Leonard Cohen experienced a major career resurgence with his 1988 album "I'm Your Man," which he described as "the resurrection of my career." After his folk-oriented style had fallen out of favour in the 1970s and early 1980s, this album marked a turning point that would define the remainder of his artistic life and establish him as relevant to a new generation of listeners.

Cohen's comeback began tentatively in 1985 with "Various Positions," which introduced synthesisers and updated his sound, but "I'm Your Man" in 1988 became the definitive statement of his resurgence. The album featured eight songs with electronic production and refined, sharper lyrical cynicism, along with a playfully irreverent album cover showing Cohen in sunglasses with a banana in his mouth. Notable tracks like "Ain't No Cure for Love" and "Everybody Knows" remained central to his live performances until his final shows, cementing the album's status as a career apex that Cohen had been moving towards from the beginning.