one who mispronounces the name of the club. Who cares what kind of car someone drives, who cares whether the pronunciation is right, but if he’s lying about this, WHAT ELSE IS HE LYING ABOUT?

I can’t read the newspaper. Never mind watch television. Donald Trump ran for President in plain sight and these people missed it, all of them. What else are they missing?

I know, I know, everybody’s talking about fake news and how you should buy and trust your local newspaper but I’m not so sure anymore. Especially after reading that “Bloomberg Businessweek” story about the nitwit who bought Tribune and turned it into tronc. Rupert Murdoch is not the only one who purveys biased news.

It’s bad folks, it’s very bad. And for those of you who voted for Trump who wanted change?

Get back to me when your daughter can’t get an abortion. He’s already gone on record he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade.

And if you’re counting on a social safety net if you lose your job, or for protection from the crowd, good luck. It was open season on black people when Obama was in office. Now?

The newspaper was the ultimate filter, the curator. Then we found out the media missed so many stories. It’s the web that surfaces the non-mainstream stuff. As for Trump… Anybody who interacted online could gauge his support. Hell, I’m gonna get hate mail for writing this!

We’ve got to push back. We’ve got to take over the Democratic Party from its present ruling faction, which is so deep in the bubble it can’t see the exit. Kind of like SNL. I’ve got to hear every week how great it is, but then I pull up the clips AND THEY’RE NOT FUNNY!

I’m reeling. I used to trust the institutions, now I no longer do.

This is not about the “lamestream media,” that’s just Sarah Palin and the rest of the right wingers working the refs. But the truth is the left wing is afraid of the refs, it won’t push back.

So I’m pushing back.

Someone needs to lose their job over this. Not only Billy Bush, but the person in charge of the polling for the “New York Times,” that person has got to go, the whole team has to go. Actions have consequences, and these people threw the election, believe me, if the numbers showed Trump ahead Democrats would have gotten out and voted, not been complacent. Judith Miller got us into Iraq, she got booted. Boot a few more!

But no, the “New York Times” is paying fealty to the Rust Belt, saying it will do better, which is kind of like a serial rapist saying he’ll keep his pants zipped up from here on out, huh?

If you’re making seven figures a year at the TV station your life is good. You can wait for change. You’ve got a contract, you believe you’ll adjust.

If you’re working for the paper, you think daddy will protect you. You’re not like the rest of us, who gave up full employment and are now independent contractors trying to put food on the table as we pay for rent, never mind health insurance.

As for reporters… With their inane “who, what, why, where and when,” never mind “how,” that’s not the era we live in any more. There’s an expert in every field and he or she is testifying online and let’s amplify their voices instead of the words of these know-nothings.

That’s right, I was at lunch Friday with a heavy hitter, the toppermost of the entertainment world, and I asked him if reporters ever called him… He said ALL THE TIME! Did they know anything? NOTHING! And was the article ever right? NEVER!

This happens to me on a regular basis. Some of the most trusted news outlets extant will call me for a quote. The reporter knows nothing about the subject, I take half an hour to explain it and they still get it wrong. Even worse, some of these ignoramuses argue with me because what I’m saying doesn’t fit their narrative.

Once again, if they can’t get entertainment reporting right, what are the odds they’re getting it right on the big issues, like politics?

And politics is the big issue right now, it’s everything.

Be very afraid. This is not business as usual. We’re down for the count and they’re playing with brass knuckles. An anti-Semite in the cabinet? What’s next, expelling Muslims?

You bet. No one is safe. And if you think I’m being histrionic you never grew up in a family, where the parents have absolute power.

The Republicans have absolute power. They control each and every branch of the government. And if you’re expecting the media to protect us…

As Judas Priest so eloquently put it…

You’ve got another thing comin’.

“Tronc If You Want to Save Journalism”

Leon Russell – Spotify

I do not want to be the guy who writes obituaries. Especially of faded acts most people have never heard of. But Leon Russell was a superstar, albeit for a very brief time. He rose from obscurity, after hiding in plain sight for years before that, to become one of the biggest stars in the land based on a weird amalgamation of image and talent, and those who lived through the era will never forget him, COULD NEVER FORGET HIM!

It was all about “Delta Lady.” On the second Joe Cocker LP, someone also strangely gone, despite his rendition of that Beatles tune eclipsing the fame of the original, I mean come on, when was the last time you heard “With A Little Help From My Friends” if you weren’t at a Ringo SHOW! Of course I’m overstating my case, and that’s the problem with rock aficionados, they’re nitpickers, they want to set you straight to make themselves feel good, but don’t criticize them, they lived through an era when music was a treasure hunt, when it expanded from 45s to LPs and you read the credits and combed the bins trying to discover who these people were and oftentimes the only way to hear the music was to buy it and when you did…it was like opening a Dead Sea Scroll, breaking the shrinkwrap, dropping the needle on something that got no airplay but meant everything to you. Hell, you’d seek out out-of-print records at swaps and cut-out bins, and when you got your hands on them you were thrilled. And when I got my hands on Leon Russell’s Shelter debut, which I bought in a shop in a mall in Bridgeport, Connecticut anchored by Sears which is now a community college, I got home and dropped the needle and was WOWED! It was like I was the only person in the universe who had heard this music, and I wanted to tell EVERYBODY!

That 1970 LP opened with “A Song For You,” but this was eons before covers made it a staple. Funny how your compositions can eclipse your recorded fame. Then again, musical styles come and go, but a great tune can be reworked and reused forever, it touched souls then and it touches souls now and back then “A Song For You” was just the opening track, not iconic, I wouldn’t even put it at the top in quality, I bought the album to hear Leon’s version of “Delta Lady.”

Now back to that Joe Cocker LP. The track that got all the airplay at first was “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” This was BEFORE “Abbey Road.” It was a special curio we had no idea was supposed to be heard in the context of a suite. And the iteration of “Darling Be Home Soon” nearly eclipses the Lovin’ Spoonful original. But the song that ultimately prevailed on FM radio, which was gaining steam in the New York market, singles were being left in the dust, was “Delta Lady.”

Oh you’re mine, yes, you’re mine, Delta Lady.

You can show your pedigree by shouting out who the song is about, but this is not a test, this is a religious service, “Delta Lady” is an under three minute tear anchored by boogie-woogie-esque piano and a backup chorus and it’s perfection until you hear…

Leon’s recording.

Leon’s is the same song yet different, it’s got a swagger, it’s a Hollywood production number that could have been featured on one of those variety programs that still dominated the television airwaves. Leon’s vocal was as rough and unique and almost as good as Joe’s, and this is rarely the case, the writer’s take is oftentimes a poor imitation.

Imagine this, dropping the needle on the record of someone unknown and being BLOWN AWAY!

And the funny thing about this slightly slower “Delta Lady” is that it had everything, INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK, in the production. It was like they went out on Sunset Boulevard and recruited every member of the AF of M to come in and add magic, levitate the building. That’s right, coming out of the speakers was a sound so mellifluous it made you want to crawl into your stereo and join the musical circus. Which we did, the Beatles get deserved accolades, but there were second and third waves. The second was Cream and Jimi Hendrix from the U.K., but then L.A. took over, it was where it was happening, everybody who’d paid their dues suddenly emerged intact to dominate.

But “Delta Lady” was not the only killer on the solo debut. (That’s right, Leon had made music with Marc Benno that had lived in obscurity as the Asylum Choir but it resurfaced after Leon broke through.) I actually preferred the second cut on the album, “Dixie Lullaby” to the opener, “A Song For You.” It swung, this was not a developing artist, he was FULLY-FORMED! And you’ve got to hear “Shoot Out On The Plantation” and “Hummingbird,” but the tour-de-force is the album’s closer, “Roll Away The Stone.”

Roll away the stone
Don’t leave me here alone
Resurrect and protect me
Don’t leave me laying here
What will they do in two thousand years

Probably not listen to Leon Russell records, never mind the Beatles, but the essence of music, the way it infects you in this track, that will remain.

And all because of credits on the back of the “Joe Cocker!” album. Leon Russell wrote “Delta Lady” and co-produced it and I followed this information down the rabbit hole into a world of happiness.

And then came “Mad Dogs & Englishmen.”

I saw it. At the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. There was a bit of advance word, but nothing could prepare you for this extravaganza of twenty-odd players and singers who came to town to overwhelm you and leave you talking about it for months afterward, until the double live album came out and everybody got the message.

And the majordomo was the silver-haired devil himself, Joe Cocker was barely more than a bit player, the star was the guy in the top hat, Leon Russell.

And it ruined Joe’s career, he lost control, he drank too much, it would be years before he righted the ship, but suddenly, Leon Russell was a SUPERSTAR!

Imagine that. New bands play Coachella and despite press no one reads they never break through. This guy goes on a tour long before the information age takes hold and he emerges a household name!

And then came “Leon Russell And The Shelter People.”

It was all about “Stranger In A Strange Land.” It was like this sound emerged from a swamp and you couldn’t help but wade in and be sucked down. Long before musicians sold out, when the music was enough, Leon Russell held the hearts and minds of a generation in his hand, he was a leader who infected them with his self-created sound and they couldn’t get enough.

And one of my favorite memories occurred decades later, in a hotel room with Tommy Nast long after midnight during one of those ubiquitous radio conferences which no longer exist wherein Mr. Nast proceeded to recite the entire rap which ends “Stranger In A Stranger Land” word for word, that was the power of music, we needed to know it by HEART!

And now Leon Russell is surfing the zeitgeist, when being a musician is the apotheosis, no one wanted to be President, they just wanted to get on the bus, work in the studio, sell records in a shop, they just needed to get CLOSER!

And the third solo album began with “Tight Rope,” another composition that has sustained. But the best track is probably the follow-up, “Out In The Woods.” Yet my favorite song is “If The Shoe Fits.”

Can you get us in free
My girlfriend and me
We like the songs, but we hate to pay

I swear to god, I’m walking into Watkins Glen with the ticket I purchased and as the guard is saying it’s now a free concert “If The Shoe Fits” comes over the PA, HONESTLY!

And then Leon pushed it over the limit with his triple-disc concert album “Leon Live” which I actually bought and barely listened to, went country, got married, seemed to lose the plot and was forgotten, almost that fast. Your hold on fame is very tenuous. But talent is forever.

And now he’s dead.

I could go back to the studio years. Talk about playing on “This Diamond Ring” and helping compose “She’s Just My Style,” one of the few Beach Boys-inspired tracks that actually works, I can write about the beginning of the live years with Delaney & Bonnie, I can take you from there to here but when someone dies it’s not about informing those out of the loop but reminding those who were actually there how special the work of the person was, and Leon Russell’s was certainly special.

So now what.

We didn’t expect these players to outlive us, but we did think they’d ride with us until the end, say goodbye and get off the train at a similar time. I mean once you’ve escaped the drug years, once you’ve made it past fifty, you’re supposed to still hang around, right?

I guess not.

I don’t expect anybody under the age of thirty to know what I’m talking about, they think a star is someone who self-promotes online and gets paid, they don’t understand it’s all about paying dues with the hope of bursting into a supernova, knowing only a few have the juice and the rest have to get out of the way.

And if you’re under forty you might remember Leon Russell as that guy Elton John made an album with, but other than that you’re probably clueless.

But if you’re a baby boomer, this is someone you knew, whose music was in the air, someone who rode shotgun with your life that will soon come to an end also.

And just about everything that was important to us will be forgotten. It’s already being forgotten. You get a few hosannas in the media when these personages go, but after new tweets replace the old, when the news cycle moves on, there’s rarely another word.

Leon Russell’s story is an American one. How someone from nowhere, godforsaken Oklahoma, can end up dominating the culture, our entire nation, based on talent and hard work, whew!

Leon’s story is one of a bygone era, when music told you which way the wind blew, when you couldn’t wait to go on a journey with your heroes, the most famous and oftentimes richest people in the land.

I don’t know who goes next. Who walks the plank and is gone forever. I fear the leavings will become de rigueur, they will be seen as the way of the world, the passing of the baton to a younger generation. But that would be missing the point.

And the point is for a period of years, now gone, music dominated the world, it was the culture. And it made more money than movies, music built Time Warner Cable. And just like Warner Music was cast off by the conglomerate today music is a second class citizen. MTV made it about fame, about looks and dancing, the penumbra as opposed to the nougat. And then the internet blew a hole in not only the compensation paradigm, but the ability to dominate. And what once was, is now gone.

That’s right, boomers lived through a golden musical era. They were late to the digital age, many have not caught up. Good times are still ahead, but they’re very different from the times we had. When you were addicted to the radio, when you heard something and didn’t stop there, but dug deeper and found jewels, when you went to clubs and theatres to see acts so innovative you wondered if they came from Mars.

Leon Russell was one of those people. He gave us shelter. He provided asylum in a confusing world. I have no idea who’s giving us shelter from Donald Trump, but I do know Leon and the rest of the free thinkers showed us the world was not run by Richard Nixon.

How many days has it been
Since I was born
How many days until I die
Do I know any ways
That I can make you laugh
Or do I only know how to make you cry

Today I’m crying, but Leon you did make me laugh, with the joy of being alive, of hearing a great tune, of being exposed to exquisite musicianship, you made me feel like I belonged, that I was not a stranger in a strange land.

And for that I thank you.

God bless.

Nothin’ But The Truth – Spotify

Nothin’ But The Truth – YouTube

There’s no room for white men in the Democratic Party, hardworking individuals who believe they’re doing the right thing and just want to feed their families, and drink a little beer…

That’s what Van Jones said on the David Axelrod podcast.

I’ll be honest, it’s been too surreal. Like we’re living in a sci-fi/horror movie, but when the monster comes on nobody laughs and the lights never go up, and you start to realize half of the audience is with you and half is against, and the half that’s against, they want their pound of flesh.

That’s right, it’s a “Merchant Of Venice” reference, hopefully they still teach Shakespeare in high school, although I skipped the bard in college because the egotist blowhard teaching the subject rubbed me the wrong way, I couldn’t imagine spending a whole semester with him.

And many people can’t imagine spending four more years with a Democrat.

That’s another thing Van Jones said in that podcast, that when he left Tennessee for Yale Law School the students in New Haven made fun of him, even the African-Americans, he didn’t know the words, he wasn’t as well read, he didn’t go to Stanford, never mind Andover, he was behind the curve. Jones decided to beat these wankers at their own game, by reading, which is what put these people ahead of him in the first place. And I experienced that firsthand, at Middlebury, I thought the guy pronouncing Celtic with a “K” was an uneducated nitwit, but it was I who was uninformed, I went to a college composed of 45% prep school graduates, taught me a thing or two, which most people never learn. That was the advantage of going to Middlebury, seeing how the other half lived. Most people never see how the other half lives. And the other half… In their NPR holier-than-thou attitude they become hatable, and are rejected.

Van Jones said that too. Very gently. I’m histrionic, he’s calm. And when he talked about fathers…

My mind was blown. You see you can’t be a man anymore, they don’t need men, and of course I’m overstating, but the truth is there’s no discussion of rape, not amongst reasonable people, it’s a third rail topic, taboo, and someone accused is guilty, in some cases even if proven innocent. And I don’t mean women aren’t taken advantage of, I’m not saying that when they come forth their lives aren’t ruined, all I’m saying is if you’re a man, you can shut up…

Or vote for Donald Trump.

There, I said it.

I don’t want to hear any more about the popular vote, or the lack of turnout. Donald Trump won, fair and square. By the rules as written. Try to change them if you want, but we couldn’t even pass the Equal Rights Amendment, good luck.

So, if we want change, we have to start with ourselves. We have to cast aside our own prejudices, be more accepting, let others into the tent, otherwise the Democratic Party is doomed. It can’t win with only the intelligentsia and the Latinos and African-Americans, Trump just proved that.

Not that I’m not scared, I’m scared plenty.

Did you see that story in the “New York Times,” about an increase in hate activity on campus since the election, brazen actions? Is it trumped up or real, who knows, because the truth is I can no longer trust the “Times,” not because the right wing denigrated it, but because it got it so wrong, and is so old school, believing the institution is more important than its employees. No, we live in a world of stars, and they keep leaving the “Times,” because there’s no room for them to stretch out and be them, whether it be Nate Silver or Frank Rich. All we’ve got left is faceless workers beholden to the Gray Lady, and that just sucks.

But the point is, we’re all Jews now, we’re all African-Americans.

Anti-Semitism?

Can I tell you about the time they spray-painted “Jew” and a Star of David on my garage? How did they know? I’d only been living in my abode briefly and hadn’t interacted with anybody!

Be very afraid.

That’s Tavis Smiley’s point, that we’re all African-Americans now, who’ve been enduring hatred and discrimination from time immemorial, now we know what it feels like. And we know you can never give up on fighting back.

But right now I’m reeling.

I certainly can’t believe in media institutions, it wasn’t only the “Times” that got it wrong, it’s like everybody ignored an entire swath of Americans. Not all Trump voters are bad people, but when they’re constantly told they are, when they keep ceding economic territory as the elites fight over microaggressions, they dig their heels in in protest. It’s kind of like rioters burning down their own neighborhoods. You might think it’s stupid, but when you’ve got nothing and no one’s paying attention you don’t care. And after the Rodney King verdict rioters invaded Hollywood. Are we safe in America or not?

I’m worried about the Supreme Court.

But I don’t think the average person even knows how it works. That the justices hold the legality of abortion in their own little hands, that they ride herd over voter laws and corporate donations and so much more. It’s always the fine print that’ll get you. But no one cares about the fine print anymore, but how could you, every time you download new software, which seemingly happens every day, you’ve got to agree to conditions that even a lawyer couldn’t decipher, that take away all your rights and force you into arbitration.

So…

I’m not sure where I fit in anymore.

And I’m not the only one.

But one thing I know for sure is Mac McAnally’s song “Nothin’ But The Truth” has been playing in my head this week. Because of these lines:

I was knockin’ around in the grocery store, baby
On the night of the last election

Songs hook us up to the universe, they not only build culture, they give us something to grab on to. And it only matters if the song is important to us, no chart or sales action can convince us otherwise, it’s an emotional response.

Mac McAnally was the new country hope. And with the launch of his eponymous label David Geffen decided to conquer all genres. He signed Mac. Mac’s album failed.

It came out in 1983. I’m holding the vinyl in my hands right now. This was just before CDs, I’ve still got all my records, not for the fidelity so much as the history, this is my life, I bought each and every one, I know them all. It may be worthless information to you, but it’s everything to me.

We was flippin’ the pages in the bookstore, baby
When I realized we hit the skids
I got a book about contraceptives
And you got a book about kids

Differences, they can break up a relationship.

But if you stay with “Nothin’ But The Truth” you find out that is not the case in this instance:

We’ve been together for so long, baby
We both have had the urge to leave
With our little white lies and our look away eyes
It is ourselves that we deceive
We believe that we might have done better
But we both know we could’ve done a lot worse
Were stayin’ right here
And it’s nothin’ but the truth we curse

We ain’t moving to Canada. Where it’s pretty good, in many ways better than the U.S.A., I go all the time, some of my best friends are from the Great White North.

But we were born here. Or we immigrated here. And we live here. This is our land, from California to the New York island.

That’s right, that’s a song, one both the left and the right know. From an era where our music brought us together as opposed to tearing us apart.

I love that Katy Perry stumped for Hillary, but I come up empty when I look for the message in her music, other than girl power, what is it?

And Beyonce… She’s taking a stand, but it’s so wrapped up in costumes and production, the penumbra, that the light has a hard time shining through. Once upon a time the music was enough, can it be that way again?

And as far as the great white hope Bruce Springsteen… He’s 67. He hasn’t had a hit in years. And I’m gonna go on record and say that his bio is damn near unreadable. Sure, he wrote it himself, but just because you’re a great songwriter that does not mean you’re a great book writer. But we keep hearing the same press that said Hillary couldn’t lose tell us that Springsteen’s book is a classic, even though I haven’t heard it brought up in conversation since the initial hype died down. That’s how it is today, they hype it and we forget it, it’s not important to us at all.

But Bruce Springsteen was important once.

We just need new artists to be important today.

And we need leaders, who watch the parking meters.

Artists are just signposts, vessels, they can point the way, but we need others to rise to the challenge, to do the work.

Say what you want about his policies, but one thing’s for sure, Bernie Sanders is a rock star, that’s his appeal.

And so is Donald Trump.

You might despise him, like Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas, or Ted Nugent, but the point is…they appeal to somebody, that’s how they got their fame, that’s how they got their celebrity.

The biggest star in the Democratic Party is Elizabeth Warren. Did you see her on Rachel Maddow last night? She was inspiring. Because she speaks the truth and fights back.

We need people to fight back, not just tell us how much better than us they are.

But that’s the America we live in, where the winners believe they’re entitled to their success, that the little people had nothing to do with it, that they didn’t purchase their wares, and the purveyors know better.

Let me tell you, you don’t need to go to Harvard to know which way the wind blows.

But it helps.

But the goal is not to get too big for your britches, not to forget where you came from, that’s what Van Jones’s dad told him, a man who was brought up in poverty and eventually became a school principal.

Live long enough and you’ll discover we’re all equal. Just because you had rich parents and went to a good school that does not mean your kids won’t get addicted to dope, your spouse won’t leave you, you won’t get cancer and you won’t go bankrupt. Bad stuff happens. And you’ve got to have compassion for others.

True, right now the right wing has no compassion for us.

But, we dug in our heels and lost.

Now it’s time to try a different tack.

Now it’s time to touch people’s souls.

With nothin’ but the truth.

Ep. 95 – Van Jones – The Axe Files with David Axelrod

“Tavis Smiley: Donald Trump Must Be Held Accountable”

“Campuses Confront Hostile Acts Against Minorities After Donald Trump’s Election”

“Senator Warren: ‘We stand up and we fight back'”

Leonard Cohen – Spotify

A great song can be sung by anybody. And even though two covers of Leonard’s work are legendary, Judy Collins’s “Suzanne” and Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah,” it’s Don Henley’s cover of “Everybody Knows” that sticks with me, that I sing in my head again and again…remember when we could still sing songs?

Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Sound like our election?

I certainly think it does. I understand the poor feel screwed, that they’ve been left behind in the march to globalization and digitization, but I have a hard time seeing how cutting taxes on the rich will help them out. As for bringing back manufacturing to America…well, that’s fine if you want to pay $2500 for a flat screen that’s made by few people anyway, automation is king.

“Everybody Knows” originally appeared on Leonard Cohen’s 1988 album “I’m Your Man,” which had very little impact, because by this time the buzz was done. After the thrill is gone, after you’re no longer the critics’ darling, will you continue to compose? The greats do, Leonard Cohen did.

And seven years later, Don Henley included it on his greatest hits album, “Actual Miles,” one of three new compositions included to implore completists to purchase the LP, back when that was still a thing, buying albums.

And now it’s twenty one years later and most people have still not heard “Everybody Knows,” but it’s lying in wait, you will be slayed by its truth when you finally discover it. This is the antithesis of today’s hit and run music, this is a time bomb, a land mine, waiting to go off when you stumble upon it, a great song is forever, never forget that.

My mother asked me about Leonard Cohen. Which was kind of surprising, because despite her being a culture vulture, I was the pop music king, this was before our parents were our friends, before oldsters turned their progeny on to the Beatles, when to be on the same page as your parents was a rare event.

And the first album made an impact, back when records didn’t have to chart, didn’t have to have a single, to do so.

You should probably start here, with 1968’s “Songs of Leonard Cohen,” produced by the unheralded John Simon who’s been forgotten by the wankers inducting second-rate poseurs into the Hall of Fame while he midwifed some of the greatest albums in the modern canon.

And “Songs of Leonard Cohen” sounds like a Simon album, in that it’s got a slickness, with strings, that most don’t think of when they think of Leonard Cohen today, but it’s a document, seared into my brain and the culture.

Its most famous song is the aforementioned “Suzanne,” which cemented Judy Collins’ career, made her a star, transformed her from a folkie into a pop princess. Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” ultimately put her over the top, but it was “Suzanne” that turned the tide, it was unlike today, there was not a baby boomer who hadn’t heard it, despite it not being a hit single.

Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever

Notice the difference? This is unlike today’s lyrics, which are all about status and accomplishment, “Suzanne” is about life, which is why Leonard Cohen’s song resonated and still radiates, we’re touched by humanity, flash comes and goes, real life sustains. And Leonard’s version is even more subtle than Judy’s, it’s like there’s a poet in the corner singing his song, quietly, to the point where you’re intrigued and you want to get closer, you need to get closer.

And just when you want to tell her that you have no love to give her
She gets you on her wavelength and lets the river answer
That you’ve always been her lover

That’s the power of people as opposed to corporations, they’ll surprise you, you’ll think they have no effect on you and then you can’t live without them. And no recitation of the power of “Suzanne” can be complete without reference to the lyrics about touching her (and his!) perfect body with her mind. We’re all seeking perfection, and we find it in the less than perfect, a conundrum that’s part of the mystery of life.

And the two other songs that touched me from the debut, they all did, but the ones that immediately come to mind are “So Long, Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” my college roommate used to play that album again and again, and they were imprinted upon my mind. We now know who Marianne was, she recently passed, but back then it didn’t matter, we created a picture in our own mind, the songs were for us. And we never disconnect from those we love, certainly not emotionally, we never really say goodbye, which is why these partings are always so awkward.

Suddenly, with the success of “Songs of Leonard Cohen” Leonard was no longer a poet from the Great White North, he was a member of the pop firmament, no one had previously crossed over, still, he inhabited his own space, he always existed in his own rarefied world.

The follow-up, 1969’s “Songs From A Room” is most famous for its opening cut, “Bird on the Wire,” which was famously covered by Joe Cocker on his second album, his best, as well as the live album “Mad Dogs & Englishmen,” great songs were passed around, sung by everybody.

But Leonard Cohen’s commercial impact was waning with each LP. The second and third were produced by Bob Johnston in accordance with Leonard’s wishes, but the sounds were less accessible than the John Simon work, but each album had a standout track, on 1971’s “Songs of Love and Hate” it was “Famous Blue Raincoat,” which Jennifer Warnes made famous as the title track of her 1987 album, her artistic and commercial peak.

And then it was a journey into the wilderness, everybody knew Leonard’s name, he got press, but few acquired albums that got no airplay and therefore had little cultural impact. More people remember that 1977’s “Death of a Ladies’ Man” was produced by Phil Spector than any of the songs. I bought it, it was a curio, kind of like the Ramones album “End of the Century” that Spector also produced, equally a mismatch.

1984’s “Various Positions” included “Hallelujah,” a modern day standard, but completely ignored upon its release.

And 1988’s “I’m Your Man” included “First We Take Manhattan,” as well as “Everybody Knows,” the former the opening cut on that Jennifer Warnes album “Famous Blue Raincoat,” featuring searing guitar work by the dearly departed Stevie Ray Vaughan. You see the public might not have been listening, but the artists were, back when being an artist was just that, you weren’t in the hunt for corporate opportunities, you weren’t a brand, but a malleable mass in search of experimentation and satiation as well as riches. Pushing the envelope was key, and the music spoke for you.

The music was speaking for Leonard Cohen. Because he wasn’t speaking at all. He’d checked out, he’d gone up the road to Mt. Baldy, he’d joined a monastery.

There’s this illusion that rock stars live that life 24/7, but the truth is people are paying attention for a very short time, especially in the pre-Internet era, if you weren’t making hits and you weren’t getting arrested it was like you didn’t even exist. When I went to a birthday party in the Valley back in 2003 and Leonard was there he was just an old Jew in a hat, not someone who changed the tenor of the entire assemblage. He radiated a charisma, but he seemed self-contained, in his own bubble, you could lean in, but he was not leaning out, it was very different from the famous people who are looking for attention and adoration, it was like he knew something we did not, that the joke was on us, that money and fame were secondary to personal fulfillment, and that life was hard, and you did your best to soldier on.

And then Leonard Cohen lost all his money and went on the road and became an icon.

How weird is all this. If that woman hadn’t stolen from him, he might never have played live again, gotten all that press, those accolades. Funny how life goes. You think you’re in charge, but you’re not.

Leonard got a victory lap nonpareil. He just released a new album that got rave reviews.

And today he died.

So what are we left with?

The songs. He’s no longer here, but his work will live on, he’s got a legacy.

And what is that legacy?

Someone who did it differently. Who was in search of pleasure, who experienced the pain. Leonard Cohen was a seeker. Whether it be that foray to Greece way back when or up the hill to the monastery, he was looking for answers.

And now he’s revered for that.

Let that be a wake-up call. That despite all the emphasis on money, the constant social networking, life is really a mysterious adventure you go through alone, you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, you’ve got to make choices, they’re only your own. And those who are willing to buck the trends, who do it their way, are the ones we look up to.

He was a charming poet from Canada, not the scion of a studio head in Los Angeles.

He followed his muse, it led him to a recording contract and the fruits that ultimately bore.

But when I think of Leonard Cohen today, I think of someone who was sui generis, who was birthed in an era where who you were was more important than what you did. A man who realized that telling his own personal story was more important than playing the game, that ultimately it’s not statistics we’re drawn to, but truth.

And like I said, there’s a lot of truth in “Everybody Knows.”

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody’s talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows

We all know the truth, we’re just afraid to speak it. That’s what we depend upon artists for, that’s why we’re drawn to them.

I feel like my father or my dog just died. I’ve been at loose ends for forty eight hours.

And when you’re in a spot like that, the only thing that resonates is music.

Leonard Cohen made music, and so much more.

He needed to express himself.

We needed to listen.

That’s how it goes.

Everybody knows.