You know that feeling when you hear a song and it feels like someone just walked over your grave? That’s Leonard Cohen for you. But there is one track that hits different. It isn’t just a "sad song." It’s basically a transcript of a spiritual crisis. If you’ve ever sat in the dark listening to Who by Fire, you’ve felt that low-humming dread.
Most people think Leonard Cohen was just being his usual moody self when he wrote it. You’ll hear folks say it’s a song about "fate" or "destiny." Kinda, but not really.
The truth is much weirder and involves a literal war zone, an ancient prayer about God deciding who lives or dies, and a line about a telephone call that flips the whole meaning on its head.
The Sinai Desert and the Song’s Birth
In 1973, Leonard Cohen was kind of a mess. He was living on the Greek island of Hydra with his partner Suzanne and their kid, but he felt trapped. He wanted out. When the Yom Kippur War broke out in Israel, he didn't stay home. He didn't hide. He literally flew into the fire.
He didn't go to fight. He went to work on a kibbutz, or at least that was the plan. He thought he’d pick oranges while the younger guys went to the front. Instead, he ended up in the Sinai desert.
Imagine this: a guy known for writing "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire" is suddenly standing in the sand, surrounded by tanks and exhausted soldiers. He played for them. Sometimes eight times a day. He’d sing while the ground literally shook from explosions nearby.
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It was during this intense, terrifying two-week stint that the seeds for Who by Fire were planted. He wasn't just observing death; he was eating and sleeping next to it.
That Old Synagogue Melody
If you grew up Jewish, the melody of Who by Fire sounds instantly familiar. That’s because it’s not original. Well, the arrangement is, but the bones of it come from the Unetanneh Tokef.
This is a prayer recited during the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). It’s the heavy hitter of the service. The prayer says that on these days, it is written and sealed who will live and who will die in the coming year.
The original text is brutal. It lists the ways you might go:
- Who by water
- Who by fire
- Who by sword
- Who by wild beast
- Who by famine
Cohen took that list and brought it into the 1970s. He swapped out "wild beasts" for "barbiturates." He traded "the sword" for "something blunt."
Honestly, it’s one of the most chilling updates in music history. He took a medieval liturgical poem and made it feel like a police report. He realized that the way we die changes, but the fact that we’re all on a list somewhere doesn't.
And Who Shall I Say Is Calling?
This is the part that everyone debates. At the end of every verse, Cohen asks: "And who shall I say is calling?"
In the original prayer, there is no question. God is the one calling. End of story. But Cohen was a seeker. He was always wrestling with his faith. By adding that line, he turns the song from a statement of belief into a question of identity.
Is it God on the other end of the line? Is it the Angel of Death? Or is it just the void?
Some critics, like Matti Friedman—who wrote an incredible book titled Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai—suggest that the song is about the loss of agency. In war, you don't get to choose. You’re just a name on a ledger. The "caller" is the force that decides your time is up, whether you’re ready or not.
Why We Are Still Obsessed With It
You’ve probably heard the covers. PJ Harvey did a haunting version for the show Bad Sisters. First Aid Kit has a beautiful, folkier take. Why does this song keep coming back?
Basically, it’s because it’s honest. Most pop music tries to distract us from the fact that we’re mortal. Cohen does the opposite. He invites you to sit by the fire and look at the flames.
It’s a song that works at a funeral, but it also works at 3:00 AM when you’re staring at the ceiling wondering what you’re doing with your life. It’s "memento mori" with a bass line.
He once said in an interview that the song was a prayer for him. Not a religious one in the traditional sense, but a personal one. It was his way of acknowledging that there are things way bigger than us.
The Layers of Fire
When you listen to Leonard Cohen, you realize fire shows up everywhere. It’s in his final book, The Flame. It’s in "Tower of Song."
In Who by Fire, the flame is both a literal way to die and a metaphor for the burning desire to know the truth. He lived his life in that tension. He was a monk for a while, a ladies' man for a while, and a poet always.
The song captures that middle ground. It’s sophisticated but primitive. It’s ancient but modern.
How to Actually Listen to it
If you want to "get" the song, don't just put it on as background noise.
- Wait for night. This isn't a morning track.
- Use headphones. You need to hear the backup singers. They sound like ghosts or angels, depending on your mood.
- Read the lyrics of the Unetanneh Tokef first. See what he kept and what he threw away.
Next time you’re going through a Cohen phase, pay attention to the "who by very slow decay" line. It’s perhaps the most frightening line he ever wrote because it’s the one most of us are actually facing. It’s not a dramatic explosion; it’s just time doing its thing.
The genius of Leonard Cohen was making that slow decay sound like a masterpiece.
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Actionable Insight: If you're looking to understand the depth of Cohen’s spiritual journey, read Matti Friedman’s Who by Fire. It provides the actual notebook entries Cohen kept during the 1973 war, showing exactly how he transformed the trauma of the battlefield into the haunting beauty of the track. You can also listen to the original liturgical version of Unetanneh Tokef on YouTube to hear the melodic DNA that Cohen borrowed for his arrangement.