The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen: Enhanced Edition

a curious one. He begs his lover to leave him, praises the single life, and rather ungallantly asks “do you need to hold a leash to be a lady?”. When he asks “do you need his labour for your baby?” – and an overwhelming majority of mothers surely do want some assistance from the father of their baby during its infancy – one suspects that Cohen has lost his usually acute touch in discussing male-female relationships. A live version was included on Field Commander Cohen – Tour Of 1979 (2001).

Winter Lady

Trav’ling lady, stay awhile

until the night is over.

I’m just a station on your way,

I know I’m not your lover.

Well I lived with a child of snow

when I was a soldier,

and I fought every man for her

until the nights grew colder.

She used to wear her hair like you

except when she was sleeping,

and then she’d weave it on a loom

of smoke and gold and breathing.

And why are you so quiet now

standing there in the doorway?

You chose your journey long before

you came upon this highway.

Trav’ling lady stay awhile

until the night is over.

I’m just a station on your way,

I know I’m not your lover.

Included on Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967), this song, although addressed to one woman (the “trav’ling lady”) is clearly about another who really is his lover and who occupies his thoughts even when he is away from her. There are autobiographical echoes of Cohen’s then fading relationship with Marianne Ihlen, and his sense of male-female relationships as a battleground and his own war-weariness are eloquently and poignantly expressed.

You Have Loved Enough

I said I’d be your lover.

You laughed at what I said.

I lost my job forever.

I was counted with the dead.

I swept the marble chambers,

But you sent me down below.

You kept me from believing

Until you let me know:

That I am not the one who loves –

It’s love that seizes me.

When hatred with his package comes,

You forbid delivery.

And when the hunger for your touch

Rises from the hunger,

You whisper, “You have loved enough,

Now let me be the Lover.”

I swept the marble chambers,

But you sent me down below.

You kept me from believing

Until you let me know:

That I am not the one who loves –

It’s love that chooses me.

When hatred with his package comes,

You forbid delivery.

And when the hunger for your touch

Rises from the hunger …

This song from Ten New Songs (2001), co-written by Sharon Robinson, seems a simple love song, with an elegant twist on Cohen’s sense of victimhood – “it’s love that seizes me”. But we know enough of Cohen to suspect apparent simplicity. Given that at the time of writing this song Cohen was living in Roshi’s monastery in California, and taking into account that the beloved to whom he addresses the song forbids the delivery of hatred, we can read the song as the portrayal of a spiritual journey and an expression of Cohen’s Buddhist beliefs.

You Know Who I Am

I cannot follow you, my love,

you cannot follow me.

I am the distance you put between

all of the moments that we will be.

You know who I am,

you’ve stared at the sun,

well I am the one who loves

changing from nothing to one.

Sometimes I need you naked,

sometimes I need you wild,

I need you to carry my children in

and I need you to kill a child.

You know who I am...

If you should ever track me down

I will surrender there

and I will leave with you one broken man

whom I will teach you to repair.

You know who I am...

I cannot follow you, my love,

you cannot follow me.

I am the distance you put between

all of the moments that we will be.

You know who I am...

Included on Songs From a Room (1967), and also on Live Songs (1973), this song fails to avoid the danger inherent in using the “I” voice – the danger of becoming ego-bound and failing to generalise an individual experience so as to make it relevant and interesting to others. His need for his lover “to kill a child” is selfish if it refers to abortion, and frankly obscene if it doesn’t. Perhaps appropriately for his first album, it is an immature song.

If you enjoyed The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen, why not try some of our other great titles.

Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen has probably had millions of words written about him during his long career. Few of them can have conjured such a riveting picture of the dark, droll and mystical poet/singer-songwriter as his own thoughtful responses in the course half a century of interviews. Here, in his own words taken from countless interviews between 1966 and 2012, is Leonard Cohen On Leonard Cohen.

With a foreword by Suzanne Vega, insights from friends and fans as well as eight pages of photos, this definitive anthology presents Cohen talking candidly about his classic songs, his ill-fated collaboration with producer Phil Spector, his affairs, his years in a Zen monastery and his long battle with depression. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also reveals Leonard Cohen to be as compelling a conversationalist as he is a writer.

‘... Burger’s discerning editorial hand selects those conversations with Cohen that offer insights into his music. For longtime fans as well as newcomers to Cohen’s work.’ - Publishers Weekly

Buy the Ebook Here

The Little Black Songbook: Leonard Cohen

A pocket-sized collection of over seventy Leonard Cohen hits, in chord songbook format, with complete lyrics and Guitar chords. Perfect for strumming a quick song or for reference during a gig!

Songs include: Ain't No Cure for Love * Bird on the Wire * Closing Time * Death of a Ladies' Man * First We Take Manhattan * Hallelujah * Lady Midnight * Lover Lover Lover * So Long Marianne * Winter Lady * and many more.

Buy the Ebook Here

Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks is a musical visionary, a poet and an enduring style icon with a truly phenomenal life story. This celebratory book traces Stevie’s life from her Arizona childhood, through the hedonistic years that followed and