Leonard Cohen's Influence on The Marriage Pact
A crack in everything...that's how the light gets in
When The Marriage Pact was first published, Joe Hartlaub, interviewing me for Bookreporter, asked about the presence of Leonard Cohen’s songs in the book and their influence on the story.
BRC: You also mentioned in your Acknowledgements that you listened to the music of Leonard Cohen while you were writing THE MARRIAGE PACT and that, as a result, he contributed a secondary but important element to the book. I found this interesting since, by coincidence, I listened to Leonard Cohen the entire time I was reading the story. What song of his is your favorite, if you had to pick just one?
MR: My favorite Leonard Cohen song? That is an impossible question, but still an interesting question to ponder. It changes all the time. This was really the first book that I’ve listened to music while writing. Usually I prefer silence --- or as much silence as I can get between family, the sounds of the home and the neighborhood, and the very affectionate and persistent Phoebe the cat, who is offended by the notion that I might ever want to work alone.
While writing THE MARRIAGE PACT, though, I happened to be going through a phase of listening to the Live in London album, and it all just naturally flowed into the book. There were times when I strayed from that album --- Songs from the Road and Live in Dublin are both great too, Popular Problems as well --- but I always circled back to it. As for favorite songs, there are a few that I keep coming back to: “Chelsea Hotel #2” and “Famous Blue Raincoat,” which breaks my heart every single time I listen to it, though I’ve listened to it thousands of times. Recently, I’ve felt inspired by “You’ve Got Me Singing.”
Today, though—on this particular day in this particular season, at this particular moment in history—let’s just say that my favorite is “Anthem.” As Leonard says, “there is a crack in everything --- that’s how the light gets in.”
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