5 favorite "lines"

[mara43]

This has probably been done a thousand times on this forum, but waiting for the bus this morning I was thinking about what my 5 favorite lines would be from cohen songs....heres a stab at it:

"Bless the continuous stutter - of the word being made into flesh"

"and when He knew for certain only drowning men could see Him, He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them"

"theres a blaze of light in every word- it doesnt matter which you heard - the holy or the broken hallelujah"

"Nancy wore green stockings - and she slept with everyone"

"like a blessing come from heaven - for something like a second - I was healed and my heart was at ease..."

"fixing herself, she said well, never mind - we are ugly but we have the music"

(oh I snuck in 6!)

[TeaOrange]

There are a couple of LC's lines that I find I sing or say to myself constantly:

We are ugly but we have the music. - This is possibly the first line of LC's that really hit me like a truck. It was an amazing feeling, to hear Chelsea Hotel for the first time and hear that line.

The next is obvious and I wish I could comment on something hidden further in a song, but:

I'm just waiting for the miracle to come. - I think we can all relate to this feeling.

[ewelahoracy]

We are ugly but we have the music.

Reading the title of this topis at once I thought about this fragment! It is my favourite line, my practical epigraph.

And what apart from that?... Perhaps these lines, from "Anthem" :

"Start again" (just simly, this helps me in hard times in my life) or
"Ring the bells that still can ring" - the same.

[godnose]

"and when He knew for certain only drowning men could see Him, He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them"

"there's a blaze of light in every word- it doesn't matter which you heard - the holy or the broken hallelujah"

Totally with you on these 2. Beautiful. The way he sings "BLAZE OF LIGHT" on the studio version bowls me over. It's wonderfully flat, and so THICK. Absolutely perfectly sung. I cannot get over that line.

I'm also a big fan of:

"Now my heart's like a blister from doing what I do/ if the moon has a sister, it's got to be you" - So lovely. Melting in those words. Beautifully put, with concealed contempt.

"You'll see a woman hanging upside down/ her features covered by her fallen gown" - just sheer violence put so well. The imagery is just so evocative.

"Ah you hate to watch another tired man lay down his hand like he was giving up the holy game of poker / and while he talks his dreams to sleep, you notice there's a highway that's curling up like smoke above his shoulder" - So wonderful. The tiredness. The Smoke. Just elegance.

[Leonarddicted]

Two lines I like for their brutal honesty:

When it all comes down to dust/I will kill you if I must/I will help you if I can
When it all comes down to dust/I will help you if I must/I will kill you if I can

Quick as dogs and truly dead were we - and free as running water, free as running water, free as running water, free as you and me. The way it's got to be, the way it's got to be ... lover!

And I like these two because of, well, because of HK (or my successless love for him)

And I don't believe that time is gonna heal this wound I'm speaking of: There ain't no cure, there ain't no cure, there ain't no cure for love

And quiet is the thought of you
the file on you complete
Except what we forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep


and this one for the beast and the bone!!!

Do you really need his labor for your baby
do you really need his beast for the bone


It's difficult to chosse just five, by the way; just thought of creating another account just to post more favourite five lines

[zaida]

Hey everyone I started this thread (under my Mara name, I seem to have 2 accounts!)...just wanted to thank you for the responses - some of your replies have actually led me to previously undiscovered Leonard Cohen songs!

[zaida]

oh and discovered "new favourite line" "It was half my fault and half the atmosphere" - I just love that! (from the Traitor)...

[david birkett]

And you treated my woman To a flake of your life

is sublime and poignant.

[Tamaraz]

yea, I agree.....that is a poignant line from famous blue raincoat....thats a song I simply can never get tired of...

[Tchocolatl]

I'm not sure it is exactly five, I do not excell in mathematics.


You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little jew
who wrote the Bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder

Well, I try again.

But love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
it's over, it ain't going
any further

Five lines. Hurray for me!

I need to check if this is coincidental with his interest to explore zen further.

As one can not love everybody but can develop skills of compassion and respect for all and any beings.

Buddhists even push the notion of "beings" to inanimate objects.

As the poet (Charles Beaudelaire) put it (beware : not a translation nor an adaptation - just the meaning): Now, inanimate things, do you have a soul? That clings to our soul and makes it vibrate?

I must run now (or I'll be late)!!!

[lightasabreeze]

Definitely my favourite TWO lines

Who is it climbs to your picture
With a garland of freshly cut tears.

[AlexandraLaughing]

This would have to be the 5 favourites off the top of my head, at this instant, rather than a considered response...

'My father said I'm chosen, my mother said I'm not'.

'It's spring and it's summer and it's winter forever'

'Did you really love the city, or did you just pretend?'

'Try me again when angels are panting and scratching at the door to come in'

And one that especially describes LC:

'The baffled king composing Hallelujah'

(He really is the king of not letting your bewilderment stop you being brilliant)