Back in 1975, a writer named Larry “Ratso” Sloman stood inside a phone booth in Montreal, Canada. He was helping two famous singers, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, talk to each other. Larry was already friends with Leonard because he wrote a story about him for a magazine the year before. That day, he was with Bob, who was on a big music tour called the Rolling Thunder Revue.
Bob and Larry ran into each other in a hotel lobby. Bob was shopping and suddenly said, “Hey, call Leonard! Ask him to sing with me at my next show!” Larry started dialing Leonard’s number right away, and Bob kept tugging at his arm, excited. When Leonard answered, Larry said, “Hi, it’s Larry. How are you?” Leonard replied, “Well, I can’t complain,” which was his favorite thing to say. Bob kept asking, “Is he coming? Is he coming?” So Larry gave the phone to Bob. When Bob asked Leonard how he was, Leonard said again, “Well, I can’t complain.” It was a funny moment!
A Night at the Show
Larry wrote a book about Bob’s tour, called On the Road with Bob Dylan. The tour had lots of surprise singers like Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. Bob really wanted Leonard to join them on stage, but Leonard didn’t. Instead, he came to watch the show. Larry picked him up that night, and backstage, Leonard said hello to Joni, Bob, and other friends. Larry begged, “Leonard, are you going to sing?” But Leonard smiled and said, “I’m going to sit and watch.”
Before Bob sang a song called “Isis,” he told the crowd, “This is for Leonard if he’s still here.” Leonard stayed and enjoyed the music from the audience.
Two Singers Who Liked Each Other
Bob and Leonard weren’t best friends, but they really admired each other. They met a few times over the years. Once, when Leonard was making an album in 1977, Bob and a poet named Allen Ginsberg came to help sing a funny song called “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On.” Another time, in the 1980s, they sat at a cafe in Paris. Leonard told Bob it took him two years to write his famous song “Hallelujah,” but it really took five or even seven years! Bob laughed and said he wrote his song “Just Like a Woman” in 15 minutes.
Bob loved Leonard’s music, especially an album called Various Positions from 1984. He called the songs “prayers” because they were so special. Bob even sang “Hallelujah” at his own concerts in 1988, years before other singers made it famous. Then, in 2023, Bob sang another song from that album, “Dance Me to the End of Love,” during his tour.
A Friendship in Music
Larry, who got his nickname “Ratso” from Joan Baez, stayed friends with Leonard for over 30 years. He recorded lots of talks with Leonard and shared them for a movie in 2021 called Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. That phone booth moment in 1975 was just one small part of a big story about two music legends who respected each other’s talents. Bob once said Leonard’s gift was like “music from the stars,” and that’s why their connection is so cool to remember!
