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I love this new song, & I loved it from the first listen. It is fascinating, touching, funny, soft, beautiful, & so very intimate! And it doesn't remind me of anything else. Thank you so much, Leonard Cohen, for sharing your secrets with us, in such a beautiful & moving way!

I really wish that I could get as excited about this track as others are here.

I love this one the best, so far. It doesn't remind me of Because Of at all (not that I would mind if it did, loving that song as well, very much). Listening to this 3 songs, I find the new album rather low-keyed (not only literally but that too ), not flashy at all, and I love it. My initial feeling of "intimate humming" is growing stronger. I can see how Born In Chains couldn't fit in this mood I can't wait the rest of the album, it might change my opinion, of course.
For now: <3 <3 <3

Eva

I had such a strong visceral reaction to this song that I have a difficult time listening to it. It is that feeling you get when you know you are about to get some insight, when you know your world view is about shift.

I think in interviews and speeches when Leonard says that classic line, "If I knew where the good songs come from, I'd go there more often," people think it is some kind of joke or a one-line deflection tool. I think this song says it isn't. This song is first because it is meant to hit the listener right between the eyes. Leonard is telling you what it has been like to be Leonard Cohen, the songwriter, and how little control he's had over what has driven him his entire life. It is such a big dose of truth that it is hard to swallow.

I don't think this album is meant to be enjoyed the way a concert performance is enjoyed. Frankly, as dark as this may sound, I think Leonard's concerts are a fleeting moment of joy, a respite from the suffering. I think Leonard's albums are meant as a message that can sustain you through the suffering. For me, the pleasure I get from the melody, the instruments, the gentle serenading of the angels comes later, once I have grappled with the message. I am still grappling.

Does anyone else find that instrument either side of each chorus a bit grating and not quite right?

It also announces the song at its beginning and sounds slightly jarring to my ears. I'm getting more used to it with repeated listenings but still wish it was some other effect/instrument instead? How about a real violin for example?

JudasPriest wrote:Does anyone else find that instrument either side of each chorus a bit grating and not quite right?

I agree. You're talking about that popping sound? At first I thought it was a dropout in the recording.

Not the popping (altho I know what you're referring to)- the little solo that appears at regular intervals

In fact it may simply be the synth organ. Whatever it is, I don't like its pitch and tone.

I really think this is an excellent song. In fact I like it better than 'Show Me The Place' which is great also. I would imagine that when we hear the whole album it will be better received. He really does have a delicious voice Couldn't you just listen to him forever?

Does anyone know who did the backup singing on this song? It doesn't sound like Sharon and/or the Webb Sisters.

I love it too. More than either of the first two releases. (as commented on another thread, the lyrics 'do not disappoint'...)

Particularly like the spareness of the background music/vocals that gives such clarity to each individual instrument – like the smooth, singular tambourine (or maracas?).

...and I love the conversation he's having

I recently posted a version of this comment on the heckofaguy blog, but I thought it would be worth sharing it here as well. During my first few listens early this morning, my absolute favorite moment of the haunting "Going Home" was the following line: "Though he knows he's really nothing / but the brief elaboration of a tune": a line with mystical echoes evoking the music of the spheres -- a la the Rumi-flavored Cohen of "The Window," for example -- and a nice self-reflexive transition into the "tune" of the chorus. Or so I thought. According to the poem published in the New Yorker, however, "tune" is in fact "tube." As I've continued to listen to the song version, I still hear "tune," though "tube" is possible as well.

Is it conceivable that the New Yorker misprinted the word (those pesky "n" and "b" keys are dangerously close to one another on a keyboard, after all)? I'm admittedly rooting for "tune," because I fell in love with the song hearing the lyric that way, and at the risk of embarrassing myself, I confess that I find "brief elaboration of a tube" a semantically baffling conclusion to the line. Am I missing something? Of course, L.Cohen's obsession with and care for words far surpasses mine, so I have no doubt that if "tube" is in fact the word he intended in "Going Home," I shall one day discover all sorts of revelatory meanings inhering in the line.

This reminds me a bit of my favorite line from the Cavafy-based "Alexandra Leaving": "Exquisite music, Alexandra laughing. / Your first commitments tangible again." At some point, I saw the lyrics printed somewhere as FIRM commitments rather than FIRST, which would have lessened the poetic and emotional resonance of the line for me. I was relieved, then, to realize eventually that "first" was correct.

Brian

I listened very carefully and while I didn't clearly hear TUNE it didn't sound like TUBE either. TUNE makes more sense.

Two comments.

1/ I am one of the ones that is happy to hear the three tracks in advance, one by one as singles. This gave me the luxury of time to repeat, absorb and analyze my thoughts about each one. I prefer to wait until others have heard them as well before posting my comments. But one comment now. Within the first few seconds of listening to the first track released, Show me... I had tears softly streaming down my face at just hearing LC's voice again.

2/ The discussion about "tune" or "tube" highlights a general sound engineering problem to my ears.
There seems to be a general fadeout applied at the end of lines, causing the end of words to be inaudible.

I had printed the lyrics from the New Yorker page and followed them (although slightly different as noted) while listening to the audio.
I noticed the last word in some lines sung by both LC solo and the backing singers solo were problematic to my ears.

For example, about 3.07, backing singers

Without my burden
,,Behind the curtain

sounds like
Without my burd...
Behind the curt...

So it does not surprise me, with the fadeout effect used at the end of lines that the word "tu.." is unclear.

---Arlene

bridger15 wrote:Two comments.

1/ I am one of the ones that is happy to hear the three tracks in advance, one by one as singles. This gave me the luxury of time to repeat, absorb and analyze my thoughts about each one. I prefer to wait until others have heard them as well before posting my comments. But one comment now. Within the first few seconds of listening to the first track released, Show me... I had tears softly streaming down my face at just hearing LC's voice again.

2/ The discussion about "tune" or "tube" highlights a general sound engineering problem to my ears.
There seems to be a general fadeout applied at the end of lines, causing the end of words to be inaudible.

I had printed the lyrics from the New Yorker page and followed them (although slightly different as noted) while listening to the audio.
I noticed the last word in some lines sung by both LC solo and the backing singers solo were problematic to my ears.

For example, about 3.07, backing singers

Without my burden
,,Behind the curtain

sounds like
Without my burd...
Behind the curt...

So it does not surprise me, with the fadeout effect used at the end of lines that the word "tu.." is unclear.

---Arlene

You nailed it! I noticed that too when I was carefully listening to the line ending with TUBE or TUNE. I heard TU but the rest was faded out.