Leonard Cohen

Cohen's low-key delivery and dry self-scrutiny make room for humour inside conversations about demanding subjects. His 2006 Fresh Air interview, later rebroadcast as Zen and the Art of Songwriting, moves through poems, the changing voice, spiritual practice and the labour of making songs. The pauses and qualifications matter as much as the memorable lines. Choose the complete exchange for the balance between seriousness and self-deflation, then return to the recordings with a sharper sense of how carefully the apparent simplicity is made.