The love song Leonard Cohen “sweated over” for years
When Leonard Cohen first began pursuing creative endeavours, he never intended to be a musician. He was always much more adamant about being a writer. He was devoted to literature and poetry and constantly dedicated his time to becoming better at it. The poems he wrote eventually became songs, and he was subsequently dubbed one of the best lyricists on the planet.
Due to his early years of devoting his life to poetry and literature, Cohen habitually took his time with the lyrics he wrote. He would ponder over notebooks, scribbling lines and rubbing them out, changing titles and rhyme schemes, never worried about time, allowing songs to occur in as long or as short a period as they needed.
Cohen never considered himself a good singer. He once joked that his voice grew deeper and grittier, which he attested to “50,000 cigarettes and several swimming pools of whiskey.” He always saw his lyrics as the crooks of his musicianship, given he didn’t back his technical ability much. He would take the time to iron out lyrics and ensure they were perfect.
This attitude is contrary to that of many other musicians, who tend to pen lyrics quickly and commit to their first draft. Lyrics are often written in the moment, reflecting a very specific and brief period in time, but that wasn’t the case with Cohen. His songs were also his poems, and neither could be rushed.
A good example of Cohen’s steady and sure writing style can be seen in Cohen’s track ‘I’m Your Man’, a haunting love song he wrote for Dominique Issermann, a French photographer. If you ever wonder whether poetry is a way to win over a jaded lover, Cohen can prove that it can. Backing vocalist Julie Christensen recalled, “It temporarily worked to get her back in his life. She was around for some time.”
So, how long does it take to get the words written that can convince someone to stay in your life? When speaking about ‘I’m Your Man’, Cohen was open about the elongated length of time it took him to write the song.
“I sweated over that one. I really sweated over it. I can show you the notebook for that,” he said, “It started off as a song called ‘I Cried Enough For You.’ It was related to a version of ‘Waiting For The Miracle’ that I recorded. The rhyme scheme was developed by toeing the line with that musical version that I put down. But it didn’t work.”
It’s hardly a surprise that the song took so long for Cohen to write, given how close the subject matter was to his heart and how adamant he was on getting these words right. He devotes himself to the subject wholeheartedly, pleading, saying that it doesn’t matter what kind of love or connection they want; he is willing to supply it.
“If you want a boxer, I will step into the ring for you, and if you want a doctor, I’ll examine every inch of you, if you want a driver, climb inside, or if you want to take me for a ride, you know you can, I’m your man.”
