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Weekend Butler: Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen: So Long, Marianne.” Jon Stewart’s dog. The poster child for this site: Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.” One-Pot Chicken & Noodles.
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Published: Feb 28, 2024
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Weekend
MARIANNE AND LEONARD: “I AM SO CLOSE BEHIND YOU THAT IF YOU STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND, I THINK YOU CAN REACH MINE.”
This story of Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen comes to you courtesy of Letters of Note, an English site that never disappoints. If you have even a nodding acquaintance with Leonard Cohen, you probably know his song, “So Long, Marianne.” Do watch the video. And stay until the end — the final image is stunning and, for me, profound. And now, from Letters of Note….
In 1960 Leonard Cohen moved from Montreal to Hydra, a peaceful Greek island on which he would live intermittently for the next seven years and write a collection of poetry and two novels. Soon after arriving, he met and fell for Marianne Ihlen, a 23-year-old Norwegian whose husband had abandoned her and their young son. This new relationship blossomed. Ihlen became Cohen’s muse and she inspired, among other songs, 1967’s ‘So Long, Marianne.’ But they eventually grew apart, and by the 1970s they had moved on. Decades later, in 2016, upon hearing that Ihlen’s health was failing, and she had very little time left, Cohen wrote her a farewell letter. A reply soon arrived, written by Ihlen’s dear friend, Jan Christian Mollestad.
Just a few months after Ihlen’s death, Cohen also passed away.
COHEN’S LETTER:
Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.
And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey.
Goodbye old friend.
Endless love, see you down the road.
THE REPLY:
Dear Leonard,
Marianne slept slowly out of this life yesterday evening. Totally at ease, surrounded by close friends.
Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her.
It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength. Jan and her friends who saw what this message meant for her will all thank you in deep gratitude for replying so fast and with such love and compassion.
In her last hour I held her hand and hummed ‘Bird on a Wire,’ while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left the room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words: “So long, Marianne…’
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK
from The Washington Post: “Women are divorcing — and finally finding happiness.”
WEEKEND READING
“Badenheim 1939.” 150 pages, a simple story of a single season in a resort town favored by Jews. A story that resonates now, alas.
WEEKEND MUSIC
Van Morrison, “Astral Weeks” — all of it. In 1968, Morrison went to New York, and, in just two or three days and for a total cost of about $22,000, recorded one of the century’s most sublime suites of any kind of music. For a record that’s #19 on the Rolling Stone list of all-time greats, “Astral Weeks” is not widely known. No hit came off it; even on alternative radio, it’s not played near as often as “Domino” and “Tupelo Honey” and “Moondance.” Over the years, I have bought it for dozens of people, some of them Morrison fans, and few seemed to know of its existence. [To buy the CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
“Astral Weeks” is a song cycle that’s jazzy, tormented, light years from the psychedelia that dominated rock music in 1968. It’s a visionary meditation that’s both timeless and prescient. And then it’s a mystical space shot hurled aloft on butterfly wings and anchored by a voice that starts in Ireland, transits to Mississippi and ultimately resides in that place called Genius.
Yeah, you can play it as background music; it’s that pretty. But if you listen to it — really listen to it — you will find yourself being taken deep inside, to the part of you that, I suspect, you care about most: the part where the only thing that matters is what happens between you and one other person. Though it may be quiet in there, it’s far from peaceful; this is where we conduct the epic battle between self and surrender, between risk and loneliness.
Decades ago, when I launched Head Butler, I wrote that “Astral Weeks” was the poster child for this site — the one piece of culture I wanted to share with every reader. Decades later, it still is.
TEARS OF A CLOWN
Jon Stewart’s dog died. Talking about him on his show, Stewart wept. Watch. Hint: You will want Kleenex.
WEEKEND RECIPE
One-Pot Creamy Chicken and Noodles
From the Times: Think of this dish as a relay race, each ingredient handing its flavor to the next. During the (almost!) hands-off cooking, a head of garlic and a whole chicken stuffed with a Parmesan rind roast, then give themselves to salted water, which in turn flavors the egg noodles that soften around the bird. Salt and water are your best tools here: Season the chicken, season the water and season both again. Don’t hesitate to add more water as the noodles are cooking to make sure they’re submerged. Every brand will absorb a slightly different amount of liquid, and you want a result that’s splashy enough to take on all the Parmesan you will grate at the table. Use your largest pot so everything fits. A 7- to 9-quart Dutch oven has ideal proportions with its wide base and chicken-height sides. You can substitute any short, quick-cooking pasta for egg noodles, and introduce sautéed mushrooms, spinach or herbs at the end, if that’s your mood.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Parmesan rind, plus grated Parmesan for serving
1 head garlic, cloves segmented, kept in their sheaths
1 pound wide egg noodles
1 sprig rosemary
3 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraîche
PREPARATION
Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Remove the chicken and the butter from the refrigerator to lose their chill while the oven heats.
Pat the chicken dry, then rub the chicken all over with the butter (dot if it’s not smearable). Generously sprinkle salt into the cavity and all over the skin, then follow with pepper.
Stuff the Parmesan rind into the cavity of the chicken and place the chicken in a large Dutch oven. Scatter the garlic cloves around the chicken. Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
When the chicken is golden and a chestnut-colored caramel has formed around the base of the bird, transfer the pot to the stovetop. Squash the garlic cloves with the tines of a fork to squeeze out their roasted flesh. Discard the sheaths if you’d like.
Pour in enough water to come up mid-thigh around the bird (5 to 8 cups), avoiding the crisp breast skin. Bring the water to a simmer over high heat. Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and return the pot to the oven without its lid. Cook for another 60 minutes.
When the chicken looks like it’s giving up the will to hold itself together, remove the pot from the oven and place it on a burner over a high flame. Taste the liquid and season with salt.
Press the noodles into the broth and poke them down as they soften to make sure they’re all submerged. Add another 2 to 4 cups of water if necessary to keep the noodles just covered. Boil over high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring the noodles occasionally, until they’re cooked through.
Turn off the flame and bury the rosemary sprig among the noodles. Let sit for 5 minutes for the rosemary to infuse and for the broth to thicken. Stir in 2 tablespoons of sour cream, taste and season the broth. Finish with a generous grind of black pepper and the final tablespoon of sour cream. Take the pot to the table and pull apart the chicken, serving it with a tangle of noodles, and lots of grated Parmesan on top.
