The Bells

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Jeffs98119
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The Bells

Post by Jeffs98119 »

I've been searching here and the rest of the web without luck for the lyrics to "The Bells," the early version of "Take This Longing" recorded by Buffy Sainte-Marie in 1971. Does anybody happen to have them? Thanks, Jeff
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B4real
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Re: The Bells

Post by B4real »

Hi Jeff,

The best I can do for you is tell you that this song was performed as "The Bells" by Leonard, live one time only on 6th April 1967 at Buffalo, NY, USA. There is no known recording of this event. I can't find any lyrics either. :(
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
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Geoffrey
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Re: The Bells

Post by Geoffrey »

hello you. i did listen to her singing it on youtube but she sings so unclearly you can't catch all the words. it's as if she's gargling. self-taught was she? i suppose that's why you are asking for them - what? pity record companies don't make singers take elocution lessons before giving them a contract, really. cos what's the point of having lyrics if they are sung so incoherently like that? unacceptable i say. what a waste of leonard's talent. a crime, in fact. he sat and wrote that text and when people listen to her singing it nobody can fathom what the hell she's going on about, or at least only understand half of it. i would never buy a record like that if i couldn't comprehend the lyrics. leonard always pronounces his words very clearly when he sings, he's got a nice accent, canadian. i know people laugh at the way canadians say 'house' and that - but that's never been a problem for me. if you do a cover version of a song, especially if it is one written by a man like leonard, you should at least have enough talent and gumption to treat it with respect and let everyone hear what he wrote.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUlwdbr3JA
Cate
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Re: The Bells

Post by Cate »

i know people laugh at the way canadians say 'house' and that - but that's never been a problem for me
House – h owww se ... there's a mouse in the house

hummm, I don’t know what you’re talking Aboot - sounds right to me.
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A.Sukitu
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Re: The Bells

Post by A.Sukitu »

Geoffrey - Buffy Sainte-Marie is very wonderful - have you heard/seen her singing: "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot"? Absolutely beautiful. (When I read Beautiful Losers, I saw her as Catherine Tekakwitha. Buffy is touring and singing - do go to see her. Her singing is pure and a soulful shade of blue.

Jeff - here's my attempt and writing down the words. Maybe others will copy edit my unsureties for you:

THE BELLS

I'm writing this to say goodbye
to what you never should reply
that of all the lords and demons that you leave
I stand entirely alone.
That is to say, your loving me
would be your only crime.

(CHORUS:)
And isn't it a pity
you can see your duty clearly
in the midst of some great city,
in the midst of all this love.

Many men have loved the bells
you fasten to the rein (?rain?),
and everyone who wanted you
found what she would always want again.
I'd have been the dust for you
and I'd have been the grass for you ...
[*** to be continued as my screen is jumping **]
"You let me sing, you lifted me up, you gave my soul a beam to travel on. ... You gave the injury a tongue to heal itself."
Leonard Cohen in Book of Mercy (1984) Ch. 19.
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A.Sukitu
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Re: The Bells

Post by A.Sukitu »

THE BELLS (cont'd)

but you tell me with your beauty
you can see your duty clearly
in the midst of New York City,
in the midst of all my love ...
Your body like a searchlight
in the prison (?prism?) of my need,
oh, I would share your loneliness
and I demand your greed ...
and everything depends upon
how near you sleep to me.
And isn't it a pity
you can see your duty clearly
in the midst of New York City,
in the midst of all our love.
I will be writing this
when you are so very young again,
that the forests that you burned away
and then sailed away
are truely, truely gone.
I will be writing
when starfish is your hair (?)
and jewels for your shoulders
fall through the walls of sand,
fall through the walls of sand.

[scuse not setting out better - I was dodging my jumping screen .... ah ...or maybe "there is a wee moose loose aboot the hoose?"
"You let me sing, you lifted me up, you gave my soul a beam to travel on. ... You gave the injury a tongue to heal itself."
Leonard Cohen in Book of Mercy (1984) Ch. 19.
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Geoffrey
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Re: The Bells

Post by Geoffrey »

A.Sukitu wrote:
>Geoffrey - Buffy Sainte-Marie is very wonderful - have you heard/seen her singing: "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot"? Absolutely beautiful. (When I read Beautiful Losers, I saw her as Catherine Tekakwitha. Buffy is touring and singing - do go to see her. Her singing is pure and a soulful shade of blue.

No, listening to her rendition of 'Soldier Blue', and now 'The Bells', my ears beg me refrain from venturing further into her repertoire. Not the type of music you want coming out of the speakers at a party. Sounds like somebody's trying to throttle it. The fact that we have here a request for her lyrics is itself evidence of the incoherency, is it not? Whoever told her she could sing should have their pants pulled down and be given a good belting until their asses throb. Leonard uses a lot of time to write nice songs, he puts his heart into it, Virgos do that, you know. They are obsessed with trivialities and details, and when they work on something they spend years on it, polishing and pruning and changing - until they think it's perfect. Virgos are also interested in the body, in medicines and stuff - but that is not what we are talking about. When a cordon bleu cook brings you a plateful of his best french cuisine you don't take your fork and mash it before eating, but that's what Buffy Sainte-Marie does with Leonard's song. She rips a page out from a volume of John Keats, dips it into gravy and gives it to people to read. The lady is no Maria Callas, let's not be dishonest now, she sounds like she's being strangled. Instead of a clear beautiful voice she's got a quivering high-pitched whine that would kill any party stone dead. But the unforgiveable charge against her is that people are being forced to ask what words Leonard gave her to sing.
John Etherington
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Re: The Bells

Post by John Etherington »

Totally correct about Virgos, Geoffrey...but Buffy (Pisces Sun, Venus in Aquarius) just does things differently. Okay, she's not Judy Collins, but she can sing great...listen to "Circle Game" and "I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again", for instance. Anyway, she gives a unique and spirited performance live, embracing tribal chants, dance, electronica, protest, love songs and much more.
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st theresa
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Re: The Bells

Post by st theresa »

I am a Buffy fan too--Don't forget her song writing--Up where we belong and Universal Soldier to name only two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYEsFQ_g ... re=related
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/l/leonard-cohe ... _1_tmb.Jpg
John Etherington
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Re: The Bells

Post by John Etherington »

...plus "Until It's Time For You To Go", which was covered by numerous artists, including Elvis Presley.
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Geoffrey
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Re: The Bells

Post by Geoffrey »

thank you for replying to me. i know some people like odd things that others with good taste and common sense do not like - i accept and respect that we are free to be individuals. this lady does not have a good singing voice, though a few people don't care about that (tiny tim managed to get fame precisely because he had no singing voice). also, the name 'buffy' is very off-putting for intellectual people, thinking people, people who are alert. it is an immature name, the type one would give a dog, perhaps. that as an adult she retained such a childish pet-name in preference to her real name of beverley suggests (rightly or wrongly) a lack of awareness or sophistication - and such an assumption is compounded by the fact that she was unable to clearly articulate the lyrics given to her by a great songwriter. that was a shame. but i give credit where credit's due, and buffy ('buffy' - what a silly name!) has managed to survive as a 'singer' after only one hit record. it was in the UK charts about 40 years or more ago. and that's no mean feat.
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B4real
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Re: The Bells

Post by B4real »

Geoffrey wrote:her real name of beverley
Geoffrey, do you think this note in the files could have been referring to her?

it is unabled to be copied because of copyright but it reads like this:

Hotel de France Nov 1968

"I do love to sit at this desk. Beverley's phone number is 932-2905.
The radio says it will snow tomorrow.
God bless the men in the restaurant."

The timing seem about right.
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
John Etherington
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Re: The Bells

Post by John Etherington »

Here's a treat for Buffy fans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP9BPhPmHF4
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Kush
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Re: The Bells

Post by Kush »

I have almost all of her stuff, how can you not like her voice? To each his/her own I guess :)

Two favorites

Los Pescadores
http://www.last.fm/music/Buffy+Sainte-M ... ?autostart

Starwalker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkdix1qHIEA
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Geoffrey
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Re: The Bells

Post by Geoffrey »

B4real asked:
>Geoffrey, do you think this note in the files could have been referring to her?

Very possibly, because Leonard, being the cultivated gentleman that he is, would likely have shyed away from calling her 'Buffy'. He would not wish for future biographers and historians to conclude that he associated with anyone using a Christian name that sounded like a table from which food is offered. And if Leonard had been acquainted with this lady, I can assure you it would not have been because of his interest in her voice. All we know is that he gave her some lyrics from a song he was still working on, we know not what she gave him first. That sort of thing is pure conjecture. But in 1968 he would have been a 34 years old male, and at that age a man's brain is very much filled with thoughts of carnality.
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