Frankie Laine, he was singing Jezebel
I pinned an Iron Cross to my lapel
I walked up to the tallest and the blondest girl
I said, "Look, you don't know me now but very soon you will
Frankie Laine was a popular singer in the 1950’s and 60’s. The reference plants the song ( “Jezabel” ) at a dance from Cohen’s teenage years.  
 Introducing the song in 1985 , Cohen talked about his admiration for Frankie Lane: 
 A song that I wrote with the great R'n'R master by the name of Phil Spector. A delightful chap. You really get to know him, you really did get to know him. And I had a Walther PPK. He had a just an ordinary 45. He flatted out on Sunset Boulevard. He got the tapes. He mixed them all alone. I think he was right. In this song we placed all our most irrelevant and banal adolescent recollections. It was everything that I learned in High School. One foot note : there is a singer mentioned in the first line of the first verse, the singer Frankie Laine. He’s to be remembered for his stellar rendition of “Jezebel”. Also for his sense of interpretation of “Swamp Girl”. That song has the memorable refrain, “That’s where my swamp girl lies”. Many’s the time these words come rushing to my mind. There’s another song of his :“Black Lace” : “Lady beware, every time that you wear lace, black lace”. Very good song. There is a better known : “Mule Train”, with the authentic cracking of bull hide whips. Mule train. So the Frankie Laine referred to in the very first two words of this song is the very Frankie Laine, the very Frankie Laine whose liver I have to describe.
Memories