For me there were Dylan, Cohen and Joni Mitchell, the three great poets of my 60s generation.

I have tried in my way to be free.

My favourite Cohen song - Sisters of Mercy - I did a rather good version of it in the 60s which Leonard liked.

I could never understand the "miserable"/"depressing" tag. I've always found his first two albums thoroughly inspirational, albeit melancholy. The third album was heavier going, but I thought his voice was excellent too on the early acoustic albums. I discovered them in 1991, when I was 17/18, and have never grown tired of them.
His later work is more of an acquired taste, but I found the way he carried on progressing spell-binding.

His last album was brilliant. Every song is an ace. Particularly the title track. That voice!

I know I am a bit strange, but I only have one Leonard Cohen record, so that when I am old I can listen to them all fresh.

Oh Honey you have a treat in store; Leonard has about a dozen really classic, brilliant songs - Marianne, Bird on Wire, Sisters, Hallelujah - he really was very, very good with melodies as well as lyrics. And when I first met him in the 80s at CBS, he paid me the compliment of not only saying my Moon song was one of his 60s favourites but quoting me the entire first verse lyric.

The footage of Leonard on Once More With Felix from December 1967 is priceless - and incidentally exists thanks to Bob Pratt, who worked for the BBC & used to copy from the masters what he could to 'scrap tape', and then secrete those tapes out of harms way.
He's also responsible for nearly of the existing Top Of The Pops footage from the 60s at the BBC - including the August '65 footage such as Everyone's Gone To The Moon

From "Ten New Songs"

This song is beautiful.