As biographer Ira Nadel notes in the 1996 Cohen biography Various Positions, although Cohen still showed signs of insecurity in the recording studio, producer Johnston created a hospitable atmosphere: "In the studio, Daniels and the other musicians were told to listen to Cohen in order to get into the songs. It was like mixing colors; you had to be one of the colors for it to work. Johnston later referred to the album as a painting, not a record, and described his role as 'a musical bodyguard,' protecting Cohen and his music from artificial intrusions and falsification of sound." According to Nadel, Johnston felt that French voices would enhance "The Partisan" so he and Cohen flew to France and overdubbed three female French singers. Composition The album contains "Bird on the Wire", one of Cohen's most famous songs. In a 1973 interview with Alastair Pirrie of the New Musical Express, Cohen stated, "The song is so important to me. It's that one verse where I say that I swear by this song, and by all that I have done wrong, I'll make it all up to thee. In that verse it's a vow that I'll try and redeem everything that’s gone wrong. I think I've made it too many times now, but l like to keep renewing it." In the liner notes to the 1975 compilation The Best of Leonard Cohen, Cohen wrote about the song: "I always begin my concert with this song. It seems to return me to my duties. It was begun in Greece and finished in a motel in Hollywood around 1969 along with everything else. Some lines were changed in Oregon. I can't seem to get it perfect. Kris Kristofferson informed me that I had stolen part of the melody from another Nashville writer. He also said that he's putting the first couple of lines on his tombstone, and I'll be hurt if he doesn't." In the 1960s, Cohen lived on the Greek island Hydra with his girlfriend Marianne. She has related how she helped him out of a depression by handing him his guitar, whereupon he began composing "Bird on the Wire" – inspired by a bird sitting on one of Hydra's recently installed phone wires, followed by memories of wet island nights. Cohen has described "Bird on the Wire" as a simple country song, and the first recording, by Judy Collins, was indeed