Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

False. Cohen's first novel, 'The Favorite Game,' was published in 1963, four years before his debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967).

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

False. Blood on the Tracks is a solo Bob Dylan album with no guest vocalists. Leonard Cohen never appeared on the record.

Question 5

True or false: Leonard Cohen was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the Mount Baldy Zen Center in the 1990s.

Accepted Answer

True. Cohen was ordained as a Rinzai Zen monk in 1996, taking the name Jikan ('silent one'). He lived and served at the Mount Baldy Zen Center, studying under Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

Question 6

True or false: Leonard Cohen 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: Leonard Cohen was born in the United States.

Accepted Answer

False. He was born in Westmount, Quebec, Canada.

Question 8

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.

Leonard Cohen Trivia Questions