I can’t forget that I miss you Leonard…
Leonard Cohen’s 1988 album I’m Your Man is a magnificent album. I would highly recommend anyone unfamiliar with Leonard’s music to try it on for size because it bottles everything he is so damn good at: like romance, poetry and devotional music – It’s is all here, and he’s at the peak of his powers doing it. I’m Your Man was hailed by critics as a return to form and went silver in the UK and gold in Canada. In the original Rolling Stone review, David Browne called it “the first Cohen album that can be listened to during the daylight hours.” Tom Waits named it one of his favourite albums.
Today’s featured track I Can’t Forget is the third song to be presented here from the album after the previous entry – Everybody Knows. This song would make it into my music library project based on its Chorus alone:
And I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget but I don’t remember what
In contrast to nearly all other artists who I present here, when I present a Leonard Cohen song, I typically relay all of his lyrics or rather ‘poetry’ because it would feel like sacrilege to not present it in its entirety. Unlike Bob Dylan who I would class first and foremost a singer-songwriter I would label Leonard Cohen as principally a ‘Poet’. He could recite these lyrics without music and I would still read or listen to them.
I Can’t Forget draws upon a a relationship; an echo of someone, a memory which drew Leonard here. He prefers to revisit the feelings which memories of love, sex and emotion elicit. This act of remembering, not so much a specific relationship, but of memories more generally, even if he’s unsure of what they exactly are. Time has taken its toll and as Cohen looks at his older unfit-for-the-“struggle” self, he realizes he is no longer what he sees in the mirror. He has been left behind, somewhere. All he is now are the memories. He can’t point to any one of them (“I can’t remember what”) but at the same time he could never “forget”.
[Verse 1]
I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can’t be me
Must be my double
[Chorus]
And I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget but I don’t remember what
[Verse 2]
I’m burning up the road
I’m heading down to Phoenix
I got this old address
Of someone that I knew
It was high and fine and free
Ah, you should have seen us
[Chorus]
And I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget but I don’t remember who
[Bridge]
I’ll be there today
With a big bouquet of cactus
I got this rig that runs on memories
And I promise, cross my heart
They’ll never catch us
But if they do, just tell them it was me
[Verse 3]
Yeah I loved you all my life
And that’s how I want to end it
The summer’s almost gone
The winter’s tuning up
Yeah, the summer’s gone
But a lot goes on forever
[Chorus]
And I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget (I can’t forget)
I can’t forget but I don’t remember what
References:
1. I’m Your Man (Leonard Cohen album) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
“I’m Your Man” has been added to my pile of music to explore. I’ve listened to some other songs by Leonard Cohen, including “First We Take Manhattan,”, which I love but didn’t realize it was on this album. Initially, I knew that song because of Jennifer Warnes’ excellent 1987 rendition.
Cohen had the magic ability to draw you in with his distinct, almost croon-like vocals and, of course, incredible lyrics. Take this song: I stumbled out of bed/I got ready for the struggle/I smoked a cigarette/And I tightened up my gut/I said this can’t be me/Must be my double…
It immediately paints a picture. That’s what great songwriters do. Nice pick!
Hi again Christian. I will search Jennifer Warne’s rendition of ‘First We Take Manhattan’. Just after I read your post here, that very song by Leonard came onto my random music player. Quite a coincidence!
I have written so much about Leonard’s music since I started the project. 26 songs in all and I’m still onto the ‘P’s in the alphabetical listing. Lots more to come.
I am probably a bigger admirer of Cohen’s post 2000 works than just about any other. I’m always left speechless when I consider the quantity of unforgettable material he released in his latter years. It’s normally the other way around for most artists.
He’s in my top 3 singer songwriters I admire the most although I would class him more as a Poet per se. You can probably guess the other two.
I wrote a poem in my young adulthood called ‘Mornington’ which reminded of today’s song by Leonard. Of course Leonard’s superior wording puts mine to shame, but it’s still nice to have that connection.
Thanks for your kind message and communicating your musical appreciation up to this point with his discography.
I forgot to mention Rufus Wainright’s spectacular rendition of Leonard’s ‘Everybody Knows’. Do yourself a favour and watch this:
Thanks for sharing – that is an unbelievable story and clip! I got some homework to do!😀
It’s fantastic isn’t it!
I had always wanted to explore his music because of how so many Dylan fans were huge admirers of Cohen’s music.
The following is a true story:
When I told my Irish bricklayer (music aficionado) neighbour in Melbourne cerca 2005 that I wanted to get into Leonard’s music, he warned me to do it at my own peril! Because according to him Leonard was a manic-depressive and it would ‘F%&k me up’. Despite his ominous, but peculiar warning, I dipped my feet into his music and to be honest I’ve never looked back.
Oh and Leonard Cohen’s latter day song ‘Come Healing’ still heads my Contemporary Spiritual Masterpieces list. I consider it one of the greatest songs ever written:
I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks! There’s just something pretty powerful about Cohen’s vocals, even it’s largely spoken like in this case!
Indeed when considering:
‘Behold the gates of mercy in arbitrary space
And none of us deserving, the cruelty or the grace’
and then this:
‘O troubled dust concealing, an undivided love
The Heart beneath is teaching to the broken Heart above’
I mean who in music writes that? This is on another level.
Certainly lots of poetry here – and probably one giant rabbit hole awaiting me! 🙂
When you have a chance, check out Jennifer Warnes. Her rendition of “First We Take Manhattan” is part of an entire album dedicated to the songs of Leonard Cohen. I’m currently listening to it and find it pretty stunning. I think if you dig Cohen there’s no way you won’t like it!
This is fun mate. I’m listening to it now. Renditions of Leonard’s songs is nothing new. You have Dylan, Nick Cave and U2 ..the list goes on with renditions. I like how Jennifer raises the bar at ‘I really like to live beside you baby’ That was really sweet work. It sounds really good. Thanks for sharing it. It’s sharp which it has to be but has a mellow-esque sound. It’s also very short.
I point you to this rendition of his music by Antony of Leonard’s ‘If It be Your Will’. That is something. I hope you like it.
Powerful stuff!
A lovely song and write-up. I never listened to Leonard Cohen’s music at all until I started reading other bloggers’ posts about him (I guess I’m pretty shallow when it comes to music, especially for someone my age). I will check out I’m Your Man.
Thanks a lot Jeff. Let me know what you think of the album I’m Your Man’. Jeff (in addition to his music mentioned in the rest of these comment threads) I also recommend the music-documentary of Cohen by the same title ‘I’m Your Man’. Cheers.
Love this song 🎵
[…] chat in early March with fellow blogger Matthew, aka as The Observation Blogger in the wake of his post about Leonard Cohen’s I Can’t Forget. Check out his blog when you have a […]