LC- Stranger Song on 1967 BBC with Julie Felix

[loulou]

just caught this via the BBCiplayer (I think only available in the UK) archive footage aired on BBC4 entitled 'sound of the sixties' - after a very fresh faced Dylan played, Julie Felix introduced Leonard (whom she said she meet in Greece) to the viewers as a poet, saying that he had just released 'beautiful losers' and that he also wrote some songs, which have been recorded by Judy Collins.

I think this was his first UK TV apperance and before the recording/release of his first album.

[John Etherington]

You're right Loulou - I've seen a video of this in recent years. In fact, since I always watched Julie's BBC TV show in the Sixties, I'm sure I saw this originally. If my memory serves me well, it was probably the first time I ever heard Leonard sing, and I thought "Oh my
God...how dreary!" and promptly forgot about it. All that changed, however when I heard "Sisters of Mercy" on the "Rock Machine Turns You On" LP in late '68 (I was seventeen, at the time).

I got to know Julie when we did a study course together about twenty years ago, and we've been friends since. I invited her to come to Leonard's art exhibition at Manchester last year, and was able to re-connect her with him after many years (which is something that I never ever dreamed I would be doing!). Leonard thought it was the first time that they had met since the Sixties, but Julie told me that she remembered meeting Leonard briefly about ten years later. Ironically, I don't think Julie has been able to get a seat for any of Leonard's concerts yet. She asked me to try for her if there was a second O2 concert, but there wasn't. Also, I hoped to surprise her by trying to get good seats for the Thursday Manchester show (and failed). As it happens, Julie's own "Highway of Diamonds", 70th birthday tour, has some overlap with Leonard's tour (check out http://www.juliefelix.com).

All good things, John E

[Philwilli]

loulou you know that the video has been uploaded to Youtube for quit
some time now?

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocq_noEO ... re=related

[Davido]

I remember the original Julie Felix show,too. Leonard sang 'Stranger Song' and then he and Julie sang 'Hey that's no way to say goodbye' together.
Julie is currently touring and we attended her concert just last Friday in Sale,near Manchester. She really is a lovely person.She sang two of Leonard's songs (Bird on the wire and Hallelujah) and said what a special man he is.She said he was probably the only touring folk singer from the sixties who is older than she is .
She chatted,signed and posed for pics after the show.Very gracious and generous.
It will be sadly ironic if she misses out on Leonard's forthcoming tour, since introducing him to UK viewers all those years ago.
Dave

[John Etherington]

Hi Davido,

Thanks for posting this again, here. I trust you got my reply, yesterday.

All best wishes, John E

[Davido]

Yes I did, John.Thanks.
Do you remember when Leonard appeared on 'Later...with Jools Holland' show in May 1993? Jools showed Leonard a clip of him singing 'Hey that's no way to say goodbye' with Julie from her 1967 show 'Once More with Felix'. He seemed quite touched by it and said he had never actually viewed the clip before.
Dave

[John Etherington]

Hi Dave,

Yes - I did see that, and I too was struck by Leonard's response to it.

All the best, John E

[astranger]

Isn't there an earlier performance of this song? I've seen black and white footage of the song, which appears to be from the tv show where he talked to a canadian journalist about Beautiful Losers. The song has some altered, or early, lyrics to it so it sounds.

[John Etherington]

Hi astranger,

I've just spoken to Jim Devlin, and he has provided the following information: Leonard first performed "Stranger Song" on TV on the Adrienne Clarkson show on May 23rd 1966 (this is the show that you refer to). The lyrics are the same as those we know, but the intro is slightly different, and Leonard doesn't repeat the last line of the verse (as he usually does) at the end of verse seven.

All the best, John E

[jim devlin]

Leonard also misses out the repeat last line on verse 9, and in the final verse he sings 'I told you when I came I was a stranger' twice [instead of the three times, before the fade-out, as on the later album release].
Jim

[Maarten]

Hi,

You can look at the "Take 30" interview here (clip n°4):
http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainme ... topics/93/

Sadly, it only starts just after Leonard finishes playing "The Stranger Song"
I've got a very nice DVD which includes the full "Take 30" show with the song in it. It has some other very nice rebroadcast footage (very good quality) from 1966 upto 1997:

• - Take 30 (3/23/66)
  - This hour has seven days (5/1/66)
  - Authors (2/8/80)
  - Take 30 (3/27/80)
  - Prime Time News (12/3/93)
  - Friday night with Ralph Benmergui (2/12/93)
  - On the arts (11/20/97)

Anyone who wants a copy: let me know

Maarten

[loulou]

thanks so very much Maarten for this amazing link - so many Cohen gems in this archive, really enjoying getting very side tracked listening to them all

[sallyxi]

I`ve seen that video on youtube,but it doesn`t make sense.