Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man (1988)

I’m Your Man’s cover shows Leonard Cohen, 53 years old, decked out in shades and a suit, eating a banana. Well, it’s more complicated than that. It shows a man who had been at the precipice of collapse, plagued by depression so debilitating he couldn’t even get out of bed. It shows a man who had seen his goodwill and public persona slip away from him. But most of all, it shows a man who somehow returned from the brink not only with 8 of the finest songs he had ever crafted, but also with an air of cool unchecked even by his eating of easily the most non-glamorous fruit in existence.

The 8 songs on I’m Your Man are a stark digression from his traditional, more simple sonic arrangements, with drum machines and synths building the sonic core of the record. The opening track, “First We Take Manhattan”, is a great example of this, built on a swath of springing synths from keyboardist Jeff Fisher and a pounding drum machine. The apocalyptic lyrics, a theme throughout the album, radiate a sense of foreboding gloom. Anjani’s backing vocals on the album dazzle throughout.

On “Everybody Knows”, Cohen’s rasping voice plays the wry cynic as 808’s, strings, and flamenco guitars float by. The title track is a slow, boozy gem, with Cohen professing his obsession to a lover, dropping lines like “If you want a doctor, I’ll examine every inch of you”.

On the penultimate “I Can’t Forget”, the sonic template mellows into an almost new-age haze of synths. Cohen’s lyrics are abstract, apparently evolving from an allusion to the Biblical Exodus from Egypt to a recap of his morning, an exercise in breaking writers block that helped him get back on his feet.

It ends on “Tower Of Song”, a marvelous tribute to songwriting. He pleads to the hollow shell of Hank Williams, only to be met with the painful truth that it’ll only get lonelier. Cohen confronts aging, aching and with grey hair, with the poignancy fitting of him. It’s stunning musically too; slight keyboard solos come and go, and the space is filled by a metronome and a synth wash. The backing vocals act as a choir, guiding Cohen’s acidic voice into the night with angelic melodies.

I’m Your Man is marvelous, a feast of songwriting and musicality no one saw coming from Cohen. Even to his death, no one could really ever count him out. He’d always come and hit you with something incredible.

by Raghav Raj