You never really have to tell me what
you really think of me - alright.
Let’s say I’m doing fine,
but do I have to dance all night?
Do I have to dance all night? ...
I learned this step a while ago.
I had to practice it while everybody slept.
I waited half my life for you, you know,
I didn’t even think that you’d accept.
And here you are before me in the flesh
saying “Yes, yes, yes!”
But do I have to dance all night? ...
I learned this step a while ago ...
But do I have to dance all night? ...
Cohen recorded this song live in Paris in 1976. It was released as a single sold only in Europe and has not been included on any of his albums.
Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On
I was born in a beauty salon
My father was a dresser of hair
My mother was a girl you could call on
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
When you called she was always there
Ah but don’t go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can’t shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
I’ve looked behind all of the faces
That smile you down to you knees
And the lips that say, Come on, taste us
And when you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
When you try to they make you say Please
Ah but don’t go home with your hard-on ...
Here come’s your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she’ll always be there
Once you have her she’ll always be there
Once you have her she’ll always be there
Once you have her she’ll always be there
Once you have her she’ll always be there
Ah but don’t go home with your hard-on ...
So I work in that same beauty salon
I’m chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
Yes I follow my father’s trade
Ah but don’t go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can’t shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
You can’t melt it down in the rain
This catalogue of wise and useful advice was included on Death Of A Ladies’ Man (1977).
Dress Rehearsal Rag
Four o’clock in the afternoon
and I didn’t feel like very much.
I said to myself, “Where are you golden boy,
where is your famous golden touch?”
I thought you knew where
all of the elephants lie down,
I thought you were the crown prince
of all the wheels in Ivory Town.
Just take a look at your body now,
there’s nothing much to save
and a bitter voice in the mirror cries,
“Hey, Prince, you need a shave.”
Now if you can manage to get
your trembling fingers to behave,
why don’t you try unwrapping
a stainless steel razor blade?
That’s right, it’s come to this,
yes it’s come to this,
and wasn’t it a long way down,
wasn’t it a strange way down?
There’s no hot water
and the cold is running thin.
Well, what do you expect from
the kind of places you’ve been living in?
Don’t drink from that cup,
it’s all caked and cracked along the rim.
That’s not the electric light, my friend,
that is your vision growing dim.
Cover up your face with soap, there,
now you’re Santa Claus.
And you’ve got a gift for anyone
who will give you his applause.
I thought you were a racing man,
ah, but you couldn’t take the pace.
That’s a funeral in the mirror
and it’s stopping at your face.
That’s right, it’s come to this,
yes it’s come to this,
and wasn’t it a long way down,
ah wasn’t it a strange way down?
Once there was a path
and a girl with chestnut hair,
and you passed the summers
picking all of the berries that grew there;
there were times she was a woman,
oh, there were times she was just a child,
and you held her in the shadows
where the raspberries grow wild.
And you climbed the twilight mountains
and you sang about the view,
and everywhere that you wandered
love seemed to go along with you.
That’s a hard one to remember,
yes it makes you clench your fist.
And then the veins stand out like highways,
all along your wrist.
And yes it’s come to this,
it’s come to this,
and wasn’t it a long way down,
wasn’t it a strange way down?
You can still find a job,
go out and talk to a friend.
On the back of every magazine
there are those coupons you can send.
Why don’t you join the Rosicrucians,
they can give you back your hope,
you can find your love with diagrams
on a plain brown envelope.
But you’ve used up all your coupons
except the one that seems
to be written on your wrist
along with several thousand dreams.
Now Santa Claus comes forward,
that’s a razor in his mit;
and he puts on his dark glasses
and he shows you where to hit;
and then the cameras pan,
the stand in stunt man,
dress rehearsal rag,
it’s just the dress rehearsal rag,
you know this dress rehearsal rag,
it’s just a dress rehearsal rag.
One of Cohen’s earliest songs, it was covered by Judy Collins in 1966 and performed by Cohen himself on BBC TV in 1968. On that occasion he introduced the song as one “that I have banned for myself – I sing it only on extremely joyous occasions when I know the landscape can support the despair that I’m about to project into it”. He recorded the song for Songs Of Love And Hate (1971) but is not known to have sung it since.
Everybody
