Leonard Cohen

[Lois Gilbert]

I am watching the rock and roll hall of fame awards and I'm remembering how much I love(d) Leonard Cohen
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

[Jazzooo]

Lois, Dude! Why past tense 'loved'? His last few albums are terrific. Strange but beautiful.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Lois: If you haven't seen the movie "I'm Your Man", do so! Some great performances of his songs (the band is led by Steven Bernstein and includes String Trio of New York fiddler Charles Burnham) and some priceless interviews!

°°°°°°°°°°

His two backup singers do a great version of this one in the film:

"Anthem"

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.

I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring ...

You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.


°°°°°°°°°°°

And Willie Nelson does my favorite version of this one:

Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it 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 leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"

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


°°°°°°°°°

And this was one of the best protest songs of the Vietnam era:



The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,
I was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
his blue eyes they were shining
and his voice was very cold.
He said, "I've had a vision
and you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
So he started up the mountain,
I was running, he was walking,
and his axe was made of gold.

Well, the trees they got much smaller,
the lake a lady's mirror,
we stopped to drink some wine.
Then he threw the bottle over.
Broke a minute later
and he put his hand on mine.
Thought I saw an eagle
but it might have been a vulture,
I never could decide.
he looked once behind his shoulder,
he knew I would not hide.

You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
and you never have been tempted
by a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now,
your hatchets blunt and bloody,
you were not there before,
when I lay upon a mountain
and my father's hand was trembling
with the beauty of the word.

And if you call me brother now,
forgive me if I inquire,
"Just according to whose plan?"
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must,
I will help you if I can.
When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must,
I will kill you if I can.
And mercy on our uniform,
man of peace or man of war,
the peacock spreads his fan.

[lazarus]

I´m a big fan of Cohen.
He´s gonna do his first tour in 15 years later this year.


06-06 Toronto, Ontario - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
06-07 Toronto, Ontario - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
06-14 Dublin, Ireland - IMMA
06-15 Dublin, Ireland - IMMA
06-17 Manchester, England - Opera House
06-18 Manchester, England - Opera House
06-19 Manchester, England - Opera House
06-20 Manchester, England - Opera House
06-23 Montreal, Quebec - Montreal Jazz Festival
06-24 Montreal, Quebec - Montreal Jazz Festival
06-25 Montreal, Quebec - Montreal Jazz Festival
06-29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
07-01 Oslo, Norway - Aliset Stadium
07-03 Helsingborg, Sweden - Open Air
07-05 Copenhagen, Denmark - Rosenborg Castle
07-06 Aarhus, Denmark - Radhus Parken
07-08 Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival
07-09 Lyon, France - Festival
07-10 Bruges, Belgium - Cactus
07-12 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Westerdam
07-16 Edinburgh, Scotland - Castle
07-17 London, England - O2 Arena
07-19 Lisbon, Portugal - Passelo Maritimo
07-20 Beniccasim, Spain - Benicassim Festival
07-22 Nice, France - Jazz Festival
07-25 Lorrach, Germany - Stimmen der Welt
07-27 Lucca, Italy - Summer Festival
07-29 Athens, Greece - Lykabettus Theatre .

[Monte Smith]

I love his early stuff, I love his late stuff. But especially I love the tinny Casio sound of the I'm Your Man record.So I guess I most love his middle stuff. That tinny piano, that rumbling cloud of hangover voice. Those words.

[Gentle Giant]

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



And if you call me brother now,
Forgive me if I inquire,
Just according to whose plan?
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must,
I will help you if I can.

[Monte Smith]

I can't forget.
I can't forget.
I can't forget,
but I don't remember what.

[Lois Gilbert]

I kind of feel about Leonard Cohen the way I feel about Joni Mitchell

I actually tiingle when I hear their lyrics

[Dr Dave]

I can't stand the way he sings,
But I love to hear him talk.

[Gary Sisco]

Hey, I thought I was the only one.

[lazarus]

I just watched this recently released DVD recorded in London last summer. It´s 2 1/2 hours long and I loved every minute of it. Very recommended for fans of this great artist.

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Hey, I thought I was the only one.

i'm another one. lots of my friends adore him. i'd actually like him better if he didn't sing and just wrote and talked.

[bigtiny]

Love Joni Mitchell....can't stand Cohen. I've never understood why anybody finds him interesting....I'll take Tom Waits any day.

bigtiny

[Gentle Giant]

A recent show in NYC is/was available streaming from NPR's website. Simply sublime. I'd go to see him in concert in a minute but I've already looked at the prices and they're in the stratosphere. I'll definitely get the CD set of the London show, maybe the DVD, too.

[SuiteRapture]

thanks

[Robert de St. Loup]

I enjoy the lost lines of "Hallelujah," like:

So if you don't like the song I sing, then screw ya.

Yeah, I said you were a punk -- so what's it to ya?

When you're lying in the morgue, I'll come and view ya.

Etc.

[lonely-at-the-top]

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

still waiting dude