Today, Heck Of A Guy offers, as a Thanksgiving treat,1 a confection from Swedish TV – a video uploaded a few days ago that features Leonard Cohen, aided and abetted – as well as fondled – by Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen, performing “I’m Your Man” on 29/30 June 1988 on Jacob’s Backstage (Med Noje Pa Dalaro) Stockholm, Sweden.
While all the obligatory flirtatious adoration of his back-up singers/willing accomplices associated with the salaciously provocative “I’m Your Man” is, other than the song itself, the high point of the video, at least two other tiny gems adorn this production.
1. I’d Say Please, Too
Just after 2:30 Leonard Cohen does his Roscoe Beck imitation, echoing his own “Pleeeeease.”
For comparison, the video below starts just before Cohen sings “I’d say ‘please,’” which is followed by Roscoe Beck joining in with “Pleeeeease.”
Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man (San Jose, 11/13/2009)
At 1:54 a diver springs into the lake over Julie Christensen’s right shoulder. As a guide, the screen capture is shown below with the diver’s body circled in red and Photoshopped into high contrast.
Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man (Swedish TV, 1988) Video from caro8680
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This designation valid only in the United States; elsewhere, Heck Of A Guy restricts this offering to “a treat.” We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.↩
Over the course of the Leonard Cohen World Tour, three new, unreleased songs were presented in concert, giving rise to speculation that they may be included on a forthcoming Leonard Cohen album:
“Lullaby”
“The Darkness”
“Feels So Good” (formerly known as “The Other Blues Song”)
Because the lyrics and arrangements of these songs have been subject to change, Heck Of A Guy has grouped the available recordings of each for the convenience of listeners interested in how they have evolved thus far.
Well it feels so good
not to love you like I did.
Feels so good
not to love you like I did.
It’s like they tore away the blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
It’s like they tore away the blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
Feels so good
just to wake up in the morning by myself.
Cup of coffee in the kitchen, fire up a little danger to my health.
I got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
I got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
Ah but you visit me,
summon(?) me to the kingdoms(?) of the night.
And I show you how you broke me
doing every single thing that I like.
And I beg you not to leave me
and I try to go on sleeping, but the room’s too bright.
And I beg you not to leave me
and I try to go on sleeping, but the moon’s too bright.
Yeah it feels so good
not to love you like I did.
I don’t know why
ah, but it just did.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this man live.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this man live.
Feels so good, not to love you like I did.
Feels so good, not to love you like I did.
It’s like they tore away the blindfold and they said, we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
It’s like they tore away the blindfold and they said, we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
Feels so good to wake up in the morning by myself,
Cup of coffee in the kitchen, fire up a little danger to my health.
I got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
I got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
Feels so good not to wonder who you’re with,
who you love, who you touch, who you kiss.
But I just, I guess, got lucky, I just never thought this ugly mood would lift,
I guess I just got lucky ’cause I never thought this ugly mood would lift.
Feels so good, not to love you like I did.
I don’t know why, but it just is.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said, we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said, we’re gonna let this prisoner live.
Download “Feels So Good” MP3s
Note: These MP3 files were converted from the videos shown in this post. The files are properly tagged with title, artist, and album (given as “Live – [location] – [date]“), which should be read by most MP3 players and organizers such as iTunes; it has been my experience, however, that some MP3 players will not read this tag format accurately. To download, right-click on the link and then choose “Save Link As …”
The title of this post, “Three New Songs From The Leonard Cohen World Tour,” is extrapolated from an amalgam of the names of two of Cohen’s albums, “Songs From A Room” and “Ten New Songs.” The graphic atop this post is rendered in the style of the latter album.
Today, I stumbled across a video review by Russ Waits on the Paste Magazine site that is concise (requiring less than five minutes), insightful, and most importantly, largely congruent with my own take on the performance, qualities which prompted me to offer it here for viewing.
Leonard Cohen fans have awaited a new album of his songs since 2004. DrHGuy has once again stepped in to lift the burden from the fashionably clad shoulders of the heroic but harried singer-songwriter icon by offering The Other Songs Of Leonard Cohen - a collection of hitherto unreleased Leonard Cohen songs.
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 (1980)
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 (1976)
Leonard Cohen’s New Songs – Feels So Good, The Darkness, Lullaby
During the Leonard Cohen World Tour, 3 songs were played for the 1st time: Feels So Good (AKA The Other Blues Song), The Darkness, and Lullaby. While each was sung only a few times, multiple versions exist with different lyrics and arrangements.
A summary of each song's performances and lyrics with videos and mp3s for downloading is now available at these posts:
In celebration of Leonard Cohen’s 75th birthday, September 21, 2009, Heck Of A Guy offers a video pastiche of favorite scenes featuring the singer-songwriter, poet, and icon.
Heck Of A Guy also offers two videos of clips and photos from earlier portions of the Tour:
The Original
Heck Of A Guy Dear Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Tour. I Hope It Was Good
For You, Too.
Commemorative Video Celebration Of The First 14 Months Of The 2008-2009 World Tour
Heck Of A Guy offers exclusive videos of the Alternative Leonard Cohen World Tour, our version of how the final US concerts could be given a special, venue-specific twist:
Outrageously Happy, Outrageously In Love With Julie
... I never had a chance. I was – and this is the only word that fits – smitten. She was overwhelmingly intelligent and quick-witted, although it took three more years for me to recognize that she was, in fact, much smarter than me, and then another two years to forgive her for that. And, she was surpassingly good-looking, with an unmistakable aura of sexiness.
The unlikely story of how Julie and I fell in love and - 2 husbands, 1 wife, and 2 careers later - spent an outrageously wonderful 20 years together is unlike anything else you will find in this blog, and perhaps anywhere else.
"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.
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 d’you like living with Beethoven?’”
