Leonard Cohen once sang about a woman who tied you to a kitchen chair, broke your throne, and cut your hair. If that lady kept any of Cohen's hair, then maybe she's about to make some money. Next month, Julien’s Auctions will auction off a big trove of Cohen memorabilia, including letters, notes, drafts of lyrics and poems, a fisherman's cap, an obscene drawing, and a piece of hair.
As Rolling Stone reports, these items come from Anjani Thomas, the former Cohen romantic partner who sang on many of his records, and from Aviva Layton, a longtime Cohen friend who first got to know the late legend in the '50s. According to Layton, Cohen was wearing that cap when she and her husband Irving went to visit him in Greece at one point: "Leonard was wearing his cap, and Irving said, 'I write poetry, but I’d like to write songs and make tons of money like you.' And Leonard said, 'I’ve got this cap, it’s a magic cap. I’ve written all my early songs wearing this cap. I’m going to give it to you, and you’ll be able to write songs and make a lot of money too.' Unfortunately, it only seemed to work for Leonard."
The bit of hair comes from a locket that Cohen gave to Thomas. She tells Rolling Stone, "We were cutting his hair one day, and he had just given me a locket for my birthday. And I thought it was a traditional thing to put a snippet of hair in a locket. It’s a very olden-times custom."
Apparently, Leonard Cohen-related stuff goes up for auction very rarely, and Julien’s Auctions has set high prices for some of these items. You can browse through all the things up for auction and register to bid here, if you've got Leonard Cohen's hair money.
