Who's the better writer Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan?

Who's the better writer Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan?

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LC all the way

both suck

neither can fucking sing and have covers more famous than the original work

bob dylan by a mile
sage'd

why

who the fuck has dylan covers more famous than dylans best?

pretty boy Bob

Hendrix, like it or not. His version of All Along The Watchtower is the fourth result on Youtube when you search "Bob Dylan" and has far more views than any Bob Dylan songs.

Bob. I still like Leonard Cohen though.

covers implies plural.

good luck giving me another one.

It’s worth considering that Bob Dylan’s album releases are swiftly taken off YouTube, so what remains tends to only be official music videos (which are few in number), official live footage (of which there isn’t much), and poor quality bootleg footage. That skews viewing figures downwards.

the byrds cover of mr tamborine man was so good that when dylan heard it he said that the song was theirs now

>Spotify
>169,999,046
>9,318,700

youtube.com/watch?v=uPqAvgN6Tyw

just to clarify this is what you are talking about

that was absolutely awful

Knockin on Heaven's Door

Ah well, no accounting for plebs.

all these posts still don't who is the better writer

Leonard

Dylan was more accessible to people though

Some Dylan songs it seems like he's not even trying or just taking the piss to annoy people

buh-bub-bobbyyyy

lol if you think that

Dylan > Neil > Cohen

Dylan - 5
Leonard - 2

I vote Neil

i mean all along the watch tower is in no way dylan's biggest track
plus like when you release a volume of music as large as dylan has you're bound to have a few people hear something they can build upon
if anything that just gives bobby d more points

i vote b o b

Cohen obviously

Dylan. Anyone who says otherwise is trying way too hard. You can make the argument that Leonard Cohen is the better lyricist (you'd be wrong there as well). But Dylan is the better songwriter and it's not even fucking close.

why

why

Dylan. Leonard Choen is basically trying to be Dylan but forgot to have a sense of humor, or to write songs in more than one style.

Anyone who has listened to both would say obviously Cohen lol

Townes Van Zandt

why

Cohen always done his own thing. And he has funny songs/lines, it just goes over your head.

a lot of dylans lyrics are just him trying to rhyme something and people ascribing way to deep a meaning to the lyrics

>Townes Van Zandt
Why did he destroy himself bros

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What a douchey comment

Wanted to start a new thread, but I may as well post here.

Whats the best place to start, if I wanna get into Dylan?

Start with Cohen because Dylan is a musical midget compared to him

I’ve listened to both extensively. Dylan is a far better songwriter and lyricist.

lenny coco

Neil young is far better than cohen.

Start Bringing It All Back Home

No

>this is what actual retards believe
Until even a few years ago, it was impossible to even find any Bob Dylan music on youtube or any streaming service

Anyone who would look at the thousands of artists who covered Dylan and the dozens who had hits with his songs, including many who had hits with his throwaways, it's undeniably Dylan

It's not a sign of being an amazing writer if you are only known for your versions of your songs, then the appeal clearly lies in your performance ability such as Cohen's voice (granted I think 99% of Dylan covers are inferior to his versions but that's personal opinion)

Dylan's a better songwriter, cohen and dylan are pretty close in terms of lyrical writing. I don't think there's a point to arguing who's better because they're both so great.

>cohen and dylan are pretty close in terms of lyrical writing
Are they though? Does Cohen have anywhere close to the range of Dylan? I don't know of anywhere where Cohen was able to pull off something like The Basement Tapes sessions and just improvise such great lyrics while grooving. And Cohen hardly has a reputation for the hilarity of so many Dylan classics. Cohen doesn't really do political lyrics anywhere close to the level of Dylan. Cohen is very niche in his lyrics and themes.

Why did you?

>improvise such great lyrics while grooving.
that's what he does in every song he writes. that's why it comes easy. he writes garbage that rhymes and people think it means something and is genius.

>one period/style represents his entire career
I know you're trolling but that's pretty weak.

what about the period where he denounced everything he wrote and saying he only did it for the fame?

>an artist has to love their own work
Now you're not even trying, his running from his work and fame also produced some of his best stuff

this

too smart for his own good, he was clearly a damanged man

So two his most famous period/styles don't represent his career. Which one does? Christian era?

No, you're the idiot who pretended that last statement you made meant anything. You're saying an artist's later reflection on their work matters which is one of the dumbest things a person could possibly think. However, what I replied was to point out that this outlook actually caused him to create some of his best work so even if it did matter, it mattered in a positive way not a negative.

I've always come to see Cohen as more of a poet than a musician.
Cohen, to me, writes a much better love song than Dylan, and I think that's the metric most people judge writing ability on

If I wrote some piece that touched people around the world and in the lyrics was my struggles as a fat black woman and I came out and said I'm actually a white dude would that not ruin the whole thing?

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
Who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender
Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
You find he did not leave you very much not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
That is so high and wild
He'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.
And then leaning on your window sill
He'll say one day you caused his will
To weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
An old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.
But now another stranger seems
To want you to ignore his dreams
As though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
His golden arm dispatching cards
But now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.
Ah you hate to see another tired man
Lay down his hand
Like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
You notice there's a highway
That is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.
You tell him to come in sit down
But something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
We'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
To get me to the heart of this
Or any other matter
When he talks like this
You don't know what he's after
When he speaks like this,
You don't know what he's after.
Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
Upon the shore, beneath the bridge
That they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
For the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...

And leaning on your window sill ...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

Bob Cohen > Leonard Dylan

/thread

explain this

if we're talking from a purely musical standpoint i'd say Dylan. at the end of the day Cohen has a lot of great works out there, but they don't actually feel like songs. Instead they feel more like poems set to music. Dylan was able to craft actual songs.

that being said, if you consider the entirety of their written works, Cohen wins by a wide mile.

Good choice
Leonard Cohen doesn't really have bum lyrics the same way Bob does.

I like both equally. I think Dylan is in a league of his own with lyrics, he was a unique literary style of songwriting that's different then most. But Cohen is incredible and in his own class also.

(OP)
Van Morrison

Dylan - Songwriter
Cohen - Poet

which means Cohen > Dylan

>Dylan - songwriter
Not much of a songwriter at that. Dylan himself says he's a poor melodist. He just takes folktunes and puts new words to them - that's his whole process. He thinks of a song and rewrites the words.

Dylan deserved the Nobel prize because he opened up the whole thing and his poetry reflected the times and managed to say something in saying pretty much nothing. Cohen was cut of older stock working on tested ground (most of his songs in ballad metre), but it was all deeply authentic. Most of his songs are timeless, and the ones that aren't reinforce his character.

>He thinks of a song and rewrites the words.
Do you have a source on this?

Not the guy that posted it but he references this in numerous interviews, how he “meditates” on a song until new words start coming.

Hmm idk probably the one who has a motherfucking Nobel prize in lit

I don't think because he said he mediates on a song that means you can make the claim that he steals folktunes and rewrites them. Unless that dude has a source on him saying exactly that.

It’s not theft when the songs are in the public domain and he quite often dramatically changes the tune.

That said the folk thing is a little out of date, these days it’s more likely to be old blues and rock and roll or American standards. This has been proven For albums like Modern Times and Love and Theft, Dylan nerds have fun trying to trace the possible source for the melody.

It’s also proven for his early folk songs. Masters of War is based on Nottamum Town, Girl From the North Country on Scarborough Fair and Only A Pawn In Their Game on The Patriot Game to name a few off the top of my head. The latter one seriously pissed off Dominic Behan.