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's 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 are 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.
Oh 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 revolutions pride,
he trained a hundred women just to kill an unborn child.
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 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.
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About myself, I'm a product of the 80's (well, of the 70's, but most of my formative years were the 80's), and I was basically shackled to mainstream pop. (My interests at that time did not include music, allthough I loved Queen)
Conseuqently, my musical knowledge is very limited in scope and breath, because, quite frankly, I don't know what is worth listening to!
I have to thank Idols for getting (re)acquainted with Cohen (I have heard his versions of Hallelujah and Suzanne before, more about that later). This was because I read a newspaper article about how the winners liked to cover Hallellujah by Cohen. That same article in the local paper mentioned the hallellujah cover by Jeff Buckley.
So I went a listening and a digging for information on the latter, but also on Cohen.
I soon listened to Suzanna, and I remembered hearing THAT when I was about 5, because it was covered by a Dutch singer called Herman van Veen. I was very pleased to hear the original version again, I have to say, although childhood memories make the dutch cover my favorite
I am now officially a fan. But I am VERY disturbed that the songs I find best are the ones on the epic 'Songs of Love and Hate' album, namely Dress Rehearsal Rag, and the above one. I adore Famous Blue Raincoat and I think 'The Partisan' is one of the best anti-war songs ever written.
(But again, my musical breadth is limited, if there are better one's, feel free to mentione them!)
Meaning
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His lyrics always touch me, and move me, but I sometimes can;t make heads nor tails out of them. Take, for instance, the above song. What is it about?
I have some ideas...
The first couplet has me the most baffled, to be sure. The woman in blue, I have no idea what it means...
The man in white, is that the man with the peace offering? White being the color for peace? But then again, what does the blue stand for? Revenge is supposed to be red IIRC.
The second two lines seem to lack connection with the first two, but they are an effective description saying things ain't exactly right and peachy.
The second couplet I think details a man committing adultery. If it is linked to the first couplet, the woman in blue's man committing adultery. But she apparently doesn't know it in that second verse, so why would she want revenge?
I think that 'where the lions and christians fight' is the place where passion and morals collide, the sexual organs so to speak...
The third couplet holds some strong lines... But again, not sure about the meaning.
the covens of the witch. - Female friends? Or does this have some other meaning? She draws no comfort from her friends, would be my interpretation, but then again, the next line, does this literally imply a sterilization, or, which I lean too, an allussion to a peron (a doctor) who'se antics have left her frigid? And is this then again the woman in blue asking for revenge?
The last two lines seem to be an anti-abortion chant. I can't really explain the man of energy, the revolutions pride. What revolution? The sexual revolution of the 60's? Does this refer to a living person? And in what way is it tied to the killing of the unborn child, if it's not about abortion but has another meaning? Perhaps it's this man that has sterilized the woman, and thusly killed any chance of getting a child? But what are the hundred woman? His liaisions she found out about?
The chorus seems rather easy though. The woman is alone, no letters, no wine, no chocolates and no diamonds in her life anymore...
Then again, the first couplet could then be that her idea for revenge is 'eye for an eye' and have intercourse with other men, in reply to which you, as the one visiting her (or is it virgin white, the color of naivity?) claim to have no friends (willing to do so).
Am I close?
