Leonard Cohen:
The Best of Leonard Cohen (January 1, 1975)

I don't think that most of us know Leonard Cohen well enough. This album is a wonderful introduction to some of his earliest songs. I first heard Cohen in Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1972). They made a great movie even more unforgettable. Two of those songs are here ("Sisters of Mercy," "Suzanne"), as they appeared on Cohen’s first album in 1967, Songs of Leonard Cohen.

By the time this collection was released, 40 years ago, Cohen had produced three more albums. Songs from a Room (1969) featured "Bird on a Wire," which I knew from the late, great Joe Cocker’s version on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen album. Cohen’s original is here. Songs of Love and Hate (1971) followed, and in 1974 came New Skin for the Old Ceremony.

All twelve of these songs are from these four albums, but it’s still a lot to take in at once. Cohen’s songs are strange, lonely poetry, almost modern-day Biblical parables. They don’t come to you all at once. They take a long while to sink in. Perhaps that’s why he’s never been that famous or popular, but now, at the age of 80, he is hailed as a living legend.

I'll make some commentary on these songs, but not yet. I don’t think I have travelled down deeply enough into them yet to have anything valuable to say. Or perhaps we'll find that they say all they need to say for themselves.

I did decide to print the lyrics of all twelve selections because they deserve it. I thought it would be nice to spend some time just living and coming to grips with these tales. Then we’ll talk. Please feel free to make any comments you like, though. (Sorry, Jeff Buckley fans, but "Hallellujah" isn't here - you can find it if you look, though.)

Of course, if you’re not interested, that’s fine too. I can do it myself.

 

"Bird On The Wire"

 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.


"Chelsea Hotel #2"

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,

you were talking so brave and so sweet,

giving me head on the unmade bed,

while the limousines wait in the street.

Those were the reasons and that was New York,

we were running for the money and the flesh.

And that was called love for the workers in song

probably still is for those of them left.

Ah but you got away, didn’t you babe,

you just turned your back on the crowd,

you got away, I never once heard you say,

I need you, I don’t need you,

I need you, I don’t need you

and all of that jiving around.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel

you were famous, your heart was a legend.

You told me again you preferred handsome men

but for me you would make an exception.

And clenching your fist for the ones like us

who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,

you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,

we are ugly but we have the music."

And then you got away, didn’t you babe...

I don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best,

I can’t keep track of each fallen robin.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,

that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often.


"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.


　  

"Lady Midnight"

I came by myself to a very crowded place;

I was looking for someone who had lines in her face.

I found her there but she was past all concern;

I asked her to hold me, I said, "Lady, unfold me,"

but she scorned me and she told me

I was dead and I could never return.

Well, I argued all night like so many have before,

saying, "Whatever you give me, I seem to need so much more."

Then she pointed at me where I kneeled on her floor,

she said, "Don’t try to use me or slyly refuse me,

just win me or lose me,

it is this that the darkness is for."

I cried, "Oh, Lady Midnight, I fear that you grow old,

the stars eat your body and the wind makes you cold."

"If we cry now," she said, "it will just be ignored."

So I walked through the morning, sweet early morning,

I could hear my lady calling,

"You’ve won me, you’ve won me, my lord,

you’ve won me, you’ve won me, my lord,

yes, you’ve won me, you’ve won me, my lord,

ah, you’ve won me, you’ve won me, my lord,

ah, you’ve won me, you’ve won me, my lord."

　
"Last Year’s Man"


The rain falls down on last year’s man,

that’s a Jew’s harp on the table,

that’s a crayon in his hand.

And the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled

far past the stems of thumbtacks

that still throw shadows on the wood.

And the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend

and all the rain falls down amen

on the works of last year’s man.

I met a lady, she was playing with her soldiers in the dark

oh one by one she had to tell them

that her name was Joan of Arc.

I was in that army, yes I stayed a little while;

I want to thank you, Joan of Arc,

for treating me so well.

And though I wear a uniform I was not born to fight;

all these wounded boys you lie beside,

goodnight, my friends, goodnight.

I came upon a wedding that old families had contrived;

Bethlehem the bridegroom,

Babylon the bride.

Great Babylon was naked, oh she stood there trembling for me,

and Bethlehem inflamed us both

like the shy one at some orgy.

And when we fell together all our flesh was like a veil

that I had to draw aside to see

the serpent eat its tail.

Some women wait for Jesus, and some women wait for Cain

so I hang upon my altar

and I voice my acts again.

And I take the one who finds me back to where it all began

when Jesus was the honeymoon

and Cain was just the man.

And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin

that the wilderness is gathering

all its children back again.

The rain falls down on last year’s man,

an hour has gone by

and he has not moved his hand.

But everything will happen if he only gives the word;

the lovers will rise up

and the mountains touch the ground.

But the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend

and all the rain falls down amen

on the works of last year’s man.


"The Partisan"

When they poured across the border

I was cautioned to surrender,

this I could not do;

I took my gun and vanished.

I have changed my name so often,

I’ve lost my wife and children

but I have many friends,

and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,

kept us hidden in the garret,

then the soldiers came;

she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning

I’m the only one this evening

but I must go on;

the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,

through the graves the wind is blowing,

freedom soon will come;

then we’ll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands e’taient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)

ils me dirent, "Signe toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")

mais je n’ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)

j’ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)

J’ai change’ cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)

j’ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)

mais j’ai tant d’amis; (But I have so many friends)

j’ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)

pour la nuit nous a cache’, (Hid us for the night)

les Allemands l’ont pris; (The Germans captured him)

il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,

through the graves the wind is blowing,

freedom soon will come;

then we’ll come from the shadows.


"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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...


"Suzanne"

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.


"Take This Longing"

Many men have loved the bells

you fastened to the rein,

and everyone who wanted you

they found what they will always want again.

Your beauty lost to you yourself

just as it was lost to them.

Oh take this longing from my tongue,

whatever useless things these hands have done.

Let me see your beauty broken down

like you would do for one you love.

Your body like a searchlight

my poverty revealed,

I would like to try your charity

until you cry, "Now you must try my greed."

And everything depends upon

how near you sleep to me

Just take this longing from my tongue

all the lonely things my hands have done.

Let me see your beauty broken down

like you would do for one your love.

Hungry as an archway

through which the troops have passed,

I stand in ruins behind you,
with your winter clothes, your broken sandal straps.


I love to see you naked over there

especially from the back.

Oh take this longing from my tongue,

all the useless things my hands have done,
untie for me your hired blue gown,


like you would do for one that you love.

You’re faithful to the better man,

I’m afraid that he left.
So let me judge your love affair


in this very room where I have sentenced

mine to death.
I’ll even wear these old laurel leaves


that he’s shaken from his head.

Just take this longing from my tongue,

all the useless things my hands have done,

let me see your beauty broken down,

like you would do for one you love.

Like you would do for one you love.


"Who By Fire"

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?