 | Dance Me To The End Of Love Released: November 2019 |
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| Dance Me To The End Of Love |  | |||||
 You don't have to know that the song was inspired by a photograph that Cohen saw in his youth of an orchestra in a Holocaust death camp - but it certainly adds a different perspective .... own  iTunes  spotify  video Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on Dance me to the children who are asking to be born Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin Copyright © 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return  | ||||||
| Famous Blue Raincoat | | |||||
 Written in the form of a letter, with an obscure Scientology reference (To Go Clear is to rid oneself of all negativity), this haunting song at once reveals the depth of Leonard Cohen's spirituality and of his generosity. Interestingly he declared that he had always found the lyrics too cryptic. own iTunes spotify video It's four in the morning, the end of december Yes and Jane came by with a lock of your hair The last time we saw you, you looked so much older Well, I see you there with a rose in your teeth And what can I tell you my brother, my killer Yes, and thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes And Jane came by with a lock of you hair and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Suzanne | | |||||
 Cohen's most popular song ever - and one of the first he ever recorded. A song about faith - and ironically, if Cohen had not had faith in his record company, he would not have been denied his royalties. He never made a dime from Suzanne, having signed what they termed a standard songwriter's contract. own iTunes spotify video Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| If It Be Your Will | | |||||
 Cohen referred to this song as a murmured prayer. I have kept its reverent tone. The accompaniment starts with just the guitar and then blossoms with vaguely churchy organ, violins and a cello. My thanks to the EastWest orchestra! own iTunes spotify video If it be your will If it be your will If it be your will And draw us near If it be your will. Copyright © 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Take This Longing | | |||||
 This is the first song on the album about Nico, the iconic singer with Lou Reed's Velvet Underground in the 60's. A perfect distillation of desire, of unrequited passion. I make no apologies for the throbbing cellos. own iTunes spotify video Many men have loved the bells you fastened to the rein, and everyone who wanted you they found what they will always want again. Your beauty lost to you yourself just as it was lost to them. Oh take this longing from my tongue, whatever useless things these hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down like you would do for one you love. Your body like a searchlight my poverty revealed, I would like to try your charity until you cry, 'Now you must try my greed.' And everything depends upon how near you sleep to me Just take this longing from my tongue all the lonely things my hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down like you would do for one your love. Hungry as an archway through which the troops have passed, I stand in ruins behind you, with your winter clothes, your broken sandal straps. I love to see you naked over there especially from the back. Oh take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, untie for me your hired blue gown, like you would do for one that you love. You're faithful to the better man, I'm afraid that he left. So let me judge your love affair in this very room where I have sentenced mine to death. I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head. Just take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you love. Like you would do for one you love. Copyright © 1974 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Everybody Knows | | |||||
 Cohen had already recorded the definitive 4/4 version of this sombre analysis of the human condition, so I decided to see how it sounded to a reggae beat. One has to admire the accuracy of Cohen's prophetic vision ... own iTunes spotify video Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows Everybody knows that the boat is leaking Everybody knows that the captain lied Everybody got this broken feeling Like their father or their dog just died Everybody talking to their pockets Everybody wants a box of chocolates And a long stem rose Everybody knows Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet Without your clothes And everybody knows Everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows Everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows And everybody knows that it's now or never Everybody knows that it's me or you And everybody knows that you live forever Ah when you've done a line or two Everybody knows the deal is rotten Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton For your ribbons and bows And everybody knows And everybody knows that the Plague is coming Everybody knows that it's moving fast Everybody knows that the naked man and woman Are just a shining artifact of the past Everybody knows the scene is dead But there's gonna be a meter on your bed That will disclose What everybody knows And everybody knows that you're in trouble Everybody knows what you've been through From the bloody cross on top of Calvary To the beach of Malibu Everybody knows it's coming apart Take one last look at this Sacred Heart Before it blows And everybody knows Everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows Oh everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows Everybody knows Copyright © 1988 Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Chelsea Hotel #2 | | |||||
 I decided on a very simple treatment of this lovely song - just one guitar, a touch of bass - and a hint of synth in the instrumental section. I set it to slightly more jazzy chords than Cohen used. own iTunes spotify video 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. Copyright © 1974 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Stories Of The Street | | |||||
 This is not a Cohen song that you hear as often as the others on his first album. I included it on mine because I love the lyrics and admire the tune. It's a brilliant evocation of the contradictions we all have to resolve. I underscored the shimmering guitars with resonant cellos. own iTunes spotify video The stories of the street are mine,the Spanish voices laugh. The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas, and I lean from my window sill in this old hotel I chose, yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose. I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come, the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone. But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk, All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us? And where do all these highways go, now that we are free? Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me? O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel, You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal. The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask the nurse to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass. And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite, and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night. O come with me my little one, we will find that farm and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm. And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am, O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb. With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world. We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky, and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye. Copyright © 1967 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Hallelujah | | |||||
 How could I not include this iconic song on the album? I sing the verses Cohen chose for his later concerts. With Judy Blair on the swirling Hammond organ and harmony vocals, Michel 'Coco' Correch on double-bass and Sophie Celdran on vocal harmonies. own iTunes spotify video 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 Chorus: 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 her She tied you to a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Chorus Maybe there's a god above As for me, all I've ever learned from love Is, how to shoot somebody who outdrew you But it's not a cry that you hear at night It's not some pilgrim who's seen the light It's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah Chorus Baby I've been here before I've known this room and I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you And I've seen your flag on the marble arch But love is not some kind of victory march It's a cold and it's a very lonely hallelujah Chorus There was a time you let me know What's really going on below But now you never even showit to me do you Now remember when I moved in you And the holy dove she was moving too And every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah Chorus I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I learned 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 Chorus Copyright © 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong | | |||||
 The second song on the album about Nico, this one showcases Cohen's gift for wry humour. With the magnificent soaring saxophone of Albert Casas. own iTunes spotify video I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me. But the room just filled up with mosquitos, they heard that my body was free. Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night and I put it in your little shoe. And then I confess that I tortured the dress that you wore for the world to look through. I showed my heart to the doctor: he said I just have to quit. Then he wrote himself a prescription, and your name was mentioned in it! Then he locked himself in a library shelf with the details of our honeymoon, and I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse and his practice is all in a ruin. I heard of a saint who had loved you, so I studied all night in his school. He taught that the duty of lovers is to tarnish the golden rule. And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure he drowned himself in the pool. His body is gone but back here on the lawn his spirit continues to drool. An Eskimo showed me a movie he'd recently taken of you: the poor man could hardly stop shivering, his lips and his fingers were blue. I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes and I guess he just never got warm. But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice, oh please let me come into the storm. Copyright © 1967 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Bird On The Wire | | |||||
 Just me, two guitars and a bit of bass. This track originally featured on my Who Knows Where The Time Goes? album. own iTunes spotify video Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Like a worm on a hook, like a knight from some old fashioned book I have saved all my ribbons for thee. If I, if I have been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by. If I, if I have been untrue I hope you know it was never to you. Like a baby, stillborn, like a beast with his horn I have torn everyone who reached out for me. But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong I will make it all up to thee. I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch, he said to me, 'You must not ask for so much.' And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried to me, 'Hey, why not ask for more?' Oh like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Copyright © 1969 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Anthem | | |||||
 This exquisite song opens to a gently undulating beat and soars to a dramatic orchestral climax. The revelation that imperfection provides illumination is profound. With Michel 'Coco' Correch on double-bass. own iTunes spotify video The birds they sang At the break of day Start again I heard them say Don't dwell on what Has passed away Or what is yet to be The wars they will Be fought again The holy dove Be caught again Bought and sold And bought again The dove is never free CHORUS Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in We asked for signs The signs were sent The birth betrayed The marriage spent The widowhood Of every government Signs for all to see Can't run no more With the lawless crowd While the killers in high places Say their prayers out loud But they've summoned up A thundercloud And they're going to hear from me CHORUS You can add up the parts But you won't have the sum You can strike up the march There is no drum Every heart To love will come But like a refugee CHORUS Copyright © 1992 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| The Window | | |||||
 There are so many great lines in this, one of Cohen's most religious songs. So let us 'bless the continuous stutter of the word being made into flesh'. The arrangement starts very soft and gradually builds in intensity. own iTunes spotify video 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 anoint 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 Copyright © 1979 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
| Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye | | |||||
 The album closes with this early tune of Leonard's, which becomes somehow elegaic. own iTunes spotify video I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but now it's come to distances and both of us must try, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time, walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me, it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. Copyright © 1967 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company Return | ||||||
[Michel's] takes on Leonard's songs are impressive and the discussions ... in the videos are intriguing - Allan Showalter, founder of CohenCentric.com
Leonard Cohen has been a companion since I was a student. I have always loved his sardonic humour, his deft poetry, his wry melancholy and his way with melody, and I've played his songs all my life.
So when someone suggested that I dedicate an album to his music, I didn't hesitate. It took me a LOT longer than I had imagined, because I wanted it to be as perfect as I could make it.
The arrangements are my own; Cohen's genius is his.