Listen to the Hummingbird

"Listen to the Hummingbird" was the last track recorded for Leonard Cohen's 15th and final studio album, Thanks for the Dance. His producer/son Adam Cohen took the vocal from the last time his father ever spoke in public, a press conference for You Want It Darker. Unprompted, Cohen suddenly said, "You guys wanna hear something I wrote last night?" He then recited a beautiful poem called "Listen to the Hummingbird" into the cheap conference room microphone.

Adam Cohen recalled to Apple Music that at the time they had eight tracks for Thanks For The Dance and they knew they needed another one. "We were in Berlin and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver was in the studio next door to ours, making these incredible, really emotional, stirring sounds. And there was something about the mood that was so captivating and inspiring that it reminded me of my father's last press conference," he said. Adam Cohen and engineer Michael Chaves tracked down the reporter who had the field recording of Leonard Cohen reading "Listen to the Hummingbird." They got the best quality version of the audio they could, then Adam Cohen composed the music "with those atmospheric sounds from Bon Iver coming through our shared wall in Berlin."

The last words on the final Leonard Cohen album are, "Listen to the hummingbird. Don't listen to me," It is a wry ending, typical of the Canadian's dark humor. Adam Cohen told The Guardian it is "very modest, very Buddhist and very funny."