Flashback to Leonard Cohen (29-12-1999)

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first published: 19-07-2000 /  last update 04-04-2003

Overview

In the end of 1999 the Nits were asked to participate in a series of concerts (Marlboro Flashback Concerts) which featured well-known Dutch bands covering their musical idols. Most of the time these bands did a small tour, but the Nits only did one concert in a sort of festival setting on December 29th 1999 in Paradiso in Amsterdam. Five bands played that night and the Nits was the second. Henk chose to play songs by Leonard Cohen. Henk's fondness for Cohen had never been a secret (he even made a film about Cohen in 1989 together with Seppo, his friend from Finland, about a trip to Finland to the island Hydra, also documented in a few songs from the Giant Normal Dwarf period), so this choice maybe wasn't so surprising. To create the special Leonard Cohen atmosphere the Nits were expanded with four other musicians, a guitarist, two backing singers and a violinist. I think the Nits managed to perform a daring set, which was full of character and atmosphere. Most of the other bands that night chose 'easier' bands I believe (e.g. R.E.M., Bob Marley & the Supremes), with which it was less hard to get an audience reaction than with Leonard Cohen, which probably 75% of the quite young audience never even heard of, let alone know the music. But judging from the audience reaction the short set (8 songs, about 35 minutes) was a success. I enjoyed myself immensely anyway and actually bought some Leonard Cohen CDs after the concert. The performance was filmed and recorded. The same week two songs were broadcast on tv (Veronica) and 5 songs were broadcast on the radio (Kink FM). The tv show featured one song that was not played on the radio, which means 6 songs were shown or played. Two songs were not played on both radio and tv.

The band rehearsed for 4 days on these songs, one day without Henk. J.B. took charge of the band that day. Two days were used for recording the songs. According to Tom Telman it is likely these songs will one day show up on a 'small release', like a special bonus CD or as single b-sides.

In 2000 the Nits were asked to do another Flashback. This time a small tour of 8 to 10 concerts. Henk liked to do Bob Dylan songs, but the Flashback organization preferred a more 'hip' artist, so it is now considered if the project should be continued and with what artist.

Band

The Nits was expanded to double its size with four extra musicians, especally for this performance. J.B. was already well-known in the Dutch music scene, being the guitar player for Dutch brit-pop style band Supersub (which he isn't part of anymore, now he produces for some Dutch bands, like Tröckener Kecks and de Dijk). The other musicians were friends of the band. Herman van Haren played with Tilburg-based Dutch musician Tom America, so he was probably introduced by Laetitia who's also from Tilburg and has played a lot with Tom America.

Henk Hofstede: lead vocals, guitar
Rob Kloet: drums
Arwen Linneman: standing bass
Laetitia van Krieken: keyboards
Melissa 't Hart: backing vocals
Xandra Verkroost: backing vocals
J.B. (Jan-Bart Meyers): acoustic guitars, electric guitars, pedal steel guitar
Herman van Haren : violin

Stage

The Nits didn't have a special stage design, since the concert was part of a festival-like evening, with several bands performing after each other. Since there were 8 musicians the line-up of the band members was different than usual. Seen from the audience: Laetitia was completely on the left, with her side to the audience, to the right front of here the two backing singers were positioned. Te violin was played to the right back of the singers. Rob was in the middle back facing the audience, with Arwen slightly to the right in front of him. To the complete right was JB with his array of guitars. Henk stood in the front middle.

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Songs

Leonard Cohen is a Canadian song writer, who originally was a poet, but in the 60s set his poems to music, much in the vain of Bob Dylan. He didn't release that many albums and he spent his life as a Buddhist monk in the recent years. In 2002 he released a new album ('ten new songs') after a long time. His lyrics often consider with (past) love and the pleasures and disappointments of life. He seems to have a tendency to wrote about the darker regions of life. Lots of information about Cohen can be found on the web, I'd like to recommend the Bird on the Wire page. I could try to analyze Cohen's lyrics on this page, but I decided not to do that, since I think part of the fun with Cohen is to figure out yourself what the songs are about and it has been done numerous times already, so I just inserted the lyrics to the songs at the song entries and interested people can do their own interpretation.

The Nits played 8 Leonard Cohen songs, ranging from the 1960s to the late 1980s. No Nits songs were played. I think the arrangements of the songs were mostly like the way Cohen played them in the 80s and 90s with large bands and not like he did in the 60s and 70s, when the arrangements were much more simple. I do wonder why the Nits chose some of these songs (e.g. the Partisan and Ain't No Cure For Love) over much better known songs like Suzanne, First We Take Manhattan, So Long Marianne, Joan of Arc or Chelsea Hotel #2, but I guess Henk had his reasons. According to Tom Telman two more songs were rehearsed, but not played at the concert. He couldn't tell me which ones they were, but Suzanne definitely was not one of them.

Leonard Cohen was not so known by the other band members. Rob knew some stuff and also J.B. was familiar with some songs, but the rest never really listened to his music. I spoke to Rob after the show and he really discovered the music when he had to play it. He told me there was a lot of great things musically and lyrically. He also said that the band was very happy with the performance. Because of the unfamiliarity with the songs and the short preparation period the band members all had a little map with the lyrics and sheet music they could use as back-up.

Overview all the songs played

Ain't no cure for love

I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real
It don't matter how it all went wrong
That don't change the way I feel
And I can't believe that time's
Gonna heal this wound I'm speaking of
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

I'm aching for you baby
I can't pretend I'm not
I need to see you naked
In your body and your thought
I've got you like a habit
And I'll never get enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure for love
There ain't no drink no drug
(Ah tell them, angels)
There's nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus
I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up
I see your hand, I see your hair
Your bracelets and your brush
And I call to you, I call to you
But I don't call soft enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go
When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul
I don't need to be forgiven for loving you so much
It's written in the scriptures
It's written there in blood
I even heard the angels declare it from above
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure,
That cure for love

 

Since this is one of the songs that wasn't broadcast I have to go from memory for this one. It was the last song that was played. I find the original song is somewhat unremarkable with its very 80s saxophone sound. I cannot remember how they replaced the saxophone or any other special moments in the Nits' version.

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I'm Your Man (1988)

Bird On The Wire

Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.
Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

 

 

 

This song was the sixth of the 8 songs. It started of with percussion and bass. Henk started the vocals with a low voice, almost like reciting a poem instead of singing. He started playing the acoustic guitar soon, joined by J.B. on pedal-steel guitar. Laetitia added orchestral synth parts. Henk's singing was very nice and dramatic. The backing vocalists added some well-placed long 'oooh's and 'aaah's a few times to this very nice version of the song. It finished with a nice melodic ending.

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Songs From A Room (1969)

Dance Me To The End Of Love

Dance me to your beauty
with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic

'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch

and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty

when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now,
dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly

and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love,

we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children

who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains

that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now,

though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to your beauty
with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic

till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand

or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

 

 

 

This wonderful up tempo tune was the second song of the setlist. Over a continuous orchestral synth Henk spoke the first few lines. After this the orchestral sound remained and there was a violin solo over this, as well as some acoustic guitar. Soon, the full band entered on a bouncy beat and the singers start the very recognizable 'lala, lalalala' lines, which returned various times in the song. Henk started to sing the lyrics after this. Laetitia provided a melodic counterpart to Henk's vocal lines, using an accordion sound on her synth. During large parts of the song one of the women sang low backing vocals (the same lines Henk was singing). In the chorus both backing vocalists sang. In the song there were a few, not so long, instrumental sections, which featured exciting violin solos. This beautiful song with its warm sound was ended with a rather dramatic ending. The Nits must have really liked playing this song, because in the following 'Wool' Tour a few months later this song was also a regular in the setlist.

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Various Positions (1984)

Famous Blue Raincoat

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

 

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene


And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --

She sends her regards.

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.


Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.


And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear --

Sincerely, L. Cohen




This was the third song played. This wonderful slow, 'letter-shaped' song started out very bare, with just JB playing an electric guitar theme, Arwen on bowed bass and Henk's vocals. Very nicely performed female backing vocals joined later on. Halfway through the song Rob added subtle percussion and also an orchestral synth sound and the violin joined. In a short instrumental part a melody was played by Henk on acoustic guitar together with the violin. Later in the song the orchestral synth became more prominent.

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Songs Of Love And Hate (1970)

I'm Your Man

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man

If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I'll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I'm your man
Ah, the moon's too bright
The chain's too tight
The beast won't go to sleep
I've been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I'd crawl to you baby
And I'd fall at your feet
And I'd howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I'd claw at your heart
And I'd tear at your sheet
I'd say please, please
I'm your man



And if you've got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I'll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I'm your man

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you



This was the seventh song played in the concert. Since this one wasn't broadcast I cannot give much more details than that it was obvious from the audience that Henk really enjoyed singing those rather seductive lyrics... I also remember a rather long and good electric guitar solo by J.B.

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I'm Your Man (1988)

the Partisan

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.

I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.


There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.


Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands e'taient chez moi,

[The Germans were at my home]
ils me dirent, "Signe toi,"

[They said, "Sign yourself,"]
mais je n'ai pas peur;

[But I am not afraid]
j'ai repris mon arme.

[I have retaken my weapon.]

J'ai change' cent fois de nom,
[I have changed names a hundred times]
j'ai perdu femme et enfants

[I have lost wife and children]
mais j'ai tant d'amis;

[But I have so many friends]
j'ai la France entie`re.

[I have all of France]
Un vieil homme dans un grenier
[An old man, in an attic]
pour la nuit nous a cache',

[Hid us for the night]
les Allemands l'ont pris;

[The Germans captured him]
il est mort sans surprise.

[He died without surprise.]

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.







This was the fourth song played in the concert and it was not actually written by Leonard Cohen, although he made it famous. It's a soldier song Cohen knew from his childhood. It was written by Anna Marly / Hy Zaret. Rob started on percussion that got louder and louder, while J.B. re-tuned his guitar, slowly going into the melody of the song. The violin joined and continued to play touches and short melodies throughout the song. After Henk started singing, the drumming became louder and also Arwen started playing. Halfway through the song Laetitia started playing synth with an accordion sound. Right after that the French lyrics started. They were sung by the female vocalists, with Henk on backing vocals. For the last (English) verse Henk sang lead again and the song ended with a long chord with some violin melodies over it.

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Songs From A Room (1969)

Sisters of Mercy

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.
It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.
Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:
When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.
They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.
Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.
And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.
This was the fifth song of the setlist and the oldest one (from Cohen's debut album). The arrangement of this one was very different from the very bare original. The Nits' version actually more resembles a folk cover I know of this song (by Sting with the Chieftains). Rob counted down the song, after which the backing vocalists started to sing the 'lalalala' chorus, accompanied by percussion, standing bass and J.B.'s guitar. Henk started to sing and play acoustic guitar soon after this and in the background there was some very soft synth. After some time the speed suddenly went up after another countdown by Rob, starting a long instrumental section which featured a long and energetic violin solo. The backing vocalists added some touches to this exciting section where the whole band was playing. The music slowed down again after this and remained so until the end.

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Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1966)

Who By Fire?

And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?

And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?
This quiet, but powerful song started the concert. A crescendo intro, consisting of violin, piano, guitars and cymbals started the song. Henk started the song, followed by the piano, percussion, bass and backing vocals going onto the music immediately. The guitar and violin entered at the 'who shall I say is calling' section, which was accented by very nice backing vocals. Throughout the song Laetitia played some subdued, but excellent piano parts and some bell-like synth scales at the instrumental sections, which also featured an acoustic guitar solo by J.B over a backing of bass, drums, Henk's guitar and the aforementioned piano and synth. The second instrumental section was similar, only now there was a violin solo, accented by J.B.'s guitar. The song ended with a big simultaneous chord

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New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974)

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If you spot mistakes or if you want to give comments or additions please mail:

Dennis Versteeg