Not The Same Old Song
The Leonard Cohen Chicago concert last night was another great performance in the chain of successes that has characterized the World Tour.
Oh, and Leonard Cohen playing “that other blues song”1 of his for the first time in concert was nice too.
“The other blues song” was the designation Cohen used in the afternoon soundcheck to refer to the number he later slipped into the concert set list without introduction or explanation. A member of Cohen’s crew confirmed that it was the first official public performance of the song that has been rehearsed in the past few soundchecks.
My faulty memory has the first line as “I feel so good now, baby, that I don’t love you like I did.” However paraphrased that may be, the sentiment expressed does encompass the song’s theme. The song also uses the image of the singer having a blindfold being taken off and hearing the words, “let this prisoner live” and (in another verse) “let this prisoner free.” In another line, the singer declares that it’s like having a broken heart that belongs to someone else.
While hardly the sort of blues one associates with Chicago, “The Other Blues Song” is exquisite, and, along with “The Darkness,” may (or may not) mark a transition back from Leonard Cohen writing songs on keyboards mode to Leonard Cohen writing songs on guitar mode.
The bad news is that my recall of the lyrics is obviously horrid; the good news is that Al Noonan, Cohen concert videographer extraordinaire, was in the audience last night and has informed me he captured the new song on video. When that video is uploaded, it will be featured in a future Heck Of A Guy post.
More coverage of and photos from the Leonard Cohen Chicago Concert will follow.
Update: “The Other Blues Song” can now be viewed at Must-see Video Of New Leonard Cohen Song From Chicago Concert Now Online
_____________________- “The other blues song” appears to distinguish the new song from “The Darkness”, a blues-oriented offering first recorded at the Vienna soundcheck. [↩]
This is news extraordinaire! Glad you were able to be there!! Thanks for the breaking news.
Albert Noonan in the USA. Does this mean we will actually have video through to the end of this tour!
Looking forward to hearing a lot more about the great show last night – and the world premiere of an exquisite new Leonard Cohen song – written and performed by “the man” himself.
Thanks!
I was there last night, an this song blew me away. the lyrics were some of his best. What I remember is:
“I feel so good now baby, that I don’t love you like I did/can’t explain it, but that’s the way it is/ it’s like they took my blindfold away from me and said, ‘let’s let this prisoner live.” I’m sure I don’t have it perfectly. The other line that got me was,”I still carry around a broken heart, but now it feels like it belongs to somebody else.”
Thanks for the assist with the lyrics.
Oh, on the second verse, I remember instead of “let this prisoner live”, it was “let this man live”, then back to “prisoner” at the last.
The Other Blues Song, by Leonard Cohen, Chicago Live Oct 29, 2009 at a vànvera // Oct 30, 2009 at 12:34 pm
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Thank you so much for this. I don’t see a writeup of this concert in either Chicago paper. You don’t happen to have a set list or the names of the performers and instruments? That Mas (Maas?) guy from Spain had two very intriguing oud-like instruments.
I also noticed some of the lyrics were not the same as the London album. In particular, Bird on a Wire had something in the middle with “Don’t cry” and “It’s paid for” that moved me to tears. There was also something out of the ordinary during the second song but a latecomer was being seated in front of me at that exact moment and now I don’t remember .
The Chicago concert was nothing short of inspirational. At least four encores. Numerous young folks enjoyed the show as much as the older folks. The band was fantastic. Well worth the price and the drive. One of the never forget moments!!!!
My wife and I loved the Rosemont show – didn’t realize it was the 1st of “other blues” – I said I was happy he’d lived long enough to feel this way. Thought that “Gypsy Wife” was an intriguing follow song…
Awesome show!