Time's up, kids, you've all had plenty of time to crank up your credit and show off your understanding of the beaux arts.
1. So Long, Marianne (1967)
For a long time this was the only Leonard Cohen song I knew and I liked, and I wondered if it would be surpassed by something else.
Of course it's tempting to list the "new" great songs first (which I've done very often in these top tens) but every time I wanted to do that I compared it with Marianne and then Marianne won again. And cried and laughed and laughed and cried again.
A coverversion by a popular quizmaster and one of the ex-LUV singers was a top 40 hit in 1984.
All things considered, not as bad as it could have been.
2. Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (1977)
It just makes me think of Divine's coverversion of the Four Seasons'
Walk Like A Man. And indeed, it's not very comfortable to walk that way.
Possibly the poppiest or glamrockiest song he's ever recorded.
3. The Guests (1979)
It's a little bit cliché to describe Leonard Cohen's music as "lovely and intimate" but this is so ethereal it borders on Christmassy.
4. Stories Of The Street (1967)
From his first album, and definitely a sign of what's to come. He has no regard for commercial song structure and he doesn't stop until he's said everything he wanted to say. I think it's gorgeous, the Canadian singer at his most Lee Hazlewoodest.
5. Jazz Police (1988)
It's about folders with a touch of eighties Bond. This could have been a song by Army Of Lovers (actually, I kept hearing "their" version).
6. Democracy (1992)
From his downbeat album THE FUTURE, but some of the songs sound very upbeat.
Democracy is the album most nineties-sounding track, or is it a subconscious connection with Right Said Fred's voice?
7. Closing Time (1992)
A pub shanty that never goes amiss, at least not in Europe.
8. Darkness (2012)
I think this is a great soundtrack for a cloak-and-dagger meeting in a sleazy bar scene, featuring a drunken and over the hill dancer who's unsuccessfully trying to wrap her legs around the dance pole.
Special agent Cooper. Could be.
9. Tacoma Trailer (1992)
Apparently he doesn't play the piano himself but it's still an instrumental gem.
10. Avalanche (1971)
It's so beautiful that it makes you wish for some kind of redemption, a glimmer of hope. Alas, even with a 5 minutes duration the song wasn't long enough for that.
I don't think we've done THE STRANGLERS yet, time to find out what they have done.
