Famous Blue Raincoat - wikipedia Famous Blue Raincoat For the Jennifer Warnes album, see Famous Blue Raincoat ( album ). `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' Song by Leonard Cohen from the album Songs of Love and Hate Released 1971 Genre Folk Length 5 : 09 Label Columbia Songwriter ( s ) Leonard Cohen Producer ( s ) Bob Johnston Songs of Love and Hate track listing `` Love Calls You By Your Name '' ( 5 ) `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' ( 6 ) `` Sing Another Song, Boys '' ( 7 ) `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, Songs of Love and Hate, released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter ( many of the lines are written in amphibrachs ). The lyric tells the story of a love triangle between the speaker, a woman named Jane, and the male addressee, who is identified only briefly as `` my brother, my killer. '' Contents 1 Background 2 Cover versions 3 References 4 External links Background The lyrics contain references to the German love song `` Lili Marlene, '' to Scientology, and to Clinton Street. Cohen lived on Clinton Street in Manhattan in the 1970s when it was a lively Latino area. In 1994 Cohen said that `` it was a song I 've never been satisfied with ''. In the 1999 book, The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen, the authors comment that Cohen 's question, `` Did you ever go clear ? '', in the song, is a reference to the Scientology state of `` Clear ''. In the liner notes to 1975 's The Best of Leonard Cohen, which includes the song, he mentions that the famous blue raincoat to which he refers actually belonged to him, and not someone else : I had a good raincoat then, a Burberry I got in London in 1959. Elizabeth thought I looked like a spider in it. That was probably why she would n't go to Greece with me. It hung more heroically when I took out the lining, and achieved glory when the frayed sleeves were repaired with a little leather. Things were clear. I knew how to dress in those days. It was stolen from Marianne 's loft in New York City sometime during the early seventies. I was n't wearing it very much toward the end. Ron Cornelius played guitar on Songs of Love and Hate and was Cohen 's band leader for several years. He told Songfacts : `` We played that song a lot before it ever went to tape. We knew it was going to be big. We could see what the crowd did -- you play the Royal Albert Hall, the crowd goes crazy, and you 're really saying something there. If I had to pick a favorite from the album, it would probably be ' Famous Blue Raincoat. ' '' The original recording starts in the key of A minor, but switches to C major during the choruses. Cohen said, `` That 's nice. I guess I got that from Spanish music, which has that. '' Cover versions `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' has also been recorded by numerous other artists, notably Tori Amos. It provided the title to Jennifer Warnes ' album of cover versions of Cohen 's songs. References ^ Jump up to : `` Readers ' Poll : The 10 Best Leonard Cohen Songs ''. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 November 2016. Jump up ^ Kurutz, Steven ( September 17, 2006 ). `` The Lonesome Casita ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Ratcliff, Maurice ; Chris Charlesworth ( 1999 ). The Complete Guide to the Music of Leonard Cohen. Omnibus Press. p. 37. ISBN 0 - 7119 - 7508 - 6. Jump up ^ `` Famous Blue Raincoat ''. Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 04. Jump up ^ Paul Zollo ( 2003 ). Song - writers on Song - writing, 4th Ed. DeCapo Press. p. 343. ISBN 978 - 0 - 306 - 81265 - 1. Jump up ^ `` Leonard Cohen : 10 great covers ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2016. External links Famous Blue Raincoat lyrics at Cohen 's official website Analysis of `` Famous Blue Raincoat '', by Judith Fitzgerald from Essays on Canadian Writing Herold, Christoph. `` Famous Blue Raincoat : an approach to an integrated analysis of a song '' ( PDF ). Leonard Cohen Studio albums Songs of Leonard Cohen Songs from a Room Songs of Love and Hate New Skin for the Old Ceremony Death of a Ladies ' Man Recent Songs Various Positions I 'm Your Man The Future Ten New Songs Dear Heather Old Ideas Popular Problems You Want It Darker Live albums Live Songs Cohen Live Field Commander Cohen : Tour of 1979 Live in London Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 Songs from the Road Live in Dublin Ca n't Forget : A Souvenir of the Grand Tour Compilations The Best of Leonard Cohen So Long, Marianne More Best of Leonard Cohen The Essential Leonard Cohen Tribute albums Famous Blue Raincoat I 'm Your Fan Tower of Song Leonard Cohen : I 'm Your Man Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen : Democracy The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered Concert tours The Smokey Life Tour Various Positions Tour I 'm Your Man Tour The Future World Tour Leonard Cohen Tour 2008 -- 2010 Old Ideas World Tour Songs `` Ai n't No Cure for Love '' `` Avalanche '' `` Bird on the Wire '' `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' `` Everybody Knows '' `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' `` First We Take Manhattan '' `` The Gypsy 's Wife '' `` Hallelujah '' `` Hey, That 's No Way to Say Goodbye '' `` I 'm Your Man '' `` In My Secret Life '' `` Joan of Arc '' `` The Partisan '' `` So Long, Marianne '' `` Suzanne '' `` Take This Waltz '' Books Let Us Compare Mythologies The Spice - Box of Earth The Favourite Game Flowers for Hitler Beautiful Losers Selected Poems 1956 - 1968 Stranger Music Book of Longing Related Awards and nominations Discography Leonard Cohen : I 'm Your Man Sharon Robinson Jennifer Warnes Anjani Thomas Perla Batalla Julie Christensen Marianne Ihlen Blue Alert Bob Johnston I Am a Hotel Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen The Holy or the Broken Book Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Famous_Blue_Raincoat&oldid=807635424 '' Categories : Leonard Cohen songs 1971 songs Joan Baez songs Songs written by Leonard Cohen Judy Collins songs Jennifer Warnes songs Tori Amos songs Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston Hidden categories : Articles with hAudio microformats Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español فارسی Bahasa Indonesia עברית Edit links This page was last edited on 29 October 2017, at 05 : 41. About Wikipedia

Question: who is the song famous blue raincoat about
Answer: the speaker, a woman named Jane, and the male addressee