Leonard Cohen

[jim stone]

It occurs to me that Leonard Cohen is a fine poet who managed
to cross the line into popular culture. Any other songs or poems
by him anybody likes? Curious about other great song lyrics, too,
by anybody.

Suzanne
by Leonard Cohen

Suzanne takes you down to
her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body
with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body
with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body
with her mind.

[dwinterfield]

I've always liked Cohen, but sometimes found him a bit grating. That said, this is a wonderful cd.

(photo and review from
http://www.allmusic.com/

In 1979, after the release of his album Recent Songs, Cohen set out on an international concert tour accompanied by members of the jazz-rock group Passenger; Field Commander Cohen was compiled from recordings of the 1979 tour, and it presents an especially strong argument for Cohen's gifts as a musician. Cohen's voice had gained a great deal of strength and nuance since the dates preserved on 1973's Live Songs, and the smoky rasp that began to scar his vocals on I'm Your Man had yet to set in; this may well be Cohen's best set of recorded performances as a singer, and having Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson on hand as duet partners is especially rich icing on the cake. While the musicians take care to never intrude upon the songs, they play beautifully, with remarkable taste and skill; Passenger bring out the nuances of these songs with a sure but gentle hand (especially bassist Roscoe Beck and Paul Ostermayer on sax and clarinet), and Raffi Hakopian's violin and John Bilezikjian's oud add breathtaking punctuation to these performances (Cohen often cites his musicians after the songs, and it's not hard to imagine a singer being thrilled to work with musicians of this caliber). While it falls short of the stark emotional force of Songs of Leonard Cohen or Songs of Love and Hate, Field Commander Cohen makes clear that Cohen writes songs, not literature accompanied by incidental music, and here these 12 songs possess a passionate, aching beauty that's a wonder to behold; this is easily the best Leonard Cohen live recording to emerge to date.

[/url]

[Sliabh Luachra]

"Suzanne" was always one of my favorites. The other being "Everybody Knows." His lyrics and his voice are just so dependent on each other. I've never heard anyone else do justice to his songs.

"Everybody Knows"


Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that youve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows youve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that its now or never
Everybody knows that its me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when youve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joes still pickin cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that its moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But theres gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that youre in trouble
Everybody knows what youve been through
From the bloody cross on top of calvary
To the beach of malibu
Everybody knows its coming apart
Take one last look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows

[Bloomfield]

Tower of Song

Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song

I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the Tower of Song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all
I'm standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they don't let a woman kill you
Not in the Tower of Song

Now you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be
sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there's a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the Tower of Song

I see you standing on the other side
I don't know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We'll never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the Tower of Song

Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song


(There is a rather nice collection of L.C. poems out, called Stranger Music. It includes many of the poems from the older collections that have long gone out of print, such as Spice Box of the Earth)

[Dale]

Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire Lyrics



And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?



There's a recent NPR Fresh Air interview with Leonard Cohen. It should be archived on their website.


Dale

[Bloomfield]

Dale, Who by Fire is based on an ancient Hebrew prayer, if I remember that correctly---great poem. I think more poems should be sung.

[bradhurley]

His "Joan of Arc" always leaves me awestruck.

Joan of Arc

Now the flames they followed joan of arc
As she came riding through the dark;
No moon to keep her armour bright,
No man to get her through this dark and smoky night.
She said, "I’m tired of the war,
I want the kind of work I had before,
A wedding dress or something white
To wear upon my swollen appetite."

"Well, I’m glad to hear you talk this way,
You know I’ve watched you riding every day
And something in me yearns to win
Such a cold, such a lonesome heroine."
"And who are you?" she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke.
"Why, I’m fire," he replied,
"And I love your solitude, I love your pride."

"Then fire, make your body cold,
I’m going to give you mine to hold,"
And saying this, she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of joan of arc,
And high above the wedding guests
He hung the ashes of her lovely wedding dress.

It was deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of joan of arc,
And then she clearly understood
If he was fire, oh, she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
But must it come so cruel, must it be so bright?

[Congratulations]

The Butcher

I came upon a butcher,
he was slaughtering a lamb,
I accused him there
with his tortured lamb.
He said, "Listen to me, child,
I am what I am
and you, you are my only son."

Well, I found a silver needle,
I put it into my arm.
It did some good,
did some harm.
But the nights were cold
and it almost kept me warm,
how come the night is long?

I saw some flowers growing up
where that lamb fell down;
was I supposed to praise my Lord,
make some kind of joyful sound?
He said, "Listen, listen to me now,
I go round and round
and you, you are my only child."

Do not leave me now,
do not leave me now,
I'm broken down
from a recent fall.
Blood upon my body
and ice upon my soul,
lead on, my son, it is your world.

[amar]

cohen...hmm...depression coming up..

[Joseph E. Smith]

So long Maryanne has long been a favorite of mine...

Sorry I don't have the lyrics at hand.

[Congratulations]

So long Maryanne has long been a favorite of mine...

Sorry I don't have the lyrics at hand.

Come over to the window, my little darling,
I’d like to try to read you palm
I used to think I was some kind of gypsy boy
Before I let you take me home.

Chorus: so long marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

Well, you know that I love to live with you,
But you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angel
And then the angels forget to pray for us.

Chorus

We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark.

Chorus

Your letters say that you are beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
Is fastening my ankle to a stone.

Chorus

For now I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave.

Chorus

O you are really such a pretty one
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain.

Chorus

[Silvano]

One of my favorites has always been Sisters of mercy. Perhaps because of the fact adding one instrument after another givies a kind of musical suspence sustaining the ballad form.
I see most of you specified older pieces. I had some problems to really listen to later songs of him when his voice wasn't that clear anymore. Strangely my wife loves that deep voice.

Silvano

[jmccain]

I'll jump!

[The Weekenders]

Big media, tv and movies are playing the heck out of Hallelujah, mostly by a recent cover.

[dubhlinn]

Good old Laughin' Lenny.

I've been a fan of his for over thirty years now and have everything he's done..I think.
One of the great songwriters of his generation who can stand up there alongside Dylan and Joni with his head held high.
A few cover versions that are essential listening for any Lenny fans are K.D.Langs version of "Hallelujah", one of the greatest covers of any song at any time and Mary Coughlans version of "There ain't no cure for Love".

If I had to stick my neck out and nominate a favourite, always a tricky business, I probably would go for "One of us cannot be wrong", a truly wonderful song and one that any songwriter would be very proud to call their own.

"Suzanne", of course , is another timeless classic which gets better and better as I get older...for some strange reason

Slan,
D.