Leonard Cohen vs. Bob Dylan: Who Was the Greater Songwriter?
By: Em Casalena (American Songwriter)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Leonard Cohen vs. Bob Dylan: Who Was the Greater Songwriter?
Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan were both fans of one another, but who was ultimately the better songwriter back in the day?
Pitting Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan against each other might seem a bit egregious, but it's a question worth posing. Who was the greater songwriter? Ultimately, the answer to that question comes down to personal taste. But just for fun, let's compare the two songwriting giants. You can cast your own vote for your favorite songwriter at the end!
Leonard Cohen's Songwriting Still Touches New Generations
Leonard Cohen is one of the most easily recognized folk singer/songwriters of his generation. His work spanned decades and explored everything from love to loss to isolation to faith to mortality. He often wrote about social and political themes. Though he's best known for the 1984 tearjerker "Hallelujah", the majority of Cohen's discography is full of profound music.
We can thank his history as a novelist and poet for that. Few musicians have managed to master both the art of lyricism and musicality as a whole. Cohen seemed to take on everything from East Asian to jazz to Mediterranean sounds, and all of them sounded natural.
You Can't Get More Classic Than Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan was one of the biggest figures in the Greenwich Village folk scene. He wrote some of the most incredible protest songs of his generation, and his controversial move to electric instruments rattled the music world and culture in a way that Leonard Cohen realistically did not. He was highly political early on, and he defied pop music conventions left and right.
From "Maggie's Farm" to "The Times They Are A-Changin'", Dylan's folk protest songs are still used to fight the power today.
Leonard Cohen vs. Bob Dylan: Who Is the Better Songwriter?
When it comes down to it, this is a really hard question to answer. Bob Dylan's early work is on a completely different level from most of his contemporaries. Leonard Cohen, likewise, penned some of the most beautiful and intelligent songs of the 20th century.
Both songwriters were incredibly well-read, but Bob Dylan had more street experience than Leonard Cohen, which translated well into his relatable songs. Cohen, on the other hand, produced music the way a novelist would, and some of his songs are more poetic and detailed than Dylan's. The man was a writer before he was a musician, after all. Dylan followed in the footsteps of American beat poets, while Cohen was a beat poet, albeit in Canada.
If I had to go with personal opinion, I'd choose Leonard Cohen. But this whole battle is, really, a matter of taste and opinion from the masses. So, who do you think is the better songwriter between Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan? Let us know in the comments below!
Photos of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan by Jack Robinson/Getty Images and Brad Elterman/FilmMagic
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I've had the privilege of watching each of them in live performances (including that iconic episode at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival) and have certainly listened to a lot of both of their songs, but, not counting the fact that Leonard Cohen is Canadian, or the time I shook hands with Bob Dylan and carried on a short conversation with him, I have always considered Leonard Cohen to be my favourite folksinger. I'm vindicated for that by the author of the seed. IMO Cohen's songs are literature put to music, and they are capable of getting deep inside of you. In the video of Cohen at the Isle of Wight Festival there is an interview with Joan Baez, who, answering a question about Cohen said something like "I don't understand much of what he's saying, but it comes from deep inside of him and goes deep inside of those who listen to him."
And so, who between the two of them, would YOU choose to be the greater songwriter, and WHY?
Just because Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature doesn't mean he's a greater songwriter, do you think?
I am much more familiar with Dylan's songs so I have to say Dylan.
I think Dylan has composed a lot more songs than Cohen.
Wooo, this is a toughie. Personally, I preferred Cohen over Dylan but there are also big differences in how people relate to the songs of the two.
Cohen's songs were much more personal whereas Dylan's were more political. Probably my favorite line in comparing the two is Cohen held your hand in the dark while Dylan held up a match to light the way.
Excellent explanation.
Neither makes me think of either, such comparisons are fruitless.
Yes, Hallux, they're fruitless. They aren't meant to be eaten, they're meant to be a distraction, a few moment's entertainment, a contrast of the usual fare, but maybe for some they're just a reason for sour grapes.
I herd there fruitless this time of year
Dylan. Not even close.
It wasn't such an easy choice for me.
I grew up listening to my old mans music, and Dylan I heard, liked, nd played from dads small album collection. I couldn't tell you a song other songwriter/poet wrote sung or played, so I can't compare an apple to an apple pie eyed seedy shaped core of the compear a son to a daughter left to right the water, back and forth, to and fro, until rhode heartily by a scholar hangin on to a spiked with WHISKEY , watered down the creek in the crick in his upto the neck of a bottle, then hit it full throttle....
I think we sense here a certain lack of enthusiasm for Leonard Cohen. I expect that is because he wasnt nearly as celebrated in the US as he was in Canada. With only a couple exceptions he wasnt played on the radio, which is mainly where people learned about new music in the 60's and 70's.
Yes, JR, that makes sense. However, I've heard Andrea Bocelli sing Cohen's music, but not Dylan's, and Hallelujah was used as a theme song for a movie. Perhaps Dylan's music was used in movies as well, but I've not heard it yet.
I dont know if it matches up with Andrea Bocelli but here is a video of All Along The Watchtower being played by a string quartet.
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER - VSQ QUARTET
There is a whole album
VSQ Performs Bob Dylan
I remember having an album of a symphony orchestra playing Bob Dylan songs, although I cant remember the name of the album or group. This was around 1967.
As you know, I don't have access to Youtube but I'm sure others will appreciate that you posted it. Unfortunately I can't find it on bilibili or Yukou. But here's more fuel for your fire - although both have had documentary type movies made about them, Cohen hasn't had a regular movie made about him, but Dylan has A Complete Unknown. I am so looking forward to watching that movie, since I was present at the main event depicted by the movie.