Question 1

True or false: His final album 'You Want It Darker' was released after his death.

Accepted Answer

False. The album came out in October 2016, just 17 days before his death on November 7, 2016.

Question 2

True or false: Cohen's song 'Suzanne' was inspired by a real woman he met in Montreal.

Accepted Answer

True. Suzanne Verdal, a dancer and friend, hosted Cohen at her riverside apartment, inspiring the iconic 1967 song.

Question 3

True or false: Leonard Cohen was a Buddhist monk for five years in the 1990s.

Accepted Answer

True. He spent five years at the Mount Baldy Zen Center in California, ordained as a monk named Jikan, meaning 'silent one.'

Question 4

True or false: Cohen's first novel was published after his first album.

Accepted Answer

False. His first novel, 'Beautiful Losers,' came out in 1966, a year before his debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen.'

Question 5

True or false: He performed a duet with Bob Dylan on Dylan's 1975 album 'Blood on the Tracks.'

Accepted Answer

False. Cohen never sang on that album; they admired each other but never recorded together commercially.

Question 6

True or false: He wrote 'Hallelujah' in just one afternoon while staying at a hotel.

Accepted Answer

False. Cohen famously wrote over 80 draft verses for 'Hallelujah,' laboring on it for years before its release in 1984.

Question 7

True or false: Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2011.

Accepted Answer

True. Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award honored him for his literary contributions, citing his poetic impact on generations.

Question 8

True or false: Leonard Cohen was a direct descendant of the biblical Aaron, Moses' brother.

Accepted Answer

False. While his last name suggests priestly lineage, no verified genealogical evidence links him directly to the biblical Aaron.

Leonard Cohen Trivia Questions