Martha Wainwright (Columbia, 1988)

The songwriting scion hails Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man

I was 12 when I found the record somewhere in my house in Montreal, on cassette. I hadn’t heard his other songs, and I felt like I had really fallen on the most incredible thing. The album was absolutely captivating. The songs were not pop songs and the lyrics were so vivid and descriptive. Nothing about his music was too overt. The sexuality of it is beautiful, soft and not intimidating, the politics of it were not hurtful or angry. It was a view into the complexity of adult life. I remember my mum took me to see Leonard Cohen at the Théâtre Saint-Denis in Montreal, and she said, “He grew up in Westmount,” which is where I grew up. I was certainly one of the youngest people there, but I was completely bowled over. From that moment, my dream was to become his back-up singer. Of course, my own songwriting was influenced by this album. My biggest influences before were my parents [Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle], their songwriting wasn’t quite as poetic or image driven as Leonard and he became very much a musical father to me.

I actually knew Leonard at that time, because I was friends with his daughter, Lorca. Very early on, I went with Lorca to Hydra and learnt Tower Of Song in his house. I would stay with them in LA, and he came to see me play. He would listen to my songs and give me advice. He was very helpful, kind and generous. Years later, I was with Lorca, and he was auditioning people to be his back-up singers. I knew all the songs and Lorca said, “You should go, my dad will hire you.” By this point, I was starting my own career. I thought, “I don’t wanna be Leonard Cohen’s back-up singer any more. I wanna be Leonard Cohen.”

As told to Celina Lloyd

Love Will Be Reborn is out on August 20 on Pheromone/Cooking Vinyl.