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Spoken Word Version of Thousand Kisses

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:37 pm
by Medusa0blongata
Somewhere I heard a spoken word version of Thousand Kisses Deep. Does anyone know what album it's on? I haven't been able to find it.

TIA

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:38 pm
by Medusa0blongata
Or does someone have an MP3 they can email to medusaoblongata@gmail.com ?

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:31 pm
by tomsakic
He read it in one of Book of Longing interviews in Spring 2006, I think that was NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, but am not sure.

Also, LC recited early version in KCRW 1998 interview, that version was on various bootleg compilations.

Re: Spoken Word Version of Thousand Kisses

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:23 pm
by Geoffrey
Medusa0blongata wrote:
>Somewhere I heard a spoken word version of Thousand Kisses Deep. Does anyone know what album it's on? I haven't been able to find it.


I have a Leonard Cohen song called 'A Thousand Kisses Deep in Tacoma' - or at least that's what the CD single cover says. Leonard slowly reads his lyrics to the backing of 'Tacoma Trailer'. It's very well made, but I don't know where it originated. It just came in the post to me one day from abroad somewhere, and I have thrown the brown envelope away ages ago. The words are different from the officially released sung version - completely different. But it's Leonard's voice all right.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:07 am
by Manna
He has written a portion that he says is meant to be sung, and another portion meant to be recited. (So quoth the Field Commander to Terry Gross.)

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:24 am
by lazariuk
Manna wrote:He has written a portion that he says is meant to be sung, and another portion meant to be recited. (So quoth the Field Commander to Terry Gross.)
Hi Manna

There seem to be many verses that have been in the song. The following is one version.
A Thousand Kisses Deep

1. You came to me this morning
And you handled me like meat.
You´d have to live alone to know
How good that feels, how sweet.
My mirror twin, my next of kin,
I´d know you in my sleep.
And who but you would take me in
A thousand kisses deep?

2. I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat.
I´m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet,
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second-hand physique -
With all he is, and all he was
A thousand kisses deep.

3. All soaked in sex, and pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
We made it to the forward deck
I blessed our remnant fleet -
And then consented to be wrecked
A thousand kisses deep.

4. I know you had to lie to me,
I know you had to cheat.
But the Means no longer guarantee
The Virtue in Deceit.
That truth is bent, that beauty spent,
That style is obsolete -
Ever since the Holy Spirit went
A thousand kisses deep.

5. (So what about this Inner Light
That´s boundless and unique?
I´m slouching through another night
A thousand kisses deep.)

6. I´m turning tricks; I´m getting fixed,
I´m back on Boogie Street.
I tried to quit the business -
Hey, I´m lazy and I´m weak.
But sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go
A thousand kisses deep.

7. (And fragrant is the thought of you,
The file on you complete -
Except what we forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep.)

8. The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it´s done -
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it´s real
A thousand kisses deep.

9. (I jammed with Diz and Dante -
I did not have their sweep -
But once or twice, they let me play
A thousand kisses deep.)

10. And I´m still working with the wine,
Still dancing cheek to cheek.
The band is playing "Auld Lang Syne" -
The heart will not retreat.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep -
You ditch it all to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep.

11. And now you are the Angel Death
And now the Paraclete;
And now you are the Savior's Breath
And now the Belsen heap.
No turning from the threat of love,
No transcendental leap -
As witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep.
Because he has written so many verses for the song it just seems to lend itself to that kind of play and maybe is something that anyone can join in and many have. One of my favorite is the following once posted by YesBut
You're getting old or so you're told
By all the things you keep
While bucking colt are licking salt
Dust gathers at your feet.
You bought and sold your tired soul
The temple steps were steep
To find shallow waters below
A thousand kisses deep.

I picture you backdrop of blue
Some ouzo, speaking greek
While thoughts of youth slowly into
The back of your mind creep.
All you've been through and still the moon
Watches over your sleep,
Eyes brim with dew stare past the view
A thousand kisses deep.

So Prince, see how we heathen howl!
Poor moonlovers but weep,
Such pathos wards with sunken hearts
A thousand kisses deep.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:48 am
by lizzytysh
I picture you backdrop of blue
Some ouzo, speaking greek
While thoughts of youth slowly into
The back of your mind creep.
All you've been through and still the moon
Watches over your sleep,
Eyes brim with dew stare past the view
A thousand kisses deep.
Sublime... have never seen any of these three. After this one, come the other two.

Thanks, Jack.


~ Lizzy

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:57 am
by lazariuk
lizzytysh wrote:
I picture you backdrop of blue
Some ouzo, speaking greek
While thoughts of youth slowly into
The back of your mind creep.
All you've been through and still the moon
Watches over your sleep,
Eyes brim with dew stare past the view
A thousand kisses deep.
Sublime... have never seen any of these three. After this one, come the other two.
I hope I did make it clear that the last three verses were not written by Leonard but rather someone just playing with the verses. Someone who posted them to alt.music.leonard-cohen.
She did so after my suggesting that it might be a fun song to have around the campfire where everyone took turns with their own verses. I am old enough to remember when that kind of fun was not so uncommon.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:05 am
by lizzytysh
Yes, well, upon [slower] rereading, you did make it very clear. Upon initial [quick] reading, however, I took YesBut to be a site where someone had located some missing verses... who knows how and where people do these things, but they somehow do... so many seem to have been discarded by Leonard and discovered by others.

If you think of it, please pass on to her that someone on the Forum's favourites are #2, #1, and #3, in that order. I love "Dust gathers at your feet / You bought and sold your tired soul / The temple steps were steep" lines in #1. I love #2 because I'm thinking of Hydra and imagining him imagining.

Thanks for clarifying.


~ Lizzy

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:20 am
by tomsakic
In the Book of Longing itself, Leonard didvided the song in part "1", which he recited in Terry Gross' interview, and part "2", the song lyrics from TNS.

The funny thing is that the part for recitation, as he defined it to Terry Gross, was actually the first version of the song (at least some verses), and it can be heard in Spring 96 documentary, accompanied by totally different music than the TNS version.


So, there was first version of the song, filmed in 1996, which uses mixed verses from the later TNS version and from the 1998 poem version.

Then there's poem - mere a draft, wthout composition (verses under numbers), signed September 21, 1998 and published at http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/kisses.html - posted here by Jack. Some of its verses were recited in KCRW interview in 1998.

Then in 2001 there was TNS version with new music (with Sharon Robinson), and verses organised around one theme. (I think that early version of song and the part 1 of the poem in Book of Longing has slightly different mood and theme than TNS song version.)

Then in 2004 Sharon was asked about the remaining verses and she answered there's a song in progress with those verses.

Then there were 2005 galleys of Book of Longing for foreign publishers. I got its copy from two sources. There was A Thousand Kisses Deep, from TNS, and accompaning poem - titled Still Into That, signed (Dec 20, 2001) - which actualy was composed of left-out verses of 1998 poem, structured, and my wild guess was this is the song Sharon mentioned - I expect it on the next album.

But then, when BoL came out in 2006, there was (no "A") Thousand Kisses Deep, with two section. Under 2 was TNS song. Under 1 was Still Into That, but - again - with changed lyrics. Unfortunately I think Still Into That was better, obviously meant for singing (but you can't do it to TNS song tune). The new changes actually were return to some of 1998 lines.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:11 pm
by Manna
Well, Tom, that was very thorough, so 10-Q. I wasn't aware of all the revision this one has gone thru. Ah, but that's our guy.

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:22 am
by Medusa0blongata
Thank you all for the information. And thanks to those who emailed songs. The version I was looking for, which I did receive, was spoken word, with no music background at all, and the same words as the Tacoma Trailer version. I had no idea there were that many versions out there. I love Leonard!

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:23 pm
by lazariuk
What may be a very early version of this song is as follows:
way down, way way down
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way down deep
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

it came to me this morning
I was walking down the street
was like my soul could taste you
and God, you tasted sweet
finally I can breathe again
finally I can speak
I've got you in the glory place
I've got you way down deep

I've got you way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you're got me way down, way way down,
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

it's a funny feeling
but I cannot say I mind
I know that I'm dealing with
a love that's far from blind
I see every single angle
I look before I leap
how else can I put it
when you're got me way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you've got me way down, way way down,
way way down deep
you've got me way down, way down deep
I wander with you in my sleep
I'm way down, way way down,
way way down deep

don't matter what we gave away
was nothing we could keep
don't matter what we gave away
you know that talk is cheap
forgive me if I hate you
you're a liar and a thief
but I've got you in the glory place
I got you way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down ...

don't matter if the road is long
don't matter if it's steep
don't matter if the moon goes out
and darkness is complete
don't matter if we lose our way
I know we;re gonna meet
I've got you in the glory place
I've got you way down deep

you've got me way down, way way down ..
It is attributed to both Leonard and Jennifer Warnes
I personally like that in the final version that he doesn't use the word "down"

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:34 pm
by lizzytysh
I'm wondering where your "may be" comes from... if it were a gospel song by someone else, I could understand that Leonard's might be an adaptation... however, with its being Leonard and Jennifer, it seems very clear.

As I read it [without glancing first to the bottom to see to whom it was accredited], I thought how the rhythm sure felt like Leonard's "A Thousand Kisses Deep" and how the words and concepts did, too. The use of "down" might have been considered more 'pedestrian' and well, down, as well... it connotes something different.

Were you just being as-a-matter-of-course cautious in your comment? Where did you find this? The only thing I'm curious about has to do with not recalling Jennifer's being credited as a co-writer of it. Was she?


~ Lizzy

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:54 pm
by lazariuk
I found it at All The Lyrics .com
If one can consider that one song led to the other then you might conclude that Leonard might have found that there was much that was dross about the first song.
Would dross be the right word to use?