I met Leonard’s daughter Lorca when I was 14 years old, and we were very close. Whenever I went to LA, I stayed at her house and he lived upstairs. He came to see a bunch of my shows, we talked about music; he’s made me soup, he’s made me tea. He was a great dad to his children, very nurturing. He was obviously a formidable character. When Leonard talked you listened. I’ll always remember the first time I met him. I was staying at Lorca’s and I was chopping onions, looking out of the kitchen window, and I just saw this man with the most beautifully cut suit and a fedora. Next to him was a plant, the grass was green, and next to him on the other side was a beautiful naked woman lying on her stomach, on a bench. It was the most incredible scene. I was shaking and had to put the knife down so as not to cut my finger. He emanated that kind of beauty – he had this grace and poise. The sophistication of it was quite remarkable and in sharp contrast to myself, who was probably wearing some stretched-out pair of underwear and a T-shirt with holes in it.

Martha Wainwright

From What Leonard Cohen means to me: ‘He made me feel less heartbroken’ Paul Muldoon, Martha Wainwright, Ezra Furman (Guardian: Nov 13, 2016). Photo by moneboh from Rome, Italy – Own work, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Apr 2, 2018.