Dead dead deadski....

[Nicodema]

Man this place has been dead as [censored] all day. Y'all better get on here and post or I'm going to have to resort to entire threads dedicated to Leonard Cohen lyrics.

[Bravus]

Ooo, scary synchronicity: I'm listening to 'Tower of Song', an album of... Leonard Cohen covers! Probably for the first time in a few months at least, and then I pop in here and see this!

[olger]

So...you think it'll rain?

[Halfstep Denise]

Hi Nico!

I agree! It has been "dead" in here the past day or two!

Your "threat" doesn't really faze me since I'm not familiar with Leonard Cohen! Who knows, I might like the words!

Has anyone else heard the newest Gaither Vocal Band song titled "Love Can Turn The World". From the first time I heard the song, I really liked it, but couldn't figure out why until a couple of days ago! The music reminds me of the song "Lion Sleeps Tonight" which has been one of my favorites since the 1960's!

If you've heard "Love Can Turn The World", what do you think of the words? One lines sort of has my curiosity piqued, but I'll wait until you answer before I say anything more about it!

Thanks Nico for this thread!

Halfstep Denise

[Pockey]

Sometimes I go about in pity for myself,

and all the while, a great wind

carries me across the sky.

-Ojibwe saying

[Neil D]

Quote:

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CoAspen said:

'Dead as .....'? And I thought only 'honey' driped from those luscious red lips of yours!!

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Hey, Hey, Hey....Speaking as a beekeeper, I have to point out that Nico is NOT the queen bee....

[Gail]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Nicodema said:

Man this place has been dead as [censored] all day.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Yep, that's pretty dead, all right. LOL

[Nicodema]

Quote:

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Neil D said:

Hey, Hey, Hey....Speaking as a beekeeper, I have to point out that Nico is NOT the queen bee....

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Nope but I did a stint as queen ant for awhile a few years ago ... thinking about getting back into that actually ...

[Nicodema]

Quote:

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Halfstep Denise said:

Your "threat" doesn't really faze me since I'm not familiar with Leonard Cohen!

Who knows, I might like the words!

---

Mmmmm ... fresh MEAT!

Quote:

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Has anyone else heard the newest Gaither Vocal Band song titled "Love Can Turn The World". ...If you've heard "Love Can Turn The World", what do you think of the words? One lines sort of has my curiosity piqued, but I'll wait until you answer before I say anything more about it!

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Never heard it, sorry. Tried to Google for the lyrics, came up with zip.... Go on and post 'em if ya got 'em ... ?

[Nicodema]

Quote:

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Bravus said:

Ooo, scary synchronicity: I'm listening to 'Tower of Song', an album of... Leonard Cohen covers! Probably for the first time in a few months at least, and then I pop in here and see this!

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ssssizzzzlePOP! I'm dangerous Bravus, I'm full of scary synchronicities these days ... and then there's my new Imaginary Frenemy, "the Arranger" ... but that's another thread for another day ... so tell me what songs are on this tribute CD?

My fav LC songs (in no particular order):

• Waiting for the Miracle
• The Future
• Everybody Knows
• If it be Your Will
• My Secret Life
• Closing Time
• A Thousand Kisses Deep

[Pockey]

I like Suzanne and Chelsea hotel.

[Neil D]

Quote:

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I did a stint as queen ant

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Hmmmmmm....Intreging....possibly a typo...

Are you sure it wasn't 'queen aUnt"?

[Nicodema]

positive. the ant is the totem of the anamadim -- and we won't go into details beyond that.

[Nicodema]

Quote:

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CoAspen said:

'Dead as .....'? And I thought only 'honey' driped from those luscious red lips of yours!!

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Ooooh Baby.

[Nicodema]

If all you see in this is a bawdy barroom number you have totally missed the sinspiration. This song is full of "in-jokes" for me ... I chuckle whenever I hear it ... it's like ol' LC was reading my mail, or maybe someone piped it to him? Anyway ...

=====================================================================================

CLOSING TIME ...

Ah we're drinking and we're dancing

and the band is really happening

and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high

And my very sweet companion

she's the Angel of Compassion

she's rubbing half the world against her thigh

And every drinker every dancer

lifts a happy face to thank her

the fiddler fiddles something so sublime

all the women tear their blouses off

and the men they dance on the polka-dots

and it's partner found, it's partner lost

and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:

it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah the women tear their blouses off

and the men they dance on the polka-dots

and it's partner found, it's partner lost

and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:

it's CLOSING TIME

Ah we're lonely, we're romantic

and the cider's laced with acid

and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"

And the moon is swimming naked

and the summer night is fragrant

with a mighty expectation of relief

So we struggle and we stagger

down the snakes and up the ladder

to the tower where the blessed hours chime

and I swear it happened just like this:

a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

the Gates of Love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

but CLOSING TIME

I swear it happened just like this:

a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

the Gates of Love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

CLOSING TIME

I loved you for your beauty

but that doesn't make a fool of me:

you were in it for your beauty too

and I loved you for your body

there's a voice that sounds like God to me

declaring, declaring, declaring that your body's really you

And I loved you when our love was blessed

and I love you now there's nothing left

but sorrow and a sense of overtime

and I miss you since the place got wrecked

And I just don't care what happens next

looks like freedom but it feels like death

it's something in between, I guess

it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah I miss you since the place got wrecked

By the winds of change and the weeds of sex

looks like freedom but it feels like death

it's something in between, I guess

it's CLOSING TIME

Yeah we're drinking and we're dancing

but there's nothing really happening

and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night

And my very close companion

gets me fumbling gets me laughing

she's a hundred but she's wearing

something tight

and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth

which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth

except to say it isn't worth a dime

And the whole d*mn place goes crazy twice

and it's once for the devil and once for Christ

but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights

we're busted in the blinding lights,

busted in the blinding lights

of CLOSING TIME

The whole d*mn place goes crazy twice

and it's once for the devil and once for Christ

but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights

we're busted in the blinding lights,

busted in the blinding lights

of CLOSING TIME

Oh the women tear their blouses off

and the men they dance on the polka-dots

It's CLOSING TIME

And it's partner found, it's partner lost

and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

It's CLOSING TIME

I swear it happened just like this:

a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

It's CLOSING TIME

The Gates of Love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

But CLOSING TIME

I loved you when our love was blessed

I love you now there's nothing left

But CLOSING TIME

I miss you since the place got wrecked

By the winds of change and the weeds of sex.

[Nicodema]

OK, that last one admittedly might have been a little too racy for some of y'all ... this one's a little more serious.

A lot more serious.

OK, it's seriously serious.

Seriously.

================================================================

WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE

Baby, I've been waiting,

I've been waiting night and day.

I didn't see the time,

I waited half my life away.

There were lots of invitations

and I know you sent me some,

but I was waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

I know you really loved me.

but, you see, my hands were tied.

I know it must have hurt you,

it must have hurt your pride

to have to stand beneath my window

with your bugle and your drum,

and me I'm up there waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Ah I don't believe you'd like it,

You wouldn't like it here.

There ain't no entertainment

and the judgements are severe.

The Maestro says it's Mozart

but it sounds like bubble gum

when you're waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Waiting for the miracle

There's nothing left to do.

I haven't been this happy

since the end of World War II.

Nothing left to do

when you know that you've been taken.

Nothing left to do

when you're begging for a crumb

Nothing left to do

when you've got to go on waiting

waiting for the miracle to come.

I dreamed about you, baby.

It was just the other night.

Most of you was naked

Ah but some of you was light.

The sands of time were falling

from your fingers and your thumb,

and you were waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Ah baby, let's get married,

we've been alone too long.

Let's be alone together.

Let's see if we're that strong.

Yeah let's do something crazy,

something absolutely wrong

while we're waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Nothing left to do

when you know that you've been taken.

Nothing left to do

when you're begging for a crumb

Nothing left to do

when you've got to go on waiting

waiting for the miracle to come.

When you've fallen on the highway

and you're lying in the rain,

and they ask you how you're doing

of course you'll say you can't complain --

If you're squeezed for information,

that's when you've got to play it dumb:

You just say you're out there waiting

for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

[Nicodema]

This one is just beautiful.

======================================================================

If It Be Your Will

If it be your will

That I speak no more

And my voice be still

As it was before

I will speak no more

I shall abide until

I am spoken for

If it be your will

If it be your will

That a voice be true

From this broken hill

I will sing to you

From this broken hill

All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will

To let me sing

From this broken hill

All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will

To let me sing

If it be your will

If there is a choice

Let the rivers fill

Let the hills rejoice

Let your mercy spill

On all these burning hearts in hell

If it be your will

To make us well

And draw us near

And bind us tight

All your children here

In their rags of light

In our rags of light

All dressed to kill

And end this night

If it be your will

If it be your will.

[Bravus]

That last one I love with a passion.

This one speaks to me, and I adore Willie Nelson's version:

Bird on a Wire

Like a bird on a wire,

Like a drunk in a midnight choir

I have tried in my way to be free.

Like a worm on a hook,

Like a knight from some old fashioned book

I have saved all my ribbons for thee.

If I, if I have ever been unkind,

I hope that you can just let it go by.

If I, if I have ever been untrue

I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,

Like a beast with his horn

I have torn everyone who reached out for me.

But I swear by this song

And by all that I have done wrong

I will make it all up to thee.

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,

He said to me, you must not ask for so much.

And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,

She cried to me, hey, why not ask for more?

Oh like a bird on the wire,

Like a drunk in a midnight choir,

I have tried in my way to be free.

[Nicodema]

Yeah, that's a good one too!

How about "Anthem"? I think Roger Waters did a version of this one too, didn't he?

Anthem

The birds they sang

at the break of day

Start again

I heard them say

Don't dwell on what

has passed away

or what is yet to be.

Ah the wars they will

be fought again

The holy dove

She will be caught again

bought and sold

and bought again

the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

We asked for signs

the signs were sent:

the birth betrayed

the marriage spent

Yeah the widowhood

of every government --

signs for all to see.

I can't run no more

with that lawless crowd

while the killers in high places

say their prayers out loud.

But they've summoned, they've summoned up

a thundercloud

and they're going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

You can add up the parts

but you won't have the sum

You can strike up the march,

there is no drum

Every heart, every heart

to love will come

but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

That's how the light gets in.

That's how the light gets in.

[Bravus]

I love 'Light As The Breeze' and 'Hallelujah' as well, because of the way they convey something of the sacredness of sex, but they might be a little confronting for this particular forum... although they're pretty subtle.

[Nicodema]

"something of the sacredness of sex..." yes, but that's not all. "Light as the Breeze" conveys the healing and transformative effect of romantic love upon the heart ... it's not just the physical union but the heart/soul/spirit union bringing refreshment ...

[Bravus]

Aye, absolutely... to me that's included in the 'sacredness', but thanks for unpacking it further, that's important.

[Nicodema]

... to Us, too, saith the King and Queen.

[there buster]

My first encounter with LC was with this haunting song:

By The Rivers Dark

By the rivers dark

I wandered on.

I lived my life

in Babylon.

And I did forget

My holy song:

And I had no strength

In Babylon.

By the rivers dark

Where I could not see

Who was waiting there

Who was hunting me.

And he cut my lip

And he cut my heart.

So I could not drink

From the river dark.

And he covered me,

And I saw within,

My lawless heart

And my wedding ring,

I did not know

And I could not see

Who was waiting there,

Who was hunting me

By the rivers dark

I panicked on.

I belonged at last

To Babylon.

Then he struck my heart

With a deadly force,

And he said, 'This heart:

It is not yours.'

And he gave the wind

My wedding ring:

And he circled us

With everything.

By the rivers dark,

In a wounded dawn,

I live my life

In Babylon.

Though I take my song

From a withered limb,

Both song and tree,

They sing for him.

Be the truth unsaid

And the blessing gone,

If I forget

My Babylon.

I did not know

And I could not see

Who was waiting there.

Who was hunting me.

By the rivers dark,

Where it all goes on:

By the rivers dark

In Babylon.

-----------------

The OT references are overwhelming and, well, haunting.

I've spent quite a few hours trying to exegete that song.

[Jeannieb43]

Is there anywhere on the net where I could access a Leonard Cohen song? to hear it before buying a CD?

I admire all you LC fans. And his lyrics are truly deep and thoughtful. So there must be something to his music.... I've never heard of him before.