So Long Marianne (Live in San Sebastian, Spain in 1988)

[CarolineM]

I have a question/comment about the performance of "So long, Marianne" at the concert in San Sebastian, Spain in 1998.

I love how he almost shouts "did I ever say, did I ever say, that I was brave? so long..."
it gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to it.

I don't have a lot of bootlegs, so I'd like to know, are there any other live versions where he sings it the same way?


I've uploaded a video from that concert : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeoNmQsfzbU (I've compiled a few excerpts)
the part with So long Marianne is @ 5:05

and talking about that concert, I also love this performance of Halellujah

[fangirl moment]
and at the beginning of the video, his smile and the sensual look in his eyes before he looks down...
*melts*
sigh...

[tomsakic]

Few months ago I got FM recording from Oslo, May 1st 1993, and So Long Marianne was a shocking experience. The band deconstructed the song, Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen were singing their own vocal arrangements and new verses (the new one "here comes the train... boat..." as opening verse, and the "lost verse" from 60s in the end, while Leonard recites the lines to them), and Leonard couldn't sing it - he sounds emotionally devastated and he's somewhere between reciting, singing, and shouting.

Oslo, Norway - I can guess that Marianne was in the audience, as she was last year in Oslo.

I didn't hear Marianne from 1988 for a long time, but I know what you think, I do recall it was quite devastating version. I shall check my 1988 bootlegs when I come home in July, maybe you should try this Oslo "deconstruction". I have it in my MP3 player if you want it...

[tomsakic]

CarolineM,

I just saw the compilation and it reminded me why San Sebastian is maybe THE Leonard Cohen Show recording. I know it's different and more happier and emotionally at peace right now on this tour, but 1988 tour is special as it seems so tormented to me. I always watched those 1988 clips and had feeling he's on edge of tears, or that he's singing Take This Waltz and crying along... Or when he almost shouts PANIC in Dance Me... Or the pure perfection and the stormy ending of San Sebastian's version One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Oh PLEASSSSE let me come into the storm...) , what's probably my favourite Cohen live track of all time.

Also, on 1988 videos, beside his pain, you can see all those tiny smiles, **those** looks in direction of Perla&Julie... This compilation has some great moments: smile at the beginning of Dance Me at 00:10, girls moving their bodies on "la la", the way the hold the mikes while doing that, the solemn seriousness of the band members, Leonard's falling into the pain and emotion after the smiling beauty of first chords, his smile to girls during Manhattan at 02:01, short approval to the band that they're doing well at 02:30, his body movement on Hallelujah, the way he holds the cable in the left hand and the hand on heart, and on Marianne...

And one more thing - he doesn't close his eyes for minutes and minutes (that's a disorder, but also a sign of concentration - and I heard once that the power of Cohen's TV broadcasts lies in that rarely noticed fact - he doesn't close his eyelids.) - just watch him - there's quick blink at 02:15, and then he closes his yes for few seconds, otherwise he doesn't blink at all. (Now he's singing mostly with closed eyes - what tells the difference.)

Leonard was really wet on this show... Was it already so hot on May 20 in Spain?

Btw, your copy of DVDR is in great visual quality (the sound is little low), didn't see so god picture of that show yet... Was it re-broadcasted?

[CarolineM]

I've chosen only a few moments for this compilation, but there are so many greats moments in that show!

On "so long Marianne" there's also the verse with "here comes the train" but it's at the end of the song.

I have only a few dvds so I don't have a lot to compare with, but this show is my favorite, as you said, very intense and moving.

I got the dvd from Dime a few months ago, there's the complete broadcast of the concert with spanish subtitles (except One of us cannot be wrong the person who uploaded the dvd removed this song because the audio is on the official live CD ) and an interview (it was a few hours before the concert).
The concert was rebroadcast by TVE 50 Anniversary Channel on November 18, 2006.


I'd love to hear that version of So long Marianne from Oslo, May 1st 1993

[Stamatina]

[fangirl moment]
and at the beginning of the video, his smile and the sensual look in his eyes before he looks down...
*melts*
sigh...

So true...

[tomsakic]

CarolineM,

I vaguely do recall there was a recent broadcast, and I noticed the quality of visual, and the new logo... My DVDR is the old VHS recording I think... I shall check it when back at home, and also, I am dimeadozen member, so I will try to download the 2006 broadcast... Altghough, I am receiving so many stuff that I can't know what I have anymore, and things for which I was sure I have (like Reykjavik 1988 TV broadcast), I have only very used VHS tapes dating prior to home-made DVDRs age. (What isn't so long - 5 years or so.)

Send me a PM with you email address, so I'll send you mp3 of Oslo's Marianne.

[CarolineM]

I've downloaded a live version of So long Marianne from Hannover, Deutschland - (Kuppelsaal) April 13, 1988
I love this version too.
In this version, he skipped half of the verses and he changed the lyrics to "And just when I climbed this whole goddamn mountainside"


And another version : 6 May 1993 Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen, Denmark
it's very similar to the one you mentionned, Tom (Oslo, with the new verse at the beginning, and how he sounds while he's singing), this version is amazing!!!!

Also, in that concert, the version of I'm you man is really great and I love the banter :
[before Waiting for the miracle]
Baby, let's get married...
See, I've never had response quite that enthusiastic! We've been alone too long. Let's be alone together. Let's see if we're that strong. Let's do something crazy, substan... Ha, ha! Ah, wherever I go, you'll meet me right there. Thank you.
[before I'm your man]
Oh, thank you so much, friends. If you want a boxer, I will step into the ring for you. And if you want a doctor, please line up, because I will examine every inch of you.



I just got your mail, Tom, thank you so much!!
Hands down the best version of So long Marianne I've ever heard
Like you said : "he sounds emotionally devastated and he's somewhere between reciting, singing, and shouting"
shocking experience for me too...

[tomsakic]

I just got your mail, Tom, thank you so much!!
Hands down the best version of So long Marianne I've ever heard
Like you said : "he sounds emotionally devastated and he's somewhere between reciting, singing, and shouting"
shocking experience for me too...

Some songs from Oslo 1993 broadcast (Bird On The Wire, Everybody Knows, Avalanche, Suzanne, Tower Of Song, I Can't Forget) are included in Above the Soul bootleg, so for years they were mislabeled as being the part of Los Angeles concert. I downloaded Oslo tape from dimeadozen in March or April, and I believe it's first time it's widely available. The fact which proves this is that this variations of lyrics aren't included in exhaustive website Diamonds in the Lines at http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pilgraeme/

So this version of "Marianne" indeed was kind of shocking to me... That makes two of us who think it's the best version. Maybe not the best version musically or whatever, but emotionally that's it, for LC, I believe.

Additional stanza from early 70s is:

Ah your eyes, oh how could I forget your eyes
But your body's at home in every sea
How come you give away your news to everyone
I thought you said it was a secret just for me.

And from 1968, even printed in Songs of Leonard Cohen songbook but not sung on the album version:

If you leave, where will I keep you then?
In my heart as some men say
Then I who was born to love everyone
Why should I keep you so far away?

The word "goddamn" in "And just when I climbed this whole goddamn mountainside" shows the level of emotional involvement... In some versions of Joan of Arc LC also becomes so upset that he sings "Has it to be so goddamn bright?"

Btw, I recall that woman offering him marriage during intro to Waiting... in Helsinki (1993)




Maybe I can suggest you to download San Francisco 1993? I heard that double CD years ago, just once. Leonard talked (too) much. It's very difficult show to listen because he couldn't make it through the night, and his darkest moments are, in a way, recorded on that bootleg. I guess that combination of red wine and painkillers simply went wrong that night.

[CarolineM]

thank you for all your recommendations Tom

I will try to find that bootleg of San Francisco 1993

[tomsakic]

An addition: the additional 1968 verse, printed in the songbook, can be heard on BBC Sessions CDR from 1968.

The additional verse from early 70s can be heard on Stockholm 1972 bootleg CD, and also on audience recording from Frankfurt 1972. From the same tour comes this performance, where he's also emotionally breaking apart, probably recorded in Jerusalem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNvRyzUPm-Y (The clip is from Bird On A Wire, Tony Palmer's movie. I guess he edited the song - the middle verses are cut from the movie...)


1988 performance - Royal Albert Hall, June 1 - part of Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen documentary - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOCiORnqnMo

One Forum member sent me her impressions of the Oslo '93 version: "a very emotional performance, not entirely comfortable listening" - that puts it much better than my word "shocking". Sometimes I simply can't find the way to say it in English;)

[tomsakic]

Tour of 1988...
Burning violin...
Screaming audience...
Girls dancing around Leonard...
Julie's red hair...
Sexy Perla...
Smiling drummer...
Overwhelmed and happy Leonard...
-> open-air at Roskilde, July 2, 1988: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkn2B_pwGqU

[Womanfromaroom]

Few months ago I got FM recording from Oslo, May 1st 1993, and So Long Marianne was a shocking experience. The band deconstructed the song, Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen were singing their own vocal arrangements and new verses (the new one "here comes the train... boat..." as opening verse, and the "lost verse" from 60s in the end, while Leonard recites the lines to them), and Leonard couldn't sing it - he sounds emotionally devastated and he's somewhere between reciting, singing, and shouting.

Oslo, Norway - I can guess that Marianne was in the audience, as she was last year in Oslo.

I didn't hear Marianne from 1988 for a long time, but I know what you think, I do recall it was quite devastating version. I shall check my 1988 bootlegs when I come home in July, maybe you should try this Oslo "deconstruction". I have it in my MP3 player if you want it...

Dear Tom,

thanks so much fro your mail! I have now also found the Oslo 1993 concert on dimeadozen - sorry for troubling you about it, but as I have told you, I had mistaken it for 1988...
Yes, it was quite awkward listening to this version of "so Long, Marianne" - as if witnessing something that was not entirely meant for you, but much too intimate in fact to be shared with a greater audience - which might account for the at deconstruction.
Another one I found immensely intense in this recording is "Avalanche"...