The Hummingbird, Heart, & Handcuffs: Is It Meaningful Or Does It Just Look Cool?

This entry is part of a series of posts dedicated to Leonard Cohen Album Logos. The hummingbird, heart, & handcuffs logo from The Future album is surely the most widely recognized of these symbols, partially because it is a striking design and partially because it was frequently reproduced on the merchandise associated with the album and the 1993 tour.

So, is the hummingbird, heart, & handcuffs logo meaningful, as Leonard Cohen himself indicates,

 

There’s a tension between the hummingbird and the handcuffs. We all live somewhere between the two.

 

Leonard Cohen

 

 

… or does it just look cool, as it does on that leather jacket (official merchandise, by the way)?

The answer, of course, is that it’s both meaningful and cool – not unlike Mr. Cohen himself.

The Leonard Cohen quote in the title is from Rebirth Of A Ladies’ Man by Steven Blush. (Seconds No 22: June/July 1993.)

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). The quote was originally posted on Jan 16, 2014 and the jacket on June 9, 2013 at DrHGuy.com.