Cohen in Concert, Elvis on a Bus,( 1979)

[Andrew McGeever]

I think it was December 11th, but it was definitely a number 37 bus. It all happened nearly 25 years ago.



Cohen in Concert, Elvis on a Bus,(1979)


I wasn't so short-sighted then:
from my concert seat I saw
the sweat-beads drip down the lines
on his face. Eyelids dipped, guitar
raised to his chest, he caressed
the strings; delivered songs that spoke
of the politics of sex and myths.

My friend remarked on his hairy arms,
the way he stroked the audience.
Six encores later, on the bus
back home, we discussed "Suzanne"
and the disguised complexities
that kept us in thrall. A woman

seated behind us said her name
was Alice, and she'd seen Elvis
live in Vegas. "Alive he was,
and only two years dead: so you
can stick your cohenplexities
in a place where the sun don't shine!"
She had travelled much further than us.

[lizzytysh]

I thoroughly enjoyed this, Andrew . I also loved Elvis in my day ~ not as the visual performer, but for the auditory love ballads in his beautiful, deep, round voice that, itself, resonated with love. It's a shame the woman hadn't seen Leonard, for a fairer response.

[Andrew McGeever]

Leonard was 45, and Elvis would have been 44.
It was a cold night: she knew what she was talking about. At that time, you could smoke and drink on the top deck of a bus.
I reckon she must have heard Elvis Live at the Louisiana Hayride 1955, on L.P. or 78s long before I did.
Andrew.