Seams on the Heart
One wrong stitch and your life can go into another direction. One right stitch and your heart can live a little longer than expected. One more stitch on an old jacket can completely ruin your favorite piece of memory, the memory of the past when you wore the jacket and it made you feel even happier. Now all you have left it is an old jacket that been ruined by an extra stitch. The jacket is finished but your heart still feels it. Then you take a piece of paper and write a letter to a friend who left your life when you were still wearing the happy jacket. Your friend is gone and now it is time to let the jacket go.
Leonard Cohen wrote “Famous Blue Raincoat” as a letter to a friend (or brother). The story is of his wife sleeping with his friend. It is more than cheating. It is cheating on one person who they knew for years and still decided to do it. By wearing a coat they pretend to be a human being. The action of two people involved a third person and when it was over someone was left to clean up the mess. He writes a letter and being a better person forgives his friend, but before he does that he goes into details about his feelings that he’s held inside for years.
Leonard Cohen wrote this song on Clinton Street where he used to live. Clinton Street is on the Lower East Side in New York City. That area was pretty hip when song was written (and still is at somewhat). But he mentions that he writes from New York and that Clinton Street is up till morning. I guess that Clinton Street is New York for him; everything that was happening was happening around it. We also know that it is Christmas time and New York is charming at the end of December even if you are in pain. Another reference to the home is “you’re building your little house deep in a desert.” New York isn’t his friend’s home and he is somewhere hard to reach so the author reminds him about his past actions and where they took place.
The friend is gone and living his life. The author’s wife is with him and also gets involved in writing the letter (she sends her regards). This means he has forgiven his friend and his wife. He compares his friend to a gypsy thief and still mentions that he wants him back. His anger has left him and now it is time for his friend to come back.
“That night that you planned to go clear” is probably the most unclear metaphor in this song. There are a few possible meanings. It could be a reference to getting off drugs (his friend promised so many times but never actually did it). Another meaning involves L. Cohen being interested in Scientology. “Going clear” is a term in the Church of Scientology which refers to being free from unwanted emotions and memories of trauma. Another meaning could be referring to the author himself. He actually let go of his anger towards his friend and moved on with his life and wishes the same for his friend.
The “famous blue raincoat” refers to a Burberry coat that Cohen bought in London. Burberry is a London-based brand that has been making rain coats (or trench coats) for years. They are famous for their quality. He refers to this raincoat as a piece memory and relates it to the story that happened with his wife and friend. “I guess that I miss, I guess I forgive you” is another unclear nostalgic reference that involves memory. It took him a while to tear the shoulder of the coat and also took a while to allow his mind to forgive. The coat was there for him for years just like his friend and his wife. But one day it is ripped…
How many people go though our lives? Endless numbers of them leave, usually for good. But some of them before they go leave deep scars on the heart which serve as a reminder that you never will be the same. Even if you try and cover it all with tears. And we blame ourselves over and over for being a bad friend. You can always be a good friend/boyfriend/girlfriend but you need to be a bad one in order to realize that those people left your life for good. You will think that you weren't trying hard or that they just kept upsetting you when in reality they’ve left your life and there is no way that they can enter back. That's why their actions seem harsh, stupid, heartless. A little scar will remind you that you had a friend.
Good times aren't enough to cover mistakes. The present moment is only an existence and what you had in the past won't make up for a friendship that has changed just as you have changed. But every period of your life will be followed by a song. The song will stay and your understanding of it will change and become clearer though the years.