David Blue

MARIANNE
BY DAVID BLUE

It is interesting that singer/songwriter David Blue (1941-1982) stole, at least temporarily, Marianne from Cohen and wrote a song Marianne about her with references to, among other things, to Cohen and his song So Long, Marianne (1968):

I loved Marianne in the winter
In the loft of her favorite lover
She was growing older
The winter nights were cold
She told me I'm frightened
I said yes I know

Her eyes held me to her
They burned with such a fire
For the saints on the walls
Holy candles in the halls
For those who had left her
I held her and cried

Oh Marianne you are beautiful
To be this friend
To a stranger who
Leaves you only to fall
Do not cry you have helped me
I will not say goodbye

I knew her from another song
Her older poet wrote before
We played it in the morning laughing on the floor
Till he came knocking on the lower East Side door

Yes you know I miss her
Her and her stories of the night
I called her a rabbit
She gave me back my life
I haven't heard her voice since the Isle of Wight

Oh Marianne you are beautiful
To be this friend
To a stranger who
Leaves you only to fall
Do not cry you have helped me
I will not say goodbye

Marianne by David Blue (S. David Cohen) on his album Stories (Asylum 1972; CD reissue Line/Linea LECD 9.01059 O, Germany, 1991, 8 tracks, TT 36:07; lyrics from CD booklet). (Thanks to Rudi Schmid)

David Blue once appeared in a Canadian play which ran in Montreal at the Centaur Theater in the late-70s. The play was based on Leonard Cohen's writings: poetry, novels, songs. As I recall (it's been at least 16-18 years since I saw the play), David Blue did spend most, if not all, of the play sitting in the tree singing Cohen songs and quoting excerpts from other writings while actors played out the scenes on the stage below. It was a fairly interesting production for those of us who were familiar with Cohen's work to that date. However, it pretty much bombed with the Centaur Theater's subscription audience which filled 75 or 80% of the seats. (Thanks to Mike Regenstreif)

David Blue website.