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The classic Leonard Cohen song that was inspired by his love for Nico
Leonard Cohen was feeling rather deflated in the late 1960s as he fled his home in Montreal, Canada, in search of a career as a folk singer in New York, much like his contemporary Bob Dylan had done some six years prior.
Cohen had spent his early years throughout the early 1950s and ‘60s in pursuit of a literary career, having been a revered poet and writer during his student years where he won the Chester MacNaghten Literary Competition for a poetry entry in 1951. This early success and passion for poetry led Cohen to pursue a difficult career path, and throughout the next 15 years, he made several earnest efforts, mainly in poetry, publishing a number of books that were met with varying levels of critical enthusiasm.
Cohen’s move to New York in 1966 came at a time when he had lost hope of becoming a successful poet and instead set his sights on framing his words with music. Finding himself among the underground creative bustle of New York City, Cohen brushed shoulders with Andy Warhol’s bohemian art troupe, “Factory”, which included the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground. Inspired by the wealth of artist expression he was exposed to in the Big Apple, he set about recording the poetic songs that would make up his 1967 debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Much of Cohen’s early work focused on love and lack thereof. Early on in Cohen’s New York mission, he spent most of his nights at the famous Chelsea Hotel. The imposing redbrick building sits on West 23rd Street and holds a rich history. Since its 1885 birth, the building has been home to literary giants such as Mark Twain, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac and Jackson Pollock. It was within these walls, too, that Arthur C. Clarke wrote his masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Cohen famously met Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel and engaged in a short-lived romance that he referenced a few years after her 1970 death in his classic song, ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’. In the late 1960s, Cohen also befriended Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins in brief relationships, and he eventually earned the reputation of being a ladies’ man.
Despite his reputation, Cohen wasn’t particularly successful in progressing any of his brief romances and infatuations into long-lasting relationships. “My reputation as a ladies’ man was a joke that caused me to laugh bitterly through the ten thousand nights I spent alone,” Cohen later quipped.
During his initial spell in New York, Cohen also found himself in the orbit of the German singer and Velvet Underground collaborator, Nico. Cohen tried in vain to woo the mysterious blonde, and for the unrequited infatuation, he wrote ‘Joan of Arc’, the closer for his 1971 masterpiece Songs of Love and Hate.
Despite being inspired by Nico, the lyrics follow the story of Joan of Arc, who led the French forces to victory against the English Army at Orléans in the 15th century. She was later captured and burned at the stake, aged 19. In Cohen’s song, he imagines a conversation between Joan of Arc and the flames that engulf her as they form a strange bond.
We can only hope that Cohen didn’t have a fiery end in mind for Nico. Listen to ‘Joan of Arc’ below.
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