Why is this 2009 Photo Of Peter Christopherson’s “Leonard Cohen Was Right” Jacket Still Popular?
The photo by Chris Carter was posted on Flickr in 2009 with the indication it was taken April 16th of that year. Now, all these years later, it is still enjoying popularity on social media. It’s striking that so many folks currently find this photo speaks to – or for – them.
Who is Peter Christopherson?
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, who died at age 55 in 2010, was best known as a musician and video designer. One of the original members of the Industrial Records band Throbbing Gristle, he was a co-founder, along with John Balance, of Coil.
The Big Question – What was Leonard Cohen right about?
The photo has generated a number of discussions on this issue since 2009.
From This Mortal Coil: A Final Report on Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson by Mark Dery (Thought Catalog: Nov 29, 2010), we learn that Mr Christopherson had released, as a track on his band Coil’s album Horse Rotorvator, “a goose-pimply, black-mass desecration of Leonard Cohen’s existentialist kaddish for suicides, “Who By Fire.” Notwithstanding the fact that the jacket photo preceded the release of the record, one could speculate that the song had long resonated with Christopherson and perhaps something within it is the inspiration for the jacket’s message.
The phrase, “Leonard Cohen was right,” in fact, scores over 10,000 Google hits. Among the many Leonard Cohen lyrics most associated with “Leonard Cohen was right,” the three most frequently found in personal or media publications follow:
- There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
- Democracy is coming to the USA
- I’ve seen the future, brother: it is murder
The Official Answer
Of course, it appears those involved in these debates may have overlooked a rather obvious clue embedded in the photographer’s caption:”Sleazy’s new ‘about everything’ jacket” [bolding mine]. Yep, according to Sleazy,
Leonard Cohen was right about everything
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 June 8, 2013 at 1HeckOfAGuy.com, a predecessor of Cohencentric.
When I saw this jacket quote, I immediately thought
‘There Ain’t No Cure for Love’.
I think that’s the most likely reference. And oh so true!
Leonard Cohen was right about so many things–a modern day prophet, although I’m sure he would say he was merely observant. My favorite Cohen songs include Democracy, Anthem, the Future, Tower of Song–his political commentary is right on, every time. In fact, IMHO, the reason Cohen left us on 11/7/16 was that he didn’t want to stick around for the outcome of the election. He probably thought it was the perfect time to sneak off (that’s what he did, even though we all knew it was eminent, it wasn’t publicized for a couple of days). I doubt he had any interest in watching the ongoing destruction of our democracy.
I have tons of other favorites–I could never pick just one. It’s easier to select the songs I’m not fond of (perhaps 10-20; actually I listen to all of them and always the words speak to me).