I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

General discussion about Leonard Cohen's songs and albums
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Joney
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I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Joney »

I bought 'Death of a Ladies Man' quite a while ago and on first listening to it I wasn't really taken with it. Today I decided to give it another spin.

I am very surprised by the lyrics to 'I left a woman waiting'

"She said, I see your eyes are dead
What happened to you, lover?..."

"And since she spoke the truth to me
I tried to answer truthfully
Whatever happened to my eyes
Happened to your beauty.."

"We took ourselves to someone's bed
And there we fell together
Quick as dogs and truly dead were we
And free as running water.."

Wow, talk about harsh. Ok so she was a bit harsh to say his eyes were "dead" but maybe she was concerned. Also is there a sequencing problem here, would she really sleep with him after he had given her his answer? I don't think it is a great chat up line really "you look like hell", "yeah well you look ugly; hey let's go to bed." Wouldn't work for me as a come on anyway.

Just my thoughts really, I wonder what others think?
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lizzytysh
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by lizzytysh »

:lol: Sorry, not thinking too much at the moment. Laughing too much to give it much thought. I'll join you in the Won't Work for Me line, though.


~ Lizzy
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KjeXXXer
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by KjeXXXer »

Joney wrote: I don't think it is a great chat up line really "you look like hell", "yeah well you look ugly; hey let's go to bed." Wouldn't work for me as a come on anyway.

In keeping with Norse traditions, I just throw 'em over my shoulder and run for the nearest longboat.

Death Of A Ladies Man, which I got about seven or eight weeks ago, never really got to me either. It sounds too extravagant yet anaemic for my taste.

Axel
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lizzytysh
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by lizzytysh »

Well, that's novel, Axel :lol: . Is the birth rate high or low in your fair land?


~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
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Joney
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Joney »

In keeping with Norse traditions, I just throw 'em over my shoulder and run for the nearest longboat.
I've been to Norway (Stavanger, great place) and I didn't see any longboats but I saw some tall ships!

There's something very 'John Lennony' about that album, it just doesn't sound like a Leonard Cohen album. The more I think about it no wonder it was the "death of a ladies man" if he was being so honest. One thing I really like about Mr Cohen is his honesty but in this instance then "ouch".
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Paula
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Paula »

I love those lines

"Whatever happened to my eyes
Happened to your beauty.."

If you don't want the truth don't ask.
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by KjeXXXer »

lizzytysh wrote:Well, that's novel, Axel :lol: . Is the birth rate high or low in your fair land?


~ Lizzy
Hmmm.. I don't quite know, I never stick around long enough.

I guess it's avarage, perhaps declining. :? :?:
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lizzytysh
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by lizzytysh »

Okay, hit-and-run Axel.

Actually, I like the cleverness of construction in those two lines, Paula.


~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
KjeXXXer
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by KjeXXXer »

lizzytysh wrote:Okay, hit-and-run Axel.


~ Lizzy
That's familiar, somehow.. Have we employed this before?
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blonde madonna
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by blonde madonna »

Joney, this album rewards further listening so don’t give up on it (and Axel, you’re just too too young, ;-) but I still have hope for you).

I agree with Paula, I love its honesty.

The song is close to a poem in ‘The Energy of Slaves’, except that the last verse of the song is replaced by this verse in the poem

O go to sleep my faithful wife
I told her rather cruelly
Whatever happened to my eyes
Happened to your beauty

I think ‘the woman waiting’ is no casual lover but someone the singer loves/loved intensely, with all the messy baggage that comes with that.
We are often the cruelest to those we love the most.

DOALM forever
BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

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Teratogen
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Teratogen »

Well most people here know that I'm an avid fan of DOALM. After all, it was the first full album of Cohen's I'd heard. And I was about 17 or 18. When most people say they can't stand it I offer nothing put praise. In fact, when I first started learning how to play guitar I wanted to write my own songs and record them, but I also wanted to do songs that I already knew. All I had was an acoustic guitar, so I picked a Cohen song I felt comfortable playing easily with just rhythm and got one of those cheepie computer mics and sat there playing "I Left a Woman Waiting." Since then it has been accidentally deleted from the old family computer by my sister. But now I have better utilities and such and haven't re-recorded it because I prefer something with a more lush arrangement I suppose. That's why I did "Democracy." But nevertheless, "I Left a Woman Waiting" is always a fun song to listen to. I chuckle at it most of the time, but it's even better when played right after "Memories" as the album has it. Such contrast.
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blonde madonna
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by blonde madonna »

Teratogen wrote:but it's even better when played right after "Memories" as the album has it. Such contrast.
It's uncanny T, some kind of weird time slip thing, but I was the same age and this was my first album. It was vinyl (I'm guessing yours probably wasn't) and the only way you could play it was every song, in order, and that's the way I will always remember it.

To me it's Cohen's 'relationship album', covers everything from romantic love and youthful courtship to jealousy, entrapment, betrayal, the end of civility and divorce.

And I also love the album cover, it opens out double so that in one picture Leonard is sitting between two beautiful women and in the next (the back of the cover) the women are still there but he has been extinguished.

Some albums must be appreciated in their entirety.

The way it's got to be, lover
The way it's got to be.


BM, waving her DOALM flag again (OK, I'll shut up now)
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
Steven
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Steven »

Hi Joney,

It would work as a come on, more often, than lets say words of fawning
or an expression of desperation or weakness on the part of the male.
Vanity, unaccompanied by confidence, isn't going to make a male
attractive to many females. The honesty here is not accompanied
by any apparent fear and could very well be taken by the female as
confidence -- which, for many, is an aphrodesiac.
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Joney
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by Joney »

The more I think about this the more I think that the song shouldn't be taken literally. This is my take, right or wrong. He meets an old girlfriend / lover who suggests he's lost some of his sparkle. He looks at her and thinks that time/disappointment/life/drugs maybe and whatever else has taken its toll on her and she doesn't look as hot as she used to. Life has taken its toll on both of them. I think these thoughts are not voiced in the extreme except in the song. I find it a fascinating song and honest but I really can't imagine it being literal. I don't think that bluntness about a womans dimishing beauty would ever be a turn on for any woman but maybe it is for some, who knows. However he may have been hurt at her observations about him too.

Great song. I'm working on the rest of the album but this one has given me the most food for thought so far.
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Re: I left a woman waiting - Death of a Ladies Man

Post by John Etherington »

I love this song...it's my favourite on "Death of a Ladies Man". This is a song where the music and the sound of Leonard's voice perhaps say more than the words (I like to think that Leonard approved the recording of this). Although I haven't made the association before, it reminds me of my last encounter with a girlfriend in 1984. Actually, we did meet one more time...I took her to see Leonard at the first of his two Hammersmith Odeon concerts in 1985.

All good things, John E
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