He Didn't Even Knew Where The Bank Was Poem by michael spangenberg

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, of Yahweh
Do you? It goes like this, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

In every melody, rhyme, every verse
every syllable, every silent sentence
It doesn't matter which or how you heard
The glorious Hallelujah in Händel's Messiah
or the broken Hallelujah in destitute loony-bins.

One of his most exquisite songs may well be this -
'Hallelujah' is a majestic, meditative ballad infused
with both religiosity and earthiness, high-spirited atheism
It was written for a 1984 album that his record company
rejected as sub-prime, not really much of a good deal
insufficiently commercial (ready Cash is king) .

11/11,2016 - Leonard Cohen, the North-American poet
and novelist, who abandoned a promising literary career
to become one of our foremost songwriters, has died.

Record label Sony Music confirmed the death
He passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles
Died in harness, still active as poet laureate and musician
With the knowledge that he'd completed what he felt was
one of his greatest achievements, in modus operandi
until his last moments with his unique brand of dark humor.

Over a musical career that spanned nearly five decades
Cohen wrote ballads Fyodor Dostoyevsky-style addressing
In spare language that could be both oblique & revealing
Universal themes of love and faith, despair and exaltation
Solitude and reconnection, Buddha & Jesus, war and peace
Crime and punishment, perpetual love: sacred and profane.

Unlike Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan, one of his
un-conditional admirers, a fellow songwriter & best friend
Leonard Cohen was an unlikely and reluctant pop star
If in fact the unsung hero ever was one.

Cohen was 33 when his first record was released in 1967
He wrote songs from the room of his humble apartment
He played simple chords on acoustic guitars
or cheap keyboards while wearing kinda run-down
Salvation Army rags, by few recognized as textile at all
He maintained a private, sometime ascetic image
at odds with rock 'n' roll Dionysian excesses.

Cohen lived the existential rollercoaster highs & lows
Pendulum wildly swinging from rags to riches
- and from riches to rags again
to reach the pinnacle of his career as a 'beautiful loser'
Insolvency & cash shortage, always, and everywhere
No shortage of a fair share in 'popular problems'
No checking account, not to mention savings-or-investment A/Cs
At some point in time, Cohen did not even know where the bank was
Elementary basics for common folks but not for Leonardo-da-Vinci
Like Vincent van Gogh, the Trump Hotels, vanity fairs & fancy stuff
weren't necessary for the laureate songwriter to create a timeless legacy
that positively affected, re-energized and inspired multiple generations.

Before starting his one-way journey
without any Visa air miles unto the Stairways of Heaven
McGill drop-out, Buddhist monk, 'Jikan' tenderly whispered
his last words of serenity, addressed to his mystique Maker
'I did my best, my Lord, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch you
while my blues guitar's gently weeping
I was blind but now I see, amazing Grace
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went terribly wrong
I'll stand before you, divine Lord of Songs
With nothing on my tongue, but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Ha-Lle-Lu-Jah.'

11/8, Turbulent times they're certain to be a'changing
but the magic of Leonard Cohen's poetic heritage
will never fail to impress as Greater than Life
- Do lend me your ears, dear Lennie
and with a little help of my befriended angels
I'll sing you Hallelujah, king David's song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Love from smilingStocks.

Footnote - Tribute to the life and works of Poet Laureate Leonard Cohen; Credit where credit's due: New York Times: Leonard Cohen Obituary,11/11,2016, song lyrics 'Hallelujah' (Leonard Cohen) , 'With a little help of my friends (Joe Cocker) , 'While my guitar gently weeps' (George Harrison) and 'The times they are a'changing' (Bob Dylan) .