Rufus Wainwright covers Leonard Cohen's song "So Long, Marianne" live in concert at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California on September 12, 2021. So Long, Marianne originally appeared on the 1967 album Songs of Leonard Cohen. It was inspired by Cohen's lifelong friend and muse Marianne Ihlen, whom Cohen met on the Greek island of Hydra right after her husband abandoned her and her infant son. Cohen invited her to live with him, and he credited her with inspiring many of his songs and poems.

Rufus Wainwright has his own family connection to Cohen; Wainwright is the biological father of Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen, born to Leonard Cohen's daughter Lorca. Wainwright has covered many Cohen songs over the years--most famously "Hallelujah"--and a live version of So Long, Marianne appeared on the limited edition album Northern Stars (2018). That album contained songs from Wainwright's special Northern Lights concerts in 2017 celebrating Canada's 150th birthday. It can only be purchased at his concerts.

Wainwright is on tour promoting his new album, Unfollow The Rules. Joining him onstage were Brian Green (guitar), Jacob Mann (piano/keyboards), and Alan Hampton (bass).

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So Long, Marianne lyrics

Come over to the window, my little darling
I'd like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
Before I let you take me home

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

Well you know that I love to live with you
But you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
And then the angels forget to pray for us

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark

Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

Your letters they all say that you're beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
Is fastening my ankle to a stone

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

For now I need your hidden love
I'm cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave

Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

Oh, you are really such a pretty one
I see you've gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain

Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

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Rufus Wainwright official bio

Praised by the New York Times for his “genuine originality,” Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. The New York-born, Montreal-raised singer songwriter has released seven studio albums, three DVDs, and three live albums, including the fantastic Grammy nominated Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, which captured his celebrated Judy Garland tribute performance at the London Palladium in 2007, and the album Release The Stars which went Gold in Canada and the UK.

Wainwright received Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album in 1999 and 2002 for Rufus Wainwright and Poses, respectively, and nominations for his albums Want Two (2005) and Release the Stars (2008). He was nominated for Songwriter of the Year in 2008 for his Release the Stars album. He also composed the original music for choreographer Stephen Petronio’s work Bloom which has toured across the country. Rufus has collaborated with artists including Elton John, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys and producer Mark Ronson among others. His most recent collaboration is on the title track of Robbie Williams’ latest album, Swings Both Ways.

In addition to being a celebrated contemporary pop singer, Rufus has made a name for himself in the classical world. His much acclaimed first opera, titled Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. The opera was subsequently performed in London at Sadler’s Wells in April 2010, in Toronto at the Luminato Festival in June 2010 and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House in February 2012.

His latest release, Unfollow The Rules, finds Rufus Wainwright at the peak of his powers, entering artistic maturity with passion, honesty and a new-found fearlessness, while remaining as mischievous as ever. Recorded in the same legendary Los Angeles studios as his landmark debut, his ninth album is both a bookend to Act 1 of an extraordinary career and a distillation of 21 years of experience at pop’s most flamboyant coal face.











Typo catcher: Rufus Wainright, Rufus Wanewright, So Long Maryanne, So Long Mary Anne, So Long Marian