Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s; he did not launch a music career until 1967, at the age of 33. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man, co-written and produced by Phil Spector, was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz, Oriental, and Mediterranean influences. Perhaps Cohen's most famous song, "Hallelujah", was first released on his studio album Various Positions in 1984. I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions and remains his most popular album. In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.
Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. His 11th album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death.
Leonard Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Westmount, Quebec, on September 21, 1934. His Lithuanian mother, Marsha Klonitsky ("Masha"; 1905–1978), was the daughter of a Talmudic writer, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, and emigrated to Canada in 1927. His paternal grandfather, whose family had moved from Poland to Canada, was Lyon Cohen, the founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Bernard Cohen (1891–1943), who owned a substantial clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. The family observed Orthodox Judaism, and belonged to Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, to which Cohen retained connections for the rest of his life. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen told Richard Goldstein in 1967, "I had a very Messianic childhood. I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."
Cohen attended Roslyn Elementary School and completed grades seven through nine at Herzliah High School, where his literary mentor Irving Layton taught, then transferred in 1948 to Westmount High School, where he studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico García Lorca. Cohen involved himself actively beyond Westmount's curriculum, in photography, on the yearbook staff, as a cheerleader, in the arts and current events clubs, and even served in the position of president of the Students' Council while "heavily involved in the school's theater program". During that time, Cohen taught himself to play the acoustic guitar, and formed a country–folk group that he called the Buckskin Boys. After a young Spanish guitar player taught him "a few chords and some flamenco", Cohen switched to a classical guitar. He has attributed his love of music to his mother, who sang songs around the house: "I know that those changes, those melodies, touched me very much. She would sing with us when I took my guitar to a restaurant with some friends; my mother would come, and we'd often sing all night.
Cohen frequented Saint Laurent Boulevard for fun and ate at such places as the Main Deli Steak House. According to journalist David Sax, Cohen and one of his cousins would go to the Main Deli to "watch the gangsters, pimps, and wrestlers dance around the night". Cohen enjoyed the formerly raucous bars of Old Montreal as well as Saint Joseph's Oratory, which had the restaurant nearest to Westmount, for him and his friend Mort Rosengarten to share coffee and cigarettes. When Cohen left Westmount, he purchased a place on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, in the previously working-class neighbourhood of Little Portugal. He would read his poetry at assorted nearby clubs. In that period and that place, Cohen wrote the lyrics to some of his most famous songs.
Don't Go Home With Your Hard
Leonard Cohen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My father was a dresser of hair
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there [Repeat: x5]
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
I've looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to you knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there [Repeat: x4]
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade
I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain [Repeats]
The opening verse of Leonard Cohen's "Don't Go Home With Your Hardon" introduces a character who seems to have grown up in the beauty salon his father owned. The singer describes his father as a "dresser of hair," implying that he was a hairstylist. Similarly, the singer's mother was "a girl you could call on," suggesting she worked as a beautician there. By creating this familial backdrop, Cohen establishes the theme of the song: the inheritance of behaviors and traits from one's parents.
Later in the song, Cohen advises the listener not to go home with an erection, as it will only drive them crazy. While this may seem like an odd warning, it holds true to the theme introduced in the first verse. The singer suggests that being horny and chasing after women is a behavior passed down from generation to generation. The final verse brings the song full circle, as the singer reveals that he, too, is now working in the same beauty salon as his parents, perpetuating this cycle of behavior and inheritance.
Overall, this song uses a combination of vivid imagery, poetic repetition, and a catchy chorus to explore the idea of nature versus nurture. It suggests that we are the products of our upbringing and that certain behaviors and patterns are hard to break.
Line by Line Meaning
I was born in a beauty salon
I come from a family of beauty professionals and my birthplace was our place of business.
My father was a dresser of hair
My dad was a hair stylist and took care of styling people's hair most of the time.
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there [Repeat: x5]
My mother was always dependable when someone needed help and she was available most of the time no matter what the circumstances were.
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain
Don't leave with an unfulfilled desire because you won't be able to get rid of it easily and it can drive you mad. Even listening to your favorite music can't distract you from it and the rain can't wash it away.
I've looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to you knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please [Repeat: x4]
I've been with many different types of people with different facial expressions and personalities. Girls might show interest initially, but when getting more serious they make you feel like begging for it.
Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there [Repeat: x4]
Your wife approaches you with her bridal gown on. You're an awful person if you don't pursue her. Once you get her and become a married couple, she'll love you forever.
So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade [Repeat: x3]
I work in the same beauty salon as my family and the job is monotonous. What we're doing is all an act—makeup, shadows, and chemicals. I follow my father's footsteps.
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain [Repeats]
Repeated refrain: Don't leave unfulfilled or you will be tormented by it, even your favorite music or the rain can't remove it.
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LEONARD COHEN, PHIL SPECTOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ChuckDeFuque
I was born in a beauty salon
My father was a dresser of hair
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there [Repeat: x5]
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
You can't melt it down in the rain
I've looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to your knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there [Repeat: x4]
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade
I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain [Repeats]
@vitanuda6919
Phil Spector Is a Genius. Leonard Is unique.
@ammielake
I love this song, the brass rocks!
@dlmiller7873
Too right!
@ammielake
@@dlmiller7873it's the perfect blend of Disco, Rock and Funk.
@tglimm
I love the line "My father was a dresser of hair/ My mother was a girl you could call on"
In other words: His father was a hair dresser and his mother was a call girl.
@davidblackburn3396
The music is New Orleans Second Line meets Bo Diddley meets The Basement Tapes. The brilliantly demented words could only have been conjured up by a Cohen, or a Dylan or very, very few others. Genius. Lightning in a bottle.
@lydiarowe491
Have just seen the movie with Gabriel Byne..so well executed..not dissapointed..takes you to where Leonard passed thru..leaving a beautiful legacy.⭐
@Alacrates
I don't love the album, but this should've been a massive hit
@j.c7719
I love the album more than life itself
@SamHarrisonMusic
Probably everyone already knows this, but Bob Dylan and Alan Ginsberg singing backing vocals... :)