A Cinematic Representation Of Aural Signification In “Un Canadien errant” Performed By Leonard Cohen
Ongoing readers may recall a post published here one year ago, The Leonard Cohen Feels A Little Bit Like A Canadian Wandering Around Mariachi Music Video, from which this excerpt, which conveniently explains the background of the song (check the footnotes) and includes a pertinent reference to mariachi music, is taken:
It’s A Beautiful Day In Leonard Cohen’s Neighborhood
This brief video excerpt from The Song of Leonard Cohen, the 19801 documentary by Harry Rasky, the much lauded filmmaker who produced such definitive profiles as Tennessee Williams’ South and Homage To Chagall, is rich with memorable scenes and comments.
Filmed in 1979 at Cohen’s home in Montreal, the main action of this 4 minute, 18 second sequence consists of Leonard Cohen, seated on his balcony,2 translating the demo tape3 of Un Canadien Errant4 from French to English and responding to Rasky’s leading questions.
The title of this post, in fact, is taken from this exchange:
Rasky: Do you feel like the person in that song ["Un Canadien errant"], wandering around, mariachi music?
Cohen: A little bit.
Uncanny Din: A Rant – And A Re-Interpretation
“Un Canadien errant” has now been re-interpreted and, arguably, re-invented in a variation unanticipated by Harry Rasky, Leonard Cohen, or Antoine Gérin-Lajoie yet one that will be instantly and intuitively recognizable to anyone who was certain that Hendrix was singing “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” or that Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” contains the line, “Scare a moose, scare a moose, will you do my fan Van Gogh?”
The video’s cleverly contrived cinematographic tactics slyly evoke a pseudo-primitive presentation, focusing ones attention on the semantic interplay of the lyrics, both the worlds as they were written and as they are heard.
This seminal film is the work of the newly emergent auteur, 27thAngel, who has previously appeared on this site as Esther and mnkyface, most recently in the role of the creator of The DIY Unified Heart Jacket Patch.
Ms 27thAngel can also lay claim Heck Of A Guy notoriety of a sort as the prototype for the development of the 301.LC Cohenphilic Personality Disorder, the first DSM V diagnosis accepted in the category of Leonard Cohen Fan Disorders.
Leonard Cohen – Uncanny Din: A Rant
Video from 27thAngel
- Various references date the movie to 1980 and an approximately equal number list it in 1981. In his insightful review, Dick Straub notes that The Song of Leonard Cohen “was first shown on CBC in 1980,” which is good enough for me.↩
- While this structure (see screenshot) is ubiquitously called, within by the film dialog and in the commentary on the film, the “balcony,” were it transported to Chicago, it would become a “back porch.” (The “back porch” designation would be effective until it collapses, after which it would be known as a “deathtrap.”)
- The demo tape is from the 1979 Leonard Cohen album, Recent Songs↩
- “Un Canadien Errant” (“The Lost Canadian”) is a song written in 1837 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of that year in which some convicted rebels were condemned to death or exiled for armed insurrection. The melody is from a Québécois folk tune. To a few, it remains a patriotic song in Canada. Leonard Cohen recorded “Un Canadien errant” on his 1979 Recent Songs album. His original song “The Faith” off his 2004 album Dear Heather is based on the same melody. Quoted from Nationmaster Encyclopedia↩
BRILLIANT!!!!
Haha! I love Esther’s video. And I think she has discovered how to speak French in English.
Great creativity —
thanks Esther and Heck!