Famous Blue Raincoat

For the Jennifer Warnes album, see Famous Blue Raincoat (album).
"Famous Blue Raincoat"
Song by Leonard Cohen from the album Songs of Love and Hate
Released 1971
Genre Folk
Length 5:09
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Leonard Cohen
Composer(s) Leonard Cohen
Producer(s) Bob Johnston
Songs of Love and Hate track listing

"Love Calls You By Your Name"
(5)		 "Famous Blue Raincoat"
(6)		 "Sing Another Song, Boys"
(7)

"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, Songs of Love and Hate, released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter (many of the lines are written in amphibrachs). The lyric tells the story of a love triangle between the speaker, a woman named Jane, and the male addressee, who is identified only briefly as "my brother, my killer."[1]

Background

The lyrics contain references to the German love song "Lili Marlene," to Scientology, and to Clinton Street. Cohen lived on Clinton Street in Manhattan in the 1970s when it was a lively Latino area.[2]

In 1994 Cohen said that "it was a song I've never been satisfied with".[1] In the 1999 book, The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen, the authors comment that Cohen's question, "Did you ever go clear?", in the song, is a reference to the Scientology state of "Clear".[3] Cohen was very briefly a member of the Church of Scientology, which he had heard was a "good place to meet women."

In the liner notes to 1975's The Best of Leonard Cohen, which includes the song, he mentions that the famous blue raincoat to which he refers actually belonged to him, and not someone else:

I had a good raincoat then, a Burberry I got in London in 1959. Elizabeth thought I looked like a spider in it. That was probably why she wouldn't go to Greece with me. It hung more heroically when I took out the lining, and achieved glory when the frayed sleeves were repaired with a little leather. Things were clear. I knew how to dress in those days. It was stolen from Marianne's loft in New York City sometime during the early seventies. I wasn't wearing it very much toward the end.

Ron Cornelius played guitar on Songs of Love and Hate and was Cohen's band leader for several years. He told Songfacts: "We played that song a lot before it ever went to tape. We knew it was going to be big. We could see what the crowd did—you play the Royal Albert Hall, the crowd goes crazy, and you're really saying something there. If I had to pick a favorite from the album, it would probably be 'Famous Blue Raincoat.'"[4]

Cover versions

"Famous Blue Raincoat" has also been recorded by numerous other artists, notably Tori Amos.[5] It provided the title to Jennifer Warnes' album of cover versions of Cohen's songs.

References

  1. 1 2 "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Leonard Cohen Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Kurutz, Steven (September 17, 2006). "The Lonesome Casita". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Ratcliff, Maurice; Chris Charlesworth (1999). The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen. Omnibus Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-7119-7508-6.
  4. ↑ "Famous Blue Raincoat". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  5. ↑ "Leonard Cohen: 10 great covers". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2016.

External links

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