Lyrics of „Born in Chains“, as far as I can make them out

[sturgess66]

I wish I could be so sure Sue.

Sometimes I think it is "idle" and sometimes "resided" (and then, to complicate things further, sometimes listening without watching I think I might even hear "guided!" )
I would concede that it is definitely "idle" - except that I can't - I'm just not sure. But a strong possibility. Anybody else?

But Charley's verse - Although the *idea* of the word "sensual" is pleasing, I do have trouble when I watch/listen with that in mind.

Have you watched this video (coolcohen) -
The audio is good but it also gives a clear vision of Hattie and Charley.
And particularly - it really looks to me like "sensed allusion."
And then I hear those words in other performances as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnYkv07kb94


And then in this video (Albert's from Sligo) it clearly sounds to me like "sensed allusion"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f37lh9LqRs

And in this video by frostbiteZ1 the sound is clear. (Neil is smiling away in the background loving these two verses I think )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AfMWBuWl7U

By the way - "arms" or "hours"?

[sue7]

Linda,
I sidestepped the "arms" or "hours" issue:
I've always more or less heard "arms," but I just don't hear it clearly enough.
I've watched/listened to the coolcohen video, but I still hear "sensual," even though I tried to hear something different. I do think that the "allusion" that some people are hearing is due to her accent, and not putting as much emphasis on the short "i" sound as Americans do. "Sensual illusion" also makes sense to me, in that it helps to set up a paradox around illusion/reality, knowing/unknowing, and multiplicity/unity.

Edited: I just listened to the Odense performance from FrostbiteZ1: what an amazing performance. And you're right, Linda, very clear sound. Thanks for this wonderful link. It's a great angle, covering Neil watching Hattie and especially Charley. It's convinced me that it's "arms of sensual illusion."

[holydove]

Excuse me for "butting in" - I just wanted to share one thought: The word Charley is singing in the line ". . .in the arms of _______ illusion" is very unclear to me in all the videos, but I wonder if perhaps the lyric is ". . . in the arms of SENSORY illusion. . ." (as "sensory illusion" is a term commonly used in science & psychology, where much of what we perceive as reality has been shown to be various kinds of "sensory (e.g. optical, aural, etc.) illusions"".

[sturgess66]

Excuse me for "butting in" - I just wanted to share one thought: The word Charley is singing in the line ". . .in the arms of _______ illusion" is very unclear to me in all the videos, but I wonder if perhaps the lyric is ". . . in the arms of SENSORY illusion. . ." (as "sensory illusion" is a term commonly used in science & psychology, where much of what we perceive as reality has been shown to be various kinds of "sensory (e.g. optical, aural, etc.) illusions"".

Hi holydove - please do butt in.

I just started to google "sensory illusion" - and you are right about it being a common term - it came up on auto suggestion before I had finished typing the word "sensory." And the definition could make sense here (over-stimulation of the senses, etc.)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... y-illusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_il ... n_aviation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion

I agree - that word is also unclear to me in all videos. We have a few possibilities. While with most of the lyrics of the song, there is no doubt at all, that particular line - I just can't say for sure.

Sue - I also think it is "arms" - but not positive about that either! It could possibly be "hours" and that would fit into the meaning as well.

I'm waiting for yet another performance.

[holydove]

Sturgess, thank you. . . I also thought the meaning of "sensory illusion" would fit very well with the lyrics of that verse; as you said, the illusions can be produced by over-stimulation of the senses, & the term also refers to a kind of distorted, or at least a very subjective/relative perception of things - like seeing shapes, or hearing sounds, that aren't exactly there; or they are there but not in the same way that we see or hear them (". . .this ain't exactly real, or it's real but it ain't exactly there" - so many things remind me of that line!); or perception that changes, depending on how certain factors are presented. Essentially, it is how we experience reality every minute of every day - totally subjective & mostly distorted!! (Einstein said that the whole world is a kind of. . . optical illusion!)

[sturgess66]

Just dropping off another good video.

From Helskini - uploaded by "HasseNyman" -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T493FPzk4UI

[Arnold the Frog]

Just looking back on what mnkyface wrote a page ago:

"I was idle" (no d) would make idle an adjective, no? I was idle with my soul, I was idle with going to the gym, I was idle with my housecleaning because I spend all my time on YouTube. "I was idle with" makes sense in the context of neglecting one's soul, and then finding use for it. "I was idled with" just sounds weird to me.

I do agree that "I was idle" is the right wording, but *this* looks odd to me. One can't be "idle with something" by *not* doing it - that would be "idle without it", and that expression doesn't seem to exist either. I can't recall ever hearing or reading a usage like either.

Perhaps people are thinking of "idle" as a synonym of "lazy". It's not (at least, it used not to be). "Idle" is used of things which are failing to be useful, whether or not the use considered is actually available: hence "antres vast, and desarts idle", and "idle observations". An idling engine is not being lazy (what?), it's just not doing work. And a stopped engine is not spoken of as "idling". "I was idle with my soul" means "I was doing nothing with it", not quite the same as "I was doing nothing to it". So "I heard that you could use me" is a much more exact antonym than has been suggested yet.

[TineDoes]

"I was idle with my soul" means "I was doing nothing with it", not quite the same as "I was doing nothing to it". So "I heard that you could use me" is a much more exact antonym than has been suggested yet.

Hi,
This is exactly what I understood these lines to mean. Thank you.

Question:
Is it so that Leonard's lines are always grammatically correct or does he exercise poetical license sometimes?

I know a lot has been said about the following. But here goes anyway: The line with "in the arms of ....... allusion/illusion". Some say 'sensual' or 'sensed' others say 'sensory'. I can only hear and see, in any of the videos, Charley mouth one sylable before the word i/allusion. I hear just 'sense il- or allusion'; Poetical license?
[How can 'a sweet unknowing that unifies the name' come to be? Is it because de senses are being alluded (misdirection?), or through an illusion of the senses or through 'sensory illusion' (an over stimulation of the senses as explained earlier)? I really cannot say.]


Great work, everyone who has spent time deciphering the linesof this beautiful song.

[StBruno]

I said a while back I'd wait for the finished version, but I lied..too much fun.

TineDoes wrote:

How can 'a sweet unknowing that unifies the name' come to be? Is it because de senses are being alluded (misdirection?), or through an illusion of the senses or through 'sensory illusion'

Its always interesting to see Leonard drawing together images and ideas from several religious traditions and giving them a bit of spin. Surely the 'unknowing' is the 'Cloud of Unknowing'. This appears in the lyrics of The Window on Recent Songs - and is a reference to the book by a 14th century English mystic - a treatise on how to deal with the dark cloud of ignorance that separates us from G-d (the name) - the cloud and the crack 'through which the light gets in'.

As a Brit, and seeing some of your locations, I guess the Webbs accents may be a problem for you - I have no problem hearing 'idle ' or 'sensual illusion' and particularly like the latter, as it it chimes with Len's Buddhist experience and some of his other writings the let us believe that through s-x one might know g-d!

All written as an ex Catholic atheist of antiquarian leanings...hope it helps, or adds to the confusion!

Best,
B

[sturgess66]

It's very difficult to hear - but I believe Leonard has done yet another spoken introduction at the Lisbon show -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWQjpMQu_zU

But that's not all. New arrangements I think.

Is Hattie singing new words?

I swear I still hear "sensed allusion"

The verse that was previously sung by Leonard "I heard the soul unfold ..." - it sounds like it is Sharon singing this verse - and the next verse by Sharon Hattie and Charlie?

[sue7]

Thanks for the link, Linda. It is really difficult to make out some of this.
I believe that the first two (or four, depending on how you break the lines) lines are missing from this recording.
I heard:

You yourself are hidden too, with all your sins of [state???]
There is no king to pardon you, His mercy is more [intimate???] (neither of the words at the ends of the lines are correct; they're just the best guess I could come up with).

Linda, I heard the same words as before from Hattie: she adds a kind of flourish at the beginning of the last line, but no new words.
And you're right about Sharon doing the "soul unfolds" verse. The following verse, where Leonard used to come in on the third line, is sung here only by Sharon, Hattie and Charley.
It's a beautiful arrangement: I hope there's a recording with slightly better sound out there somewhere.
Sue

[sturgess66]

Sue - you are absolutely correct - there is no change in Hattie's lyrics. Just some melodic change with both Hattie & Charley.

We have new video from Lisbon - from “alittledropofpoison” - that seems to include the whole spoken introduction -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hksvc3zcrg

These introductions by Leonard are poems or stories themselves.

I have put the introductions below with possible dates -
Without video or confirmation from a concert goer - we cannot be sure of exact dates of when the change took place -
but I have put the date (with a question mark) when we became aware as a result of video.

Sue - I added what I could determine (from "alittledropofpoison" video), to what you had previously determined.
Maybe someone else can fill in more details?

LEONARD COHEN - SPOKEN INTRODUCTION TO "BORN IN CHAINS"

[World premiere on July 27, 2010 (Salzburg) - through August 22, 2010 (Ghent)]
I was born in chains but I was taken out of Egypt
I was bound to a burden, but the burden it was raised
Oh Lord, I can no longer keep this secret
Blessed is the name, the name be praised.

[Florence, September 1, 2010 - through September 8, 2010 (Basel, Switzerland) ?]
I was fed with the bread of freedom in (/and) its choosing
But I rebelled there and I knelt before the idols in my shame
But in the midst of all this wild confusion
I heard it spoken: Blessed is the name

[Lisbon, Portugal, September 10, 2010]
Into the full embrace, he hides away so not to see
His creature face to face
You yourself are hidden too, with all your sins of [state]?
There is no king to pardon you,
His mercy is more [intimate]?

A beautiful song!

[anablue]

In the Lisbon introduction I hear:

Into the full embrace, he hides away so not to see
His [c _____e]? face to face
You yourself are hidden too, with all your sins of [state]?
There is no king to pardon you, His mercy is more [intimate]?

[sturgess66]

In the Lisbon introduction I hear:

Into the full embrace, he hides away so not to see
His [c _____e]? face to face
You yourself are hidden too, with all your sins of [state]?
There is no king to pardon you, His mercy is more [intimate]?

Thanks Anablue! I like your interpretation better than a few words I had provided - so I have made changes above with your input.

[sue7]

Linda and anablue,
A great beginning.
I think the word in the second line is "creature": still can't do any better on the other words.
Linda, thanks for keeping all of these versions together. It's beginning to look like an historical document.
Sue