[1] She had recently been left by her husband,[2] the Norwegian writer Axel Jensen, leaving her and their six-month-old son alone on the island.
To quote Leonard Cohen (backcover of “Greatest Hits”, 1976): I began this on Aylmer Street in Montreal and finished it a year or so later at the Chelsea Hotel in New York.
Other musicians on the track were backing singer Nancy Priddy, bassist Willie Ruff, drummer Jimmy Lovelace, and members of the band Kaleidoscope – Chester Crill, Chris Darrow, Solomon Feldthouse, and David Lindley – playing a variety of instruments.
[9][10] The song has been covered by Beck, Noel Harrison, John Cale with Suzanne Vega, Straitjacket Fits, Brian Hyland, James, Bill Callahan, Russian Red, Courtney Barnett, and others, including Cohen's own son, Adam Cohen.
In 1984 it became a hit in the Dutch Top 40 sung by José Hoebee, ex-singer of Luv', and TV host Ron Brandsteder.
[16] So Long, Marianne, a Canadian-Norwegian TV series that dramatizes the romance between Cohen and Ihlen which led to the song's composition, premiered on 22 September, 2024.
The series stars Alex Wolff as Cohen and Thea Sofie Loch Næss as Ihlen.