Famous Blue Raincoat Tops Cohen’s 20-Song Ranking — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Famous Blue Raincoat takes No. 1 in the 20-song ranking for its disconsolate love-triangle narrative and one of Cohen’s loveliest melodies, though Leo Sayer later reused that melody in “When I Need You.”
- Suzanne ranks second, opens Cohen’s debut album and became a standard through versions by Nina Simone, Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin.
- Bird on the Wire ranks third; Marianne Ihlen coaxed the song from a depressed Cohen, and Kris Kristofferson said he wanted its opening lines on his gravestone.
- Hallelujah ranks fifth and became Cohen’s most famous song through John Cale’s cover on the Shrek soundtrack after a U.S. label had refused to release it; Cohen later proposed a moratorium on using it in films.
- Anthem ranks seventh and contains “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”; Cohen said it represented everything his work and life had gathered around.
- You Want It Darker is No. 14, released less than three weeks before Cohen’s death; its title track pairs his line “I’m ready, my Lord” with a complex examination of faith.
- Almost Like the Blues ranks 17th on Popular Problems, an album released the day before Cohen’s 80th birthday; the song confronts torture, killing, war and mortality while taking a jab at Richard Dawkins.
Why it matters: For listeners facing Cohen’s sprawling catalogue, the countdown narrows the field to 20 tracks and exposes the compiler’s personal criteria. The consequential distinction is fame versus judgment: “Hallelujah” sits No. 5, but “Famous Blue Raincoat” takes No. 1, while numerous deserving songs remain outside the list.
Ask SkimNews
