Leonard Cohen decodes the lyrics of ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’
Few voices have had such a profound impact on folk music as Leonard Cohen’s. A poet as much as a musician, Cohen delivered some of the most earth-shattering, beautiful, funny, bleak, and complex songs ever written during his six-decade-long career. He released his first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967, making quite the debut.
The album features classic tracks like ‘Suzanne’ and ‘So Long, Marianne’, establishing him as one of the most talented lyricists on the scene. He continued to release stunning records until his death in 2016, sometimes experimenting with different instruments but always retaining his signature poetic style. Cohen was known for blending erotic, religious, self-deprecating and socially conscious themes within his work. Subsequently, his pieces feel timeless, relatable, and brutally honest.
It is hard to pick one album to define Cohen’s oeuvre, but Songs of Love and Hate is basically a perfect record. Beginning with the haunting ‘Avalanche’ and featuring some of his most bleak tracks, such as ‘Dress Rehearsal Rag’, the album demonstrates just how incredible of a songwriter Cohen was.
Arguably, one of the best works on the album is ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, a heartbreaking cut that addresses a previous lover’s new man, with Cohen realising that he is the inferior party. He sings over gentle instrumentation, “Thanks for the trouble/ You took from her eyes/ I thought it was there for good/ So I never tried.” The song is a masterpiece – that’s not up for debate, and it is hard not to feel moved by Cohen’s vocal delivery, the female backing melodies, and the melancholic guitar.
In 1994, the singer appeared on the BBC, where he discussed the track, revealing that he couldn’t remember if it was about a real incident or one he had so realistically conjured in his mind. He explained, “The problem with that song is that I’ve forgotten the actual triangle. Whether it was my own – of course, I always felt that there was an invisible male seducing the woman I was with, now whether this one was incarnate or merely imaginary, I don’t remember. I’ve always had the sense that either I’ve been that figure in relation to another couple or there’d been a figure like that in relation to my marriage.”
He also revealed that he has “never been satisfied” with the piece, which is something that seems so hard to believe due to its sheer beauty. Cohen continued, “It’s not that I’ve resisted an impressionistic approach to songwriting, but I’ve never felt that this one, that I really nailed the lyric. I’m ready to concede something to the mystery, but secretly, I’ve always felt that there was something about the song that was unclear.”
Revisit the gorgeous song below.
