Favourite L.C line...

jeannieb · Post by **jeannieb** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 4:44 am

The cross
On every hill,
The star
the minaret.

So many graves to fill.
Oh, love, aren't you tired yet?

The Faith
Dear Heather

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 5:41 am

This for other reasons:

"And death is old
But it's always new
I freeze with fear"

For so precisely capturing my forever thoughts about it, ". . . death is old / But it's always new" ~ and for its stark honesty, "I freeze with fear."

"There For You"
Dear Heather

jeannieb · Post by **jeannieb** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 8:10 am

I find Dear Heather to be a very personal and intimate offering. A stream of consciousness.

For the life of me I can't understand the resentment of Sharon Robinson or the synthesizer. As someone else has said, if I long to hear a guitr, all I need do is pick up Various Positions, or Songs of, ...........

All of it is food for my soul. All the food groups, if you will. Soup to nuts.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 4:30 pm

I liked what you said before, Jeannie, but didn't comment. Since I'm liking again what you've said, I will. I'll go find your previous comment and bring it here, as well.

"I find Dear Heather to be a very personal and intimate offering. A stream of consciousness." "Such a fine balance between exquisitely light and exquisitely sad."

With regard to your inquiry on whether he's saying goodbye to us, I certainly say he is not. On his speaking of death, that I believe Johnnie said he can't hear, I feel his doing so couldn't possibly be any more natural. Not only is it a part of life, but it's something he's surrounded by. He's lost dear, loved ones. He will lose more. He looks at his own death with fear and courage simultaneously. He honours those who have gone. The world is permeated with death at this time. We hear about it daily. In Iraq, in Africa, in Russia, wherever. It's everywhere. However, this album as a goodbye ~ I see it more like a serious rendition of the child's game of hide 'n' seek. We were certain he would be behind that couch, or behind that door. Instead, he was clear across the room, and came from behind that other door. The one that hadn't been opened in years, the one where we never suspected he'd hide. He stepped out and said, "Here I am" and he won

.

~ Lizzy

Jonnie Falafel · Post by **Jonnie Falafel** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:18 pm

Hi Lizzie ... if you check the threads what I originally wrote about 'leave taking' & death in relation to Dear Heather was a response to 3cees criticism that there was an over concentration on doom and death in Dear Heather. In fact I said that I would find it odd if these themes didn't emerge. Being 70 surely must concentrate the mind on mortality! What I don't hear is an over concentration on these themes which have always been present in Cohen's work. Indeed, even if 3cees were right my response would have to be "so what?" - shouldn't we expect this from our poets and visionaries? I guess I could more accurately say that what I don't hear in Dear Heather is an obsession with these themes..... I expect the new Cohen album next autumn!

And you're right Lizzie ... I didn't expect Cohen to come from behind that door! The album is a genuinely lovely surprise to me.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:59 pm

Aha! See what reading things out of context can do to understanding

!?! Or, merely a lesser choice of words ~ when, truly, "obsession" was the correct one for insertion

. You're right, Johnnie ~ and thank you for putting it back into its proper context and perspective

. I agree with what you've said.

"The album is a genuinely lovely surprise to me."

For me, too, Johnnie. A very moving one, as well.

~ Lizzy

catherine · Post by **catherine** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:31 pm

linda_lakeside wrote:I could be wrong here. Probably as I'm relying on memory but isn't it -
The wind is blowing, through the graves the wind is blowing? I was going to add that to some of my favourite lines as well, but it really isn't a Cohen song is it? I don't know what it sounds like in its original form - so he get's points for arrangement anyway!

Hi Linda.
I think it's originally a French resistance song from the Second World War.
It originally consisted of the French words only with explicit reference to the Germans while the English words speak generally of "the soldiers" instead.
I don't remember exactly whether Leonard himself has written them or not.

stevieone1 · Post by **stevieone1** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 6:04 pm

The LC line that amuses me most has to be.......Everybody knows that you've been faithful......give or take a night or two - the delivery is wonderful!

Frankie Lee · Post by **Frankie Lee** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:19 pm

You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.

These lines make me shiver. But they are so beautiful.

Frankie Lee · Post by **Frankie Lee** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:20 pm

You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.

These lines make me shiver. But they are so beautiful.

Olavsdatter · Post by **Olavsdatter** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 12:00 pm

~thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes, I thought it was there for good, so I never tried~

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:43 pm

That line seems to be a favourite favourite. I like this thread. Lines I've not heard for a long time - hell, lines I've not heard (or retained). The differences and the well, favourite favourites. They're all good. I think that in order to get into this site, one must post at least one favourite line!

e.nives · Post by **e.nives** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:22 pm

I think this quick line about love-making in democracy shows the seriousness in leonards humour:

"We'll be going down so deep
the river's gonna weep,
and the mountain's gonna shout Amen! "

yeah!

wiegee · Post by **wiegee** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 6:06 am

Hi all... just found this place and it's my first post. I'm happy to have stumbled onto this. LC has probably been my most enduring musical love. I think the man has written something that speaks to every level I've lived on.

When I was young and my heart was broken, there was this:

Yeah but it's not a complaint that you hear tonight,
It's not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light
No it's a cold and it's a very lonely Hallelujah.

Years later, when I went through the process of converting to Judaism, I was stunned to realize that many of his love songs are love songs to G-d. At least, that's how I see them:

And he leans on her neck and he whispers low
"Whither thou goest I will go"
And they turn as one and they head for the plain
No need for the whip Ah, no need for the rein

and

Even in your arms I know I'll never get it right
Even when you bend to give me comfort in the night
I've got to have your word on this or none of it is true
And all I've said was just instead of coming back to you

At my first Yom Kippur, I was stunned to learn that part of a song I'd known for years comes from part of a Jewish prayer.

And who by fire, who by water...

Even when I betrayed, the lyrics were there:

Yeah when you're not feeling holy,
Your loneliness tells you, you've sinned.

and

If I have been unkind, I hope you can let it go by.
If I have been untrue, I hope you know, it was never to you

And most importantly, in hope:

I greet you from the other side
Of sorrow and despair
With a love so vast and shattered
It will reach you everywhere

Erm... that's a long list. I didn't do a good job paring it down. Sorry

I'm stuck at work with little else to do.

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:00 am

Welcome, welcome, wiegee, to the forum.

If you go on the way you did, you'll find that Leonard will dance you literally to "the end of love". His words and music will never leave your side. They'll be your "vademecum".

Tom

Favourite L.C line...

Favourite LC line