Sing another song, boys

General discussion about Leonard Cohen's songs and albums
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ragazzo_vienne
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:31 am

Sing another song, boys

Post by ragazzo_vienne »

I have always found this song fascinating in a very twisted way, and could only partially make sense of the lyrics... so, let's analyze another song, boys (and girls), and let's see if it grows old and bitter!

I can only comment on the first few lines, because I simply can't make much of the rest (except of the obvious nazi-judaism theme).

(Let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter.)

-- This line sounds like intimacy - like a gathering of a student fraternity. Many fraternities are known to be nationalistic or even nazis here in austria - which might be significant given the rest of the song - but I have no idea whether LC even knows about this though.

Ah his fingernails, I see they're broken,
his ships they're all on fire.
The moneylender's lovely little daughter
ah, she's eaten, she's eaten with desire.

-- This is obviously a reference to the Merchant of Venice. Antonio's ships are all out to sea, and his friend Bassano approaches him for money to woo his beloved Portia. So Antonio lends money from Shylock, the jewish moneylender. Shylock's daughter falls in love with the christian Lorenzo. We all know the rest of the sad story... :-)

She spies him through the glasses
from the pawnshops of her wicked father.
She hails him with a microphone
that some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her.
She tempts him with a clarinet,
she waves a Nazi dagger.
She finds him lying in a heap;
she wants to be his woman.
He says, "Yes, I might go to sleep
but kindly leave, leave the future,
leave it open."

He stands where it is steep,
oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one,
his hand upon his leather belt now
like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner.
And she will learn to touch herself so well
as all the sails burn down like paper.
And he has lit the chain
of his famous cigarillo.
Ah, they'll never, they'll never ever reach the moon,
at least not the one that we're after;
it's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends,
and it carries no survivors.
But lets leave these lovers wondering
why they cannot have each other,
and let's sing another song, boys,
this one has grown old and bitter.
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blonde madonna
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Post by blonde madonna »

I don't know that I can illuminate any further on this song but I have always liked it too. Songs of Love and Hate remains a sentimental favourite of mine because of its angst and anger and disillusion.

I agree about the reference to M of V, which could be called Shakespeare's anti-semitic play. It is also a story of dreadful betrayal. Jessica betrayed her father, the tragic Shylock.

I have read that Cohen's relationship with Suzanne was not happy at the time this album was recorded. I say this because this song seems to be about the hopelessness of romance, about lovers who cannot love eachother.

It is the 'moneylender's lovely little daughter' (sung with such irony!) who comes off the worst. She tempts him with a clarinet (is this an instrument commonly played in Jewish music?) and then threatens him with a Nazi dagger until she finally subdues him.

The male is an enigmatic figure, the ship imagery points to him being a sailor ('all men will be sailors then/until the sea shall free them'). He is alternately broken, passive, foolish (thinking 'he's the very first one'), arrogant and ultimately disapointed in love.

So when the singer crys 'let's sing another song boys' he seems to be saying we know this story all too well and we're sick of it. This is probably left field but it has me thinking of marriage and those arguments couples can have over and over again. Are men and women capable of honest loving relationships that don't use manipulation and can they meet each others needs and desires?
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
John Etherington
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Post by John Etherington »

Ragazzo - thanks for the thread, and bringing our attention to a possible association with "The Merchant of Venice", which I know I should be (but am not) familiar with. I also think Blonde Madonna's summary is good. Dare I say that "Sing Another Song Boys" might even be my favourite track on "Songs of Love and Hate" - even though I've known people who think it's the only dud on the album! Even if Leonard uses imagery from Shakespeare, he clearly has a passionate and personal involvement in the drama that unfolds in the song. As in "Famous Blue Raincoat", Leonard seems to alternate between the role of the observer watching his woman betray him, and the role of the central figure in the drama. Clearly he is familiar with both positions. The song thus picks up on the "Beautiful Losers" theme. One of my favourite lines is "They'll never reach the Moon, at least not the one that we're after" (notice the shift from
"they'll" to "we're", in the song). The desperation in Leonard's singing at the end is wonderfully over-the-edge, and suits the theme of the album
perfectly. I for one am glad that Leonard used the live recording, because
the mood could never have been captured in quite the same way again.
I was there at the Isle of Wight when it was recorded. John E
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hydriot
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Post by hydriot »

Fascinating. I was at the Isle of Wight in 1970, and never realised that that song was recorded then.

"his ships they're all on fire..." Every year on Hydra there is a celebration of the Hydriot Navy defeating the Turks with fireships, in which a boat-sized raft is towed into the bay and its 'sails', doused in petrol, are ceremoniously set alight. Perhaps it is LC's memories of this public holiday which inspired this haunting image.
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

The desperation in Leonard's singing at the end is wonderfully over-the-edge, and suits the theme of the album
perfectly. I for one am glad that Leonard used the live recording, because
the mood could never have been captured in quite the same way again.
I was there at the Isle of Wight when it was recorded. John E
I've always appreciated this aspect, too, John. Fortunate you, to have been there, at its recording.

Interesting link you've made with the ships all on fire, Hydriot. You may certainly be right in that. I hope to one day witness that celebration on Hydra.


~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
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