A funny way to say farewell to someone who many of the young posters would not know. Leonard Cohen was an incredible wordsmith, poet, singer, person.

During my youth and drunken coping years his music haunted me with his sweet melancholy, his seeming ease to pick my depression and his implied hope that one day I could be happy.

Of course I was not alone; Cohen's songs inspired many and his poetry is as sweet as it is deep. He also taught me something about life in a comment he made about writing his songs.

His songs inspired me to fight to be free, like a bird on the wire.

Farewell Leonard.

I was transfixed the first time I heard him. I loved the strength and depth of his lyrics, and his voice and music. It was only much later that I found out what an influence he's had on generations of other musicians. I was shocked when a friend (a psychobilly bassist) told me he had died. It made me feel lonely.