#149

#149, Brooklyn Heights

He was probably singing about the one in Manhattan, but whenever I pass this wall in Brooklyn, I always think of Leonard Cohen singing the first verse of Famous Blue Raincoat.

It's four in the morning, the end of December

I'm writing you now just to see if you're better

New York is cold but I like where I'm living

There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening

Hearing him sing it live just two weeks ago, seeing him bathed in blue light of the stage, guitar slung over his suit, fedora tipped down, Lenny the legend, 74 years old, filling the rafters of Radio City Music Hall in New York City with song, what can I say? There was not a dry eye in the house. This song is one of my favorites, one that will always transport me, whether I'm on Clinton Street in Brooklyn or Clinton Street in the Lower East Side or just that Clinton Street of the mind. And I'm writing you now just to tell you so. Sincerely, T. Cox