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Stepping Into Tomorrow (Byrd) | Madlib | Shades of Blue (2003)
The singer is Stephanie Spruill, and that’s some intense singing! I just found out today about her, her diverse career, and that she sings in an album I’ve heard countless times, Leonard Cohen’s Recent Songs (1979).
"I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young.
That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face."
Recitation | Leonard Cohen
London, 2008
You came to me this morning
And you handled me like meat
You’d have to be a man to know
How good that feels, how sweet
My mirror twin, my next of kin
I’d know you in my sleep
And who but you would take me in
A thousand kisses deep
I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
You see I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His secondhand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep
I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
To pose all hot and high
Behind the veils of sheer deceit
Our perfect porn aristocrat
So elegant and cheap
I’m old but I’m still into that
A thousand kisses deep
I’m good at love, I’m good at hate
It’s in between I freeze
Been working out but it’s too late
(It’s been too late for years)
But you look good, you really do
They love you on the street
If you were here I’d kneel for you
A thousand kisses deep
The autumn moved across your skin
Got something in my eye
A light that doesn’t need to live
And doesn’t need to die
A riddle in the book of love
Obscure and obsolete
And witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep
But I’m still working with the wine
Still dancing cheek to cheek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
But the heart will not retreat
I ran with Diz, I sang with Ray
I never had their sweet
But once or twice they let me play
A thousand kisses deep
I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
You see I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His secondhand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep
But you don’t need to hear me now
And every word I speak
It counts against me anyhow
A thousand kisses deep
Helsinki, 2008
Leonard Cohen sings Un Canadien errant/A Wandering Canadian, a song by another Québécois in exile Antoine Gérin-Lajoie (1824-1882), from Recent Songs (1979).
It’s my family’s tradition to sing it during long trips, and I assure you that it can get noisy.
Un Canadien Errant | A Wandering Canadien
Banni de ses foyers, | Banished,
Parcourait en pleurant | Wandered crying
Des pays étrangers. | Countries foreign.
Un jour, triste et pensif, | One day, sad and thoughtful,
Assis au bord des flots, | Sitting by the stream,
Au courant fugitif | To escaping waters
Il adressa ces mots: | He addressed these words:
“Si tu vois mon pays, | If you see my country,
Mon pays malheureux, | My unfortunate country,
Va dire à mes amis | Tell my friends
Que je me souviens d’eux.” | I recall them.
Ô jours si pleins d’appas, | O days so full of charms,
Vous êtes disparus… | You vanished…
Et ma patrie, hélas! | And my homeland, alas!
Je ne la verrai plus. | I shall see no more.
Leonard Cohen sings So Long, Marianne, from Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967).
In the picture, Leonard Cohen with Marianne Ihlen, by John Max, and their story is as beautiful as this song.
Come over to the window, my little darling,
I’d like to try to read your palm.
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
before I let you take me home.
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us.
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
We met when we were almost young
deep in the green lilac park.
You held on to me like I was a crucifix,
as we went kneeling through the dark.
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now.
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone.
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
For now I need your hidden love.
I’m cold as a new razor blade.
You left when I told you I was curious,
I never said that I was brave.
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
Oh, you are really such a pretty one.
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again.
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside,
to wash my eyelids in the rain!
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry, and cry and laugh about it all again.
The Partisan, by Leonard Cohen.
Oh the wind, the wind is blowing
Through the graves the wind is blowing
Freedom soon will come
Then we’ll come from the shadow
I like Belgian beers and Leonard Cohen.
What do you like?
Who By Fire, by Leonard Cohen, with a short explanatory introduction by himself, from the Canadian 1980 film The Song of Leonard Cohen.
And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady’s command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?
Comme un poisson dans l’eau….Superbe!!
Beirut night club dancer 1966
Dance Me To The End of Love, by Leonard Cohen.
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic ‘til I’m gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Oh dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We’re both of us beneath our love, we’re both of us above
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I’m gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
(via slightlybemused)
America — A Horse With No Name - 1972
Speaking of horses…
Leonard Cohen sings his Ballad of the Absent Mare, in this video by Kristina Labudova.
(Source: callmekrizma, via steroge)
just realised that Dustin Hoffman could play Leonard Cohen if they ever did a movie
(Source: mattybing1025)
Un Canadien Errant, sung and translated by Leonard Cohen into English in the 1980 Canadian film “The Song of Leonard Cohen”
Un Canadien Errant
Banni de ses foyers,
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays etrangers.
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays etrangers.
Un jour, triste et pensif,
Assis au bord des flots,
Au courant fugitif
Il adressa ces mots:
Au courant fugitif
Il adressa ces mots:
“Si tu vois mon pays,
Mon pays malheureux,
Va dire a mes amis
Que je me souviens d’eux.
Va dire a mes amis
Que je me souviens d’eux.
O jours si pleins d’appas,
Vous etes disparus…
Et ma patrie, helas!
Je ne la verrai plus.
Et ma patrie, helas!
Je ne la verrai plus.
