Ox-herding Pictures). According to Anthony Reynolds 2010 Cohen memoir, "The Guests" was based on a 13th-century Persian poem and was chosen to open the album because of the enthusiastic response it had evoked when Cohen played it to friends. The album also features Cohen's interpretation of "Un Canadien errant", a song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–38. Curiously, Cohen and Levy opted to use a Mexican Mariachi band on the song, which is arguably the only cheerful sonic outburst on what is otherwise a languid album (the Mariachi band is also employed more subtly on "The Guests" and "The Ballad of the Absent Mare"). Cohen's 2004 song "The Faith" is based on the same folk tune as "Un Canadien errant", with Cohen's collaborator Anjani Thomas acknowledging in a 2005 interview (Old Ideas: Notes on Dear Heather) that he used an alternate 1979 track for "Un Canadien errant", adding a new vocal line with completely new lyrics, for his 2004 album Dear Heather. Cohen also recorded a studio version of the disco-infused "Do I Have to Dance All Night", which had been previously released as a live single in France in 1976, but it was not included on the album. The musicians who recorded Recent Songs with Cohen served as his tour band later that year, highlights of which can be heard on the 2001 release Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979. Cohen performed several songs from the LP in concert, such as "The Guests", "The Window", and the Sinatraesque "The Smokey Life". Speaking with Mojo'''s Sylvie Simmons in 2001, Cohen was effusive in his praise for the album: I think I like Recent Songs the best. The producer was Henry Levy - I was studying with Roshi at the time in Los Angeles and it was appropriate that I worked with a Los Angeles producer. Joni Mitchell introduced me to him. He had produced several of her early records. He had that great quality that Bob Johnston had: he had a lot of faith in the singer and he just let it happen. He introduced me to the group Passenger...Things had changed - these were my own songs and the musical ideas were specifically mine. I'd always wanted to combine those Middle Eastern or Eastern European sounds with the rhythmic possibilities of a jazz or rock 'n' roll rhythm section. The painting of