What to do

I keep thinking about my Supervisor's suggestion to measure Cohen against other artists. This is not how I envisaged this going. I think there is enough in Cohen's complexity of portrayal to be a study in itself. I don't want to do the usual of counting up words and then reaching conclusions like 'Cohen uses words for parts of the body 3 times as often as Dylan, who uses words for geographical places and features 10 times more than Cohen'. (Note: I made those figures up)  Cohen presents himself as a lover in songs like 'Marianne' and as a (flawed) revolutionary leader in 'Field Commander Cohen'. He is a helpless pawn in 'Tower of Song' and some think he is conversing with his younger self in 'Famous Blue raincoat'. All of this is much more fascinating to me. I need to get S on-side.

Work or play?

Last night we went to the Cohen concert at Manchester Arena. I don't like the Arena - its too big and slightly grubby. The stairs are too steep for me without a handrail and there are no handrails. But we had brilliant seats - side-on to the stage in the lower block and on the end so we had a clear view. The performance from Cohen and his singers and instrumentalists was mesmerising - he is now funny rather than dreary. Despite his 79 years, all the energy on stage comes from him and he is still dancing after three hours on stage.

But he's trying to ruin my dissertation. He changes lyrics - 'famous blue raincoat' ended with 'sincerely, a friend' instead of 'sincerely, L. Cohen'. In 'Amen', instead of just distorting his vowels to get 'sober' to rhyme with 'horror', it became 'goddamned' horror. Is he not thinking of the linguists out here?

We go on holiday soon and its wardrobe planning day. I'm going to try all my best outfits on.