Mitch Watkins Returns To 1st Leonard Cohen Tour In 27 Years

Mitch Watkins, the guitarist for Leonard Cohen's band during the 1979-1985 Tours, has again taken that role, replacing the ailing Bob Metzger. (For more information, see Leonard Cohen Band Veteran Mitch Watkins Replaces Ailing Bob Metzger On Old Ideas Tour)

To commemorate the return of Watkins to the Tour band, DrHGuy presents this collection of photos from that 1979-1985 period featuring Mitch Watkins and other musicians associated with Leonard Cohen.

1. Left to right: Leonard Cohen, Mitch Watkins, Charles Roscoe Beck (1980).  Photo by Alberto Manzano. Contributed by Dominique BOILE. Originally posted at The Elegant Stylings Of Leonard Cohen, Mitch Watkins, & Roscoe Beck.
2. Leonard Cohen & Band (1985). Left to right: Leonard Cohen, John Crowder, Richard Crooks, Mitch Watkins, Ron Getman, and Anjani Thomas. Photo by Alberto Manzano. Contributed by Dominique BOILE.
3. Passenger (1979) Left to right: Steve Meador, left, Bill Ginn, Mitch Watkins, Paul Ostermayer and Roscoe Beck. From Playing with Cohen by Brad Buchholz (Austin American-Statesman- March 31, 2009)
4. Left to right: Mitch Watkins, Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes (Europe 1979). Found at Jennifer Warnes web site.
5. Left to right: Steve Meador, Paul Ostermayer, Mitch Watkins, Jennifer Warnes, Roscoe Beck (backstage before Jennifer Warnes show, no date given). Found at Jennifer Warnes web site.

Watkins is also seen in this 1985 video of Leonard Cohen and the band performing Dance Me To The End Of Love perform on Australian television.

And in this 1985 rehearsal of Tonight Will Be Fine

And You Thought It Was A Long Wait For The Old Ideas Album

Despite DrHGuy nagging Leonard Cohen for the past two years about finishing a Yuletide CD (tentatively titled "I'm Your Santa" although I suspect Leonard will opt for something on the lines of "Songs From No  Room At The Inn"), the Cohen Carols Canon continues to comprise precisely one track: his 1979 "Silent Night" duet with Jennifer Warnes.  

Well, 'tis the season and all that, so DrHGuy has put together a video montage of photos of Cohen and Warnes, drawings by Leonard Cohen, and a clip of a very young Leonard and his sister Esther skating to complement that performance of "Silent Night." 

That video as well as information about and ruminations on Leonard Cohen's single-song Christmas album can be found at New Video – Leonard Cohen & Jennifer Warnes Sing Silent Night 1979.

Dominique BOILE contributes this photo, taken by Alberto Manzano, of Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes dining al fresco.

These two singers are featured together in a number of other photos, several of which may be unfamiliar to contemporary viewers, at The Way They Were – Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes. The photos in this latter group were also provided by Dominique BOILE following the posting of the news that complement the news that Jennifer Warnes would appear on Leonard Cohen’s forthcoming “Old Ideas” album (see Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas Album To Feature Jennifer Warnes And Anjani).

This image is also entry #88 in the Shades of Leonard Cohen classification - and the missing link in the category of Facial Hair Stylings Of Leonard Cohen between Immaculately Unshaven To Scruffy and  Full Beard.

A gallery comprising all items published in the photo series, Shades of Leonard Cohen, can be viewed at Collected Shades Of Leonard Cohen.

From Jenny Sings Lenny - Rolling Stone, March 12, 1987 

Leonard Cohen’s songs and albums are often the result of long gestations. “I’m Your Man” was an album three years in the making. “Hallelujah” alone, Cohen attests, took over two years to complete. “In My Secret Life” required 13 years to progress from conception to release – even with Sharon Robinson helping. Nonetheless, even Cohen’s stalwart fans can be forgiven if they despair over his Christmas album compilation, which is now in its 30th year with only one song to show for the effort. This Leonard Cohen-Jennifer Warnes duet was recorded at the December 15, 1979 Brighton, England concert.  From The Leonard Cohen Christmas Album

AVGuide.com Jennifer Warnes Interview Brief but intriguing interview with Jennifer Warnes on the making of Famous Blue Raincoat, her special version of Leonard Cohen’s songs : “… make a record where the violins sounded like violins and the voices sounded the way you’re listening to me right now. … I wondered what would happen if we pulled the players from the band that was on Leonard’s 1979 tour out of their original guitar-based setting and had them luxuriously arranged?”