SMUDGED AIR

                        The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen
                        ---------------------------
              Compiled by Dean Engelhardt (dean@cs.adelaide.edu.au)
                        Last updated 31 August 1993



SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN

@SONG: _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. 


@SONG: _Master Song_
 
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? 


@SONG: _Winter Lady_
 
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. 


@SONG: _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 see 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 is 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.


@SONG: _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. 


@SONG: _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 ...


@SONG: _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. 
 
 
@SONG: _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. 
 

@SONG: _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? 


@SONG: _One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong_
 
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. 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SONGS FROM A ROOM


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _Story of Isaac_

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.
Then my father built an altar,
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.


@SONG: _A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes_

A bunch of lonesome and very quarrelsome heroes
were smoking out along the open road;
the night was very dark and thick between them,
each man beneath his ordinary load.
"I'd like to tell my story,"
said one of them so young and bold,
"I'd like to tell my story,
before I turn into gold."

But no one really could hear him,
the night so dark and thick and green;
well I guess that these heroes must always live there
where you and I have only been.
Put out your cigarette, my love,
you've been alone too long;
and some of us are very hungry now
to hear what it is you've done that was so wrong.

I sing this for the crickets,
I sing this for the army,
I sing this for your children
and for all who do not need me.
"I'd like to tell my story,"
said one of them so bold,
"Oh yes, I'd like to tell my story
'cause you know I feel I'm turning into gold."


@SONG: _The Partisan_ (by Anna Marly/Hy Zaret)

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.


@SONG: _Seems So Long Ago, Nancy_

It seems so long ago,
Nancy was alone,
looking ate the Late Late show
through a semi-precious stone.
In the House of Honesty
her father was on trial,
in the House of Mystery
there was no one at all,
there was no one at all.

It seems so long ago,
none of us were strong;
Nancy wore green stockings
and she slept with everyone.
She never said she'd wait for us
although she was alone,
I think she fell in love for us
in nineteen sixty one,
in nineteen sixty one.

It seems so long ago,
Nancy was alone,
a forty five beside her head,
an open telephone.
We told her she was beautiful,
we told her she was free
but none of us would meet her in
the House of Mystery,
the House of Mystery.

And now you look around you,
see her everywhere,
many use her body,
many comb her hair.
In the hollow of the night
when you are cold and numb
you hear her talking freely then,
she's happy that you've come,
she's happy that you've come.


@SONG: _The Old Revolution_

I finally broke into the prison,
I found my place in the chain.
Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows,
all the brave young men
they're waiting now to see a signal
which some killer will be lighting for pay.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture,
you whom I cannot betray.

I fought in the old revolution
on the side of the ghost and the King.
Of course I was very young
and I thought that we were winning;
I can't pretend I still feel very much like singing
as they carry the bodies away.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...

Lately you've started to stutter
as though you had nothing to say.
To all of my architects let me be traitor.
Now let me say I myself gave the order
to sleep and to search and to destroy.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...

Yes, you who are broken by power,
you who are absent all day,
you who are kings for the sake of your children's story,
the hand of your beggar is burdened down with money,
the hand of your lover is clay.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _You Know Who I Am_

I cannot follow you, my love,
you cannot follow me.
I am the distance you put between
all of the moments that we will be.

You know who I am,
you've stared at the sun,
well I am the one who loves
changing from nothing to one.

Sometimes I need you naked,
sometimes I need you wild,
I need you to carry my children in
and I need you to kill a child.

You know who I am...

If you should ever track me down
I will surrender there
and I will leave with you one broken man
whom I will teach you to repair.

You know who I am...

I cannot follow you, my love,
you cannot follow me.
I am the distance you put between
all of the moments that we will be.

You know who I am...


@SONG: _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."


@SONG: _Tonight Will Be Fine_

Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other then that our love would surely last.
You kept right on loving, I went on a fast,
now I am too thin and your love is too vast.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

I choose the rooms that I live in with care,
the windows are small and the walls almost bare,
there's only one bed and there's only one prayer;
I listen all night for your step on the stair.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me,
she's the soft naked lady love meant her to be
and she's moving her body so brave and so free.
If I've got to remember that's a fine memory.

And I know from her eyes
and I know from her smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.


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SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE


@SONG: _Avalanche_

Well I stepped into an avalanche,
it covered up my soul;
when I am not this hunchback that you see,
I sleep beneath the golden hill.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn, learn to serve me well.

You strike my side by accident
as you go down for your gold.
The cripple here that you clothe and feed
is neither starved nor cold;
he does not ask for your company,
not at the centre, the centre of the world.

When I am on a pedestal,
you did not raise me there.
Your laws do not compel me
to kneel grotesque and bare.
I myself am the pedestal
for this ugly hump at which you stare.

You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.
Your pain is no credential here,
it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound.

I have begun to long for you,
I who have no greed;
I have begun to ask for you,
I who have no need.
You say you've gone away from me,
but I can feel you when you breathe.

Do not dress in those rags for me,
I know you are not poor;
you don't love me quite so fiercely now
when you know that you are not sure,
it is your turn, beloved,
it is your flesh that I wear.


@SONG: _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 hoist my axe 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.


@SONG: _Dress Rehearsal Rag_

Four o'clock in the afternoon
and I didn't feel like very much.
I said to myself, "Where are you golden boy,
where is your famous golden touch?"
I thought you knew where
all of the elephants lie down,
I thought you were the crown prince
of all the wheels in Ivory Town.
Just take a look at your body now,
there's nothing much to save
and a bitter voice in the mirror cries,
"Hey, Prince, you need a shave."
Now if you can manage to get
your trembling fingers to behave,
why don't you try unwrapping 
a stainless steel razor blade?
That's right, it's come to this,
yes it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
wasn't it a strange way down?

There's no hot water
and the cold is running thin.
Well, what do you expect from
the kind of places you've been living in?
Don't drink from that cup,
it's all caked and cracked along the rim.
That's not the electric light, my friend,
that is your vision growing dim.
Cover up your face with soap, there,
now you're Santa Claus.
And you've got a gift for anyone
who will give you his applause.
I thought you were a racing man, 
ah, but you couldn't take the pace.
That's a funeral in the mirror
and it's stopping at your face.
That's right, it's come to this,
yes it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
ah wasn't it a strange way down?

Once there was a path
and a girl with chestnut hair,
and you passed the summers
picking all of the berries that grew there;
there were times she was a woman,
oh, there were times she was just a child,
and you held her in the shadows
where the raspberries grow wild.
And you climbed the twilight mountains
and you sang about the view,
and everywhere that you wandered
love seemed to go along with you.
That's a hard one to remember,
yes it makes you clench your fist.
And then the veins stand out like highways,
all along your wrist.
And yes it's come to this,
it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
wasn't it a strange way down?

You can still find a job,
go out and talk to a friend.
On the back of every magazine
there are those coupons you can send.
Why don't you join the Rosicrucians,
they can give you back your hope,
you can find your love with diagrams
on a plain brown envelope.
But you've used up all your coupons
except the one that seems
to be written on your wrist
along with several thousand dreams.
Now Santa Claus comes forward,
that's a razor in his mit;
and he puts on his dark glasses
and he shows you where to hit;
and then the cameras pan,
the stand in stunt man,
dress rehearsal rag,
it's just the dress rehearsal rag,
you know this dress rehearsal rag,
it's just a dress rehearsal rag.


@SONG: _Diamonds in the Mine_

The woman in blue, she's asking for revenge,
the man in white -- that's you -- says he has no friends.
The river is swollen up with rusty cans
and the trees are burning in your promised land.

And there are no letters in the mailbox,
and there are no grapes upon the vine,
and there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore,
and there are no diamonds in the mine.

Well, you tell me that your lover has a broken limb,
you say you're kind of restless now and it's on account of him.
Well, I saw the man in question, it was just the other night,
he was eating up a lady where the lions and Christians fight.

And there are no letters in the mailbox
and there are no grapes upon the vine,
and there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore,
and there are no diamonds in the mine.

(You tell them now)

Ah, there is no comfort in the covens of the witch,
some very clever doctor went and sterilized the bitch,
and the only man of energy, yes the revolution's pride,
he trained a hundred women just to kill an unborn child.

And there are no letters in the mailbox,
oh no, there are no, no grapes upon your vine,
and there are, there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore,
and there are no diamonds in your mine.
And there are no letters in the mailbox,
and there are no grapes upon the vine,
and there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore,
and there are no diamonds in your mine.


@SONG: _Love Calls You By Your Name_

You thought that it could never happen
to all the people that you became,
your body lost in legend, the beast so very tame.
But here, right here,
between the birthmark and the stain,
between the ocean and your open vein,
between the snowman and the rain,
once again, once again,
love calls you by your name.

The women in your scrapbook
whom you still praise and blame,
you say they chained you to your fingernails
and you climb the halls of fame.
Oh but here, right here,
between the peanuts and the cage,
between the darkness and the stage,
between the hour and the age,
once again, once again,
love calls you by your name.

Shouldering your loneliness
like a gun that you will not learn to aim,
you stumble into this movie house,
then you climb, you climb into the frame.
Yes, and here, right here
between the moonlight and the lane,
between the tunnel and the train,
between the victim and his stain,
once again, once again,
love calls you by your name.

I leave the lady meditating 
on the very love which I, I do not wish to claim,
I journey down the hundred steps,
but the street is still the very same.
And here, right here,
between the dancer and his cane,
between the sailboat and the drain,
between the newsreel and your tiny pain,
once again, once again,
love calls you by your name.

Where are you, Judy, where are you, Anne?
Where are the paths your heroes came?
Wondering out loud as the bandage pulls away,
was I, was I only limping, was I really lame?
Oh here, come over here,
between the windmill and the grain,
between the sundial and the chain,
between the traitor and her pain,
once again, once again,
love calls you by your name.


@SONG: _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 


@SONG: _Sing Another Song, Boys_

(Let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter.)

Ah his fingernails, I see they're broken,
his ships they're all on fire.
The moneylender's lovely little daughter
ah, she's eaten, she's eaten with desire.
She spies him through the glasses
from the pawnshops of her wicked father.
She hails him with a microphone
that some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her.
She tempts him with a clarinet,
she waves a Nazi dagger.
She finds him lying in a heap;
she wants to be his woman.
He says, "Yes, I might go to sleep
but kindly leave, leave the future,
leave it open."

He stands where it is steep,
oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one,
his hand upon his leather belt now
like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner.
And she will learn to touch herself so well
as all the sails burn down like paper.
And he has lit the chain 
of his famous cigarillo.
Ah, they'll never, they'll never ever reach the moon,
at least not the one that we're after;
it's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends,
and it carries no survivors.
But lets leave these lovers wondering
why they cannot have each other,
and let's sing another song, boys,
this one has grown old and bitter.


@SONG: _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 very 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 and 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,"
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 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 then 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, and oh so bright?


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY

@SONG: _Is This What You Wanted_

You were the promise at dawn,
I was the morning after.
You were Jesus Christ my Lord, 
I was the money lender.
You were the sensitive woman,
I was the very reverend Freud.
You were the manual orgasm,
I was the dirty little boy.

And is this what you wanted
to live in a house that is haunted
by the ghost of you and me?

Is this what you wanted ...

You were Marlon Brando,
I was Steve McQueen.
You were K.Y. Jelly,
I was Vaseline.
You were the father of modern medicine,
I was Mr. Clean.
You where the whore and the beast of Babylon,
I was Rin Tin Tin.

And is this what you wanted ...

And is this what you wanted ...

You got old and wrinkled,
I stayed seventeen.
You lusted after so many,
I lay here with one.
You defied your solitude,
I came through alone.
You said you could never love me,
I undid your gown.

And is this what you wanted ...

And is this what you wanted ...

I mean is this what you wanted ...

That's right, is this what you wanted ...


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _Field Commander 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.


@SONG: _Why Don't You Try_

Why don't you try to do without him?
Why don't you try to live alone?
Do you really need his hands for your passion?
Do you really need his heart for your throne?
Do you need his labour for your baby?
Do you need his beast for the bone?
Do you need to hold a leash to be a lady?
I know you're going to make, make it on your own.

Why don't your try to forget him?
Just open up your dainty little hand.
You know this life is filled with many sweet companions,
many satisfying one-night stands.
Do you want to be the ditch around a tower?
Do you want to be the moonlight in his cave?
Do you want to give your blessing to his power
as he goes whistling past his daddy, past his daddy's grave.

I'd like to take you take you to the ceremony,
well, that is if I remember the way.
You see Jack and Jill they're going to join their misery,
I'm afraid it's time for everyone to pray.
You can see they've finally taken cover,
they're willing, yeah they're willing to obey.
Their vows are difficult, they're for each other,
so let nobody put a loophole, a loophole in their way.


@SONG: _There is a War_

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn't.

Why don't you come on back to the war, that's right, get in it,
why don't you come on back to the war, it's just beginning.

Well I live here with a woman and a child,
the situation makes me kind of nervous.
Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love";
I call it service.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be a tourist,
why don't you come on back to the war, before it hurts us,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get nervous.

You cannot stand what I've become,
you much prefer the gentleman I was before.
I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control,
I didn't even know there was a war.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be embarrassed,
why don't you come on back to the war, you can still get married.

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the left and right,
a war between the black and white,
a war between the odd and the even.

Why don't you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get even,
why don't you come on back to the war, can't you hear me speaking?


@SONG: _A Singer Must Die_

Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess.
Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is Yes.
Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine,
I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline.
And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice,
a singer must die for the lie in his voice.

And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty,
you keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty.
Your vision is right, my vision is wrong,
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song.

Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are hid
in the clothes of a woman I would like to forgive,
in the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs,
where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise.
Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night,
my night after night, after night, after night, after night, after night.

I am so afraid that I listen to you,
your sun glassed protectors they do that to you.
It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace,
their knee in your balls and their fist in your face.
Yes and long live the state by whoever it's made,
sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late.


@SONG: _I Tried To Leave You_

I tried to leave you, I don't deny
I closed the book on us, at least a hundred times.
I'd wake up every morning by your side.

The years go by, you lose your pride.
The baby's crying, so you do not go outside,
and all your work it's right before your eyes.

Goodnight, my darling, I hope you're satisfied,
the bed is kind of narrow, but my arms are open wide.
And here's a man still working for your smile.


@SONG: _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?


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _Leaving Green Sleeves_

Alas, my love, you did me wrong,
to cast me out discourteously,
for I have loved you so long,
delighting in your very company.
Now if you intend to show me disdain,
don't you know it all the more enraptures me,
for even so I still remain your lover in captivity.

Green sleeves, you're all alone,
the leaves have fallen, the men have gone.
Green sleeves, there's no one home,
not even the Lady Green Sleeves

I sang my songs, I told my lies,
to lie between your matchless thighs.
And ain't it fine, ain't it wild 
to finally end our exercise
Then I saw you naked in the early dawn,
oh, I hoped you would be someone new.
I reached for you but you were gone,
so lady I'm going too.

Green sleeves, you're all alone ...

Green sleeves, you're all alone,
the leaves have fallen, the men have all gone home.
Green sleeves, it's so easily done,
leaving the Lady Green Sleeves.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN

@SONG: _True Love Leaves No Traces_

As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you and never will

Through windows in the dark
The children come, the children go
Like arrows with no targets
Like shackles made of snow

True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun

As a falling leaf may rest
A moment on the air
So your head upon my breast
So my hand upon your hair

And many nights endure
Without a moon or star
So we will endure
When one is gone and far

True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun


@SONG: _Iodine_

I needed you, I knew I was in danger
of losing what I used to think was mine
You let me love you till I was a failure,
You let me love you till I was a failure --
Your beauty on my bruise like iodine

I asked you if a man could be forgiven
And though I failed at love, was this a crime?
You said, Don't worry, don't worry, darling
You said, Don't worry, don't you worry, darling
There are many ways a man can serve his time

You covered up that place I could not master
It wasn't dark enough to shut my eyes
So I was with you, O sweet compassion
Yes I was with you, O sweet compassion
Compassion with the sting of iodine

Your saintly kisses reeked of iodine
Your fragrance with a fume of iodine
And pity in the room like iodine

Your sister fingers burned like iodine
And all my wanton lust was iodine
My masquerade of trust was iodine
And everywhere the flare of iodine


@SONG: _Paper Thin Hotel_

The walls of this hotel are paper-thin
Last night I heard you making love to him
The struggle mouth to mouth and limb to limb
The grunt of unity when he came in

I stood there with my ear against the wall
I was not seized by jealousy at all
In fact a burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control
A heavy burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control

I listened to your kisses at the door
I never heard the world so clear before
You ran your bath and you began to sing
I felt so good I couldn't feel a thing

I stood there with my ear against the wall ...

And I can't wait to tell you to your face
And I can't wait for you to take my place
You are The Naked Angel In My Heart
You are The Woman With Her Legs Apart
It's written on the walls of this hotel
You go to heaven once you've been to hell

A heavy burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control


@SONG: _Memories_

Frankie Lane, he was singing Jezebel
I pinned an Iron Cross to my lapel
I walked up to the tallest and the blondest girl
I said, Look, you don't know me now but very soon you will
  So won't you let me see
  I said "won't you let me see"
  I said "won't you let me see
    Your naked body?"

Just dance me to the dark side of the gym
Chances are I'll let you do most anything
I know you're hungry, I can hear it in your voice
And there are many parts of me to touch, you have your choice
  Ah but no you cannot see
  She said "no you cannot see"
  She said "no you cannot see
    My naked body"

So We're dancing close, the band is playing Stardust
Balloons and paper streamers floating down on us
She says, You've got a minute left to fall in love
In solemn moments such as this I have put my trust
  And all my faith to see
  I said all my faith to see
  I said all my faith to see
    Her naked body


@SONG: _I Left A Woman Waiting_

I left a woman waiting
I met her sometime later
She said, I see your eyes are dead
What happened to you, lover?
What happened to you, my lover?
What happened to you, lover?
What happened to you?

And since she spoke the truth to me
I tried to answer truthfully
Whatever happened to my eyes
Happened to your beauty
Happened to your beauty
What happened to your beauty
Happened to me

We took ourselves to someone's bed
And there we fell together
Quick as dogs and truly dead were we
And free as running water
Free as running water
Free as running water
Free as you and me
The way it's got to be
The way it's got to be, lover


@SONG: _Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On_

I was born in a beauty salon
My father was a dresser of hair
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there

When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there

  Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
  It will only drive you insane
  You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
  You can't melt it down in the rain

  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain

I've looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to you knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please

When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ...

Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there

Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there
Once you have her she'll always be there

Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ...

So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade

I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade
Yes I follow my father's trade

  Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
  It will only drive you insane
  You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain
  You can't melt it down in the rain


@SONG: _Fingerprints_

I touched you once too often
Now I don't know who I am
My fingerprints were missing
When I wiped away the jam

Yes I called my fingerprints all night
But they don't seem to care
The last time that I saw them
They were leafing through your hair

Fingerprints, fingerprints
Where are you now my fingerprints?

Yeah I thought I'd leave this morning
So I emptied out your drawer
A hundred thousand fingerprints
They floated to the floor

You know you hardly stopped to pick them up
You don't care what you lose
Ah you don't even seem to know
Whose fingerprints are whose

Fingerprints, fingerprints
Where are you now my fingerprints?

And now you want to marry me
You want to take me down the aisle
You want to throw confetti fingerprints
You know that's not my style

O sure I'd like to marry you
But I can't face the dawn
With any girl who knew me
When my fingerprints were on

Fingerprints, fingerprints
Where are you now my fingerprints?

Fingerprints, oh fingerprints
Where are you now my fingerprints?


@SONG: _Death of a Ladies' Man_

Ah the man she wanted all her life was hanging by a thread
"I never even knew how much I wanted you," she said.
His muscles they were numbered and his style was obsolete.
"O baby, I have come too late." She knelt beside his feet.
"I'll never see a face like yours in years of men to come
I'll never see such arms again in wrestling or in love."
And all his virtues burning in the smoky Holocaust
She took unto herself most everything her lover lost

Now the master of this landscape he was standing at the view
with a sparrow of St. Francis that he was preaching to
She beckoned to the sentry of his high religious mood
She said, "I'll make a place between my legs,
  I'll show you solitude."

He offered her an orgy in a many mirrored room
He promised her protection for the issue of her womb
She moved her body hard against a sharpened metal spoon
She stopped the bloody rituals of passage to the moon

She took his much admired oriental frame of mind
and the heart-of-darkness alibi his money hides behind
She took his blonde madonna and his monastery wine --
"This mental space is occupied and everything is mine."

He tried to make a final stand beside the railway track
She said, "The art of longing's over and it's never coming back."
She took his tavern parliament, his cap, his cocky dance,
she mocked his female fashions and his working-class moustache.

The last time that I saw him he was trying hard to get
a woman's education but he's not a woman yet
And the last time that I saw her she was living with some boy
who gives her soul an empty room and gives her body joy.

So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed
it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed
It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star
I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.

It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star
I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.

It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star
I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


RECENT SONGS

@SONG: _The Guests_

One by one, the guests arrive
The guests are coming through
The open-hearted many
The broken-hearted few

And no one knows where the night is going
And no one knows why the wine is flowing
Oh love I need you
I need you
I need you
I need you
Oh . . . I need you now 

And those who dance, begin to dance
Those who weep begin
And "Welcome, welcome" cries a voice
"Let all my guests come in."

And no one knows where the night is going ...

And all go stumbling through that house
in lonely secrecy
Saying "Do reveal yourself"
or "Why has thou forsaken me?"

And no one knows where the night is going ...

All at once the torches flare
The inner door flies open
One by one they enter there
In every style of passion

And no one knows where the night is going ...

And here they take their sweet repast
While house and grounds dissolve
And one by one the guests are cast
Beyond the garden wall

And no one knows where the night is going ...

Those who dance, begin to dance
Those who weep begin
Those who earnestly are lost
Are lost and lost again

And no one knows where the night is going ...

One by the guests arrive
The guests are coming through
The broken-hearted many
The open-hearted few

And no one knows where the night is going ...


@SONG: _Humbled in Love_

Do you remember all of those pledges
That we pledged in the passionate night
Ah they're soiled now, they're torn at the edges
Like moths on a still yellow light
No penance serves to renew them
No massive transfusions of trust
Why not even revenge can undo them
So twisted these vows and so crushed

And you say you've been humbled in love
Cut down in your love
Forced to kneel in the mud next to me
Ah but why so bitterly turn from the one
Who kneels there as deeply as thee

Children have takes these pledges
They have ferried them out of the past
Oh beyond all the graves and the hedges
Where love must go hiding at last
And here where there is no description
Oh here in the moment at hand
No sinner need rise up forgiven
No victim need limp to the stand

And you say you've been humbled in love...

And look dear heart, look at the virgin
Look how she welcomes him into her gown
Yes, and mark how the stranger's cold armour
Dissolves like a star falling down
Why trade this vision for desire
When you may have them both
You will never see a man this naked
I will never hold a woman this close

And you say you've been humbled in love...


@SONG: _The Window_

Why do you stand by the window
Abandoned to beauty and pride
The thorn of the night in your bosom
The spear of the age in your side
Lost in the rages of fragrance
Lost in the rags of remorse
Lost in the waves of a sickness
That loosens the high silver nerves

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love
Oh tangle of matter and ghost
Oh darling of angels, demons and saints
And the whole broken-hearted host
Gentle this soul

And come forth from the cloud of anoint
And kiss the cheek of the moon
The New Jerusalem glowing
Why tarry all night in the ruin
And leave no word of discomfort
And leave no observer to mourn
But climb on your tears and be silent
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...

Then lay your rose on the fire
The fire give up to the sun
The sun give over to splendour
In the arms of the high holy one
For the holy one dreams of a letter
Dreams of a letter's death
Oh bless thee continuous stutter
Of the word being made into flesh

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...

Gentle this soul 


@SONG: _I Came So Far For Beauty_

I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned
I thought I'd be rewarded
For such a lonely choice
And surely she would answer
To such a very hopeless voice
I practiced all my sainthood
I gave to one and all
But the rumours of my virtue
They moved her not at all
I changed my style to silver
I changed my clothed to black
And where I would surrender
Now I would attack
I stormed the old casino
For the money and the flesh
And I myself decided 
What was rotten and what was fresh
And men to do my bidding
And broken bones to teach
The value of my pardon
The shadow of my reach
But no, I could not touch her
With such a heavy hand
Her star beyond my order
Her nakedness unmanned
I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned


@SONG: _Un Canadien Errant_ (The Lost Canadian) (by Antoine Gerin-Lajoie)

Un Canadien Errant                [A wandering Canadian,
Banni de ses foyers,               banned from his hearths,
Parcourait en pleurant             travelled while crying
Des pays etrangers.                in foreign lands.
Parcourait en pleurant             travelled while crying
Des pays etrangers.                in foreign lands.

Un jour, triste et pensif,         One day, sad and pensive,
Assis au bord des flots,           sitting by the flowing waters,
Au courant fugitif                 to the fleeing current
Il adressa ces mots:               he addressed these words:
Au courant fugitif                 to the fleeing current
Il adressa ces mots:               he addressed these words:

"Si tu vois mon pays,              "If you see my country,
Mon pays malheureux,               my unhappy country,
Va dire a mes amis                 go tell my friends
Que je me souviens d'eux.          that I remember them.
Va dire a mes amis                 go tell my friends
Que je me souviens d'eux.          that I remember them.

O jours si pleins d'appas,         O days so full of charms,
Vous etes disparus...              you have vanished...
Et ma patrie, helas!               And my native land, alas!
Je ne la verrai plus.              I will see it no more.
Et ma patrie, helas!               And my native land, alas!
Je ne la verrai plus.              I will see it no more. ]


@SONG: _The Traitor_

Now the Swan it floated on the English river
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer
and the judges watched us from the other side

I told my mother "Mother I must leave you
preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
it was half my fault and half the atmosphere"

But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
and if she withered I would be to blame

The judges said you missed it by a fraction
rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back

But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralysed my will

I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
that they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
I'm listed with the enemies of love

And long ago she said "I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I'm sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan"

So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there -- I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
and people call me traitor to my face



@SONG: _Our Lady of Solitude_

All summer long she touched me
She gathered in my soul
From many a thorn, from many thickets
Her fingers, like a weaver's
Quick and cool

And the light came from her body
And the night went through her grace
All summer long she touched me
And I knew her, I knew her
Face to face

And her dress was blue and silver
And her words were few and small
She is the vessel of the whole wide world
Mistress, oh mistress, of us all

Dearly dead; Queen of Solitude
I thank you with my heart
for keeping me so close to thee
while so many, oh so many, stood apart

And the light came from her body
And the night went through her grace
All summer long she touched me
I knew her, I knew her
Face to face


@SONG: _The Gypsy's Wife_

And where, where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight
I've heard all the wild reports, they can't be right
But whose head is this she's dancing with on the threshing floor
whose darkness deepens in her arms a little more

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?

Ah the silver knives are flashing in the tired old cafe
A ghost climbs on the table in a bridal negligee
She says, "My body is the light, my body is the way"
I raise my arm against it all and I catch the bride's bouquet

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?...

Too early for the rainbow, too early for the dove
These are the final days, this is the darkness, this is the flood
And there is no man or woman who can't be touched
But you who come between them will be judged

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?...


@SONG: _The Smokey Life_

I've never seen your eyes so wide
I've never seen your appetite quite this occupied
Elsewhere is your feast of love
I know ... where long ago we agreed to keep it light
So lets be married one more night

It's light, light enough
To let it go
It's light enough to let it go

Remember when the scenery started fading
I held you til you learned to walk on air
So don't look down the ground is gone,
there's no one waiting anyway
The Smoky Life is practiced
Everywhere

So set your restless heart at ease
Take a lesson from these Autumn leaves
They waste no time waiting for the snow
Don't argue now you'll be late
There is nothing to investigate

It's light enough, light enough
To let it go
Light enough to let it go

Remember when the scenery started fading
I held you til you learned to walk on air
So don't look down the ground is gone,
there's no one waiting anyway
The Smoky Life is practiced everywhere

Come on back if the moment lends
You can look up all my very closest friends

Light, light enough
To let it go
It's light enough to let it go


@SONG: _Ballad of the Absent Mare_

Say a prayer for the cowboy
His mare's run away
And he'll walk til he finds her
His darling, his stray
but the river's in flood
and the roads are awash
and the bridges break up
in the panic of loss.

And there's nothing to follow
There's nowhere to go
She's gone like the summer
gone like the snow
And the crickets are breaking
his heart with their song
as the day caves in
and the night is all wrong

Did he dream, was it she
who went galloping past
and bent down the fern
broke open the grass
and printed the mud with
the iron and the gold
that he nailed to her feet
when he was the lord

And although she goes grazing 
a minute away
he tracks her all night
he tracks her all day
Oh blind to her presence
except to compare
his injury here
with her punishment there

Then at home on a branch
in the highest tree
a songbird sings out 
so suddenly
Ah the sun is warm
and the soft winds ride
on the willow trees
by the river side

Oh the world is sweet
the world is wide
and she's there where
the light and the darkness divide
and the steam's coming off her
she's huge and she's shy
and she steps on the moon
when she paws at the sky

And she comes to his hand
but she's not really tame
She longs to be lost
he longs for the same
and she'll bolt and she'll plunge
through the first open pass
to roll and to feed
in the sweet mountain grass

Or she'll make a break 
for the high plateau
where there's nothing above 
and there's nothing below
and it's time for the burden
it's time for the whip
Will she walk through the flame
Can he shoot from the hip

So he binds himself
to the galloping mare
and she binds herself 
to the rider there
and there is no space
but there's left and right
and there is no time
but there's day and night

And he leans on her neck
and he whispers low
"Whither thou goest
I will go"
And they turn as one
and they head for the plain
No need for the whip
Ah, no need for the rein

Now the clasp of this union
who fastens it tight?
Who snaps it asunder
the very next night
Some say the rider
Some say the mare
Or that love's like the smoke
beyond all repair

But my darling says
"Leonard, just let it go by
That old silhouette
on the great western sky"
So I pick out a tune
and they move right along
and they're gone like the smoke
and they're gone like this song


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


VARIOUS POSITIONS


@SONG: _Dance Me to the End of Love_

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

Dance 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


@SONG: _Coming Back to You_

Maybe I'm still hurting
I can't turn the other cheek
But you know that I still love you
It's just that I can't speak
I looked for you in everyone 
And they called me on that too
I lived alone but I was only
Coming back to you

Ah they're shutting down the factory now
Just when all the bills are due
And the fields they're under lock and key
Tho' the rain and the sun come through
And springtime starts but then it stops
In the name of something new
And all the senses rise against this
Coming back to you

And they're handing down my sentence now
And I know what I must do
Another mile of silence while I'm
Coming back to you

There are many in your life
And many still to be
Since you are a shining light
There's many that you'll see
But I have to deal with envy
When you choose the precious few
Who've left their pride on the other side of
Coming back to you

Even in your arms I know
I'll never get it right
Even when you bend to give me
Comfort in the night
I've got to have your word on this
Or none of it is true
And all I've said was just instead of
Coming back to you


@SONG: _The Law_

How many times did you call me
And I knew it was late
I left everybody
But I never went straight
I don't claim to be guilty
But I do understand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

Now my heart's like a blister
From doing what I do
If the moon has a sister
It's got to be you
I'm going to miss you forever
Tho' it's not what I planned
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

Now the deal has been dirty
Since dirty began
I'm not asking for mercy
Not from the man
You just don't ask for mercy
While you're still on the stand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

I don't claim to be guilty
Guilty's too grand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

That's all I can say, baby
That's all I can say
It wasn't for nothing 
That they put me away
I fell with my angel
Down the chain of command
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand
There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand


@SONG: _The Night Comes On_

I went down to the place
Where I knew she lay waiting
Under the marble and the snow
I said, Mother I'm frightened
The thunder and the lightning
I'll never come through this alone
She said, I'll be with you
My shawl wrapped around you
My hand on your head when you go
And the night came on
It was very calm
I wanted the night to go on and on
But she said, Go back to the World

We were fighting in Egypt
When they signed this agreement
That nobody else had to die
There was this terrible sound
And my father went down
With a terrible wound in his side
He said, Try to go on
Take my books, take my gun
Remember, my son, how they lied
And the night comes on
It's very calm
I'd like to pretend that my father was wrong
But you don't want to lie, not to the young

We were locked in this kitchen
I took to religion
And I wondered how long she would stay
I needed so much
To have nothing to touch
I've always been greedy that way
But my son and my daughter
Climbed out of the water
Crying, Papa, you promised to play
And they lead me away
To the great surprise
It's Papa, don't peek, Papa, cover your eyes
And they hide, they hide in the World

Now I look for her always
I'm lost in this calling
I'm tied to the threads of some prayer
Saying, When will she summon me
When will she come to me
What must I do to prepare
When she bends to my longing
Like a willow, like a fountain
She stands in the luminous air
And the night comes on
And it's very calm
I lie in her arms and says, When I'm gone
I'll be yours, yours for a song

Now the crickets are singing
The vesper bells ringing
The cat's curled asleep in his chair
I'll go down to Bill's Bar
I can make it that far
And I'll see if my friends are still there
Yes, and here's to the few
Who forgive what you do
And the fewer who don't even care
And the night comes on
It's very calm
I want to cross over, I want to go home
But she says, Go back, go back to the World


@SONG: _Hallelujah_

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light 
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah


@SONG: _The Captain_

Now 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 must 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
 Go and stand with her."
   "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.


@SONG: _Hunter's Lullaby_

Your father's gone a-hunting
He's deep in the forest so wild
And he cannot take his wife with him
He cannot take his child

Your father's gone a-hunting
In the quicksand and the clay
And a woman cannot follow him
Although she knows the way

Your father's gone a-hunting
Through the silver and the glass
Where only greed can enter
But spirit, spirit cannot pass

Your father's gone a-hunting
For the beast we'll never cannot bind
And he leaves a baby sleeping
And his blessings all behind

Your father's gone a-hunting
And he's lost his lucky charm
And he's lost the guardian heart
That keeps the hunter from the harm

Your father's gone a-hunting
He asked me to say goodbye
And he warned me not to stop him
I wouldn't, I wouldn't even try


@SONG: _Heart With No Companion_

I greet you from the other side
Of sorrow and despair
With a love so vast and shattered
It will reach you everywhere

And I sing this for the captain
Whose ship has not been built
For the mother in confusion
Her cradle still unfilled

For the heart with no companion
For the soul without a king
For the prima ballerina
Who cannot dance to anything

Through the days of shame that are coming
Through the nights of wild distress
Tho' your promise count for nothing
You must keep it nonetheless

You must keep it for the captain
Whose ship has not been built
For the mother in confusion
Her cradle still unfilled

For the heart with no companion ...

I greet you from the other side ...


@SONG: _If It Be Your Will_

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
  I will speak no more
  I shall abide until
  I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
  From this broken hill
  All your praises they shall ring
  If it be your will
To let me sing
  From this broken hill
  All your praises they shall ring
  If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
  Let your mercy spill
  On all these burning hearts in hell
  If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
  In our rags of light
  All dressed to kill
  And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I'M YOUR MAN


@SONG: _First We Take Manhattan_

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby ...

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I am guided

Ah remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin


@SONG: _Ain't No Cure For Love_

I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real
It don't matter how it all went wrong
That don't change the way I feel
And I can't believe that time's
Gonna heal this wound I'm speaking of
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

I'm aching for you baby
I can't pretend I'm not
I need to see you naked
In your body and your thought
I've got you like a habit
And I'll never get enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure for love
There ain't no drink no drug
(Ah tell them, angels)
There's nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus
I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up
I see your hand, I see your hair
Your bracelets and your brush
And I call to you, I call to you
But I don't call soft enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go
When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul
I don't need to be forgiven for loving you so much
It's written in the scriptures
It's written there in blood
I even heard the angels declare it from above
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure,
That cure for love


@SONG: _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
That's 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 you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's 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 there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows


@SONG: _I'm Your Man_

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner 
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man

If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I'll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I'm your man

Ah, the moon's too bright
The chain's too tight
The beast won't go to sleep
I've been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I'd crawl to you baby
And I'd fall at your feet
And I'd howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I'd claw at your heart
And I'd tear at your sheet
I'd say please, please
I'm your man

And if you've got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I'll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while 
Across the sand
I'm your man

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you


@SONG: _Take This Waltz_

Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women
There's a shoulder where Death comes to cry
There's a lobby with nine hundred windows
There's a tree where the doves go to die
There's a piece that was torn from the morning
And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost
  Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you
On a chair with a dead magazine
In the cave at the tip of the lily
In some hallways where love's never been
On a bed where the moon has been sweating
In a cry filled with footsteps and sand
  Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take its broken waist in your hand

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
With its very own breath of brandy and Death
Dragging its tail in the sea

There's a concert hall in Vienna
Where your mouth had a thousand reviews
There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking
They've been sentenced to death by the blues
Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture
With a garland of freshly cut tears?
  Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take this waltz it's been dying for years

There's an attic where children are playing
Where I've got to lie down with you soon
In a dream of Hungarian lanterns
In the mist of some sweet afternoon
And I'll see what you've chained to your sorrow
All your sheep and your lilies of snow
  Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
With its "I'll never forget you, you know!"

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz ...

And I'll dance with you in Vienna
I'll be wearing a river's disguise
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder,
My mouth on the dew of your thighs
And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook,
With the photographs there, and the moss
And I'll yield to the flood of your beauty
My cheap violin and my cross
And you'll carry me down on your dancing
To the pools that you lift on your wrist
Oh my love, Oh my love
Take this waltz, take this waltz
It's yours now. It's all that there is


@SONG: _Jazz Police_

Can you tell me why the bells are ringing?
Nothing's happened in a million years
I've been sitting here since Wednesday morning
Wednesday morning can't believe my ears

Jazz police are looking through my folders
Jazz police are talking to my niece
Jazz police have got their final orders
Jazzer, drop your axe, it's Jazz police!

Jesus taken serious by the many
Jesus taken joyous by a few
Jazz police are paid by J.Paul Getty
Jazzers paid by J.Paul Getty II

Jazz police I hear you calling
Jazz police I feel so blue
Jazz police I think I'm falling,
I'm falling for you

Wild as any freedom loving racist
I applaud the actions of the chief
Tell me now oh beautiful and spacious
Am I in trouble with the Jazz police?

Jazz police are looking through my folders ...

They will never understand our culture
They'll never understand the Jazz police 
Jazz police are working for my mother
Blood is thicker margarine than grease

Let me be somebody I admire
Let me be that muscle down the street
Stick another turtle on the fire
Guys like me are mad for turtle meat

Jazz police I hear you calling
Jazz police I feel so blue
Jazz police I think I'm falling,
I'm falling for you


@SONG: _I Can't Forget_

I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle 
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can't be me
Must be my double
And I can't forget, I can't forget
I can't forget but I don't remember what

I'm burning up the road
I'm heading down to Phoenix
I got this old address 
Of someone that I knew
It was high and fine and free
Ah, you should have seen us
And I can't forget, I can't forget
I can't forget but I don't remember who

I'll be there today
With a big bouquet of cactus
I got this rig that runs on memories
And I promise, cross my heart,
They'll never catch us
But if they do, just tell them it was me

Yeah I loved you all my life
And that's how I want to end it
The summer's almost gone
The winter's tuning up
Yeah, the summer's gone 
But a lot goes on forever
And I can't forget, I can't forget
I can't forget but I don't remember what


@SONG: _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


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


THE FUTURE


@SONG: _The Future_

Give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
Give me absolute control 
over every living soul
And lie beside me, baby,
that's an order!

Give me crack and anal sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole 
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned 
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant

You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little jew
who wrote the Bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going 
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

There'll be the breaking of the ancient 
western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
There'll be phantoms
There'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
You'll see a woman 
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming round
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson
and the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
Give me Christ 
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

When they said REPENT REPENT ...


@SONG: _Waiting For The Miracle_

Baby, I've been waiting,
I've been waiting night and day.
I didn't see the time,
I waited half my life away.
There were lots of invitations
and I know you sent me some,
but I was waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

I know you really loved me.
but, you see, my hands were tied.
I know it must have hurt you,
it must have hurt your pride
to have to stand beneath my window
with your bugle and your drum,
and me I'm up there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Ah I don't believe you'd like it,
You wouldn't like it here.
There ain't no entertainment
and the judgements are severe.
The Maestro says it's Mozart
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting 
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do.
I haven't been this happy
since the end of World War II.

Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken.
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
waiting for the miracle to come.

I dreamed about you, baby.
It was just the other night.
Most of you was naked
Ah but some of you was light.
The sands of time were falling
from your fingers and your thumb,
and you were waiting 
for the miracle, for the miracle to come

Ah baby, let's get married,
we've been alone too long.
Let's be alone together.
Let's see if we're that strong.
Yeah let's do something crazy,
something absolutely wrong
while we're waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Nothing left to do ...

When you've fallen on the highway
and you're lying in the rain,
and they ask you how you're doing
of course you'll say you can't complain --
If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.


@SONG: _Be For Real_ (by Frederick Knight)

Are you back in my life to stay
Or is it just for today
Oh that you're gonna need me?
If it's a thrill you're looking for
Honey, I'm flexible. Oh, yeah.

Just be for real won't you, Baby
Be for real oh, Baby
You see I, I don't want to be hurt by love again

So you see I'm not naive.
I just would like to believe
Ah what you tell me.
So don't give me the world today
And tomorrow take it away.
Don't do that to me, darling.

Just be for real won't you, Baby
Be for real won't you, Baby

Been hurt so many times
You see I, I don't want to be hurt by love again.

(I don't give a damn about the truth, Baby
 Except for the naked truth. Oh yeah)

Just be for real won't you, Baby
Be for real won't you, Baby

No, no, no, no
It's just that I, I don't want to be hurt by love again.

Thanks for the song Mr. Knight.


@SONG: _Closing Time_

Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
And my very sweet companion
she's the Angel of Compassion
she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
And every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
all the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME

Ah we're lonely, we're romantic
and the cider's laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"
And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief
So we struggle and we stagger
down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
but CLOSING TIME

I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
CLOSING TIME

I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn't make a fool of me:
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring, declaring, declaring that your body's really you
And I loved you when our love was blessed
and I love you now there's nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I missed you since the place got wrecked
And I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah we're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening
and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
gets me fumbling gets me laughing
she's a hundred but she's wearing
something tight
and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn't worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights, 
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME

The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights, 
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME

Oh the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
  It's CLOSING TIME
And it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
  It's CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
  It's CLOSING TIME
The Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
  But CLOSING TIME
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now there's nothing left
  But CLOSING TIME
I miss you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex.


@SONG: _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.


@SONG: _Democracy_

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account 
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.


@SONG: _Light As The Breeze_

She stands before you naked
you can see it, you can taste it,
and she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
it don't matter how you worship
as long as you're 
down on your knees.

So I knelt there at the delta,
at the alpha and the omega,
at the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
for something like a second
I was healed and my heart
was at ease.

O baby I waited
so long for your kiss
for something to happen,
oh something like this.

And you're weak and you're harmless
and you're sleeping in your harness
and the wind going wild
in the trees,
and it ain't exactly prison
but you'll never be forgiven
for whatever you've done
with the keys.

O baby I waited ...

It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going,
The river has started to freeze.
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees.

Then she dances so graceful
and your heart's hard and hateful
and she's naked
but that's just a tease.
And you turn in disgust
from your hatred and from your love
and comes to you
light as the breeze.

O baby I waited ...

There's blood on every bracelet
you can see it, you can taste it,
and it's Please baby
please baby please.
And she says, Drink deeply, pilgrim
but don't forget there's still a woman
beneath this
resplendent chemise.

So I knelt there at the delta,
at the alpha and the omega,
I knelt there like one who believes.
And the blessings come from heaven
and for something like a second
I'm cured and my heart
is at ease


@SONG: _Always_ (by Irving Berlin)

(Oh friends, .. don't matter if you're a man or a woman. If you're in love
 with somebody, these are the words that you got to learn to say. Now 
 listen carefully. Here it comes...)

I'll be loving you always
with a love that's true, always
When the thing you've planned
needs my helping hand,
I will understand, always, always

Days may not be fair, always
Yeah but that's when I'll be there, always
Not for just an hour,
Not for just a day,
Not for just a year, but always.

I said that I'll be loving you, always
with a love that's true, always.
When the thing you've planned
needs my helping hand,
I will, I will understand, always, always

(Oh that's pretty ... that's pretty too ... Oh darling)

The days may not be fair, always
Yeah but that's when I'll be there, always
Not for just a second, or a minute, or an hour,
Not for just a weekend and a shake down in the shower,
Not for just the summer and the winter going sour,
But always, always, always

(Ok if you don't want to quit, let's try it one more time)

I'll be loving you, always
with a love that's true, always.
When the thing you've planned
needs my helping hand,
I will understand, I will, I will understand, always, always

The days may not be fair, always
(Don't worry, baby)
That's when I'll be there, always
Not for just an hour,
Not for just a day,
Not for just a year, but always.


@SONG: _Tacoma Trailer_

<instrumental>


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


OTHER SONGS PERFORMED/WRITTEN BY COHEN BUT NOT RECORDED BY HIM


@SONG: _Priests_

And who will write love songs for you
when I am lord at last
and your body is some little highway shrine
that all my priests have passed,
that all my priests have passed?

My priests they will put flowers there,
they will stand before the glass,
but they'll wear away your little window, love,
they will trample on the grass,
they will trample on the grass.

And who will aim the arrow
that men will follow through your grace
when I am lord of memory
and all your armour has turned to lace,
and all your armour has turned to lace?

The simple life of heroes,
and the twisted life of saints,
they just confuse the sunny calendar
with their red and golden paints,
with their red and golden paints.

And all of you have seen the dance,
that God has kept from me,
but he has seen me watching you
when all your minds were free
when all your minds were free.

And who will write love songs for you ...

My priests they will put flowers there ...


@SONG: _God is Alive, Magic is Afoot_ (Lyrics: Cohen, recorded by Buffy Sainte-Marie)

God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is afoot, magic is alive
Alive is afoot, magic never died
God never sickened
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot, God never died
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe

Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always lead
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served
Magic is afoot, God is alive
Alive is afoot

Alive is in command
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boast of solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart would not believe

Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested magic and magic went with them
Mmmmm.... for magic loves the hungry
But magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But magic is no instrument
Magic is the end
Many men drove magic
But magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left Him nourished
They would not tell who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh within my mind
This I mean my mind to serve
Til' service is but magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself
The magic length of God

God is alive, magic is afoot . . .


@SONG: _Minute Prologue_

I've been listening
to all the dissention.
I've been listening
to all the pain.
And I feel that no matter
what I do for you,
it's going to come back again.
But I think that I can heal it,
but I think that I can heal it,
I'm a fool, but I think I can heal it
with this song.


@SONG: _Passing Through_ (written by ?)

I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary
"Do you hate mankind for what they done to you?"
He said, "Talk of love not hate, things to do - it's getting late. 
I've so little time and I'm only passing through."

Passing through, passing through.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue,
glad that I ran into you.
Tell the people that you saw me passing through.

I saw Adam leave the Garden with an apple in his hand,
I said "Now you're out, what are you going to do?"
"Plant some crops and pray for rain, maybe raise a little cane.
I'm an orphan now, and I'm only passing through."

Passing through, passing through ...

I was with Washington at Valley Ford, shivering in the snow.
I said, "How come the men here suffer like they do?"
"Men will suffer, men will fight, even die for what is right
even though they know they're only passing through"

Passing through, passing through ...

I was with Franklin Roosevelt's side on the night before he died.
He said, "One world must come out of World War Two" (ah, the fool)
"Yankee, Russian, white or tan," he said, "A man is still a man.
We're all on one road, and we're only passing through."

Passing through, passing through ...

(let's do it one more time)

Passing through, passing through ...


@SONG: _Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)_

I was walking in New York City and I brushed up against the man in front of 
me. I felt a cardboard placard on his back. And when we passed a streetlight,
I could read it, it said "Please don't pass me by - I am blind, but you can 
see - I've been blinded totally - Please don't pass me by." I was walking 
along 7th Avenue, when I came to 14th Street I saw on the corner curious
mutilations of the human form; it was a school for handicapped people. And 
there were cripples, and people in wheelchairs and crutches and it was snowing,
and I got this sense that the whole city was singing this:

Oh please don't pass me by,
oh please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, but you can see,
yes, I've been blinded totally,
oh please don't pass me by.

And you know as I was walking I thought it was them who were singing it, I 
thought it was they who were singing it, I thought it was the other who was
singing it, I thought it was someone else. But as I moved along I knew it was
me, and that I was singing it to myself. It went:

Please don't pass me by,
oh please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, but you can see,
well, I've been blinded totally,
oh please don't pass me by.

Oh please don't pass me by.

Now I know that you're sitting there deep in your velvet seats and you're
thinking "Uh, he's up there saying something that he thinks about, but I'll
never have to sing that song." But I promise you friends, that you're going 
to be singing this song: it may not be tonight, it may not be tomorrow, but 
one day you'll be on your knees and I want you to know the words when the
time comes. Because you're going to have to sing it to yourself, or to another,
or to your brother. You're going to have to learn to sing this song, it goes:

Please don't pass me by,
ah you don't have to sing this .. not for you.
Please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, but you can see,
yes, I've been blinded totally,
oh please don't pass me by.

Well I sing this for the Jews and the Gypsies and the smoke that they made. 
And I sing this for the children of England, their faces so grave. And I sing
this for a saviour with no one to save. Hey, won't you be naked for me? Hey,
won't you be naked for me? It goes:

Please don't pass me by,
oh please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, but you can see,
yes, I've been blinded totally,
oh now, please don't pass me by.

Now there's nothing that I tell you that will help you connect the blood
tortured night with the day that comes next. But I want it to hurt you, I
want it to end. Oh, won't you be naked for me? Oh now:

Please don't pass me by,
oh please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, but you can see,
but I've been blinded totally,
oh, please don't pass me by.

Well I sing this song for you Blonde Beasts, I sing this song for you Venuses
upon your shells on the foam of the sea. And I sing this for the freaks and
the cripples, and the hunchback, and the burned, and the burning, and the
maimed, and the broken, and the torn, and all of those that you talk about at
the coffee tables, at the meetings, and the demonstrations, on the streets,
in your music, in my songs. I mean the real ones that are burning, I mean the
real ones that are burning

I say, please don't pass me by,
oh now, please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, yeah but you can see,
ah now, I've been blinded totally,
oh no, please don't pass me by.

I know that you still think that its me. I know that you think that there's
somebody else. I know that these words aren't yours. But I tell you friends 
that one day 

You're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down on your knees,
you're going to get down ..

Oh, please don't pass me by,
oh, please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, yeah but you can see,
yes, I've been blinded totally,
oh, please don't pass me by.

Well you know I have my songs and I have my poems. I have my book and I have
the army, and sometimes I have your applause. I make some money, but you know
what my friends, I'm still out there on the corner. I'm with the freaks, I'm
with the hunted, I'm with the maimed, yes I'm with the torn, I'm with the down,
I'm with the poor. Come on now ...

Ah, please don't pass me by,
well I've got to go now friends,
but, please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, yeah but you can see,
oh, I've been blinded, I've been blinded totally,
oh now, please don't pass me by.

Now I want to take away my dignity, yes take my dignity. My friends, take my
dignity, take my form, take my style, take my honour, take my courage, take
my time, take my time, .. time .. 'Cause you know I'm with you singing this
song. And I wish you would, I wish you would, I wish you would go home with
someone else. Wish you'd go home with someone else. I wish you'd go home with
someone else. Don't be the person that you came with. Oh, don't be the person
that you came with, Oh don't be the person that you came with. Ah, I'm not
going to be. I can't stand him. I can't stand who I am. That's why I've got to
get down on my knees. Because I can't make it by myself. I'm not by myself 
anymore because the man I was before he was a tyrant, he was a slave, he was
in chains, he was broken and then he sang:

Oh, please don't pass me by,
oh, please don't pass me by,
for I am blind, yes I am blind, Oh but you can see,
yes, I've been blinded totally,
oh, please don't pass me by.

Well I hope I see you out there on the corner. Yeah I hope as I go by that I
hear you whisper with the breeze. Because I'm going to leave you now, I'm 
going to find me someone new. Find someone knew.

And please don't pass me by.


@SONG: _Queen Victoria_ (A Cohen poem set to music)

Queen Victoria,
My father and all his tobacco loved you,
I love you too in all your forms,
the slim and lovely virgin floating among German beer,
the mean governess of the huge pink maps,
the solitary mourner of a prince.

Queen Victoria,
I am cold and rainy,
I am dirty as a glass roof in a train station,
I feel like an empty cast iron exhibition,
I want ornaments on everything,
because my love, she gone with other boys.

Queen Victoria,
do you have a punishment under the white lace,
will you be short with her, will you make her read those little Bibles,
will you spank her with a mechanical corset.
I want her pure as power, I want her skin slightly musty with petticoats
will you wash the easy bidet out of her head?

Queen Victoria,
I'm not much nourished by modern love,
will you come into my life
with your sorrow and your black carriages,
And your perfect
memories.

Queen Victoria,
the Twentieth Century belongs to you and me.
Let us be two severe giants not less lonely for our partnership,
who discolour test tubes in the halls of Science,
who turn up unwelcome at every World's Fair,
heavy with proverbs and corrections,
confusing the star-dazed tourists
with our incomparable sense of loss.


@SONG: _Die Gedanken Sind Frei_  (apparently completely/partly performed by Cohen)

Die Gedanken sind frei! Wer kann sie erraten?
Sie fliegen vorbei wie naechtliche Schatten.
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen,
kein Jaeger erschiessen
mit Pulver und Blei.
Die Gedanken sind frei!

    [Thoughts are free! Who can guess them?
     They fly along like nightly treasures
     No man can know them
     No hunter can shoot them
     With powder and lead
     Thoughts are free!]

Ich denke, was ich will und was mich begluecket,
doch alles in der Still und wie es sich schicket.
Mein Wunsch und Begehren
kann niemand verwehren,
es bleibet dabei:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

    [I think about what I want and what makes me happy
     But everything quietly, and just how it comes.
     To my wish and desire
     Nobody can oppose,
     It stays this way:
     Thoughts are free!]

Und sperrt man mich ein im finsteren Kerker,
das alles sind rein vergebliche Werke,
mit Pulver und Blei.
Die Gedanken sind frei!

    [And if they lock me in a dark dungeon
     That is something that can be forgiven
     Cause my thoughts
     Tear up the bars
     And walls.
     Thoughts are free!]

Ich denke, was ich will und was mich begluecket ...

    [I think about what I want and what makes me happy ...]

Und sperrt man mich ein im finsteren Kerker ...

    [And if they lock me in a dark dungeon ...]

Ich liebe den Wein, mein Maedchen vor allen,
sie tut mir allein am besten gefallen.
Ich bin nicht alleine
bei meinem Glas Weine,
mein Maedchen dabei:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

    [I love wine, my girl most of all,
     Only me she pleases best
     I am not alone
     With my glass of wine
     My girl is with me:
     Thoughts are free!]


Drum will ich auf immer den Sorgen entsagen
und will mich auch nimmer mit Grillen mehr plagen.
Man kann ja im Herzen
stets lachen und scherzen
und denken dabei:
Die Gedanken sind frei!

    [That's why I will never worry anymore
     And I will never tease myself with whims anymore
     Because in one's heart
     One can keep laughing and joking
     While thinking
     Thoughts are free!]



@SONG: _Store Room_ (by ?)  [ I am less than happy with the lyrics transcribed here,
                       if you can suggest corrections, by all mean do so ]

I love you, without caring whom you love.
My hands below the belt, or my hands above
in the arms of other men,
or in my bed again.

It's just a man,
Taking what he needs,
From the store room,
Store room, store room.

I love to see you sitting there upon your throne,
your preachers all around you
being bored, and your prophet straight and tall.
And yet they'll undermine it all.

Just a man, just a man,
taking what he needs,
from the store room,
store room, store room.

Yeah, Shakespeare said it all, then he said no more
and he left me feeling just like a two bit whore.
Well the silence broke my heart, but yes
I spread my legs apart.

It's just a man ...

?????
?????
The hermit in the Wild,
the parent in the child.

Just a man ...

Oh my love, let us unpin you,
???? you done, bringing more: 
the mother and the father, the daughter and the son.
But should one refuse to come, it does not subtract the sum

It's just a man ...

It's not a (due?) of burning pounds that ruins your mind
like a spoon that you turn and you turn and you don't unwind,
Though these wars that you did not stop,
they don't tear your sleep apart.

It's just a man ...

???? that keeps you up,
What a (moon?) coming like a headlight through the window
Not the thumbnail of a screen,  (?)
No best way to dream   (?)

It's just a man ...

Now the woman by your side is she awake?
But there's nothing you want to give her, 
and there's nothing that you really want to take. 
You don't even try to prove that the noisy neighbor's making love. (?)

It's just a man ...

I love you without caring whom you love ...


@SONG: _Do I Have To Dance All Night_

I'm Forty-One, the moon is full,
you make love very well.
You touch me like I touch myself,
I like you Mademoiselle.

You're so fresh and you're so new,
I do enjoy you, Miss.
There's nothing I would rather do
than move around just like this

But do I have to dance all night?
But do I have to dance all night?
Ooh tell me, Bird of Paradise,
do I have to dance all night?

You never really have to tell me what
you really think of me - alright.
Let's say I'm doing fine,
but do I have to dance all night?

Do I have to dance all night? ...

I learned this step a while ago.
I had to practice it while everybody slept.
I waited half my life for you, you know,
I didn't even think that you'd accept.
And here you are before me in the flesh
saying "Yes, yes, yes!"

But do I have to dance all night? ...

I learned this step a while ago ...

But do I have to dance all night? ...


@SONG: _Tennessee Waltz_ (New second verse written by Cohen)

I was dancin' with my darlin'
to the Tennessee Waltz
when an old friend I happened to see.
I introduced him to my darlin'
and while they were dancin'
my friend stole my sweetheart from me.

I remember the night
and the Tennessee Waltz
'cause I know just how much I have lost.
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
the night they were playing
that beautiful Tennessee Waltz

I remember the night ...

She goes dancin' with the darkness
to the Tennessee Waltz
and I feel like I'm falling apart
and it's stronger than drink
and it's deeper than sorrow
this darkness she left in my heart

I remember the night ...

That beautiful Tennessee Waltz


@SONG: _Misty Blue_ (outtake from RECENT SONGS)

Oh but it's been such a long, long time.
Thought I'd got you off my mind.
Looks like I can't, just the thought of you
turns my whole world a misty blue.
Just the mention of your name
fans the flicker to a flame.
I can't forget the things we used to do.
My whole world turns misty blue.

You know I should forget you
I really should,
and heaven knows that I tried.
But when I told you,
when I said that we were through
deep in my heart I lied

Baby, oh what a long, long time.
Thought I'd get you off my mind.
Oh but I can't, just the thought of you
turns my world misty blue
And the very mention of your name
fans the flicker to a flame.
I think of things we used to do,
my whole world turns misty blue.


@SONG: _Song of Bernadette_  (written by Warnes/Cohen, recorded by Warnes)

There was a child named Bernadette
I heard the story long ago
She saw the Queen of Heaven once
And kept the vision in her soul
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
That there were sorrows to be healed
And mercy, mercy in this world

So many hearts I find
Broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we've done and can't undo
I just want to hold you
Won't you let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do

We've been, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we moostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
Tonight, tonight I cannot rest
I've got this joy inside my breast
To think that I did not forget
That child, that song of Bernadette

So many hearts I find ...


@SONG: _You Don't Know What It's Like_ (by ?)

There's a light, a very special light,
never ever shone on me.
I would like my whole life to be,
with someone like you ... 
with someone ... with someone like ...

You don't know what it's like,
You don't know what it's like,
to love somebody,
to love somebody,
the way I love you.

There's a way, a very special way,
To look at each and every single thing.
Ah, but what good would that bring,
if I ain't got you ...
if I ain't ... if I ain't got you.

You don't know what it's like,
I don't think you really, really know what it's like,
to love somebody,
to love somebody,
the way I love you,
the way I love you.

There's a light, a special kind of light,
never ever shone on me.
I would like my whole life to be,
with someone like you ... 
with someone ... with someone like ...

Baby, you don't know what it's like,
You, you just don't know what it's like,
to love somebody,
to love somebody,
the way I love you.

You don't know what it's like,
I don't think you really, really know what it's like,
to love somebody, 
to love
the way I love you.


@SONG: _Whither Thou Goest_ (from the Book of Ruth)

Whither thou goest I will go
Whither thou lodgest I will lodge
Thy people shall be,
My people.
Whither thou goest I will go

Whither thou goest I will go ...

Whither thou goest I will go ...


@SONG: _I've Counted What I Have_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael)         I've counted what I have; it's not enough
                  And what I need I do not dare to say.
                  I've heard the soul is diamond in the rough
                  That pain must polish it to a bright display;
                  But mine is diamond dust that's blown away.

(Angels)          I've counted what I have; it's not enough
                  And what I need I do not dare to say.
                  I've heard the soul is diamond in the rough
                  That pain must polish it to a bright display;
                  But mine is diamond dust that's blown away.

(Michael)         And covered up the world with glittering --
                  Come back my soul, I cry, it won't obey,
                  And I'm the empty shape of everything ...
                  Come back my soul, come back to me I sing.

                  I'm sick with greed, with unrequited greed
                  And everyman becomes my enemy.
                  I need his woman, his career I need
                  For what he has, he's taken it from me
                  And what is mine he uses clumsily.
                  That pagan there pretending he can dance,
                  This Christian peddling his humility,
                  These carbons of Hitlerian romance,
                  These lovers photographed without their pants.

(Frank, Louis &   Then, Doubt, sloppy mother mistress that you
 Jean-Marc)       Can't get rid of, who loves you more the more
                  You turn away, whose perfume's pity, who
                  Isn't feeling well, whose shoulder's sore --
                  Doubt comes generous as a dinosaur.

(Doubt)           O love forget this metaphysic bit
                  About the lost world and the grieving heart
                  You really can't believe is haunting it;
                  While you brood here, other lovers part
                  Their lips, prettier than you, and just as smart.

(F, L & J-M)      Doubt has all the reasons why you have to fail
                  And you agree, you've heard them all before.
                  Her heart is broken and her breath is stale
                  And you say, Tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt)           Give up your conquering plan, give up your plan.
                  Time makes a choir of our lonely art
                  And women know that since the world began
                  There never was, there is no leading man!

(F, L & J-M)      Oo tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt & Pinky)   And women know that since the world began
                  There never was, there is no leading man.

(Michael)         I've counted what I have; it's not enough.
                  And women know that since the world began
                  There never was, there is no leading man.

(F, L & J-M)      Tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt & Pinky)   There's no leading man - no leading man!


@SONG: _Wishing Window_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Angels)          Come, sleeper to the window, do you know
                  Us know? Have we changed? Have you seen us here
                  Before? Do you remember long ago
                  You summoned us across the high frontier
                  Of sleep, and bid us urgently appear.
                  You called, we came, we waited every night,
                  Like crystals in solution coming clear,
                  Until your dream was sharp enough and bright
                  To waken you with stabs of appetite.

(Michael)         Is this the moment in my story when
                  The messengers of destiny prepare
                  The usual historic specimen,
                  Some lonely little hero starving there,
                  And feed him with the fruits of solitaire?
                  Is this my miracle of bread and fishes?
                  This the mystery of answered prayer?
                  Is this my table laid with golden dishes?

(Angels)          Let us not say prayer, let's just say wishes.
                  Don't stand there dreaming, let us in,
                  It wasn't all that easy getting here. We had
                  To metamorphosize at least a hundred
                  Thousand times through all the dreary realms of 
                  Sense, just to get us from the astral, to
                  The mental, to the solid and the dense.
                  And that's not counting countless times we spent
                  Manifesting aimlessly as
                  Elements of chaos in the undifferentiated
                  Anti-universe before
                  We even had a chance to be unborn
                  As shadowy particals in streams of light --
                  Now hurry up, we haven't got all night!

(Michael)         What am I supposed to do?

(Angels)          Ask for something.

(Michael)         I can't think.

(Angels)          Come on darling.

(Michael)         Help me!

(Angels)          You can ask for peace on earth. There's a few
                  That do. Or you can ask for peace of mind.
                  It's very rare but we've had one or two.
                  Or ask that human suffering unwind
                  And justify itself by what's behind.
                  Too abstract -- somewhat off the beaten track.
                  We'd like to have this contract sealed and signed.
                  Then we must get back -- ask for what you lack
                  And we will leave you, sweet insomniac.

(Michael)         Well could I have someone to love?

(Angels)          You can

(Michael)         Can I send her away?

(Angels)          We have written it down.

(Michael)         Then could I call her back again?

(Angels)          You certainly can, you merry-go-man.

(Michael)         Could I write whatever's in my heart?

(Angels)          It's on your desk, the writer's mighty pen.

(Michael)         And could I sing whatever's in my heart?

(Angels)          Just close your eyes and keep your lips apart.

(Michael)         I could have my heart's desire when
                  And where and how my heart desires it?
                  And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

(Angels)          O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
                  So boring. Everyone's like everyone 
                  Your famous heart is like an onion,
                  All layers and layers of wild distress
                  All gathered into rings round nothingness.

(Michael)         But can I have it, can I have it?

(Angels)          Yes!

(Michael)         If woman, heart and song are mine
                  The rest will come, where do I sign?

(Troupe)          But could he write whatever's in his heart?

(Angels)          It's on his desk, the writer's mighty pen.

(Troupe)          And could he sing whatever's in his heart?

(Angels)          He'll close his eyes and keep his lips apart

(Everyone)        And could he have his heart's desire when
                  And where and how his heart desires it?

(Michael)         And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

(Everyone)        O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
                  So boring. Everyone's like everyone 
                  Your famous heart is like an onion,
                  All layers and layers of wild distress
                  All gathered into rings round nothingness.

(Michael)         But can I have it?

(Troupe)          Can he have it?

(Angels)          Yes!

(Michael)         Can I have it?

(Troupe)          Can he have it?

(Everyone)        Yes!

(Angels)          The night is ending, we have many duties
                  Still, much gold and silver light to spill
                  On anxious girls and frightened boys like you,
                  All brooding deeply on some window sill.
                  But one condition there remains to fill.
                  One term before the heart begins to play
                  With other hearts the music of its will.

(Michael)         If I don't agree?

(Angels)          Still you have to pay
                  The ordinary price that humans pay...
                  With suff'ring, joy, redemption, and decay!

(Michael)         All my heart's desire ... let's keep the part
                  about joy.

(Angels)          It's a package.

(Michael)         ...Suffering, redemption, and decay!

(Angels)          It's a bitch.

(Michael)         I have to get some sleep, I'm opening
                  tomorrow night.

(Angels)          Then you agree?

(Michael)         Yes, yes, I agree.

(Angels)          ...Do you remember long ago
                  You summoned us across the high frontier
                  Of sleep and bid us urgently appear.


@SONG: _The Throne of Desire_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael)         Their bodies Triumphant
                  Their power unfurled
                  I know I am nothing
                  And women the world!

                  A slave to their favours
                  Their no and their yes
                  I'm crushed in the crease
                  Of a cotton dress

                  And I'm dead except
                  In their company
                  And I'm only at rest
                  When they motion to me

                  And night after night
                  I turn to myself
                  And I raise them
                  Out of my panic
                  And they come to me
                  Willing at last
                  Inflamed and fast
                  Mutual and graphic.

                  And suddenly they drill my heart
                  With cavities of absence
                  And they cover their thighs 
                    with cellophane
                  And they cover their breasts 
                    with a shadow
                  And they nail my good right hand
                    to a wall in the attic

                  O take me away
                  From the thorns and the fire
                  And let me recline
                  On the Throne of Desire

                  From the Throne of Desire
                  I make this solemn decree
                  Every woman I want
                  Will want, will want, will want
                  Will more than want me!

                           o o o

@SONG: _Throne of Desire Variations_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

                  Let me start with you Miss Shy
                  Bundled up in your mother's lie
                  Tip toe, tip toe
                  Hiding your silky pleasure
                  
                  Miss Shy come to me
                  Along the snowy paths of modesty
                  Tip toe, tip toe
                  Hiding your silky treasure
                  
                  Come to me with downcast eyes
                  Come to me and claim the prize
                  Of your outrageous pleasure
                  
                  How I like you Miss Shy
                  Bundled up in your mother's lie
                  Tip toe --
                  Claim your outrageous pleasure!
                  
                           o o o
                  
                  And you I want strong
                  With your hatred intact
                  With your father's pipe
                  And your brother's bat
                  And your quaint belief
                  In holy authority
                  
                  With your discipline
                  And your Darwin claws
                  And your legal eye
                  On the peacock's flaws
                  I see what fallen man
                  Was meant to be
                  
                  With your absolute
                  No man can refute
                  Your absolutely unique
                  Contempt for the weak
                  Down on our paws
                  There are no laws
                  Kiss me where I can not speak
                  
                  You I want strong
                  With your hatred intact
                  With your father's pipe
                  And your brother's bat
                  Now kiss me
                  Where I cannot speak!
                  
                           o o o 
                  
                  You I want for my friend
                  To gossip with me and drink tea
                  To walk down by the river's bend
                  You I want for my friend
                  
                  To watch the water going by
                  The swallows climbing above
                  To tell me that I lie
                  When I tell you I cannot love,
                    Cannot love
                  
                  To know my heart better than me
                  To be my friend in charity
                  To speak of lovers old and new
                  To say to me, what they've done to you
                  
                  You I want for my friend
                  To make some sense of our difference
                  To eat and drink together
                  To comfort one another,
                    And may our conversation never end!
                  
                           o o o
                  
                  And you
                      I want your
                           Beauty hidden
                  From all
                      Sight but my
                           Own
                  So none may know
                      your womanhood
                  Or hear you moan
                  Your pleasures
                      To an infant thumb
                  
                  You will be
                  True to me
                  There will be no
                  Infidelity
                  For I will weave
                  A cloak so tight
                  About your loveliness
                  No man will ever guess
                  The wild commands you whisper
                  From your childhood to the night
                  
                  And what
                      Drops the moon
                          About a man
                  And draws
                      Him tidal to
                          Your lips
                  And lets your nipples
                      harden I can
                  Hear you moan
                  Your pleasures
                      To an infant thumb
                  
                  And you I want
                  To wink at me
                  And you I want
                  To think of me
                  You I want above
                  I want you below
                  You I want veiled
                  And you to know
                  I want you clumbsy
                  I want you skilled
                  You be ferocious
                  You be mild...
                  
                  You be foolish
                  You be wise
                  You stay here
                  You stay outside
                  You comb out your hair
                  You keep it curled
                  I want, I want, I want
                  I want to know the world
                  You comb out your hair
                  You keep yours curled
                  I want, I want to know the world!
                  
                           o o o
                  
                  And you
                  Who did not come tonight
                  I will wait for you
                  And you
                  Who are not born
                  I will write for you
                  And you
                  Who must appear
                  In veils of chance
                  And mystery
                  I will kneel
                  I will kneel 
                  Like a child
                  Who's watching Mary
                  As she stands 
                  Upon the air
                  In gentle splendour
                  In the black
                  Mouth of a cave
                  Open-armed and radiant
                  To save mankind
                  And all the broken
                  World to mother
                  
                  And I swear
                  By the obscure
                  Truth
                  Of this
                  Enfolded heart
                  I swear
                  By
                  The unrequited greed
                  Of this
                  Human heart
                  And all
                  Its
                  Disappointed pleasures
                  I swear
                  By
                  The deep light
                  Of my soul
                  Stained
                  And covered over
                  With
                  Intrigues of pride
                  Whose mercy is
                  To let me sing
                  I swear
                  That I will be
                  For the one
                  Who will not come
                  To me
                  I swear that
                  I will be
                  Her lover
                  Her eternal
                  And imperfect
                  Spirit lover.
                  
                  
@SONG: _Angels Eyes_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
                                    
(Angels)          You are an angel, dare
                    You mess around down there
                  Arms open wide to save
                    Mankind you are depraved
                  What is wrong oh what?

(Judy)            I'm in love

(Angels)          You nut!

(Michael)         Angel eyes
                  You've been crying lately
                  Paradise
                  Ain't like it used to be
                  Can't get to sleep
                  Can't face the light
                  Weep baby weep
                  You've no angel tonight

(Judy)            Angel eyes
                  You've been crying lately
                  Paradise
                  Ain't like it used to be
                  Can't get to sleep
                  Can't face the light
                  Weep baby weep
                  You've no angel tonight

(Michael &        You've been bad
 Angels)          You've been good
                  You've been around
                  Like a good angel should
                  
(Judy)            One more heart
                  One more town
                  Falling apart
                  When there's no one around

(Angels)          Falling angel, angel...

(Michael & Judy)  Angel eyes
                  You've been crying lately
                  All this time
                  Aren't you tired baby
                  Trying to fly when you
                  Don't have the height
                  Cry baby cry
                  You're no angel tonight

(Michael &        Holy ground
 Angels)          Hollywood
                  You've been around
                  Like a good angel should
                  
(Judy)            One more heart
                  One more town
                  Falling apart
                  When there's no one around

(Angels)          Falling angel, angel...

                  You've got to be kidding
                  Yes we know what you're
                  Thinking about but you'd
                  Better stop dreaming, Angel
                  Better stop by here and now
                  He's just an ordinary man
                  And you're all mixed up
                  Why are you listening to him?
                  Why say Angel - say Angel
                  Angel, Angel... oo - oo - oo

(Michael)         You're no angel, baby
 (Judy)            You're no angel, baby

(Michael & Judy)  Can't get to sleep
                  Can't face the light
                  Weep baby weep
                  You're no angel,
                  You're no angel tonight!


@SONG: _The Law_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Valkyries)       You are the messengers
                  Of celestial machinery
                  You only arrange
                  You cannot change the scenery

                  It is writ in stone
                  And capitals bold
                  You do, you do
                  Just what you're told
                  
                  And you have fun
                  Lots of fun
                  Because you do
                  What must be done
                  
                  We've told you once
                  And we'll tell you again
                  Creatures that fly
                  Will only die
                  If they lie
                  In the arms of men!
                  
                  And this we must condemn!
                  
                  
@SONG: _The Promise_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
                  
(Judy)            Once I was happy to
                  Roam through the gold and blue
                  Now something haunts me
                  I know it's real
                  Someone returns
                  The desire I feel

(Angels)          We could have passed him by

(Judy)            Should have passed him by
                  So many others cry

(Angels)          One more human cry

(Judy)            So many others
                  Reaching for
                  A thread through the night
                  Or one lover more

                  He has a dream

(Angels)          It's his dream

(Judy)            I dream it too

(Angels)          It's not your dream

(Judy)            He dreams of the promise
                  We swore we would come through

(Angels)          The promise is not yours alone to honor

(Judy)            But we said we'd...

(Angels)          This is not our part

(Judy)            Open his heart

(Angels)          Now it is open

(Judy)            No, now it must start

(Michael)         You promised me whatever was in my heart

(Angels)          We promised him whatever was in his heart

(Michael)         You swore that I could speak from the heart
 (Angels)          Yes, we said he'd speak from his heart

(Michael)         Now I have chosen
                  And you must obey

(Judy)            I will obey

(Michael)         It's my heart that commands
                  And it must have its way
                  I want you
                  I need you
                  I can't live without you
                    Anymore

(Judy)            Your heart commands me
                  And I will obey you
                  I need you
                  I can't live without you
                    Anymore

(Judy & Angels)   We promised him whatever was
                    in his heart

(Michael)         You promised me whatever was
                    in my heart

(Judy & Angels)   We said that he could speak
                    from the heart

(Michael)         You swore that I could speak
                    from the heart

(Judy)            And now he has chosen
                  And now I must choose
                  Tho' garlands of planets
                  And starlight I lose

(Angels)          Now you must choose
                  Starlight, starlight
                  You're gonna lose him
                  
(Judy & Michael)  I want you, I need you
                  I can't live without you

(Everyone)        I want you, I need you
                  I can't live without you
                    Anymore


@SONG: _The Marriage March_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Everyone)        The whole work holds its breath again
                  The marriage ring it shines
                  The billionth trillionth walk begins
                  As another world sighs

                  Sights and best of wishes and
                  A silence you can hear
                  The vow that breaks the world are spoke
                  And the whole world sheds a tear

(Beggar)          Out of the joy of your marriage feast
                  O brother be good to me
                  The way is long and the shrine is far
                  Where my weary feet would be
                  And feasting is always somewhat sad
                  To those outside the door
                  Still love is only a dream
                  And life itself is hardly more

(Everyone)        The human company draws close
                  And lends an ear
                  The vows that break the world are spoke
                  As the whole world sheds a tear

                  The vows that break the world
                  And the whole world sheds a tear


@SONG: _The Third Invention_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Angels)          Blindly he worked
                  At his third invention
                  Taking the chances
                  Of one who is lost
                  
                  Feeling his way
                  To a cleaner expression
                  Of whatever it was
                  He stumbled across
                  
                  All for the sake
                  Of a possible woman
                  He goaded himself
                  With a technical hope
                  
                  For the sake of his longing
                  We came to the window
                  He put on his cloths
                  And he walked through the smoke
                  
                  All for the sake
                  Of an interested woman
                  Riding to him
                  On a flicker of hope
                  
                  Some tourist of beauty
                  In full disappointment
                  Ready to fall
                  In love with a ghost
                  
                  And here was his ghost
                  With his third invention
                  The usual claim 
                  To the highest reward
                  
                  And now it was ready
                  His third invention
                  Ready to fall
                  In love with the world
                  
                  And he falls back
                  And she comes forward
                  The eye of his labour
                  Measures them both
                  
                  And she lies in the arms
                  Of his third invention
                  And back in his room
                  He commences the fourth
                  
                  This is the work
                  Of the highest pretension
                  An automatic
                  Ode to the world
                  
                  O deep in comfort
                  O full employment
                  He's lost to the fourth
                  He's lost to the third.
                  
                  
@SONG: _Clap! Clap!_ (Mirror Song)  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael)         I never thought I'd get this far

(Audience)        We always knew you would

(Michael)         I've put a little weight on

(Audience)        Not really, it looks good.

(Michael)         These lines around my mouth are new

(Audience)        They're the lines of wisdom

(Michael)         This puffiness around my eyes?

(Audience)        The burden of the kingdom!

(Michael)         You know I like to talk with you

(Audience)        We do too, we never knew
                  Someone who we could talk to
                  Who was quite as smart as you.

                  We would like to hear you talk all night
                  But tell us if we might
                  Interrupt you with applause
                  If you should chance to pause.
                  We would love to rock the walls
                  Again and again with curtain calls
                  And a standing ovation
                  For your brilliant conversation ...

(Michael)         Clap, clap!
                  Now silence
 
                  Have you noticed people wear...

(Audience)        Copies of your favourite hat?

(Michael)         You have noticed that my dears?

(Audience)        O yes we have noticed that.

(Michael)         They wear copies of my shoes

(Audience)        Two by twos they wear your shoes

(Michael)         And they like to sing my blues

(Audience)        Echoes of your ah's and ooh's.

(Michael)         You know I like to talk with you

(Audience)        We do too, we never knew
                  Someone who we could talk to
                  Who was quite as smart as you.

(Michael)         I'm afraid that I've become
                  For nearly everyone
                  A model of behaviour
                  A devil or a saviour.

(Audience)        He's afraid that he's become
                  For next to nearly everyone
                  The very latest model of behaviour
                  He's a devil, he's a saviour

(Michael)         They read my news and
                    they hold their views
                  On whether I'm the devil
                    or a saviour

(Audience)        He's afraid that he's become
                  For almost everyone
                  The very latest model of behaviour
                  He's a devil, he's a saviour

(Michael)         I'm the very latest model of behaviour

                  But I've paid my dues

(Audience)        We know you have!
                  We hold your views!

(Michael)         You read my news?

(Audience)        Of course we do!

(Michael)         I've been a bum.
                  
(Audience)        How very, very, very, very far you've come!

(Michael)         I've crossed this country on my thumb.
                  I've met a lot of people...

(Audience)        Good and evil?

(Michael)         Good and evil!
                  I've been up hills

(Audience)        You've been down hills.

(Michael)         I've been on junk.

(Audience)        You've beaten junk.

(Michael)         I don't mean pills

(Audience)        You don't mean pills!

(Michael)         I mean the needle

(Audience)        He means the needle
                  He means the needle!
                  He means the needle!

(Michael)         I've noticed my words on everyone's lips
                  And women are always leaving me slips
                  Of paper
                  I'm supposed to get back to them later
                  And sometimes I do

(Audience)        It's only your due
                  After all that you've been through
                  To lie down with some grateful stranger

                  To think he honours someone's bed
                  With his wine and with his bread
                  And his legendary member
                  It is April in December

                  It's charity
                  It's religion
                  Saint Francis with the birds
                  Jesus with the leper
                  Please talk to us forever
                  And ever and ever

(Michael)         Clap, clap
                  Now silence!

                  But now I make my confession
                  Before all the mirrors of history
                  This power was given to me
                  It must have been given to me
                  For something more
                  Than a star on the door
                  And a foot in this shabby profession

(Audience)        This is surely the sound
                  Of the most profound
                  Remark that has ever been made
                  From the pulpit or the stage
                  Or even the gates of heaven

(Michael)         There's something waiting for me
                  There's something I must feel
                  There's something that must bend its knee
                  And I must see it kneel

                  There's nothing to be conquered there
                  A beast that keeps the crown
                  And marble steps into the air
                  And one man looking down


(Audience)        He's smiling
                  He's smiling

                  There is something that is waiting for him
                  Something that he must feel
                  Something that must bend its knee
                  And it's he must see it kneel

                  There is something to be conquered there
                  There's a beast that keeps the crown
                  And marble steps into the air
                  And one man looking down 

                  Smiling, smiling

(Michael)         Clap clap!

(Audience)        Smiling, smiling

(Michael)         Clap, clap!



@SONG: _Hunter's Lullaby_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
[cf lyrics from the Cohen album "Various Positions"]

(Judy)            Your father's gone a-hunting
                  Into the forest wild
                  He cannot take his wife with him
                  He cannot take his child
                  
                  Your father's gone a-hunting
                  In the quicksand and the clay
                  A woman cannot follow him
                  Although she knows the way
                  
                  Your father's gone a-hunting
                  Through the mirror and the glass
                  Where only greed can enter
                  But spirit cannot pass
                  
                  Your father's gone a-hunting
                  For the beast he cannot bind
                  And he's left a baby sleeping
                  And his blessings all behind
                  
                  Your father's gone a-hunting
                  And he's lost my lucky charm
                  And he's lost the guardian heart
                  That keeps the hunter from the harm
                  
                  There's a darkness in the thicket
                  That was not there before
                  And among the tangled undergrowth
                  There is one tangle more
                  
                  Your father's gone a-hunting
                  
                  
@SONG: _We Told You So_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
                  
(Angels)          We told you so
                  We told you dear
                  You didn't have
                  To come here
                  
                  The human life
                  Is full of quirks
                  We can't work it out
                  Nothing works
                  
                  It's a lemon
                  This mechanic
                  Live, love, suffer
                  Die and panic
                  
                  It lives, it loves
                  Suffers and dies
                  It eats cow's meat
                  And apple pies
                  
                  Dumb, dumb, dumb
                  And full of fear
                  Anxiety and strife..
                  This is the human life!
                  
                  ...We have many duties still
                  Much gold and silver light to spill
                  On anxious boys and frightened girls like you...
                  
                  
@SONG: _Fire_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
                  
(Michael)         I burnt the house of love tonight
                  It made a perfect ring
                  In which I saw some weeds and stone
                  Beyond not anything
                  
                  Certain creatures of the air
                  Frightened by the night
                  They came to see the world again
                  And they perished in the light
                  
                  So now I sail from sky to sky
                  And all the blackness sings
                  Against the boat that I have made
                  Of mutilated wings
                  
                  Fire in this house of mine
                  Fire of my own design
                  Fire from the sky
                  Fire from the sea
                  Come fire come
                  Fire onto thee
                  Fire in the house of love
                  
                  I burnt the house of love tonight
                  I burnt the house of love tonight
                  I burnt the house of love tonight
                  
                  
@SONG: _Song of Destruction_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Frank & Louis)   Are you still here? What are you waiting for?
                  Your lives to change? An oracle to speak?
                  Some version of the wounded matador
                  Who turns toward the bull his other cheek
                  And entertains you with a torn physique?
                  Some prisoner in pyjamas dancing lewd
                  Trablinka waltzes, while another freak
                  Hangs himself to concentrate your mood
                  And sweeten up your putrid solitude?

(Michael)         My drummer is the only one I trust
                  Let the drums go rolling through the night
                  And let them pulverise my deep disgust
                  With steady thunder, whips and dynamite
                  The man of sticks and skins is always right.
                  I found him near the cremetorium
                  Humiliated, begging for a fight.
                  I wrote the name of honour on a drum
                  O drummer tell the people why I've come!

                  O listen to him and his saxophone

(Frank & Louis)   Our musical genital unicorn

(Michael)         He's very well hung with his golden horn
                  He'd like to be standing out here alone
                  The light on his hands, his mouth, and his bone.

(Frank & Louis)   So take your solo now and loose your way
                  In every fingered hole and brassy groan...
                  You'll soon begin to choke on what you play

(Michael)         You're choking now exactly as I say!

(Michael, Frank   As for the deeper spirits in the hall
 & Louis)         Annointed ones and truely different
                  Whom orgy doesn't satisfy at all
                  Who loathe the horizontal argument
                  
(Frank & Louis)   It is to such as you that he was sent.

(Michael)         I understand the loyalties that insist
                  You burn a child or shoot a president
                  Or tattoo numbers on a woman's wrist
                  I know the sorrow of the good idealist.

                  It is to such as you that I was sent
                  To speak directly to your deepest shame
                  And light the fires of experiment
                  And burn all hesitation in the flame --
                  I claim you now, I claim you in the name
                  Of that which you have never done before
                  And having done it never be the same.
                  The victim shall be smitten on his sore.
                  The haughty one shall have a visitor.

(Michael, Frank   We heard that drummer, do not think we missed
 & Louis)         Your subtle derivation from the beat

(Michael)         Which I established with an iron fist
                  A thousand years ago, a small deceit
                  To be enlarged until you have complete
                  Control of the mood and the atmosphere --
                  Your crooked time endangering my defeat --
                  Now all your instruments must disappear
                  And on your traitor's face pursue your
                    dark career!


@SONG: _The Walls_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
                  
(Michael)         It's late, it's very late
                  How did it get so late?

(Judy)            What was it we were thinking of?

(Michael & Judy)  We didn't want this, 
                    did we?                  

(Judy)            There must be some mistake

(Michael)         What was it I forgot to tell you?

(Judy)            What was it I forgot?

                  There was a promise here
                  A child who knew me
                  A bitter bedtime story

(Michael & Judy)  Another house of some forgotten family
                  It's very late
                  There must be some mistake
                  And now this place
                    for none

(Michael)         There was a woman here
                  A woman who knew me
                  A table set before me

(Michael & Judy)  It is the walls
                    it is the victory of the walls
                  It is the room
                    it is the distance of the room

(Michael)         Without her...

(Judy)            Without you.


@SONG: _Coming Back_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Angels)          You can't do this
                  You must do what
                  We must do what must be done

(Judy)            I hear my baby calling
                  He is asking to be born
                  I see the curtains parting
                  That our kisses have outworn ...

(Angels)          Kisses all outworn...

(Judy)            I'll raise a tent of shelter
                  Now though every thread is torn

(Angels)          Every thread is torn...

(Judy)            I take my life from realms of light
                  And hang it on a thorn

(Angels)          Hanging on a thorn...

(Judy)            I hear the children calling
                  Asking to be born
                  I see the curtains parting
                  And my life upon a thorn
                  

                  The stars have lost their fire
                  And the moon has lost her voice
                  And I'm coming back to find you
                  I have made the human choice.

(Angels)          You've made your choice
                  The world you choose
                  Garlands of planets and starlight
                  Now you lose

(Judy)            He's the only one who knows me
                  He's the riddle of my life
                  And they'll never tell the story
                  Of the husband and the wife

(Angels)          The world she chooses, she loses...

(Judy)            He's the stone that broke my heart
                  The foundation of my home --

(Angels)          This we must do!

(Judy)            He's the sweetness of the sweetness
                  Of the sweetness honeycomb

(Angels)          We must do what we must do!

(Judy)            And he's welcome to his glory
                  And he's buried in my life
                  And they'll never tell the story
                  Of the husband and the wife

(Angels)          She takes her life from realms of light

(Valkyries)       She hangs it on a thorn

(Angels)          She disobeys the law

(Valkyries)       The law is broken
                  You must get them

(Angels)          Get him.

(Valkyries)       Get them!
                  
                  Messenger
                  Listen
                  Messenger
                  Do what must be done
                  And our will be done
                  Will be done


@SONG: _Song to My Assassin_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael)         We were chosen, we were chosen
                  Miles and miles apart
                  I to love your kingdom
                  You to love my heart
                  
(Angels)          We were chosen
                  We do what must
                  What must be done

(Michael)         The love is intermittent
                  The discipline continues
                  I work on your spirit
                  You work on my sinews.

(Angels)          We work on his sinews
                  And the discipline continues

                  We have fun 'cause
                  We do what must
                  What must be done

(Michael)         I watch myself from where you are
                  Please do not be mistaken
                  The spider web you see me through
                  Is the view I've always taken


                  Begin the ceremony now
                  That we have been preparing
                  I'm tired of this marble floor
                  That we have both been sharing.

(Angels)          Now we will be sharing
                  What he has been preparing!

(Girls)           He's the only one
                  He's the only one
                  He's the riddle of the music
                  He's the music of my life

(Boys)            Now it begins
                  Now it begins
                  He's the riddle of the music
                  He's the music of the sacrifice

(Valkyries)       Messenger
                  Messenger
                  Our will
                  Will be done

(Angels)          We work on his sinews
                  And the discipline continues

(Everyone)        Begin the ceremony
                  Begin the sacrifice ...


@SONG: _The Bells_  (written by Cohen, performed in "Night Magic")
[cf the lyrics to the song "Anthem" on the Cohen album "The Future"]
                  
(Judy)            The birds they sang at break of day
                  Start again, I heard them say
                  Nor dwell on what has passed away
                    Or what is yet to be.
                  
                  The wars they will be fought again
                  The holy dove be caught again
                  Bought and sold and bought again
                    Until we set them free.
                  
                  Ring the bells that still can ring
                  Forget your perfect offering
                  There is a crack in everything
                    The light behind to see.
                  
                  Add up the parts, not yours the sum
                  Strike up the march, there is no drum
                  Every heart to love must come
                    Like a refugee
                                    

@SONG: _Way Down Deep_  (written by Warnes/Cohen, recorded by Warnes)

way down, way way down
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way down deep
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

it came to me this morning
I was walking down the street
was like my soul could taste you
and God, you tasted sweet
finally I can breathe again
finally I can speak
I've got you in the glory place
I've got you way down deep

I've got you way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

it's a funny feeling
but I cannot say I mind
I know that I'm dealing with
a love that's far from blind
I see every single angle
I look before I leap
how else can I put it
when you're got me way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you've got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you've got me way down, way down deep
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

don't matter what we gave away
was nothing we could keep
don't matter what we gave away
you know that talk is cheap
forgive me if I hate you
you're a liar and a thief
but I've got you in the glory place
I got you way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down ...

don't matter if the road is long
don't matter if it's steep
don't matter if the moon goes out
and darkness is complete
don't matter if we lose our way
I know we;re gonna meet
I've got you in the glory place
I've got you way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down ..
                  

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This lyrics collection compiled from various sources by Dean Engelhardt 
(dean@cs.adelaide.edu.au). Special thanks to Maurice Maes, Rheal Nadeau,
Jo Meachem, Kjetil Dimmen, Brian Cameron, and Rudi Schmid. Any suggestions 
or corrections are welcomed.