Leonard Cohen. Recent Songs. (Sep 1979)

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1. 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 ...

2. 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...

3. 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 unknowing 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

4. 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

5. 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. ]

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?...

9. 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

10. 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