Epistolarity in Music: A Multimodal Analysis of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat”

Enfoque

This paper examines the correlations between writing and listening, specifically focusing on the interplay between poetry and sound.

Frequently, singers and artists envision music as a means for expressing emotions and experiences that have been previously conveyed through written correspondence.

The entertainment field has consistently maintained a profound connection with epistolarity.

Following Low’s theories on rhyming songs, my aim is to examine the structure and meaning of the legendary Leonard Cohen’s song entitled “Famous Blue Raincoat” (1971), as well as its reinterpretation by several other musicians. My purpose is also to explore and compare the original English lyrics with the Italian version, which was translated and adapted by Fabrizio De Andrè and Sergio Bardotti and to conduct a comprehensive analysis. In addition, I will also focus on translating particular lines from English to Italian, considering culture-bound terms.

I therefore suggest a comprehensive investigation of the contamination between artistic, musical and epistolary writing, paying particular attention to the structure, language, content and meaning of the performances investigated.

I will investigate further into the significance of the letters and the methods by which they were incorporated into music, including the melodic, harmonic, and compositional levels.

Songs are an artistic-literary form of immense value, allowing individuals to express vulnerable feelings and emotions that may be challenging to articulate in other contexts. Music is highly interconnected with all ages and civilizations. Songs today relate to a new type of poetry to which every person feels close, reading through sounds.