tony palmer wrote the documentary leonard cohen: bird on a wire.
tony palmer wrote the documentary leonard cohen: bird on a wire.
who wrote the documentary leonard cohen: bird on a wire?
tony palmer
leonard cohen: bird on a wire









































leonard cohen: bird on a wire, originally titled bird on a wire, is a 1974 documentary that chronicles a troubled 1972 concert tour of europe and israel by the canadian singer and songwriter leonard cohen. 









































it was directed by british filmmaker tony palmer, with cinematography by les young. the film takes its name from the cohen song "bird on the wire".
leonard cohen: bird on a wire
"songs from a room" was released in april 1969 and hit #63 on the u.s. charts and #2 in england. a single, "the old revolution", was released but did not chart. like his debut lp, it received mixed reviews from critics, who were put off by his unusual singing voice but intrigued by the songs. in the original "rolling stone" review, alec dubro wrote, "well, it looks like leonard cohen's second try won't have them dancing in the streets either. it doesn't take a great deal of listening to realize that cohen can't sing, period. and yet, the record grows on you..." mark deming of allmusic calls it "something of a letdown" and "neither as striking or self-assured as "songs of leonard cohen"" but concedes, "despite the album's flaws, "songs from a room"'s strongest moments convey a naked intimacy and fearless emotional honesty that's every bit as powerful as the debut, and it left no doubt that cohen was a major creative force in contemporary songwriting." writing in 2011, cohen biographer anthony reynolds declared, "compared to the relative 'party' of the previous album, "songs from a room" is the hangover of the morning after... yet there was a voluptuousness in the album's austerity, a richness of the 'less is more' variety." amazon.com raves that "songs from a room" is "fully loaded with poetic classics." in a 2014 "rolling stone" readers poll ranking the top ten leonard cohen songs, "bird on a wire" came in at #5.
songs from a room