When you first started playing and making music in the Sixties, who were the artists that you were influenced or inspired by?

 

Certainly Leonard Cohen. He was not so much influencing me as giving me hope, seeing that level of poetry and lyric and humor in music. I think what Leonard and I had in common is that we were one-offs; we were mostly influenced by our own lives instead of each other. None of us were trendy.

 

From Polaris Winner Buffy Sainte-Marie on Kanye, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen by Max Mertens (Rolling Stone: October 1, 2015)

Credit Due Department: The Buffy Sainte-Marie photo is from York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, Photographer: John Sharp. Identifier: ASC05732

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Oct 1, 2015,