Billy Sunday and Die Gedanken Sind Frei live in London?

[John Etherington]

Between 1970 and 1993, I only ever missed two of Leonard's concerts in London (second Hammersmith 1985 and second RAH 1988). During this time, I only saw one other Leonard concert, which was the Isle of Wight. I have just checked lists of the songs Leonard played (from this site, leonardcohenlive.com and Jim Devlin's book) yet none of them seem to list "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" and "Billy Sunday" as being played live in London. Yet I KNOW that I have heard them live, and almost certainly more than once. Can anyone please provide further information regarding this, without going to too much trouble?

Thanks, John E

[bluesboy]

"Billy Sunday" was performed only once... in Brighton, England in 1979. After London Hammersmith in '79 Leonard began writing "Billy Sunday" on tour. It was performed at the next show in Brighton, and to the best of anyone's knowledge, never again.

[Davido]

hi bluesboy,
These are the known performances of the songs :
Billy Sunday (The Blues By The Jews)
1-Birmingham, England, 1979/12/08
2-Manchester, England, 1979/12/09
3-Edinburgh, England, 1979/12/11
4-Preston, England, 1979/12/13
5-Dublin, Ireland, 1979/12/14
6-Brighton, England, 1979/12/15
7-Melbourne, Australia, 1980/03/07
8-Melbourne, Australia, 1980/03/08

Die Gedanken Sind Frei
1-Frankfurt, Deutschland, 1976/04/25
2-Ludwigshafen, Deutschland, 1976/04/27
3-Mainz, Deutschland, 1976/05/04
4-München, Deutschland, 1976/05/09
5-Wien, Österreich, 1976/06/14
6-Graz, Österreich, 1976/06/15
7-Linz, Österreich, 1976/06/16
8-Nürnberg, Deutschland, 1976/06/18
9-Karlsruche, Deutschland 1976/06/19
10-Zürich, Schweiz, 1976/06/22
http://www.leonardcohenlive.com/rareliv ... esongs.htm
- Dave

[Artur]

It is highly likely that you attended a show that, in the worst-case scenario, was not taped, or has not circulated. E.g. you might have heard The Thoughts Are Free in London 1976-05-25 (Royal Albert Hall) or 1976-07-06+07+08 (@ New Victoria Theatre). Billy Sunday might have been debuted in London on 1979-12-04 or 05. Why didn't you think of recording the gigs yourself???

[holydove]

Given that the recording of Blues by the Jews provided by DrH is from the tour of '79/'80, I have to surmise that the 2 vocal solos were done by Sharon & Jennifer; I'm guessing it's Sharon on the verse, "he hates me when I ask him where all the girls have gone. . .", & Jennifer on "When you feel his anger, let's say about 3 a.m.. . "

Because their voices sound rather different there, I'm wondering if anyone can inform me as to the accuracy (or innacuracy) of my guesses?

[holydove]

I have to revise my previous post, (even if I am talking to myself - lol!), as at that moment my communication was confused, & I didn't ask what I want to know:

In the recording of Blues by the Jews, provided by the good DrHGuy, there are 3 vocal solos (w/voices other than Leonard's), on 3 different verses;

The first one (He's angry when you go to sleep. . .) sounds like Jennifer Warnes; the second one (and if you feel his anger, let's say around 3 a.m. . .) sounds like Sharon Robinson; the third one (He hates me when I need to know where all the girls have gone. . .) sounds like a male voice - & that's my actual question: does anyone know which male did that solo?

Meanwhile, I will try to research this myself, but if anyone knows. . .

I am editing this now, because I found my answer in another thread (the Other LC Album), in a post by Davido (thank you so much, Davido) - Mitch Watkins is listed on guitar, keyboards, & vocals - so I guess it was him doing that vocal - good to know! I would have deleted my first post, but it seems I can no longer do that, so I apologize for taking up all that space. . .

[Davido]

Thanks, holydove - I'm glad you have your answer.
You may wish to check out one of Jim Devlin's contributions to the 'files' here:
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/artists.html
and for info on live recordings this is fantastic:
http://www.leonardcohenlive.com/

- Dave

[holydove]

Davido, thank you so much for the links - there's some really great info there!

[ladydi]

I would love to see "Billy Sunday" reintroduced into the present concerts, especially since Leonard's new songs have the bluesy sound. The instrumental part alone blasts you away and the lyrics are fabulous!

[holydove]

I'm with you ladydi - I would DIE to hear Leonard do that song live - our Mr. Leonard Cohen is the only one in the world who could write/perform a song like that - infused with such great musical & lyrical brilliance & beauty (like all his work is, of course) - so hilarious & dark, intensely funny & deeply serious, at the same time - & so passionate & exquisite - I love everything about it! It would be a dream come true if he did that song in concert now. . .

[John Etherington]

I've just revisited this thread for the first time. Artur got the correct the correct answer to my question. I would have heard "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" at the London New Victoria concerts in 1976, and "Billy Sunday" at the London Hammersmith 1979 shows (when Jim Devlin was compiling his book, I could not confirm with certainty where I had heard them). I remember thinking in 1976 that the London shows should be recorded, but I didn't have a tape recorder and would not have risked trying to smuggle one into the concerts.

[alb123]

For those of you interested in hearing Billy Sunday from Leonard's March 8th, 1980 concert in Melbourne, Australia you may listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWgFeR1ssCU

I recently uploaded an entire concert (Hannover, Germany 1979) to that YouTube account and I will be getting around to uploading the entire Melbourne concert from which I obtained the copy of Billy Sunday. Since I saw this thread talking about Billy Sunday, I figured I would quickly upload the song - the rest of the show will have to wait for now.

ALB