The Gypsy's Wife

The theme of the song is that of sexual infidelity and it is built around the refrain "And where, where is my gypsy wife tonight?" It implicitly references the folk-song, which exists in many versions (e.g. "The Gypsy Rover", "The Black Jack Davy", "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy"), of the well-born bride who runs away with the gypsies. In Cohen's version, it is the gypsy himself who comes home looking for his wife and finds her gone. The song then moves in a more biblical direction, referencing Judith and Holofernes (coloured by details from the stories of Salome and Ruth) in the line "Whose head is this she's dancing with on the threshing-floor?", and later Genesis 7–8, the story of Noah and the Flood. In her 2012 work, Cohen biographer Sylvie Simmons writes of the song: "Its sensual melody is paired with dark accusatory lyrics that are biblical in tone." She called the stern sense of loss Cohen voiced, in the song, "a touch disproportionate", given his long history of finding lovers who were already in relationships with other men. ==Composition==

Cohen explained that he wrote the song partly about the break-up of his own long-term relationship with the Los Angeles graphic artist Suzanne Elrod in 1978. In an interview for the 1979 Harry Rasky documentary film The Song of Leonard Cohen, he said: Although Cohen referred in this interview to his "marriage" to Suzanne Elrod he later pointed out that "cowardice" and "fear" had prevented him from actually marrying her. Elrod is the mother of both of Cohen's children: his son Adam Cohen (born 1972) and daughter Lorca (born 1974). Cohen first performed "The Gypsy's Wife" live on stage in Paris on 10 October 1979. ==Cover versions and translations==

The Canadian singer Patricia O'Callaghan has recorded two different cover versions of the song: the first with the Gryphon Trio on the album Broken Hearts & Madmen (2011) and the second on her solo album Matador: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (2012). The Spanish flamenco cantaor (singer) Juan Rafael Cortés Santiago, who performs as Duquende, has recorded a Spanish translation, "Mi Gitana" ("My Gypsy Wife"), of the song (2007). ==References==