From his 1967 debut through this hand-picked 2002 reckoning, no songwriter confounds the sacred and the profane more poetically than this Canadian. Cohen's dark baritone voice and deceptively simple arrangements lend Biblical authority to early songs like "Suzanne" and "Sisters of Mercy". The life-affirming "Hallelujah" preceded "I'm Your Man" and "The Future", which depicted both life and love as a battlefield. Later songs like "A Thousand Kisses Deep" reflect Cohen's experience as a Zen monk.