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For lanarkshireLassie :
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (born September 21, 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and artist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often deals with the exploration of religion, isolation, sexuality and complex interpersonal relationships.
Musically, Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album, Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music. In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s his high baritone voice has evolved into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
Over two thousand renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded. He has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at his induction into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters.
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ran out of space
Well you know I have my songs and I have my poems. I have my book and I have the army, and sometimes I have your applause. I make some money, but you know what my friends, I'm still out there on
Corner. I'm with the freaks, I'm with the hunted, I'm with the maimed, yes I'm with the torn, I'm with the down, I'm with the poor. come on now ...
Ah, please don't pass me by,
Well I've got to go now friends,
But, please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, yeah but you can see,
Oh, I've been blinded, I've been blinded totally,
Oh now, please don't pass me by.
Now I want to take away my dignity, yes take my dignity. my friends, take my dignity, take my form, take my style, take my honour, take my courage, take my time, take my time, .. time .. 'cause
Now I'm with you singing this song. and I wish you would, I wish you would, I wish you would go home with someone else. wish you'd go home with someone else. I wish you'd go home with someone el
On't be the person that you came with. oh, don't be the person that you came with, oh don't be the person that you came with. ah, I'm not going to be. I can't stand him. I can't stand who I am.
S why I've got to get down on my knees. because I can't make it by myself. I'm not by myself anymore because the man I was before he was a tyrant, he was a slave, he was in chains, he was broken
Then he sang:
Oh, please don't pass me by,
Oh, please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, yes I am blind, oh but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh, please don't pass me by.
Well I hope I see you out there on the corner. yeah I hope as I go by that I hear you whisper with the breeze. because I'm going to leave you now, I'm going to find me someone new. find someone
And please don't pass me by.
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just so we don't feel left out
I was walking in new york city and I brushed up against the man in front of me. I felt a cardboard placard on his back. and when we passed a streetlight, I could read it, it said "please do
Ass me by - I am blind, but you can see -i've been blinded totally - please don't pass me by." I was walking along 7th avenue, when I came to 14th street I saw on the corner curious mutilat
Of the human form; it was a school for handicapped people. and there were cripples, and people in wheelchairs and crutches and it was snowing, and I got this sense that the whole city was singin
S:
Oh please don't pass me by,
Oh please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh please don't pass me by.
And you know as I was walking I thought it was them who were singing it, I thought it was they who were singing it, I thought it was the other who was singing it, I thought it was someone else.
S I moved along I knew it was me, and that I was singing it to myself. it went:
Please don't pass me by,
Oh please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Well, I've been blinded totally,
Oh please don't pass me by.
Oh please don't pass me by.
Now I know that you're sitting there deep in your velvet seats and you're thinking "uh, he's up there saying something that he thinks about, but I'll never have to sing that song." but
Omise you friends, that you're going to be singing this song: it may not be tonight, it may not be tomorrow, but one day you'll be on your knees and I want you to know the words when the time co
Because you're going to have to sing it to yourself, or to another, or to your brother. you're going to have to learn to sing this song, it goes:
Please don't pass me by,
Ah you don't have to sing this .. not for you.
Please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh please don't pass me by.
Well I sing this for the jews and the gypsies and the smoke that they made. and I sing this for the children of england, their faces so grave. and I sing this for a saviour with no one to save.
Won't you be naked for me? hey, won't you be naked for me? it goes:
Please don't pass me by,
Oh please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh now, please don't pass me by.
Now there's nothing that I tell you that will help you connect the blood tortured night with the day that comes next. but I want it to hurt you, I want it to end. oh, won't you be naked for me?
W:
Please don't pass me by,
Oh please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh now, please don't pass me by.
Well I sing this song for you blonde beasts, I sing this song for you venuses upon your shells on the foam of the sea. and I sing this for the freaks and the cripples, and the hunchback, and the
Ed, and the burning, and the maimed, and the broken, and the torn, and all of those that you talk about at the coffee tables, at the meetings, and the demonstrations, on the streets, in your mus
N my songs. I mean the real ones that are burning, I mean the real ones that are burning
I say, please don't pass me by,
Oh now, please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, but you can see,
Ah now, I've been blinded totally,
Oh no, please don't pass me by.
I know that you still think that it's me. I know that you think that there's somebody else. I know that these words aren't yours. but I tell you friends that one day
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down on your knees,
You're going to get down ...
Oh, please don't pass me by,
Oh, please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, yeah but you can see,
Yes, I've been blinded totally,
Oh, please don't pass me by.
Well you know I have my songs and I have my poems. I have my book and I have the army, and sometimes I have your applause. I make some money, but you know what my friends, I'm still out there on
Corner. I'm with the freaks, I'm with the hunted, I'm with the maimed, yes I'm with the torn, I'm with the down, I'm with the poor. come on now ...
Ah, please don't pass me by,
Well I've got to go now friends,
But, please don't pass me by,
For I am blind, yeah but you can see,
Oh, I've been blinded, I've been blinded totally,
Oh now, please don't pass me by.
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So Sorry.. to Leonard Cohen fans
.... but I am surprised , but happy, to hear that he is still with us! How old is he?
I recall certain peeps who I went to High School with, having his albums, and talking about his type of music. I just remember seeing album covers, and thinking that he was a tad older than the pop peeps! He looked closer in age to my dad!
I do not mean to appear nasty, or ignorant, just curious as to Leonard's age.
Gail
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I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were talking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.
Ah but you got away, didn't you babe,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."
And then you got away, didn't you babe...
I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't even think of you that often.
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My favourite LC song:
Closing Time lyrics
Ah we're drinking and we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
And my very sweet companion
she's the Angel of Compassion
she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
And every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
all the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
and it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
it's CLOSING TIME
Ah we're lonely, we're romantic
and the cider's laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"
And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief
So we struggle and we stagger
down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
but CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
CLOSING TIME
I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn't make a fool of me:
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring, declaring, declaring that your body's really you
And I loved you when our love was blessed
and I love you now there's nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I missed you since the place got wrecked
And I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah we're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening
and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
gets me fumbling gets me laughing
she's a hundred but she's wearing
something tight
and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn't worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
Oh the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka-dots
It's CLOSING TIME
And it's partner found, it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
It's CLOSING TIME
I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
It's CLOSING TIME
The Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
But CLOSING TIME
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now there's nothing left
But CLOSING TIME
I miss you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex.
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Don't forget to pack your 'happy pills' LOL
You'll have a great time. His lyrics are a bit special :)
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah
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