Hi
This from a 1997 posting regarding Leonard Cohen (Subject: Various on LC)
with quotes from
"Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now" (Brian Hinton 1996)
Discuss amongst yourselves...
Ever faithful,
Jeff
P.S. I'm fearful that what I write has already been overly
discussed...(picture a room full of JMDL's rolling their eyes with
accompanying synchronized sighs of exasperation). Forgive me if this is the
case.
Hinton's book has many references to Leonard Cohen, mostly minor ones in the
context of his Canadian-ness, along with Mitchell, Neil Young, etc. But
there are some very interested comments, to wit:
p. 79: Like Neil Young, Leonard Cohen is a companion--and compatriot--and
not a threat. The two did not really meet until both had left Canada. Both
are famed for their restlessness, geographically and in matters of the
heart. Cohen appears in three of Joni's songs: in 'That Song About the
Midway' [on _Clouds,_ Oct. 1969]--about their brief affair--he is a devil
wearing wings. In 'The Gallery' [on _Clouds_] he is a saint, though a
tainted one. 'Rainy Day House' [sic; = "Rainy Day Night," on _Ladies of the
canyon,_ May 1970] is said to be a tender farewell from her to him, though
he was the one who instigated the parting. He left his melancholy spell on
her music: "I think I'm rather Cohen influenced. I wrote 'Marcie' and
afterwards thought that it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for
'Suzanne'." Cohen's influence has been verbal rather than musical, showing
her how poetry can be integrated into the popular song. "My lyrics are
influenced by Leonard. After we met at Newport last year (1967) we saw a lot
of each other. Some of Leonard's religious imagery, which comes from being a
Jew in a predominantly Catholic part of Canada, seems to have rubbed off on
me too." Elsewhere, she described Cohen and Dylan as points of departure.
"Leonard didn't really explore music. He's a word man first. Leonard's
economical, he never wastes a word. I can go through Leonard's work and it's
like silk. Dylan is coarse and beautiful in a rougher way." p. 94 (about
events in 1969). Joni is also catching up on her reading. Herman Hesse,
Leonard Cohen--"her favourite poet"--and Rod McKeun. ... p. 100 (about songs
on _Clouds_): Side two opens with an extremely sinister item, 'The Gallery',
supposedly about Leonard Cohen, and portraying a man as manipulative as the
narrator of, say Robert Browning's poem 'My Last Duchess'. This lover
collects women; like the traditional song 'Reynardine', there is the
suggestion he might kill them. Like Rose, he appears brainwashed. ... p. 108
(about songs on _Ladies ..._): 'Rainy Night House' is a strange song,
quietly underpinned by cello. Joni becomes a whole choir at one point. It's
a gentle farewell to Leonard Cohen--a boy who gave up his inheritance to
become 'a holy man on the FM radio'--who is gently parodied in the religious
imagery she calls up. The way 'called' is used twice, in two different
senses, is pure Joni. 'The Priest' [Incidentally, "The priest" is JM's song,
not LC's "Priests".] is also Cohen territory, an agnostic age's nostalgic
for faith, but given a sexual charge. ... p. 131 (about songs on _Blue,_
July 1971): 'A Case About You' returns to that lonely northern star, shining
through the night. It could be both Nash and (more secretly) her lost
daughter [note, reunited with Mitchell this spring] being bid goodbye to;
the lyrics imply that love is never lost, but can be recreated in the
memory, as if new born. Taylor [singer James Taylor, another lover] plays
second guitar here, which, with the re-evocation of the devil in the second
verse, suggests that he too could be the subject of the song. My own
uninformed guess is that 'A Case About You' is about Leonard Cohen--though
the couple had parted some years before. If so, this would explain its
religious imagery, the map of Canada, the lines about northern stars, and
particularly the phrase "love is touching souls," which sounds like neither
Nash [singer Graham Nash, another lover] nor Taylor, but straight out of the
mouth of 'Laughing Len' It is a deeply heretic song, in which the changing
of Jesus's blood into holy wine transmutes into sexual love. Mind you, what
exactly is the point of a wine you can drink twelve bottles of, and still
remain standing?
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