WOW. I NEVER DREAMED THAT THE NOTORIOUSLY RECLUSIVE MR. COHEN—LEGENDARY SINGER-SONGWRITER, POET, AND NOVELIST—WOULD SHOW UP FOR IDOL CHATTER. BUT WITH LEONARD COHEN: I’M YOUR MAN, THE CONCERT FILM SLASH DOCUMENTARY SET TO OPEN, HERE YOU ARE. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS FILM THAT PRESENTS BONO ALL BUT DECLARING YOU GOD HIMSELF?
I think I need to a keep a distance. It’s a little embarrassing. (chuckles)

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO DO IT?
I was approached by [director] Lian Lunson and she’s very beautiful—

AND, OF COURSE, YOU’VE OFT BEEN DEEMED A ‘LADIES MAN’ [COHEN’S MANY GIRLFRIENDS HAVE INCLUDED REBECCA DE MORNAY AND JONI MITCHELL].
Well, I think anybody would respond to the kind of radiant presence Lian presents.

SO YOU RESPONDED.
Her radiant presence did not meet with much opposition from me. (chuckles) But she also presented herself as a serious worker—it felt like having an invitation to do something that was not, uh, altogether shameful.

ABSOLUTELY NOT. WHAT IS SHAMEFUL IS THE FACT THAT YOU’VE BEEN FORCED INTO A HUGE LAWSUIT, BECAUSE YOUR FORMER MANAGER BILKED YOU OUT OF ALMOST TEN MILLION DOLLARS.
I’ve been used as a cautionary tale. It’s enough to put a dent in one’s mood, isn’t it? I pay very little attention to business: I mean, I didn’t know where the bank was. I’d never been to the bank. (chuckles) So over the course of my career I’ve lost a great deal of my assets just by….well, I didn’t listen to my mother and that’s why all this happened. When I left Montreal and moved to New York my mother said, “Be careful, Leonard, those people are not like us.” And Mother was right! But the lawsuit did confine me to barracks, so to speak; I don’t want to produce a response like “Every cloud has a silver lining,” but it has, coincidentally or deliberately, produced a lot of good work.

YEP, YOU’VE GOT A BOOK OF POETRY AND TWO ALBUMS OUT OR ON THEIR WAY. AND THAT’S GREAT NEWS FOR THE MOVIES, BECAUSE EVER SINCE ALTMAN’S MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER FOREVER MARRIED YOUR SONGS TO ITS VISUALS YOU’VE REMAINED QUIETLY HOT IN THE CINEMA: OLIVER STONE USED YOU IN NATURAL BORN KILLERS, YOUR BIRD ON A WIRE INSPIRED A GOLDIE HAWN MOVIE, AND SHREK HELPED MAKE HALLELUJAH ONE OF YOUR GREATEST HITS.
My songs have been in a lot of movies. Though not enough. (laughs)

BACK TO YOUR MOTHER—IN I’M YOUR MAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW SHE WOULDN’T HAVE APPROVED OF YOU REVEALING THE IDENTIFY OF THE GIRL IN YOUR SONG, CHELSEA HOTEL #2. TURNS OUT IT WAS JANIS JOPLIN “GIVING YOU HEAD” ON AN UNMADE BED IN THAT SONG. HOW WOULD MOM FEEL ABOUT THE MOVIE?
She’d be very pleased, because she never believed a living could be made out of songwriting. Even after I was doing well I remember I took her to a lovely meal and when the bill came I felt her tapping my knee, trying to slip me some money under the table. (chuckles)

BUT, DESPITE THE CROOKS, YOU HAVE MADE A LIVING.
And I’ve been able to follow a principle that I established a long time ago which was “I don’t want to work for pay, but I want to be paid for my work.” That’s very rare and I’m aware of it.

YES, AND NOW, AT AGE 71, YOUR CLASSICS LIKE SUZANNE, ANTHEM, AND HALLELUJAH HAVE GIVEN YOU HALLOWED CULT STATUS AMONG ALL AGES—SO MUCH SO THAT IT’S ALMOST AS IF YOU’RE THE TONY BENNETT OF HIPSTER ROCK.
That sounds good! On a rare trip to New York once I went to the Russian Tea Room and Tony Bennett was sitting in another booth and he looked so good.

WELL, YOU’RE BOTH FAMOUSLY NATTY DRESSERS.
He’s nattier. So if I can be a shabby, smaller version, that’s fine.

OH, COME ON: MAYBE YOU’RE ONLY CULT SIZE, BUT YOU’RE STILL A ‘ROCK STAR’.
You know that great scene in Spinal Tap where they get the scale of Stonehenge wrong? Well, you can legitimately call me a rock star, but it’s in that scaled down way—I’m like the tiny Stonehenge of rock stardom.

© 2008 Brantley Bardin. All Rights Reserved.