This song is, without a doubt, my most favorite ever and always song. The way I feel about it is almost indescribable. Every time I listen to it I hear something else in the song, in the lyrics, in the story, in the subtext, and in my own history with the song.

I still remember, vividly, the first time I heard it and how I kept playing it, again and again.

“And you treated my woman to a flake of your life,
and when she came back,
she was nobody’s wife.”

“Famous Blue Raincoat” by Leonard Cohen
from the album, Songs Of Love and Hate (1971)
Song Of The Day – March 10, 2011

I want to write characters for this song, my characters, my Jane and Leonard and the other man (lover, brother, killer, ghost). I want to paint it the way I feel it, and how these people unravel, betray, fall, and find some kind of redemption.

I think it is much more than a song about infidelity and betrayal, and I think it is way beyond a song about love, or a love triangle.

To me, it is about human interaction, the gray in-betweens of lovers and friends, and the difference between passion and stability. And, to me it is about the impact we can have on each other.

Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for this song.