I've got to say, Leonard Cohen is really growing on me! I hadn't listened to his music for years & years ... just found it too relentlessly grim, or something ... then completely lost track.
But the later music is just wonderful. (Thank you, youtube.) It's clever & wise & funny, with a slight whiff of kinkiness! He's in a class all of his own. I'm quite smitten!
TOWER OF SONG Leonard Cohen
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 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.
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, I loved you 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, we’ll never have to lose it again.
So I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back.
They’re 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 my window in the tower of song.
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 in the tower of song.
I still can't come at the old stuff again a big way (reminds me too much of burning incense in dingy rooms & being awfully "deep" & quite depressed & talking about after the revolution, & all that .... )
But the later stuff is just brilliant! I love it!
Did you manage to hear the terrific radio interview with him that tsarstefan (sp?) posted to another thread? Wonderful!
April 3, 2009 - Leonard Cohen is touring the U.S. for the first time in 15 years.
The deep-voiced musician, best known for writing songs that straddle the folk-rock fence, has produced numerous albums and written several books of poetry. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the U.S.
Here, Cohen joins Fresh Air host Terry Gross to talk about his poetry, his songwriting and his time at a retreat called the Zen Center.
It does, doesn't it?
Still more to do tomorrow, though.
0 Replies
msolga
2
Sat 28 Nov, 2009 07:38 am
Time to head off to bed, so I Googled "lullaby" for some appropriate music. Pot luck. And this is youtube's response. I'm at all sure not sure what it means, but anyway ...
Night night all.
0 Replies
msolga
2
Sun 29 Nov, 2009 06:27 am
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msolga
2
Mon 30 Nov, 2009 06:26 am
This is from the soundtrack of just about my favourite Oz film - Lantana.
The song's called Te Busco. Always thought is was lovely, but not being a Spanish speaker, had no idea of what the song was actually about. So I did a Google search. You'll find the lyrics below, if you're interested.
This clip is from the last segment of the film. A lot of different characters tying up a lot of different ends after a lot of drama! :
I gaze at the sky
Looking for a little of my life
My stars don't answer me
for (they)illuminate me to your laughter
Waves disappearing from my eyes
to all of your memories
I steal shapes of your face
leaving the arena in silence
I look for you lost in dreams
the noise of the crowd wraps me in a veil
I look for you flying in the sky
the wind has carried you like an old handkerchief
I don't do anything else but keep looking
Well known places
In places so strange
because I can not be with you
With every footstep I persue you
In the shadows I picture you
Footprints and shadows that are lost ( in solitude )
Lady luck was not with me
)
