Recent Songs

 

 

Released: September 1979
Chart position: UK #53
Producers: Leonard Cohen, Henry Lewy

01. The Guests (6:39)
02. Humbled In Love (5:15)
03. The Window (5:55)
04. Came So Far For Beauty (4:03)
05. The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant) (4:41)
06. The Traitor (6:14)
07. Our Lady Of Solitude (3:13)
08. The Gypsy’s Wife (5:13)
09. The Smokey Life (5:18)
10. Ballad Of The Absent Mare (6:23)
Total time: 53:10 / COL 474750

Engineer: Henry Lewy
Recorded: April-May 1979
Venue: A&M Studios, Hollywood
 
Musicians:
1. The Guests
Oud: John Bilezikjian
Violin: Raffi Hakopian
Bass: Abraham Laboriel
Organ: Randy Waldman
Acoustic Guitar: Leonard Cohen
Background vocals arranged and sung by Jennifer Warnes
2. Humbled In Love
Drums: Steve Meador
Bass: Charles Roscoe Beck
Electric Piano: Bill Ginn
Electric Guitar: Mitch Watkins
Saxophone: Paul Ostermayer
Background Vocals: Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Willard, Julia Tillman, James Gilstrap, and Roger St. Kenerly
3. The Window
Bass: Abraham Laboriel
Organ: Randy Waldman
Solo Violin: Raffi Hakopian
Oud: John Bilezikjian
Cello: Ed Lustgarden
Acoustic Guitar: Leonard Cohen
Background Vocals: Jennifer Warnes
4. Came So Far For Beauty
Bass: John Miller
Piano: John Lissauer
Co-written, co-produced and arranged by John Lissauer
5. The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)
n 1837, for the old reasons of blood and freedom, there were armed uprisings, in both Upper and Lower Canada, against the “ruling cliques” of William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis Papineau. After “order had been restored”, many who taken part in the fighting fled the country to avoid punishment. Five years later M. A. Gerin-Lajoie wrote a song about one of these young men, setting it to a familiar folk tune. This translation is by Edith Fulton Fowke in Chansons de Québec, and it’s re-printed by kind permission of the Waterloo Music Company Ltd., Waterloo, Ontario.
Mariachi Band under the direction of Luiz Briseńo
Violins: Luiz Briseńo, Miguel Sandoval, Agostin Cervantes, Armando Quintero
Trumpets: Pablo Sandoval, Jose Perez
Guitar: Ricardo Gonzales
Biguela: Felipe Perez
Guitarron: Everado Sandoval
Arranged by Leonard Cohen
6. The Traitor
Solo Violin: Raffi Hakopian
Oud: John Bilezikjian
Organ: Randy Waldman
Bass: Abraham Laboriel
Acoustic Guitar: Leonard Cohen
Strings arranged and conducted by Jeremy Lubbock
7. Our Lady Of Solitude
Drums: Steve Meador
Piano: Bill Ginn
Yamaha: Garth Hudson
Oboe: Earle Dumler
Bass: Charles Roscoe Beck
Electric Guitar: Mitch Watkins
8. The Gypsy’s Wife
Bass: Charles Roscoe Beck
Oud: John Bilezikjian
Violin: Raffi Hakopian
Accordion: Garth Hudson
Acoustic Guitar: Leonard Cohen
9. The Smokey Life
Drums: Steve Meador
Bass: Charles Roscoe Beck
Electric Piano: Bill Ginn
Acoustic Guitar: Leonard Cohen
English Horn: Earle Dumler
Vocal Duet: Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes
Strings arranged and conducted by Jeremy Lubbock
10. Ballad Of The Absent Mare
Mariachi Band under the direction of Luiz Briseńo
Violins: Luiz Briseńo, Miguel Sandoval, Agostin Cervantes, Armando Quintero
Trumpets: Pablo Sandoval, Jose Perez
Guitar: Ricardo Gonzales, Leonard Cohen
Biguela: Felipe Perez
Guitarron: Everado Sandoval
 
Other credits:
Recorded and mixed by Henry Lewy
Assisted by Skip Cottrell, Greg Falken, Derek Dunan
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman
Harmony: Jennifer Warnes
Cover portrait and illustration by Dianne Lawrence
Art Director: Glen Christensen
All songs written and arranged by Leonard Cohen, except “Came So Far For Beauty”, co-written and arranged by John Lissauer; and “Un Canadien Errant (The Lost Canadian)”, written by M. A. Gerin-Lajoie in 1842.
Steve Meador, Charles Roscoe Beck, Bill Ginn, Mitch watkins and Paul Ostermeyer are members of the band PASSENGER from Austin, Texas.
Executive arm: Martin J. Machat
 
I owe my thanks to Joshu Sasaki, upon whose exposition of an early Chinese text I based Balld of the Absent Mare; to the late Robert Hernshorn, who, many years ago, put into my hands the books of the old Persian poets Attar and Rumi, whose imagery influenced several songs, especially The Guests and The Window; to John Lissauer with whom I worked on earlier vesions of The Traitor and The Smokey Life; to Nancy Bacal, who rescued The Lost Canadian from the out-takes; to Stu Brotman, who introduced me to the work of John Bilezikjian and Raffi Hakopian; to Jules Chakin, who brought to our sessions the finest players in the city; to Peter Karpin of Sony Music for his attention, professional and personal, to this project; to Sal Monte and Charlie Lowery for their hospitality at A&M; to my mother, Masha Cohen, who reminded me shortly before she died, of the kind of music she liked.
 

This cd is dedicated to my friend IRVING LAYTON, incomparable master of the inner language.

wilder and wilder

      I sang

        and my loins wronkled

    like the forehead of the sage

                                      -I.L.

 
Working title: »The Smokey Life«

Out-takes: Misty Blue, Do I Have To Dance All Night?, Billy Sunday