When Leonard Picked Up the Guitar

Excerpt from new book about he's-my-man Leonard Cohen alleges that the gave key talk about the need to take his poetry into song in late 1964, speaking to fellow Jews in Montreal.  Author reconstructed it from notes.   Concludes:

As he finished his talk, the shouting began. His words about killing God, prophets as traitors, and the soulless rich enraged many in the audience. Some catcalled. Others demanded the time to debate. It was late at night, and the event’s organizers suggested that the discussion be continued the following Saturday night. Grumbling, irate, the audience scattered. The following Saturday, the library was packed once again. On the dais, rabbis and community leaders sat gravely, ready to chastise Cohen for his impudence. But Cohen was no longer there. He was in his small white house in the Greek island of Hydra, playing his guitar outside his favorite taverna, dreaming up a new way to tell his stories, training to become a prophet.

Here's that wonderful 44-minute doc from earlier that year referenced by writer.