Note: This photo and text appeared in last year’s Heck Of A Guy Father’s Day entry and remains one of my favorite posts.
Father’s Day & Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen’s reference to Father’s Day in First We Take Manhattan, “It’s Father’s Day and everybody’s wounded,” isn’t likely to turn up on a Hallmark card. Further, the Canadian singer-songwriter has consistently criticized his own record as a father:
I have never been a good civilian. my children like me. But the truth is that I tried to be a good father and husband, but I was not very good.1
On the other hand, he has just as consistently expressed his affection, admiration, and appreciation for his son, Adam, and his daughter, Lorca. And, he certainly seems to enjoy being grandfather to Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen (daughter of Lorca Cohen and Rufus Wainwright) and Cassius Cohen (Adam’s son, pictured below).2
So, when Dominique BOILE serendipitously suggested the evocative photo now seen atop this post (click on images for best viewing) for another project, I realized that a young Leonard Cohen reading from Peter Pan to his delighted children could well be the quintessential Heck Of A Guy Father’s Day offering.
Dominique BOILE forwards photos of Leonard Cohen he took a few hours ago in Paris. These and other shots of Leonard Cohen, Dominique, and Dominique’s wife, Annie, can be viewed at Leonard Cohen In Paris – June 15, 2013.
Hello From Oviedo – A Leonard Cohen Greeting From Prince Of Asturias Awards
The Animated Leonard Cohen Gallery
OK, this is the onlydesignated collection of Cohen-associated animated gifs on the internet at the time of posting. Still, there are a bunch of these things.
The collection was originally put together as one of the treats for the 2013 Leonard Cohen European Tour Advent Calendar, but like the buildings erected for the Olympics and World Fairs, this gallery will be available after the Advent Calendar is completed.
Leonard Cohen: White Man Dancing
Many entries – and all animations in this post – are DrHGuy constructs. Several others are from Joey Carenza at Sunshine, Hello. Whatever is known of the origin of the animations is given in the description. All images are easily downloaded.
Ongoing readers may recall that Watchmen director, Zack Snyder, had wanted to use Allison Crowe’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in that film but had opted for Cohen’s own rendition of the now iconic hymn because hers was said to be “too beautiful.”1
It turns out that Snyder, who also considered Crowe for Sucker Punch, didn’t forget the Canadian songstress, signing her on to sing Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire and play a cameo role as a singer in a pub in the Cassidy Inn in Nanaimo, Allison’s home town, that served as a bar for Alaskan loggers in the film.
This post is our celebration of this milestone in Allison Crowe’s career.
5 Days Until First Concert Of The Leonard Cohen 2013 European Tour – Paris June 18th
Like Christmas Advent Calendars, one door of which is opened daily, one new link of the 2013 Leonard Cohen European Tour Advent Calendar at DrHGuy.com is activated daily so that clicking on it takes your browser to that day’s gift.
If you haven’t been following the 2013 Leonard Cohen European Tour Advent Calendar, here’s what you’ve missed:
Day 1: Smoke Ring-Blowing Leonard Cohen animation
Day 2: Online posting of Little-Known, Outstanding 1985 Leonard Cohen Interview: Tortoise-Shell Hero By Biba Kopf
Day 3: Unpublished Leonard Cohen PeeWee Hockey Team Photo & Back Story From Sylvie Simmons
Day 4: Special Suzanne Lyrics Leonard Cohen Sang Only At 1974 Parc de la Courneuve, Paris Concert
Leonard Cohen Comes Out In Support Of Disco & “YMCA” By Village People
Video: Leonard Cohen’s Only Performance Of “Beloved Comrade” 1974
The 2012-2013 Leonard Cohen Tours Crossword Puzzle
The First Review Of A Leonard Cohen Musical Performance
Leonard Cohen: “Byronic Bullfrog” & Other Delights From The 1985 Boston Concert
Unpublished Leonard Cohen Childhood Pictures – With Sister Esther, Mother, & Kelef
The 2013 Leonard Cohen European Tour Advent Calendar will be posted daily at DrHGuy.com until and including June 18, 2013, the date of the Paris concert that opens the European Tour.
Leonard Cohen At The BBC – Paying Rent In The Tower Of Babel
In 1968, just one year after Songs Of Leonard Cohen, the artist’s first album, was released, four BBC broadcasts carried Leonard Cohen performances taped live for those programs. Since then, these important and relatively high quality recordings have been periodically rediscovered to the delight of new fans.
In the ensuing 45 years, however, the zeal of Cohen fans, technological advances, and irresistible commercial dynamics have combined to produce numerous versions of these songs in various combinations and permutations, subjected to a number of editing and engineering tweaks, and distributed on multiple media, inevitably leading to confusion.
Today’s post is an effort to bring some clarity to the situation.
Leonard Cohen’s 1968 BBC Broadcasts
The 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC broadcasts follow:
1. Two songs recorded and broadcast on BBC2 TV’s Once More With Felix on January 27, 1968
1. The Stranger Song
2. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye (Duet with Julie Felix)
2. Four Leonard Cohen songs recorded at BBC Piccadilly Studio 1 and broadcast on the July 9, 1968 BBC Radio 1 program, Top Gear with John Peel:
1. You Know Who I Am
2. Bird On The Wire
3. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
4. Dress Rehearsal Rag
3. Thirteen songs were recorded Spring 1968 at the Paris Theatre, London and broadcast by BBC2 TV under the title ”Leonard Cohen Sings Leonard Cohen.”
Five of these were broadcast on August 31, 1968:
1. You Know Who I Am
2. Bird On The Wire
3. The Stranger Song
4. So Long Marianne
5. Master Song
Eight others were broadcast September 7, 1968:
1. There’s No Reason Why You Should Remember Me [improvisation]
2. Sisters Of Mercy
3. Teachers
4. Dress Rehearsal Rag
5. Suzanne
6. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
7. Story Of Isaac
8. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
The Standard Distributions
Many of these songs an be found alone. The duet with Julie Felix, for example, is a fairly popular standalone YouTube video,1 no doubt because the visual as well as audio components of the recording are available.
Others are often found with Cohen songs of other periods in collections of unreleased Leonard Cohen songs. Indeed, Heck Of A Guy’s own The Other Leonard Cohen Album includes one and only one song from the 1968 BBC sessions, There’s No Reason Why You Should Remember Me, along with 18 other Cohen tracks.
Most frequently, however, these songs are grouped into one of three configurations.
1. The 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC Top Gear With John Peel Session
The names of this grouping vary in the placement of “John Peel” “Top Gear” and “BBC” but are typically easy to recognize. Typically, these collections include the four songs from the 1968 Top Gear Show:
1. You Know Who I Am
2. Bird On The Wire
3. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
4. Dress Rehearsal Rag
2. The August 31 and September 7, 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC 2 shows
Collections include: Leonard Cohen at the BEEB, Leonard Cohen – Complete BBC 2 Broadcast, 1968, Leonard Cohen – BBC 1968, Leonard Cohen – Live, BBC Television Theatre, London, 1968, and others.
These collections contain all or nearly all the songs broadcast on the August 31 and September 7, 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC 2 shows.
The Almost-Complete 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC Sessions
Titles include: Leonard Cohen – BBC Broadcasts 1968, Leonard Cohen – Live at the BBC 1968, Don’t Touch That Dial, My Radio Sweetheart, and others.
These collections usually contain all the songs broadcast on the August 31 and September 7, 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC 2 shows and some or all of the songs from the 1968 Top Gear with John Peel Show.
The most complete versions, such as Leonard Cohen – BBC Broadcasts 1968, contain all the August 31 and September 7, 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC 2 shows, all the songs from the 1968 Top Gear with John Peel Show, and the Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye duet with Julie Felix from the January 27, 1968 episode from BBC2 TV’s Once More With Felix.
While individual songs from the 1968 Leonard Cohen BBC sessions have been available at YouTube and similar sites for some time, a collection of the four songs from the Top Gear with John Peel program and the Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye duet with Julie Felix from Once More With Felix has recently been uploaded. (Note: This video comprises a single photo of Leonard Cohen and the audio tracks listed). Uploads of other combinations of these 1968 Cohen BBC performances in the near future seem likely.
Each day until the June 18th Paris Concert opens the 2013 Leonard Cohen European Tour, the DrHGuy Advent calendar offers a new link to a Leonard Cohen-related photo, animation, project, song, story, or other item not found elsewhere online.
The events of Leonard Cohen's life and career are marked on a timeline accompanied by audio and video recordings of Cohen's songs and poems as well as links to more information.
Do I Have To Dance All Night Surpasses 70,000 Views
"Do I Have To Dance All Night" was performed many times in concerts but was never released in the US.
As part of my crusade to popularize this song, I've cobbled together 2 videos - one for the semi-funky 1976 version with Laura Branigan and one for the 1980 more gypsy, less disco version - that kinda sorta fit the music.
As of Dec 19, 2012, the video of the 1976 version of Do I Have To Dance All Night has been viewed 70,152 times.
Heck Of A Guy offers 3 videos of clips and photos from The Leonard Cohen World Tour:
1. The Original Heck Of A Guy Dear Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Tour. I Hope It Was Good For You, Too. Video Celebration Of The First 14 Months Of The 2008-2009 World Tour can be viewed at Thanks For The Tour
The Cohen Fandemic
Endemic for decades in areas such as Canada, Norway, Poland, and France, Leonard Cohen Fan Syndrome has become a world-wide epidemic in the past 2 years, spread by the Leonard Cohen World Tour and abetted by proselyting carriers despite efforts by authorities to quarantine these individuals at LeonardCohenForum.
Diagnostic Criteria
Based on the observations of DrHGuy, standardized criteria for the pertinent Axis II diagnosis are now available at
Danger Signs
In addition to the formal medical description of this diagnosis, Heck Of A Guy has also compiled a list of the aberrant behaviors which indicate one is at high risk for being a full-fledged fan of Leonard Cohen. These signs and symptoms can be found at
Leonard Cohen’s Elegy For Janis Joplin – Chelsea Hotel #1
This video features the first version of the song Leonard Cohen would later revise into "Chelsea Hotel #2" along with images of Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin - whose liaison with Cohen at the Chelsea Hotel led to the creation of the song, the Hotel itself, and other associated people & places.
Special Compilation Video – A Thousand Kisses Deep
This composite of Leonard Cohen’s recitations of “A Thousand Kisses Deep” over the years is accompanied by a video montage of drawings by and photos of the Canadian singer-songwriter.
Video – Leonard Cohen Recites “God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot”
Leonard Cohen recites the "God Is Alive; Magic Is Afoot" passage from "Beautiful Losers" which was later popularized by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Cohen's performance took place in 1967.
Heck Of A Guy offers, with assistance from Randy Newman and Etta James, the writer and performer, respectively, of "You Can Leave Your Hat On," a look at Leonard Cohen As Hunk.
Photos of or related to Leonard Cohen that fall into specific themes have been among the ongoing features at DrHGuy, HOAG's sibling site. Galleries displaying collected images of 3 of these themes are now available at
Winter Lady – The Joni Mitchell & Leonard Cohen Versions
In 1966 Joni Mitchell wrote and sang a song called "Winter Lady." In 1967, the year Mitchell and Cohen had their romantic fling, Leonard Cohen wrote and sang a different song that was also called "Winter Lady."
A comparison of these 2 songs as well as a video that includes each artist performing his or her version of "Winter Lady" can be found at
Over 35 tunes performed by Dylan, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, The Platters, Joni Mitchell, George Jones, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Jay-Z, and other musicians.
Read what Cohen said about them and listen to the music at
Photos, Videos, & More
See photos of Leonard Cohen's arrival in Oviedo, the opening of Leonard Cohen: The B-Side - Drawings And Engravings Of A Multidisciplinary Artist, his speech and press conference, his tribute conference, the lost and found Famous Blue Sharpie, and more at:
Note: Almost all HeckOfAGuy and DrHGuy posts contain different content.
And We’re Still Making Love In My Secret Life – Julie’s Story & Video
... I never had a chance. I was - and this is the only word that fits - smitten. I still am.
She was smart and quick-witted, although it would take me 3 years to recognize that she was, in fact, much smarter than me, and then another 2 years to forgive her for that. She was also good-looking and unabashedly sexy.
And, we fell madly, irredeemably, unflinchingly in love.
Complementing the unlikely story of how Julie and I met, fell in love, and - 9 years, 2 husbands, 1 wife, and 2 careers later - got together to spend an outrageously wonderful 20 years together before her death, a video, set to the poignant "In My Secret Life" by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson, is now available that evokes the role Julie, who died 10 years ago, continues to play in my life.
The written account of the story (think When Harry Met Sally meets Waiting For Godot) starts, appropriately, at This Is How A Love Story Began
Clicking on Taste of LC - Heck Of A Guy and Taste of LC - DrHGuy finds posts from those sites that feature Leonard Cohen's choices in furniture, clothing (including suits, fedoras, caps, berets, other hats, boots and other footwear, swimsuits, and in at least one case cut-offs), art, jewelry, food, books, magazines, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, ... - all of which offer a different perspective on Leonard Cohen.
This Heck Of A Guy compilation includes unreleased Leonard Cohen performances over a 30+ year period.
Track List: Vol 1
1. Feels So Good (The Other Blues Song)
2. Book Of Longing
3. The Darkness
4. Puppets
5. Lullaby
6. Do I Have to Dance All Night (1976)
7. Blues By The Jews
Track List: Vol 2
1. Red River Valley
2. Never Got To Love You (Duet with Anjani)
3. Can't Help Falling In Love
4. Ride Around
5. The Union Makes Us Strong
6. We Shall Not Be Moved
7. To Love Somebody
8. The Hypnotist (Poem)
9. Chelsea Hotel #1
10. There's No Reason Why You Should Remember Me
11. Streets Of Laredo
12. Do I Have To Dance All Night (1980)
Now, Another Other Leonard Cohen Album, the second collection of unreleased Leonard Cohen songs joins the popular The Other Leonard Cohen Album to offer fans of the iconic singer-songwriter a total of 3 CDs of musical treats. Another Other Leonard Cohen Album includes the following tracks plus liner notes by Sylvie Simmons.
1. Je Veux Vivre Tout Seul
2. Kevin Barry
3. Die Gedanken Sind Frei
4. Store Room
5. As Time Goes By
6. Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-on
7. Blessed is the Memory
8. Silent Night
9. Dead Song
10. Another Saturday Night
11. Ballad of the Absent Mare
12. Guerrero
13. The Butcher
14. Un As Der Rebbe Singt
15. Song to the Machines
16. If It Be Your Will
17. Thirsty for the Kiss
18. A Thousand Kisses Deep
19. I Tried To Leave You
20. Whither Thou Goest
21. Mr Cohen Must Be Going
Heck Of A Guy celebrates Leonard Cohen’s 77th birthday (September 21, 2011) with a video of scenes from Leonard Cohen’s life and photos of fans expressing their affection for Mr. Cohen, all set to “I Love Leonard Cohen” by Robin Grey.
Leonard Cohen At 75 Viewed Over 15,000 Times: a video montage of favorite scenes featuring the singer-songwriter, poet, and icon set to "They Can't Take That Away From Me."
Video – Jennifer Warnes’ Way Down Deep & Leonard Cohen’s A Thousand Kisses Deep
The video begins with Jennifer Warnes singing the gorgeous but routinely overlooked "Way Down Deep," which is followed by Leonard Cohen's recitation of "A Thousand Kisses Deep" in Dublin to juxtapose the earliest performed precursor of Cohen's now classic "A Thousand Kisses Deep" with the most recent version.
Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen had a fling in the 1960s that, for unspecified reasons, was short-lived, with Cohen instigating the parting.
It was then and is now a complex connection. In 1988, Cohen said, I'm still very friendly with Joni - I had dinner with her before the tour, and I have the same admiration for her as you do. But I think it was Noel Harrison who came up to me in the LA Troubadour and said "How do you like living with Beethoven?"
That's right - the entire 2008-2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour, including the events that triggered the Tour, have been compressed into one 60 second video.