Leonard Cohen
31 January 1975
Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Lineage:
Low gen reels > DAT > CDR > EAC > SF9 > TLH > .flac16
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TT: 110:15.00
Set One:
01. [4:53.67] Bird on the Wire
02. [6:31.47] So Long, Marianne
03. [5:24.57] Love Calls You by Your Name
04. [2:22.14] Red River Valley (trad.)
05. [3:41.46] Who by Fire
06. [4:37.59] One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
07. [5:41.71] There Is a War
08. [5:37.17] Joan of Arc
09. [4:03.44] Tonight Will Be Fine
---tape cut---
10. [3:38.72] Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
11. [3:23.37] Lady Midnight
12. [0:25.07] The Music Crept by Us
13. [3:57.13] Diamonds in the Mine
---tape cut---
Set Two:
14. [4:49.54] Chelsea Hotel #2
15. [2:27.56] You Know Who I Am
16. [4:17.62] The Partisan (Anna Marly/Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie/Hy Zaret)
17. [3:44.09] Story of Isaac
18. [4:01.74] Famous Blue Raincoat
---tape cut---
19. [7:51.59] I Tried to Leave You
20. [5:10.62] Sisters of Mercy
21. [5:48.03] Lover, Lover, Lover
22. [3:51.51] Suzanne
---tape cut---
Encores:
23. [5:15.31] Is This What You Wanted
---tape cut---
24. [3:42.19] Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
---tape cut---
25. [4:52.16] The Butcher
t14-15 Leonard Cohen solo
Complete show.
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The band is:
Leonard Cohen - vocals, acoustic guitar, hand whistle (t06)
Emily Bindinger - vocals
Erin Dickens - vocals
Jeff Layton - banjo, guitar, mandolin, strings
Johnny Miller - bass
John Lissauer - keyboards, saxophone, woodwind
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LenTalk:
***before BIRD ON THE WIRE:
"Good evening," said the performer knowing that this salutation even in its ... ... ... holds against.. but I needed it more than ... to watch across the several hundreds solitudes of the audience. Nevertheless, the conventional personality is dependant on the conventions of this kind.
***after BIRD ON THE WIRE:
Thank you.
***before SO LONG, MARIANNE:
A song for the noble one, ...., clever, blonde and young.
***before LOVE CALLS YOU BY YOUR NAME:
This next song has its genesis on Ste Catherine Street, and concerns that place and ...... .
***before RED RIVER VALLEY:
Everybody ... ... ... seated.
***after RED RIVER VALLEY:
If everybody feels like moving around or just sit and lean, and we will break into some more relaxed music. The one that comes from ... is not so tense as the one that I present (derive?) from. Actually, Mr Cohen, we've heard that you're retiring. Why is it that you have decided once again to ... the silence with these several ... of your anxiety? Mr Cohen failed to excite the audience last night. Or himself. Or the immortal gods which leaned down from their clouds cupping their hands over huge alabaster ears. ..... disappointed and happy ... ... ... the vast blue Sunday of paradise.
***before WHO BY FIRE:
This is a song--since I have but invoked the absolute--that concerns the absolute. For those of you who have been corrupted and defiled by the theories of relativity, this song of course will have little or no meaning. Those of you who have become brainwashed by eastern metaphysics may well retire into your velvet seats now ... ... this song and consider it the Buddha and Marylin Monroe and other highlights of your time.
***before THERE IS A WAR:
The newspapers in Toronto have been extremely kind to me knowing my limited social possibilities, in their great charity they sent up extremely gentle people to ask me questions about matters of which neither of us had any interest. But I see this as an aspect of the social work of facilities of the city. And now they are very... the pits of melancholy which I usually inhabit and I do appreciate the company in my hotel rooms ... . I want to take this opportunity and I know that there is some kind of heaven for charity of these discussions and I want to extend my gratitude and things to the newspapers of Toronto for helping me get through many other nights.
Usually... I am very grateful to ... these people. If these newspaper reporters are French... Well, they generally ask me--the English speaking reporters--the meanings of my songs, but if they are French they ask me the meaning of meaning. Then it's really... That really ... you. That gets you through any of night.
This song--we're always not prepared specifically to encounter these questions--does stand in its own limping way ... ... and to solidify my connections with the National Rifle Association, and the other rifle associations are the Western Guard who have excluded me from their pillars and the brochures I never got any of their literature. I want this song to change things. Here it is.
***before JOAN OF ARC:
This next song concerns the heart ... ... itself as a young female warrior and ... ... ... events ... when it manifests itself as fire.
***before HEY, THAT'S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE:
This song was written in a ... brown hotel room. Just as the lotus grows out of the mud this is ... this position. Just as the lotus grows out of the mud, ... in a secret golden tower. As the lotus grows out of the mud, so the songs grow out of a hotel room. The darker the hotel room, the ...er the song.
***before CHELSEA HOTEL #2:
The song was written in a hotel in New York City where singers and musicians used to stay back in the 1960's - those days of enthusiasm and apocalypic expectations. They were really great artists and singers and this ... ... one of the greatest singer of that time and her voice lives on in jukeboxes and ... ... . I used to meet her ... 3 or 4 in the morning at the Branco Burger across the street ... from the hotel. And when ... sad ... ... ... ... to each other's arms with nobody else around. The thing about this woman was the magnificent absence of ambiguity in her life, in her manner, behaviour and career. Some of these songs nowadays that you listen to from the pop world are filled with the anxiety that assisted you ... ordeals ... burdens of paying money, ... relation, limousines, jewels and excessive ... ... . Things that priviledged ... ... ... ... ... . From her there was none of this ... ... . She embraced that, you know, clean and straight and high.
***before THE PARTISAN:
They tell me that the songs of protest and resistance are passe and campuses are quiet and ... ... crunch ... and the richer ... islands, states and ... and the helicopters available ... bunkers are open and that it's no time for making ... however, there are occasional great events that ... ... and from these events great songs have come out and this is one of the songs that came out of the Second World War. And even though the conflict ... just ashes and ... ..., I always see this song as a metaphor for resistance.
***before I TRIED TO LEAVE YOU:
There are many ... songs that are sung from experience. Songs of ... and songs pf practice. I like the songs of ... . There's a poet's ... ... ... so ... . I like the songs of parting, too, that ... ... calling my own. But as I read in newspaper that I show every line ... ... . ... ... ... ... . ... ... ... conversation called marriage. ... ... ... . ... ... ... ... . BUT I HAVE THE ENERGY! The reason that I have the energy is that they'll never get me.
***after I TRIED TO LEAVE YOU:
The man that plays that saxophone and guitar, our musical director and ... arranger of my last album is John Lissauer. Playing keyboards now, on many instruments he plays-banjo, mandolin, electric ...string, ... he's name is Jeffrey Layton. Stand-up bass and electrric bass - Johnny Miller! Brave young ... ... ... ... ... ... Emily Bindinger! Holding the bells Erin Dickens! ... ... ... ... ... .
***before SISTERS OF MERCY:
This song was written in Edmonton a long time ago. But the snowstorm in still going on ... ... . ... ... ... as long as English is still spoken, snowstorms are ... ... ... . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .
***before LOVER, LOVER, LOVER:
During the last fall I was ... ... Sinai. They only let me sing for the troops on one side of the border. And I promised to correct that. The song ... ... .
***before IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED:
This song is a dialogue between you and your perfect lover. Not that you never had one. I never had one. I didn't suggest that I ... ... different.
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Last rev. 11Oct07.