Dale from Augusta, GaActually had this happen to me with my first wife. Except that she didn't stay with me. So this song, if you'll pardon the pun, stikes a real chord with me. Cohen is incredible. He's not a singer, he's a poet who sings. Adams, James (11 February 2006). "Legal battles? Cohen's Zen with that". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008 . Retrieved 8 April 2020. Yes some of the late '80s synth sounds are now dated but the greatness of Cohen's songs endure and given the state of today's singing—which is often just a lot of hysterical shouting (and now I sound like my parents!)—Warnes' tastefully restrained yet intense performances here, become more rare, more precious, more beautiful and more valuable. Where other singers tended to geld Cohen's often disturbingly revealing poetry, Warnes, working with the composer himself and introducing a couple of great new songs ("First We Take Manhattan" and "Song of Bernadette," which she co-wrote), matched his own versions. The high point may have been the Warnes-Cohen duet on "Joan of Arc," but the album was consistently impressive... For Warnes, the album meant her first taste of real critical success: suddenly a singer who had seemed like a second-rate Linda Ronstadt now appeared to be a first-class interpretive artist. [3] In a 1994 BBC Radio Interview, Cohen remarked: "The problem with that song is that I've forgotten the actual triangle. Whether it was my own - of course, I always felt that there was an invisible male seducing the woman I was with, now whether this one was incarnate or merely imaginary I don't remember, I've always had the sense that either I've been that figure in relation to another couple or there'd been a figure like that in relation to my marriage. I don't quite remember but I did have this feeling that there was always a third party, sometimes me, sometimes another man, sometimes another woman. It was a song I've never been satisfied with. It's not that I've resisted an impressionistic approach to songwriting, but I've never felt that this one, that I really nailed the lyric. I'm ready to concede something to the mystery, but secretly I've always felt that there was something about the song that was unclear. So I've been very happy with some of the imagery, but a lot of the imagery."

Gerxtenzanga, Peter. "Jennifer Warnes's Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition". The Village Voice . Retrieved February 19, 2017. In the ensuing years, the ever-charming host would invite me over to his pad, ply me with tequila and cranberry juice, a drink of his own invention he called the Red Needle, and played me his new songs. He even sang a cameo vocal on one of my albums, doing his best Barry White impression on a song called "Elvis' Rolls Royce."

Geri from Nova Scotia, CanadaReally, when you listen to the lyrics (or rather poems)of his songs, there is the obvious sexual tension to the words but more so than that his intelligence and philosophy touches you on a much deeper level than the fact that his appeal to women is incredibly irresistible. A firend of mine remembers him from his early days in Montreal and recalls his almost hypnotic charm on the female of the species, he had woman following him everywhere. Gilbert from Madison, WiI wonder if the letter is symbolic of a relationship between two persona, maybe the older and the younger or the artist and the conformist, both fighting to exist within one man. Two people rather than three complete the triangle. If I Listen to the lyric with the notion that Cohen is writing to himself the song seems to fit quite nicely. I believe Mr. Cohen is genius unrivaled among his contemporaries. Joanie from Bowling Green, KyWhat a line: "You treated my woman to a flake of your life, and when she came home, she was nobody's wife". A great writer who wears it well. a b "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Leonard Cohen Songs". Rolling Stone. 26 November 2014 . Retrieved 11 November 2016.

Damien Rice performed the song at the 2017 Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen concert. [10] First Aid Kit included it in their Who By Fire memorial tribute [11] sung by Maja Francis. [12] "When I Need You" comparison [ edit ] WAS: In the early '70s, Jennifer Warnes was one of his ever-present chorus of angels. Leonard's own vocals are earthy and expressive and emitted in a low frequency grumble that begs for upper register decoration. My voice sounds so much better when a woman is singing with me, Cohen said; some dismal quality is neutralized. In 1994 Cohen said that "it was a song I've never been satisfied with". [1] In the 1999 book, The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen, the authors comment that Cohen's question, "Did you ever go clear?", in the song, is a reference to the Scientology state of " Clear". [3]

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Something old is something new in the music world. Here with a review, musician and DAY TO DAY contributor David Was.