Sisters of Mercy, Gypsy’s Wife, Partisan, and More
The first three of these high quality videos from the Stockholm concert were taken from an unusual and interesting angle (see screenshot above – click on image to enlarge). The fourth is a medley of performances from that show and offers the bonus of a great opening shot of the Stockholm Globe Arena set against the cityscape of Stockholm.
Leonard Cohen – Sisters of Mercy (Stockholm 8/8/2010)
First Video Of Leonard Cohen Playing The Hand Whistle During The 2010 Tour
MaartenLC offers us a Friday night treat – a 20 second video excerpt displaying Leonard Cohen’s hand whistling expertise.
Update: Heck Of A Guy contributor and Polish correspondent, apolinary, reminds me that Leonard Cohen utilized the same hand whistling technique in his 1970 performance of “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong” at the Isle Of Wight Festival. This sequence can, in fact, be viewed on the recently released Leonard Cohen: Live At The Isle of Wight DVD. Consequently, I’ve corrected the heading of this section from “First Video Of Leonard Cohen Playing The Hand Whistle” to “First Video Of Leonard Cohen Playing The Hand Whistle During The 2010 Tour.” For more about Leonard Cohen’s hand whistling history, see Leonard Cohen, Veteran Hand Whistler.
Leonard Cohen – Hand Whistle Segment From Heart With No Companion (Helsinki 8/10/2010)
The photos below (click on images to enlarge to full size) were contributed by Mandy, who displays many more shots of scenes associated with the Leonard Cohen Lissadell House concerts at her Facebook account. These were sent my way because of my penchant for banners, signage, manufactured merchandise (e.g., the grocery bag), home-brewed items (e.g., the sweatshirt), etc. promoting Leonard Cohen, especially if the items are site-specific.1 In addition, I’ve included her shot of Javier Mas (from a concert screen, I believe) because I like his bolo tie slide featuring the unified heart symbol. I’ve included the photo of Leonard Cohen on the concert screen because – well, because he’s Leonard Cohen.
Bonus: What All The Fuss Is About
Ongoing readers may well have previously met Mandy , albeit namelessly until now. It turns out that today’s photographer-correspondent has appeared on occasion in You May Be A Leonard Cohen Fan If …, the series of Heck Of A Guy posts featuring aberrant behaviors indicative that one is at high risk of being a full-fledged fan of Leonard Cohen.
For example,
You finagle two tickets to see Leonard Cohen perform at Sligo, book hotel and ferry reservations, and arrange kennels for your dogs; then – and only then – do you ask your husband if he would “fancy going to Ireland for summer holiday.”
When your husband, who is not a Cohen fan, yet is, inexplicably, an uncommonly fine fellow, responds (after assuring “I haven’t got to go to concert have I?”) in the affirmative, you find yourself displaying a soppy grin of self-satisfaction for the next five days because, after all, you love the guy – and your husband is OK, too. You are, of course, also happy that those two tickets you purchased are for one seat at each of the two concerts.
That was Mandy. And there was this message from her that also earned a place in the You May Be A Leonard Cohen Fan If … listing:
I just had to write and tell you my long awaited car bumper sticker has arrived from Ukraine (good old eBay!). Bad news is [my husband] has banished me from sticking it on the car because he has to drive it occasionally. I have resorted to sticking it on my saxophone case, (I was compelled to take sax lessons after watching Dino Soldo on LC Live in London, as a tribute to the ‘Master of Breath’).
I can’t keep it in – was so excited to get my post today. My Leonard Cohen, Sligo tickets came from Ticketmaster, and my other stickers from the Ukraine. (I had to order another one to put on my motorbike). Best day of the year so far.
There is more, but you get the idea. Mandy was and no doubt had been for some time, a hard core Cohen admirer before she ventured onto the grounds of Lissadell House.
In reporting on the Sligo concerts, Mandy concludes an effusive email riddled with words like “magical” and Leonard Cohen allusions (e.g., “laughed and cried, and cried and laughed”) with these lines:
I am a changed woman and it was phenomenal, I know what all the fuss is about. [Emphasis mine]
And that, my friends, is why you need to attend a Leonard Cohen concert – to know what all the fuss is about.
Mandy, incidentally, already had tickets for the Moscow concert. After the Lissadell House shows, however, she has decided she cannot wait until October 7, 2010 for her next live Cohen fix. She is happy to report she just received her tickets for the performance in Lisbon.
Indeed, in the space of two brief trailers, Leonard Cohen sings portions of “Avalanche” “Bird On A Wire,” and “Suzanne,” leads his musicians and guests in a backstage chorus of “Do Lord” while serving them sandwiches, chats up Jennifer Warnes on an airplane (Cohen takes the window seat, which is still apparently his preference), swims laps, and hits on a woman accompanied by another fellow. [Emphasis added for purposes of today's post.]
The video below automatically begins at the pertinent point.
I also found a couple of video clips which feature Doris Kunstmann during approximately the same time period as the 1972 Bird On A Wire documentary. Both videos automatically start at the point when Ms Kunstmann is introduced.
Maarten Massa’s photos of Leonard Cohen and, especially, the band members and backup singers from the Helsinki concert are among the best I’ve seen since the commencement of the 2010 tour. While he has graciously allowed these to be posted at Heck Of A Guy, many other shots he took at the Helsinki show can be found at Leonard Cohen in Helsinki – Aug 10 2010: Part 1 and Part 2.
Indeed, in the space of two brief trailers, Leonard Cohen sings portions of “Avalanche” “Bird On A Wire,” and “Suzanne,” leads his musicians and guests in a backstage chorus of “Do Lord” while serving them sandwiches, chats up Jennifer Warnes on an airplane (Cohen takes the window seat, which is still apparently his preference), swims laps, and hits on a woman accompanied by another fellow. [Emphasis added for purposes of today's post.]
The video below automatically begins at the pertinent point.
Thanks to a comment by Heck Of A Guy viewer, Rike, the “another fellow” has been identified as Udo Jürgens, an Austrian singer-songwriter born 30 September 1934, making him Leonard Cohen’s junior by 9 days.
According to Wikipedia, Udo Jürgens started his professional career in 1950 when he won a contest organized by Austria’s public broadcasting channel ORF by composing the song “Je t’aime.” In 1961, he wrote the Shirley Bassey hit “Reach for the Stars.” After finishing 6th and 4th, respectively, in the 1964 and 1965 Eurovision Song Contests, Jürgens won the competition with “Merci, Chérie” in 1966. That song became an English-language hit for Vince Hill, and Jürgens’ own version sold over one million copies, earning him a gold disc from Deutsche Vogue. Jürgens, who has written more than 900 songs and sold about 100 million units, still tours and regularly appears on television. For many years, the tabloid press have cast him as a womanizer, and several women have claimed that he is the father of their children.
The documentary was filmed in 1972, and, according to the IMDB, Udo Jürgens was married to Erika Meier from 1964 to 1989.
Ms Meier, a former model, is now a successful photographer in New York. She and Udo have two children, John Jürgens (born 1964), who is a singer, actor and DJ, and Jenny Jürgens (born 1967), who sometimes sang with her father and is now an actress.
The above undated photo of Erika Meier is the best I could find this morning.
The IMDB also reports that Jürgens was married to Corinna Reinhold from 4 July 1999 to 15 September 2006.
Udo Jurgens and Corrina 1987
The above photo was found at Sternonline along with this text:
Udo Jürgens with girlfriend Corinna at Vienna Opera Ball on 02/26/1987. The couple is already married since 1999, confirmed the management of the singer. [Google translation]
Ms Reinhold, who is frequently described in the press as “a long time companion” of Mr Jürgens, bears, to my eye, some resemblance to the woman in the video. Sternonline, however, describes Corrina as being 43 years old when she married Jürgens in 1999. That would make her 16 in 1972.
For the record, Leonard Cohen now sings a different song:
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey,
I ache in the places where I used to play,
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on.
I’m just paying my rent every day in the Tower of Song
From Tower Of Song by Leonard Cohen [emphasis mine]
Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes - screenshot from Bird On A Wire
Leonard Cohen Swims, Sings, Seduces
Indeed, in the space of two brief trailers, Leonard Cohen sings portions of “Avalanche” “Bird On A Wire,” and “Suzanne,” leads his musicians and guests in a backstage chorus of “Do Lord” while serving them sandwiches, chats up Jennifer Warnes on an airplane (Cohen takes the window seat, which is still apparently his preference), swims laps, and hits on a woman accompanied by another fellow.
Up Close And Personal Videos Of “Born In Chains,” “Democracy,” and “Famous Blue Raincoat”
Indeed, the clarity of these videos, as demonstrated in the unretouched “Born In Chains” screen capture shown above, mandates their posting. (For an explanation of the technology used for these videos, see the final section of this post, “How It Was Done – CohenCam Technology.”)
Leonard Cohen – Born In Chains (Malmö Sweden 8/4/2010)
Heck Of A Guy viewers, being disproportionately represented in the ranks of the intellectually curious (as well as the ranks of the personally attractive and sexually adventuresome), are no doubt curious about the technology used to capture these highly magnified, startingly clear videos. Happily, one of the ever-vigilant Heck Of A Guy surveillance teams monitoring Cohen concerts, behind the scenes behaviors of Mr. Cohen and his troupe, and the movements and activities of Cohen’s fans throughout the world was on hand to capture the same moment in the performance that was shown in the screenshot atop this post from a different perspective, revealing in the process the latest in CohenCam methodology.
Since the debut of “Feels So Good” at the October 29, 2009 Leonard Cohen Chicago Rosemont Concert, the lyrics of this song have shifted several times as Cohen has played it with some regularity in the ensuing shows.1
The November 25, 2009 Heck Of A Guy post, Three New Songs From The Leonard Cohen World Tour – “Feels So Good” AKA “The Other Blues Song”, documented the lyrics and videos of the song as they existed at that point (that earlier post also provides the listing of the concerts in which the song was played during the Fall 2009 US Tour and a brief exposition of the genesis of its alias, “The Other Blues Song”).
Now, sue7, Hartmut, and astranger offer a consensus-driven construct of the lyrics of “Feels So Good” as it was performed by Leonard Cohen at the July 31, 2010 Lissadell House, Sligo concert. The transcription effort is documented in the LeonardCohenForum thread Lyrics for “Feels So Good,” as far as I can make them out.
Lyrics: “Feels So Good” By Leonard Cohen
As performed at the July 31, 2010 Leonard Cohen Lissadell House, Sligo concert:
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 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.
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
Ah, they’re selling freedom everywhere, it’s flying off the shelf,
Yeah, they’re selling freedom everywhere but love, that’s something else.
Ah you drift into my dreams as if you had the right
And you show me how you broke me doing all the little things I really like
But I let it all go by just so long as you and I don’t have to fight
Yeah, I let it all go by just so long as you and I don’t have to fight.
Well I don’t know about tomorrow but I know what’s coming next
I’ve used up all my questions, I don’t have no answers left
In a while I won’t remember what I promised you I never would forget
In a while I won’t remember what I promised you I never would forget
Feels so good not to wonder who you’ll get
Who you love, who you touch and who you kiss
Oh baby, who’d ever guess that there’s a side of loneliness as sweet as this
Would you ever guess that there’s a side of loneliness as sweet as this
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 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.
Leonard Cohen – Feels So Good (Lissadell House, Sligo 7/31/2010)
As noted in an earlier post, the version of “Feels So Good” sung by Leonard Cohen at the Salzburg Concert has different wording from any other iteration. A complete set of transcribed lyrics is not available but lines unique to Salzburg, including
I had to wait
But I got to see you smiling back at me
It’s like they took me out of Rehab,
And fixed me up and said “The last one’s free.”
can be heard in the video below.
YouTube – Leonard Cohen – Feels So Good (Salzburg 7/27/2010)
Feels so good baby
not to love you like I did.
Feels so good
not to love you like I did.
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.
Feels so good baby
just to wake up in the morning by myself.
Cup of coffee in the kitchen, fire up a little danger to my health.
It’s like the same old broken heart but it feels like it belongs to someone else.
I’ve got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
Feels so good baby
to see you smiling back at me.
It’s so good baby
not to be each other’s VIP.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this man go free.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said we’re gonna let this man go free.
Feels so good
not to love you like I did.
Feels so good
I don’t know why but it just did.
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.
Leonard Cohen – Feels So Good (Rosemont Theatre, Chicago, 10/29/2009)
Feels so good baby
not to love you like I did.
Feels so good baby
not to love you like I did.
It’s like they took away my blindfold and they said we’re gonna let the prisoner live.
It’s like they took away my 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 it feels like it belongs to someone else.
I’ve got the same old broken heart but now it feels like it belongs to someone else.
I miss you, baby,
but its nothin’ like it was.
It’s just a little stroll now,
on the other side of love.
I see you waving in the distance, aahh, aahh, but you’re close enough.
I see you waving in the distance, but the distance is close enough.
Feels so good baby
not to love you like I did.
I don’t know why,
aahh but it just did.
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.
Leonard Cohen – Feels So Good (Asheville, 11/1/2009)
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,
and 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 were gonna let this man live.
It’s like they tore away my blindfold and they said were 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
Its like they tore away the blindfold and they said, were gonna let this prisoner live
Its like they tore away the blindfold and they said, were 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 youre 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 dont know why, but it just is
Its like they tore away my blindfold and they said, were gonna let this prisoner live
Its like they tore away my blindfold and they said, were gonna let this prisoner live.
Leonard Cohen – Feels So Good (Las Vegas, 11/12/2009)
To download a MP3 of “Feels So Good” created from the video of the July 31, 2010 Lissadell House, Sligo Concert performance,
1. Right-click on the following link and then choose “Open link in new window” or “Open link in new tab” to open the download service pages in new windows or tabs (left clicking on the links may open the download service pages in this same window; in that case, click the “Back” arrow on your browser to return to this post): Feels So Good – Lissadell House
2. On the download service pages that open, find and click on this image:
Then choose “Save File.”
3. The file is downloaded as “Feels So Good (Lissadell House).mp3″
4. The file can be used in iPods and other MP3 players. The appropriate tags (title, artist, etc) and art should display automatically when the file is loaded into an MP3 program such as iTunes. The file can also be burned onto an audio CD.
_____________________
In a case of industrial strength serendipity, the set of lyrics favored by anyone who has heard “Feels So Good” played live tends to be exactly the same version that individual heard in concert. Go figure. This statistical fluke becomes all the more amazing with the recognition that the original iteration performed at the Chicago Rosemont Concert. I know that assessment is correct – I attended that show. [↩]
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.
has become the second Heck Of A Guy Leonard Cohen video to pass 10,000 views.
For details about this video and the often overlooked but outstanding song on which it is based, see the section under the heading, Do I Have To Dance All Night Film Festival in the far right column of this page.
The video montage of favorite scenes featuring the singer-songwriter, poet, and icon offered in celebration of Leonard Cohen's 75th birthday, September 21, 2009 garnered its 10,000th YouTube viewing on May 23, 2010.
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
Also see Leonard Cohen Search, a Leonard Cohen-focused Custom Search Engine & Reference Index
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 - 2 husbands, 1 wife, and 2 careers later - spent an outrageously wonderful 20 years together before her death in 1999, 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
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 Seual
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
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)
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
"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 do you like living with Beethoven?"
