Still doing it. And still doing it in style.
Leonard Cohen has just played a few dates in the UK. The Guardian reviewed one of his shows: Tonight, in his suit and hat, he resembles a senior 1920's mobster, only with a guitar instead of a tommy gun. When he and his similarly attired band open with the Italian-flavoured Dance Me to the End of Love, we could almost be at a mafia wedding. The hat is gracefully doffed to acknowledge applause.' Read on.
Leonard Cohen grew up in Montreal. His father was a tailor. He once said in an interview that he has always worn suits ( I guess that's when he's not in a Buddhist monastery or on a Greek island). And , yes, he has always looked, and been, stylish.
He is now 73. He hadn't played live for a long while. He told the Manchester audience: 'It's been 15 years since I stood up on stage. Fourteen years ago when I was 60 - a young kid with a crazy dream....'
It's a bit late in life for me to have a new one , but I think maybe he makes a good candidate for a role model.
6 comments:
First Rainy Orteca, now Leonard Cohen, both with the tailored men's suit. What is it about this timeless design? Bodies are covered, yet unrestricted. Is it the ultimate marriage of form and function? Tradition and fashion? Or is it just that you know someone spent a small fortune at the tailors?
One of my favorites. A real masculine,sexy voice and presence too!
Leonard Cohen said of Irving Layton, a generation older: “I taught him how to dress, he taught me how to live forever”.
He's back home here these days, for three concerts - they are expensive (he needs the money, alas, and reviews indicate the experience is worth the price) but there will also be a huge free "Hommage à Leonard Cohen" show tomorrow (26 June) at 9:30 pm outside Place des Arts.
Cohen still repeatedly takes first place as "Best-dressed Montrealer" in both French and English-language media here.
A few dress references that spring to mind spontaneously:
"Seems so long ago, Nancy" (bohemia)
It seems so long ago,
none of us were strong;
Nancy wore green stockings
and she slept with everyone.
She never said she'd wait for us
although she was alone,
I think she fell in love for us
in nineteen sixty one,
in nineteen sixty one.
"Famous blue raincoat"
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
Youd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without lili marlene
and of course, "Suzanne"
Now Suzanne takes your hand
and she leads you to the river
she is wearing rags and feathers
from Salvation Army counters
and the sun pours down like honey
on our lady of the harbour.
Suzanne is a real person, by the way. She was a dancer and at the time was the wife of painter/sculptor Armand Vaillancourt - still going strong in local art circles, and still a friend of Cohen.
Cohen makes me proud to be Canadian. He is a force of nature.
"I want that other love/don't want that mother love."
I saw him perform many years ago in Ottawa. Always elegant, always a gentleman.
Post a Comment