A film celebrating Leonard Cohen, called "I'm Your Man" is soon to be released, made by australian director Lian Lunson. It is 'an intimate look at the songs, poetry and life of one of music's most celebrated and influential troubadours', and it includes live performances from various artists at the incredible Came So Far for Beauty concert in Sydney earlier this year (i was there! - check out the film clip). Bono (U2) says of Cohen, 'this is our Shelley, this is our Byron.'

[www.leonardcohenimyourman.com] />
"Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash." Leonard Cohen.

rikki

[www.emule.com] />
well,
Posted by: JohnnySansCulo (---.nycmny83.covad.net)
Date: April 21, 2022 06:42PM


There's no time like the present
and the present is no prize
but give a gift to Germans
and you hasten their demise

The train is at the station
The feces in the hat
but transubstantiation
hardly ever feeds the cat

what started as a good idea
must now but end abrupt
so let's sing Leonard Cohen songs
and cheer the whole place up

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2021 02:33PM by JohnnySansCulo.

There's a crack in everything, Johnny; that's how the light gets in.


r

Love Itself
---Leonard Cohen

The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of love.

In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the nameless makes
A name for one like me.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door;
Then love itself
Love itself was gone.

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door;
Then love itself
Love itself was gone.

Then I came back from where I’d been.
My room, it looked the same;
But there was nothing left between
The nameless and the name.

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door;
Then love itself,
Love itself was gone.
Love itself was gone.


Les

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 hopeless voice

I practiced on 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 clothes 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

Leonard Cohen

I don't pretend to understand this, and feel that it probably isn't politically correct - but it's my favourite, relatively modern Cohen song (I've been listen to him since the 1970s) and I like a fair bit of his output:

FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN
(from the album 'I'M YOUR MAN')

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



(L. Cohen) Stranger Music, Inc.

I don't know if this is something I came up with, or heard it somehwere, but it reminds me of "Everything's a metaphor for something, but nothing is analagous to you"

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2005 10:10AM by JohnnySansCulo.

Good point!