Sincerely,

Bird On The Wire
Suzanne
Master Song
Winter Lady
Stranger Song
Sisters Of Mercy
So Long, Marianne
Famous Blue Raincoat
Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
Stories Of The Street
Teachers
One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
Field Commander Cohen
Lover Lover Lover
The Captain
Dance Me To The End Of Love
Closing Time

Adam Cohen and his father

Bird On The Wire       Best of Cohen Best Of   Leonard Cohen

 

Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in some midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight man in some old fashioned book
it was the shape, the shape of our love twisted me.
If I, if I have been unkind, I hope you can,
I hope you can just let it all go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar, he was leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, ``Come on, now, you must not ask for so much.''
And another pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried out to me, ``Hey, why not ask for just a little more?''

Ah, don't cry, don't cry, don't, don't cry, don't cry no more
It's over, baby, don't cry no more
I say don't, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry no more
It's over, it's completed, it's finished, it has been paid for.

Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a some old midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

                                                Ten New Songs 

 

Suzanne     essential leonard cohen  The Essential 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.

Master Song     cohen live  Cohen Live

I believe that you heard your master sing when I was sick in bed.
I suppose that he told you everything that I keep locked away in my head.
Your master took you travelling, well at least that's what you said.
And now do you come back to bring your prisoner wine and bread?

You met him at some temple, where they take your clothes at the door.
He was just a numberless man in a chair who'd just come back from the war.
And you wrap up his tired face in your hair and he hands you the apple core.
Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bare of all the kisses we put on some time before.

And he gave you a German Shepherd to walk with a collar of leather and nails,
And he never once made you explain or talk about all of the little details,
Such as who had a word and who had a rock, and who had you through the mails.
Now your love is a secret all over the block, and it never stops not even when your master fails.

And he took you up in his aeroplane, which he flew without any hands,
And you cruised above the ribbons of rain that drove the crowd from the stands.
Then he killed the lights in a lonely Lane and, an ape with angel glands,
Erased the final wisps of pain with the music of rubber bands.

And now I hear your master sing, you kneel for him to come.
His body is a golden string that your body is hanging from.
His body is a golden string, my body has grown numb.
Oh now you hear your master sing, your shirt is all undone.

And will you kneel beside this bed that we polished so long ago,
Before your master chose instead to make my bed of snow?
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red and you're speaking far too low.
No I can't make out what your master said before he made you go.

Then I think you're playing far too rough for a lady who's been to the moon;
I've lain by this window long enough to get used to an empty room.
And your love is some dust in an old man's cough who is tapping his foot to a tune,
And your thighs are a ruin, you want too much, let's say you came back some time too soon.

I loved your master perfectly I taught him all that he knew.
He was starving in some deep mystery like a man who is sure what is true.
And I sent you to him with my guarantee I could teach him something new,
And I taught him how you would long for me no matter what he said no matter what you'd do.

I believe that you heard your master sing while I was sick in bed,
I'm sure that he told you everything I must keep locked away in my head.
Your master took you travelling, well at least that's what you said,
And now do you come back to bring your prisoner wine and bread?

 

Winter Lady     essential leonard cohen  The Essential Leonard Cohen

Trav'ling lady, stay awhile until the night is over.
I'm just a station on your way, I know I'm not your lover.

Well I lived with a child of snow when I was a soldier,
And I fought every man for her until the nights grew colder.

She used to wear her hair like you except when she was sleeping,
And then she'd weave it on a loom of smoke and gold and breathing.

And why are you so quiet now standing there in the doorway?
You chose your journey long before you came upon this highway.

Trav'ling lady stay awhile until the night is over.
I'm just a station on your way, I know I'm not your lover.

 

Stranger Song

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky
Just to surrender who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger he was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

And then leaning on your window sill he'll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains, he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems to want you to ignore his dreams as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before his golden arm dispatching cards but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to watch another tired man lay down his hand like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep you notice there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
It's curling just like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road It opens do not be afraid It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for I think it's time to board another Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter
When he talks like this you don't know what he's after when he speaks like this, you don't know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you choose upon the shore, beneath the bridge that they are building on some endless river Then he leaves the platform for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind...

And leaning on your window sill...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

 

Sisters Of Mercy

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.
It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.
Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:
When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.
They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind you
With love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.
Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.
And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

 

So Long, Marianne

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

Now 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 angels and then the angels forget to pray for us.

Now so long, Marianne,
it's time that we began to laugh
and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

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.

Oh so long, Marianne,
it's time that we began to laugh
and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

Your letters they all say that you're 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.

Now so long, Marianne,
it's time that we began to laugh
and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

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.

Oh so long, Marianne,
it's time that we began to laugh
and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

Oh, 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!

Oh so long, Marianne,
it's time that we began to laugh
and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

 

Famous Blue Raincoat

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --

She sends her regards.

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear --

Sincerely, L. Cohen

 

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try, your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time, walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me, it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

 

Stories Of The Street

The stories of the street are mine, the Spanish voices laugh.
The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas,
and I lean from my window sill in this old hotel I chose,
yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose.

I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come,
the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone.
But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk,
All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us?

And where do all these highways go, now that we are free?
Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me?
O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel,
You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal.

The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask the nurse
to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass.
And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite,
and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night.

O come with me my little one, we will find that farm
and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm.
And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am,
O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb.

With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl
I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world.
We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky,
and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye.

 

Teachers

I met a woman long ago her hair the black that black can go,
Are you a teacher of the heart? Soft she answered no.

I met a girl across the sea, her hair the gold that gold can be,
Are you a teacher of the heart? Yes, but not for thee.

I met a man who lost his mind in some lost place I had to find,
follow me the wise man said, but he walked behind.

I walked into a hospital where none was sick and none was well,
when at night the nurses left I could not walk at all.

Morning came and then came noon, dinner time a scalpel
blade lay beside my silver spoon.

Some girls wander by mistake into the mess that scalpels make.
Are you the teachers of my heart? We teach old hearts to break.

One morning I woke up alone, the hospital and the nurses gone.
Have I carved enough my Lord? Child, you are a bone.

I ate and ate and ate, no I did not miss a plate, well
How much do these suppers cost? We'll take it out in hate.

I spent my hatred everyplace, on every work on every face,
someone gave me wishes and I wished for an embrace.

Several girls embraced me, then I was embraced by men,
Is my passion perfect? No, do it once again.

I was handsome I was strong, I knew the words of every song.
Did my singing please you? No, the words you sang were wrong.

Who is it whom I address, who takes down what I confess?
Are you the teachers of my heart? We teach old hearts to rest.

Oh teachers are my lessons done? I cannot do another one.
They laughed and laughed and said, Well child, are your lessons done?
are your lessons done? are your lessons done?

 

One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong   cohen's songs Songs Of Leonard Cohen

I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me.
But the room just filled up with mosquitos, they heard that my body was free.
Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night and I put it in your little shoe.
And then I confess that I tortured the dress that you wore for the world to look through.

I showed my heart to the doctor: he said I just have to quit.
Then he wrote himself a prescription, and your name was mentioned in it!
Then he locked himself in a library shelf with the details of our honeymoon,
and I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse and his practice is all in a ruin.

I heard of a saint who had loved you, so I studied all night in his school.
He taught that the duty of lovers is to tarnish the golden rule.
And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure he drowned himself in the pool.
His body is gone but back here on the lawn his spirit continues to drool.

An Eskimo showed me a movie he'd recently taken of you:
the poor man could hardly stop shivering, his lips and his fingers were blue.
I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes and I guess he just never got warm.
But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice, oh please let me come into the storm.

...................... 'Collected Poems and Song' e altri libri di Cohen

 

Field Commander Cohen, he was our most important spy.
Wounded in the line of duty,
parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties,
urging Fidel Castro to abandon fields and castles.
Leave it all and like a man,
come back to nothing special,
such as waiting rooms and ticket lines,
silver bullet suicides,
and messianic ocean tides,
and racial roller-coaster rides
and other forms of boredom advertised as poetry.

I know you need your sleep now,
I know your life's been hard.
But many men are falling,
where you promised to stand guard.

I never asked but I heard you cast your lot along with the poor.
But then I overheard your prayer,
that you be this and nothing more
than just some grateful faithful woman's favourite singing millionaire,
the patron Saint of envy and the grocer of despair,
working for the Yankee Dollar.

I know you need your sleep now ...

Ah, lover come and lie with me, if my lover is who you are,
and be your sweetest self awhile until I ask for more, my child.
Then let the other selves be wrong, yeah, let them manifest and come
till every taste is on the tongue,
till love is pierced and love is hung,
and every kind of freedom done, then oh,
oh my love, oh my love, oh my love,
oh my love, oh my love, oh my love.

 

Lover Lover Lover

I asked my father,
I said, "Father change my name."
The one I'm using now it's covered up
with fear and filth and cowardice and shame.

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me,
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

He said, "I locked you in this body,
I meant it as a kind of trial.
You can use it for a weapon,
or to make some woman smile."

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

"Then let me start again," I cried,
"please let me start again,
I want a face that's fair this time,
I want a spirit that is calm."

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

"I never never turned aside," he said,
"I never walked away.
It was you who built the temple,
it was you who covered up my face."

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

And may the spirit of this song,
may it rise up pure and free.
May it be a shield for you,
a shield against the enemy.

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me
yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me.

 

The Captain   Various Positions  Various Positions

The Captain called me to his bed
He fumbled for my hand
"Take these silver bars", he said,
"I'm giving you command."

"Command of what, there's no one here
There's only you and me --
All the rest are dead or in retreat
Or with the enemy."

"Complain, complain, that's all you've done
Ever since we lost
If it's not the Crucifixion
Then it's the Holocaust."

"May Christ have mercy on your soul
For making such a joke.
Amid these hearts that burn like coal
And the flesh that rose like smoke."

"I know that you have suffered, lad,
But suffer this awhile:
Whatever makes a soldier sad
Will make a killer smile."

"I'm leaving, Captain, I've gotta go.
There's blood upon your hand
But tell me, Captain, if you know
Of a decent place to stand."

"There is no decent place to stand
In a massacre;
But if a woman take your hand
Then go and stand with here."

"I left a wife in Tennessee
And a baby in Saigon --
I risked my life, but not to hear
Some country-western song."

"Ah, but if you cannot raise your love
To a very high degree,
Then you're just the man I"ve been thinking of --
So come and stand with me."

"Your standing days are done", I cried,
"You'll rally me no more.
I don't even know what side
We fought on, or what for."

"I'm on the side that's always lost
Against the side of Heaven
I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed
Against the side of Seven.
And I've read the Bill of Human Rights
And some of it was true
But there wasn't any burden left
So I'm laying it on you."

Now the Captain he was dying
But the Captain wasn't hurt
The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt.

 

DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE                     cohen - I'm your man  I'm Your Man


Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Index                                                                                                                                         Ten New Songs