I see this song through a different lens, perhaps colored or clouded, as much as informed, by personal experience...
I believe the singer is "writing" to someone (his “brother”, for lack of more insight) suffering from manic-depression (clinically, bipolar disorder). For sufferers. the inevitable bouts of depression combined with reckless manic episodes and periods of relative calm, make personal lives extremely complex and trying. The imagery created in many lines ("just to see if you're better", "You're living for nothing now", "Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder", "Did you ever go clear") paint a picture of a very troubled soul for which the singer feels concern and compassion, tinged with admiration. But manic-depressives are also often unusually gifted, compelling, and charismatic individuals (particularly while manic - "I see you there with the rose in your teeth/One more thin gypsy thief") whose occasional more serious depressive dispositions can lend air of drama and complexity of character.
With this backdrop, I imagine the brother, perhaps insulated by mania or wrapped in the depths of his own illness, and despondent about losing "Lili Marlene,” having a brief, careless affair with Jane ("treated my woman/to a flake of your life”) , his personality (complex and compelling in part due to his illness) awakening a passion she never experienced before with the singer, and making her realize that she must therefore leave her husband, even though the brother had no plans to stay with her.
Which yields the tragic sense infusing the song - the singer is made aware of his own inadequacy, shallowness, or humanity, by the way just a "flake" of his brother's life transformed Jane. "And when she came back she was nobody's wife" seems to reference a spiritual or psychological journey and awakening, rather than a separation in time or space. The singer’s resigned acceptance of the "good" this did Jane implies that he has acknowledged to himself that he would never have been able to touch her - "I'm glad you stood in my way", "Thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes/I thought it was there for good so I never tried." Jane is no longer the singer's wife or his woman, and only dallies with him for companionship and the distant link to his brother ("Jane came by with a lock of your hair").
Near the close of the song is a cryptic line that feels like the key to understanding why the brother, the powerful figure who has touched and shaken so deeply the lives of others, seems so lost himself ("You’re living for nothing now" "Just to see if you're better"):
"If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
[While] your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free."
The brother's enemy is not the singer - the brother clearly won Jane's affection with a "flake" of his life - almost incidentally - with the singer's hold on her nothing of consequence and the object of desire (Jane) clearly transitory. The brother's enemy is his illness, which drives him to build a house in the desert and live for nothing, which he planned to escape by "going clear", the illness that is so integral to his mythic and transformative character that it, "the enemy," is what took the trouble from Jane's eye, and made her "his woman".
I can find no other way of interpreting this line, or the whole song, of reconciling the brother's tragic emptiness and aimlessness with his dramatic impact on Jane and others without acknowledging the hulking shadow such an enemy. I do know that L. Cohen has made multiple and somewhat conflicting references to love triangles, to him being the owner of the famous blue raincoat, to going clear alluding to scientology (which he has rejected), and the official lyrics do not include the “While” in “While your enemy is sleeping (though I hear it in the song, and others hear the word “well”), so I may be literally wrong about the intended meaning. But the story in the words rings true to life, something that could or did or must have happened.
I tend to think this is a very accurate description of Mr. Cohen's beautiful song. His lyrics always tend to have this dark twisted tone to them--the lyrics live deep in the mind of the speaker...and are often almost demented. This is why it feels that there is something slightly off about the "Blue Raincoat" wearer. Perhaps he is eccentric as mr. bunbun suggests in his post. Eccentric people capture our hearts and then vanish whenever they fancy without a though to conventional rules or pleasantries. He was able to change the speakers' lover, Jane, for the better. This is...
I tend to think this is a very accurate description of Mr. Cohen's beautiful song. His lyrics always tend to have this dark twisted tone to them--the lyrics live deep in the mind of the speaker...and are often almost demented. This is why it feels that there is something slightly off about the "Blue Raincoat" wearer. Perhaps he is eccentric as mr. bunbun suggests in his post. Eccentric people capture our hearts and then vanish whenever they fancy without a though to conventional rules or pleasantries. He was able to change the speakers' lover, Jane, for the better. This is something the speaker does not regret because he loves Jane. He has fond, tired, and sad thoughts for his "brother"--and is simply wondering about how he's doing.
I agree that the sleeping enemy in the demons that plague the raincoat wearer.
I do believe that the brother's enemy is the singer. The only logical and explainable thing i can write to explain this thinking is the use of "my woman" previously and then "his woman" in the later lines. I believe cohen just changes to third person for some reason. The woman does "come back" to the singer and i believe that the woman/jane is free when the singer is sleeping as she still loves the brother and yet for some unkown reason has not ended her and the singer's relationship/marriage. Although i also think this is a very accurate description...
I do believe that the brother's enemy is the singer. The only logical and explainable thing i can write to explain this thinking is the use of "my woman" previously and then "his woman" in the later lines. I believe cohen just changes to third person for some reason. The woman does "come back" to the singer and i believe that the woman/jane is free when the singer is sleeping as she still loves the brother and yet for some unkown reason has not ended her and the singer's relationship/marriage. Although i also think this is a very accurate description i only differ on one more matter. I think your idea that, the brother has a mental illness, while valid, doesn't seem to have enough evidence. If anyone at all, i would imagine cohen, as was customary at this time, had some form of depression.
I recently read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith about her life with Robert Marplethorpe, their relationship and the Chelsea Hotel/Clinton Street/New York scene. (It's an incredible book - I recommend it to all of you). I can't help thinking there has to be alot about Patti and Robert entwined into L. Cohen's lyrics. Songwriters draw, like all good writers, from everything and every one around them, sometimes conciously, sometimes sub-conciously (sorry if that word is misspelled!) I cannot get this song out of my mind! If L. Cohen chooses to say he doesn't know what the song is about, I...
I recently read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith about her life with Robert Marplethorpe, their relationship and the Chelsea Hotel/Clinton Street/New York scene. (It's an incredible book - I recommend it to all of you). I can't help thinking there has to be alot about Patti and Robert entwined into L. Cohen's lyrics. Songwriters draw, like all good writers, from everything and every one around them, sometimes conciously, sometimes sub-conciously (sorry if that word is misspelled!) I cannot get this song out of my mind! If L. Cohen chooses to say he doesn't know what the song is about, I respect that. But I'm sure he really does...
@mr_bunbun I honestly don't think I've ever "commented" on anything on the internet but I wanted to thank you for this analysis. I think it was very perceptive and thoughtful and also very well-put. Genuinely gave me a greater appreciation of this beautiful song <3 ... 12 years later lol
@mr_bunbun I honestly don't think I've ever "commented" on anything on the internet but I wanted to thank you for this analysis. I think it was very perceptive and thoughtful and also very well-put. Genuinely gave me a greater appreciation of this beautiful song <3 ... 12 years later lol
@mr_bunbun The "enemy" here is the singer's jealousy, I would say. The meaning of the line is that the singer is no longer angry with his friend for sleeping with his partner. The whole song is about reconciliation and getting things into proper perspective.
@mr_bunbun The "enemy" here is the singer's jealousy, I would say. The meaning of the line is that the singer is no longer angry with his friend for sleeping with his partner. The whole song is about reconciliation and getting things into proper perspective.
I see this song through a different lens, perhaps colored or clouded, as much as informed, by personal experience...
I believe the singer is "writing" to someone (his “brother”, for lack of more insight) suffering from manic-depression (clinically, bipolar disorder). For sufferers. the inevitable bouts of depression combined with reckless manic episodes and periods of relative calm, make personal lives extremely complex and trying. The imagery created in many lines ("just to see if you're better", "You're living for nothing now", "Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder", "Did you ever go clear") paint a picture of a very troubled soul for which the singer feels concern and compassion, tinged with admiration. But manic-depressives are also often unusually gifted, compelling, and charismatic individuals (particularly while manic - "I see you there with the rose in your teeth/One more thin gypsy thief") whose occasional more serious depressive dispositions can lend air of drama and complexity of character.
With this backdrop, I imagine the brother, perhaps insulated by mania or wrapped in the depths of his own illness, and despondent about losing "Lili Marlene,” having a brief, careless affair with Jane ("treated my woman/to a flake of your life”) , his personality (complex and compelling in part due to his illness) awakening a passion she never experienced before with the singer, and making her realize that she must therefore leave her husband, even though the brother had no plans to stay with her.
Which yields the tragic sense infusing the song - the singer is made aware of his own inadequacy, shallowness, or humanity, by the way just a "flake" of his brother's life transformed Jane. "And when she came back she was nobody's wife" seems to reference a spiritual or psychological journey and awakening, rather than a separation in time or space. The singer’s resigned acceptance of the "good" this did Jane implies that he has acknowledged to himself that he would never have been able to touch her - "I'm glad you stood in my way", "Thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes/I thought it was there for good so I never tried." Jane is no longer the singer's wife or his woman, and only dallies with him for companionship and the distant link to his brother ("Jane came by with a lock of your hair").
Near the close of the song is a cryptic line that feels like the key to understanding why the brother, the powerful figure who has touched and shaken so deeply the lives of others, seems so lost himself ("You’re living for nothing now" "Just to see if you're better"):
"If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me [While] your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free."
The brother's enemy is not the singer - the brother clearly won Jane's affection with a "flake" of his life - almost incidentally - with the singer's hold on her nothing of consequence and the object of desire (Jane) clearly transitory. The brother's enemy is his illness, which drives him to build a house in the desert and live for nothing, which he planned to escape by "going clear", the illness that is so integral to his mythic and transformative character that it, "the enemy," is what took the trouble from Jane's eye, and made her "his woman".
I can find no other way of interpreting this line, or the whole song, of reconciling the brother's tragic emptiness and aimlessness with his dramatic impact on Jane and others without acknowledging the hulking shadow such an enemy. I do know that L. Cohen has made multiple and somewhat conflicting references to love triangles, to him being the owner of the famous blue raincoat, to going clear alluding to scientology (which he has rejected), and the official lyrics do not include the “While” in “While your enemy is sleeping (though I hear it in the song, and others hear the word “well”), so I may be literally wrong about the intended meaning. But the story in the words rings true to life, something that could or did or must have happened.
I tend to think this is a very accurate description of Mr. Cohen's beautiful song. His lyrics always tend to have this dark twisted tone to them--the lyrics live deep in the mind of the speaker...and are often almost demented. This is why it feels that there is something slightly off about the "Blue Raincoat" wearer. Perhaps he is eccentric as mr. bunbun suggests in his post. Eccentric people capture our hearts and then vanish whenever they fancy without a though to conventional rules or pleasantries. He was able to change the speakers' lover, Jane, for the better. This is...
I tend to think this is a very accurate description of Mr. Cohen's beautiful song. His lyrics always tend to have this dark twisted tone to them--the lyrics live deep in the mind of the speaker...and are often almost demented. This is why it feels that there is something slightly off about the "Blue Raincoat" wearer. Perhaps he is eccentric as mr. bunbun suggests in his post. Eccentric people capture our hearts and then vanish whenever they fancy without a though to conventional rules or pleasantries. He was able to change the speakers' lover, Jane, for the better. This is something the speaker does not regret because he loves Jane. He has fond, tired, and sad thoughts for his "brother"--and is simply wondering about how he's doing. I agree that the sleeping enemy in the demons that plague the raincoat wearer.
I do believe that the brother's enemy is the singer. The only logical and explainable thing i can write to explain this thinking is the use of "my woman" previously and then "his woman" in the later lines. I believe cohen just changes to third person for some reason. The woman does "come back" to the singer and i believe that the woman/jane is free when the singer is sleeping as she still loves the brother and yet for some unkown reason has not ended her and the singer's relationship/marriage. Although i also think this is a very accurate description...
I do believe that the brother's enemy is the singer. The only logical and explainable thing i can write to explain this thinking is the use of "my woman" previously and then "his woman" in the later lines. I believe cohen just changes to third person for some reason. The woman does "come back" to the singer and i believe that the woman/jane is free when the singer is sleeping as she still loves the brother and yet for some unkown reason has not ended her and the singer's relationship/marriage. Although i also think this is a very accurate description i only differ on one more matter. I think your idea that, the brother has a mental illness, while valid, doesn't seem to have enough evidence. If anyone at all, i would imagine cohen, as was customary at this time, had some form of depression.
I recently read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith about her life with Robert Marplethorpe, their relationship and the Chelsea Hotel/Clinton Street/New York scene. (It's an incredible book - I recommend it to all of you). I can't help thinking there has to be alot about Patti and Robert entwined into L. Cohen's lyrics. Songwriters draw, like all good writers, from everything and every one around them, sometimes conciously, sometimes sub-conciously (sorry if that word is misspelled!) I cannot get this song out of my mind! If L. Cohen chooses to say he doesn't know what the song is about, I...
I recently read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith about her life with Robert Marplethorpe, their relationship and the Chelsea Hotel/Clinton Street/New York scene. (It's an incredible book - I recommend it to all of you). I can't help thinking there has to be alot about Patti and Robert entwined into L. Cohen's lyrics. Songwriters draw, like all good writers, from everything and every one around them, sometimes conciously, sometimes sub-conciously (sorry if that word is misspelled!) I cannot get this song out of my mind! If L. Cohen chooses to say he doesn't know what the song is about, I respect that. But I'm sure he really does...
@mr_bunbun I honestly don't think I've ever "commented" on anything on the internet but I wanted to thank you for this analysis. I think it was very perceptive and thoughtful and also very well-put. Genuinely gave me a greater appreciation of this beautiful song <3 ... 12 years later lol
@mr_bunbun I honestly don't think I've ever "commented" on anything on the internet but I wanted to thank you for this analysis. I think it was very perceptive and thoughtful and also very well-put. Genuinely gave me a greater appreciation of this beautiful song <3 ... 12 years later lol
@mr_bunbun Lili Marlene is not a person. It is a WW1 record about distant love.
@mr_bunbun Lili Marlene is not a person. It is a WW1 record about distant love.
@mr_bunbun The "enemy" here is the singer's jealousy, I would say. The meaning of the line is that the singer is no longer angry with his friend for sleeping with his partner. The whole song is about reconciliation and getting things into proper perspective.
@mr_bunbun The "enemy" here is the singer's jealousy, I would say. The meaning of the line is that the singer is no longer angry with his friend for sleeping with his partner. The whole song is about reconciliation and getting things into proper perspective.