(1st of maybe 6 or so)
The Rose of Sharon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the
Diamonds in the Lines site,
(specifically here:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pilgraeme/the_traitor.htm ,)
there is this "Early version sung 4 years before its official release" -
(sorry about the formatting. it's the best i could do.)
The Traitor - early version____________________________ The Traitor - on Recent Songs
The Swan it floated on the English river___Now the Swan it floated on the English river
The Rose of Sharon opened like a mess___Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
A suntanned woman yawned through the summer___A sun tanned woman yawned me through
______________________________________________________________the summer
Unfolding like a fan to my request___and the judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother, Mother I must leave you___I told my mother "Mother I must leave you
Preserve my room but do not shed a tear___preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumors of a shabby ending reach you___Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
It was half my fault and half the atmosphere___it was half my fault and half the atmosphere"
Well I broke the glass an arm above that hammer___But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
And the fire touched me with a magnet flame___and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
At last she said I was her finest lover___She said at last I was her finest lover
And if she withered, I would be to blame___and if she withered I would be to blame
She held me tight just like a soldier's widow___The judges said you missed it by a fraction
But soon I heard reports of the attack___rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Yes and past her hair and through the steamy window___Ah the dreamers ride against the men
______________________________________________________________of action
I saw the men of action falling back.___Oh see the men of action falling back
But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment___But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still___I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity it stung me like a hornet___My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralized my will___The poison sank and it paralysed my will
I could not move to warn the younger soldiers___I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above___that they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona___So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
I'm listed with the enemies of love___I'm listed with the enemies of love
And long ago she said, I must be leaving___And long ago she said "I must be leaving,
But keep my body here to lie upon___Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
Yes and move it up and down and when It's sleeping___You can move it up and down and when
______________________________________________________________I'm sleeping
You can wire up the rose and wind the Swan___Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan"
So daily I renew my idle duty___So daily I renew my idle duty
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty___I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
And people call me Traitor to my face.___and people call me traitor to my face
So: Why did Cohen replace
"the Rose of Sharon"
with
"the Rose of High Romance"?
"The Rose of Sharon" has many associations.
(Obviously - since it's from the Song of Solomon.)
Whereas, according to Google, "the Rose of High Romance"
has just this one association, -Cohen's song, "The Traitor".
I believe that "The Rose of Sharon" occurred to Cohen
simply as a catch-phrase, which he used as temporary filler.
So: the "Song of Solomon" isn't the key to the deep meaning
of "The Traitor". So the explicit reference to it was gratuitous
and misleading. So that's why he dropped it.
Gratuitous references are the hallmark of "lousy little poets",
who superstitiously believe they acquire the power of the
shoulders they're standing on by gnawing on them and regurgitating
the semi-digested bits of immortal flesh and bone.
On the other hand, just as every American poet since
Whitman has had to deal with the inspiration of
Leaves of Grass, so too, ever since about 965B.C.,
every writer of erotic love songs has had to deal
with the inspiration of "The Song of Solomon".
Therefore Cohen, being the gentleman that he is,
still felt obliged to pay it homage. Which he did,
first of all, by removing that grossly misleading explicit
reference "Rose of Sharon", and replacing it
with the non-referencing "Rose of High Romance".
But then also by replacing his weakest line:
"the fire touched me with a magnet flame",
with a much stronger line (and subtler reference to The Song of Solomon)
- "the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever",
(
It refers to the line: "for I am sick of love",
which the "Rose of Sharon" herself sings
in the "Song of Solomon" (2:5.)
A very resonant line. It turns up, perhaps, in Blake's
"O Rose thou art sick". And perhaps also in Dylan's
"I'm sick of love" (in "Love Sick", in "Time out of Mind"
--although not the line as much as the general tone
of Dylan's song makes this plausible)
(Blake's "crimson joy" may be compared to Cohen's "scarlet fever",
in that, whatever else these means, they mean that these poets
were not comfortable with cliches like "red rose". They feel a need
to "add value" to them, in sometimes bizarre ways.
Dylan, of course, is the master of cliches. He uses them willy-nilly,
completely unselfconsciously, and, consequently, much more
seamlessly. (My own opinion is that, if you've ever been interested
in etymologies, then you know that all words are already cliches
anyway. There's no way around it. Official
clichés are simply
bigger cliches. ))
Whenever these sick roses turn up they remind me
that our gametes are haploid cells, and that they
therefore, after awhile, will be attacked by our own
immune systems as if they were foreign bodies.
We then become - quite literally -
sick
of the
absence of love. ("sick of love" in short).
The symptoms being very similar to the flu.
)
The influence of "The Song of Solomon" on "The Traitor"
can not be understated. The "Song of Solomon" is not
the key to the deep meaning of "The Traitor". It's influence
on "The Traitor" is a subtle low-level-background-radiation.
Just inspiration. Nothing more.
But I quote Chapter 2 of The Song of Solomon anyway.
Maybe somebody else can see a more substantial connection.
(There are 7 other chapters in the Song of Solomon.
They should all be read to see how impossible it is
for any sensual love song not to be
inspired by it - )
The Song of Solomon, chapter 2:
1
I am the rose of Sharon,
and the lily of the valleys.
2
As the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters.
3
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4
He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
5
Stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples:
for I am sick of love.
6
His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand doth embrace me.
7
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
that ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
till he please.
8
The voice of my beloved! behold,
he cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills.
9
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows,
shewing himself through the lattice.
10
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
14
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret places of the stairs,
let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice;
for sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely.
15
Take us the foxes, the little foxes,
that spoil the vines:
for our vines have tender grapes.
16
My beloved is mine, and I am his:
he feedeth among the lilies.
17
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart
upon the mountains of Bether.
About the other differences between that early version
of "The Traitor", and the album version. They are interesting
in themselves. And they are certainly interesting to anyone
interested in the craft or cult of song-writing. And they may
help somebody with their understanding the album version.
Which was why I quoted them side-by-side. But I don't myself
go off in that direction. I tried to, but it was too frustrating.