Famous Blue Raincot je šesta pjesma na trećem albumu ( Songs of Love and Hate) Leonarda Koena, objavljenom 1971. Pjesma je napisana u obliku pisma i govori o ljubavnom trouglu između onoga koji piše, žene po imenu Džejn , i muškarca koji se samo nakratko pominje kao “moj brat, moj ubica”.
Pjesma sadrži reference na njemačku ljubavnu pjesmu “Lili Marlen”, sajentologiju, i ulicu Klinton na Menhetnu u kojoj je Koen živio 1970.
U knjizi The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen, autori komentarišu Koenovo pitanje iz pjesme “Did you ever go clear?” kao referencu na sajentologiju. Koen je vrlo kratko bio i član Sajentološke crkve jer je, po njegovim riječima “čuo da je to dobro mjesto da se upoznaju žene”.
Leonard Koen kaže da kišna kabanica iz naslova pjesme pripada njemu a ne nekom drugom: Imao sam dobru kabanicu, dobio sam je u Londonu 1959. Elizabeta je mislila da u njoj izgledam kao pauk. Vjerojatno je to bio razlog zašto nije pošla u Grčku sa mnom. Tada sam znao kako da se oblačim. Međutim, ukradena je iz Marijaninog potkrovlja, u Njujorku, negdje ranih sedamdesetih.
Famous Blue Raincoat
It’s four in the morning, the end of December
I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better
New York is cold, but I like where I’m living
There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you’re building your little house deep in the desert
You’re living for nothing now, I hope you’re keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You’d been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody’s wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane’s awake —
She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I’m glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
— Sincerely, L. Cohen
