The Genius Of Leonard Cohen: Another Song That Blows My Heart & Gathers Up The Pieces

[Michael Griffiths]

The Genius Of Leonard Cohen: Another Song That Blows My Heart & Gathers Up The Pieces

ALEXANDRA LEAVING

Suddenly the night has grown colder.
The god of love preparing to depart.
Alexandra hoisted on his shoulder,
They slip between the sentries of the heart.

Upheld by the simplicities of pleasure,
They gain the light, they formlessly entwine;
And radiant beyond your widest measure
They fall among the voices and the wine.

It?s not a trick, your senses all deceiving,
A fitful dream, the morning will exhaust ?
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for this to happen,
Go firmly to the window. Drink it in.
Exquisite music. Alexandra laughing.
Your firm commitments tangible again.

And you who had the honor of her evening,
And by the honor had your own restored ?
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving;
Alexandra leaving with her lord.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for the occasion;
In full command of every plan you wrecked ?
Do not choose a coward?s explanation
that hides behind the cause and the effect.

And you who were bewildered by a meaning;
Whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed ?
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

 

[The Wanderer]

give me, a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh... eternally ~ Kurt Kobain

 

[HelloAngel]

give me, a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh... eternally ~ Kurt Kobain

amen. God bless Leonard.

 

[Gina Marie]

it's great to see a post like this here

Wow, that is SO BEAUTIFUL...

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Another amazing poem, and this one in particular is put to some hauntingly beautiful music...


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.

 

[Screaming Flower]

i absolutely love leonard cohen. the man was truly an amazing poet.

 

[Basstrap]

I LOVE TEN NEW SONGS!!

I saddened that so many people dont care for it

I think my fave L cohen song, however, is Famous Blue Raincoat

I LOVE Take This Waltz as well

 

[Salome]

Suzanne is a great song
I also really liked the lyrics of that first one
the "sigh-ratio" was very low on that one (IMO) but it is amazingly well written (except for the "entwine ... wine" bit)

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I LOVE TEN NEW SONGS!!

I saddened that so many people dont care for it

I think my fave L cohen song, however, is Famous Blue Raincoat

I LOVE Take This Waltz as well

Basstrap, I adore Ten New Songs as well. It's an album that really needs to be listened to on headphones, because it's just so intimate. It's like Leonard revealing his most inner world for each member of the shared outer world, with the best of intentions. 'My Secret Life', for example, breaks my heart, but it does so with my full blessing ("I'd die for the truth, in my secret life...")

 

[Michael Griffiths]

give me, a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh... eternally ~ Kurt Kobain

Wanderer, a very beautiful quote indeed. What's amazing about Leonard's work, is the permeation of hope that so desperately reveals itself within that very sigh. Not so much a paradox, as it is a revelation at times.

 

[foray]

a drop in time

Her words profane, her mouth divine
I tried to sympathize with both sides
But I was caught, like a floating thought
Stuck inside of Leonard Cohen's mind -- Mercury Rev

foray

 

[Michael Griffiths]

HEY, THAT'S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE
(from the album 'THE BEST OF...')

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.

 

[meegannie]

Someone just sent me a cd with some Leonard Cohen songs fairly recently. I really like it, especially lyrically.

 

[KingPin]

Leonard Cohen is shamefully underrated. He is unknown by so many, which is sad, because his talent is amazing.

 

[Danospano]

I've started a few Cohen Appreciation threads in the past, so I'm glad to see other words of endorsement. I remember the first time I heard him; my mother would play 'The Future' album while we got reading for school. "Closing Time", one of his more upbeat tunes stands out as my favorite.
Since that time I've purchased "I'm Your Man", "10 New Songs", "Cohen Live", "Best of...", and become a collector of his television appearances by way of videotape.
Let's keep his name alive, okay? I'd hate for people to go a whole lifetime and never hear his songs.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Leonard Cohen is shamefully underrated. He is unknown by so many, which is sad, because his talent is amazing.

Isn't that the truth! In my opinion, he's the best lyricist EVER -- yes, better than Dylan, Lennon, Morrison (Van and Jim combined), and, yes, Bono, too. Even Bono would probably tell you that, as you can see Cohen in soooo much of Bono's work.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

One more from, quite possibly, the greatest Canadian artist/poet/writer/singer of our time...maybe of any time...

TAKE THIS WALTZ
(from the album 'I'M YOUR MAN')

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.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Can I get a "hell yea"?

 

[Basstrap]

ahhhhh!!! I LOVE that song!!

Take this waltz

God, almost brings tears to my eyes just reading the lyrics!