Leonard Cohen, Phil Spector, and a difficult working relationship

“He put his arm around my shoulder, pressed the muzzle into my neck and said, ‘Leonard, I love you.’ At which point I said: ‘I hope you really do, Phil.’”

Leonard Cohen explains the problems he had working with Phil Spector on “Death of a Ladies’ Man”:

Over the next 12 years, Cohen tried to keep his mind on Buddhism and away from drink and drugs. By 1977, he hit a low. It was then that a vulnerable Cohen unwisely attempted his first co-written record, called Death of a Ladies’ Man in keeping with his Lothario image. Even more unwisely, he chose to team up with legendary but eccentric – and, in these sessions, armed – Phil Spector.

‘The time we worked together, one to one, was very pleasant,’ he begins, diplomatically. ‘Except for the climate. He insisted on having the air conditioning set to 40 F all day. I have no idea why he did that. He must have been suffering as much as I was.’

‘He is a very hospitable man,’ Cohen continues. ‘It was when other people were around in the recording studio that he seemed to move into his Mr Hyde period. One day he had a bottle of wine in one hand and a 35mm pistol in the other. He put his arm around my shoulder, pressed the muzzle into my neck and said, “Leonard, I love you.” At which point I said: “I hope you really do, Phil.”’

Interview with Nick Paton Walsh,
The Observer, October 14, 2001

As it happens, they never worked together again. Something came of the collaboration though. This is “Memories”, as performed in the “I  Am A Hotel” video, with Bob Desrosiers and Claudia Moore doing the dancing.

I Am A Hotel Memories

Choreography: Ann Ditchburn