Cohen's music has only grown in a strange way since his death, which isn't what happens to most musicians. Yetthere's real honesty about coen, and that, i think, is what makes him much more durable than so many other artists who were more famous at the time. But because, you know, honesty, the honesty of a guy who's 30 years old in the 19 sixties, if it's written right, will ring true.
In October 1973, an unhappy Leonard Cohen was listening to the radio on his Greek island home when he heard that Israel was at war. He headed to Tel Aviv, exchanging a personal and creative crisis for a national one. Absent a plan and even a guitar, Cohen wound up serenading Israeli soldiers at the front. Journalist Matti Friedman talks about his book Who by Fire with EconTalk host Russ Roberts and explains how a songwriter and a nation were transformed in the crucible of war.