RockʼnʼRoll Hall Of Fame à ist ein Museum in Cleveland, Ohio für die wichtigsten und einflussreichsten Musiker, Produzenten und Persönlichkeiten im Umfeld des RockʼnʼRoll. Seit 1986 wird jedes Jahr eine begrenzte Anzahl neuer Mitglieder aufgenommen. Cohen wurde am 10. März 2008 in die Hall Of Fame aufgenommen. à Lou Reed hielt die Laudatio. Das mediale Umfeld der Feierlichkeiten anlässlich der „Induction Into The 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame“ nutzte Cohens neues Management, um dessen erste Welttournee seit 15 Jahren anzukündigen.

Monday, March 10, 2008

THE 2008 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

 Ladies and Gentlemen, to induct Leonard Cohen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, please welcome, Lou Reed: 

You know I first met Mr. Leonard Cohen at the Chelsea Hotel and at a place called Max’s. Outside the Chelsea we were talking and he said-which I thought was really sweet-he said you wrote a song called „I’ll Be Your Mirror“ and it made me want to continue being a songwriter. Then we were sitting at Max’s Kansas City. In the back room there you had to know somebody. So people weren’t paying attention to Leonard. I said, this is Leonard Cohen, he wrote Beautiful Losers. So speaking of Beautiful Losers, which I never got a chance to tell Leonard this, and I was in the part of the tour „I’m Your Man“ that wasn’t filmed, so nobody got to see me except in Dublin, unless you flew there. You get to really appreciate someone’s songs when you sing them, when you sing them out loud. That’s when you can really hear it, but anyway. Beautiful Losers, Naked Lunch, I started thinking, Burroughs, Leonard, Allen Ginsberg, (those three), Hubert Selby, (maybe four), but Naked Lunch and Beautiful Losers were out more or less kind of the same time, but one got a lot more attention. I was always very surprised by that. We are so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is. Ladies and gentleman I very much want to welcome Leonard Cohen.

The Leonard Cohen Acceptance Speech:

 Oh thank you so much friends, and Lou thank you so much for reminding me that I wrote a couple of good lines. I inducted you into my own ghostly hall of fame many many years ago. You flourished there from then until this very day. Thank you so much. This is a very unlikely occassion for me. It is not a distinction that I coveted or even to dare dream about. So I am reminded of the prophetic statement of Jon Landau in the early ’70s. He said, „I have seen the future of Rock and Roll and it is not Leonard Cohen.“ So very pleased to be here. Such an unlikely event. To stand here among the inductees tonight is a great privilege and a great honor. Thank you friends.