Re: Lover, Lover, Lover & Rumi
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:51 pm
I recently heard the unusual version of this song (mentioned above by TineDoes), in a recording from Copenhagen '79; I was so captivated by it (& Leonard sings it so beautifully & passionately!), so I went back & re-listened to the Frankfurt '79 recording; those 2 versions are very similar, with only slight variations.
This is what I hear in the Frankfurt '79 version:
I asked my father, I said, "Father, change my name
The one I'm using now is covered up in fear & filth & cowardice & shame"
"I will not change your name", he said, "it is my human word
Your name is mine", he said, "but you repeat it like a mockingbird"
Lover lover lover. . .come back to me (chorus)
He said, "I locked you in this body, I meant it as a kind of trial
You can use it as a weapon, or to make some woman smile
And (Aah?) my judgment never falters, it is written in the heart
Peace to those who be with me, suffering apart"
Chorus
And do not trust my holy one, or the wonders you have seen
My very angels are in error, my very heavens are unclean
The world is mine, & there is only me
And there is nothing that is not my world,
My broken world, my broken world, my whole reality
Chorus
You may come to me in happiness, you may come to me in grief
You may come to me in your deepest faith, or you may come in your coldest disbelief
In your armour of indifference, in your alibis of state ( "space?")
In your balance (imbalance?) of neutrality, in your poverty of grace
Chorus
In the Copenhagenn version, 3rd line 1st verse, I hear:
He said, "I cannot change your name ___?__________ a human word (I can't discern what comes after "name" & before "a human word")
So this line has the only potentially significant differences: "I cannot" instead of "I will not"; & the missing words don't sound like "it is my. . .", so I don't know if that difference is significant or not.
About the 3rd & 4th lines, 1st verse ( I will not (cannot) change your name. . .etc.): all the religions/spiritual paths I know of (inc. Judaism/Kabbalah, Christianity, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism. . .) have practices where the practitioner is instructed to repeat words that are considered "names of God" in Western religion, & mantras in Eastern religions/philosophies; it's said that mantras consist of vibrations that have the power to bring one closer to the source of creation; in Judaism/Kabbalah, it's said that the name of God contains the very essence of God, & therefore, by repeating it, a person can become one with the Source. But ultimately, according to both Eastern & Western teachings, the practice can only work if one repeats the name with love for God (or the Source, etc.) in one's heart. Conversely, if one's heart is filled with a "very high degree" of love, all words are names of God ("there's a blaze of light in every word"), & whatever word such an enlightened person utters, will have the same effect as a mantra/name of God. In the above-mentioned lyrics ("your name is mine, he said, but you repeat it like a mockingbird"), my interpretation is that the narrator's "Father" is saying that the narrator's name is not different or separate from the name of God, because noone is separate - it is one "whole reality" ("there is nothing that is not my world/ my broken world. . .my whole reality"; in the Copenhagen version, that line sounds like: "there is nothing that I'm not, my world, my one reality"); however, the narrator is repeating the name "like a mockingbird" - just mimicking it, without that feeling of love in his heart, or the awareness that his "name"/essence & God's "name"/essence are one & the same. So the word "word" (though it could also be "work") - in the phrase "human word"- makes sense to me, as it seems to be supported by the rest of the lyrics in the verse. Interesting also, that now Leonard gives us "in every atom/ broken is the Name" & "Blessed is the Name". . .)
This is what I hear in the Frankfurt '79 version:
I asked my father, I said, "Father, change my name
The one I'm using now is covered up in fear & filth & cowardice & shame"
"I will not change your name", he said, "it is my human word
Your name is mine", he said, "but you repeat it like a mockingbird"
Lover lover lover. . .come back to me (chorus)
He said, "I locked you in this body, I meant it as a kind of trial
You can use it as a weapon, or to make some woman smile
And (Aah?) my judgment never falters, it is written in the heart
Peace to those who be with me, suffering apart"
Chorus
And do not trust my holy one, or the wonders you have seen
My very angels are in error, my very heavens are unclean
The world is mine, & there is only me
And there is nothing that is not my world,
My broken world, my broken world, my whole reality
Chorus
You may come to me in happiness, you may come to me in grief
You may come to me in your deepest faith, or you may come in your coldest disbelief
In your armour of indifference, in your alibis of state ( "space?")
In your balance (imbalance?) of neutrality, in your poverty of grace
Chorus
In the Copenhagenn version, 3rd line 1st verse, I hear:
He said, "I cannot change your name ___?__________ a human word (I can't discern what comes after "name" & before "a human word")
So this line has the only potentially significant differences: "I cannot" instead of "I will not"; & the missing words don't sound like "it is my. . .", so I don't know if that difference is significant or not.
About the 3rd & 4th lines, 1st verse ( I will not (cannot) change your name. . .etc.): all the religions/spiritual paths I know of (inc. Judaism/Kabbalah, Christianity, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism. . .) have practices where the practitioner is instructed to repeat words that are considered "names of God" in Western religion, & mantras in Eastern religions/philosophies; it's said that mantras consist of vibrations that have the power to bring one closer to the source of creation; in Judaism/Kabbalah, it's said that the name of God contains the very essence of God, & therefore, by repeating it, a person can become one with the Source. But ultimately, according to both Eastern & Western teachings, the practice can only work if one repeats the name with love for God (or the Source, etc.) in one's heart. Conversely, if one's heart is filled with a "very high degree" of love, all words are names of God ("there's a blaze of light in every word"), & whatever word such an enlightened person utters, will have the same effect as a mantra/name of God. In the above-mentioned lyrics ("your name is mine, he said, but you repeat it like a mockingbird"), my interpretation is that the narrator's "Father" is saying that the narrator's name is not different or separate from the name of God, because noone is separate - it is one "whole reality" ("there is nothing that is not my world/ my broken world. . .my whole reality"; in the Copenhagen version, that line sounds like: "there is nothing that I'm not, my world, my one reality"); however, the narrator is repeating the name "like a mockingbird" - just mimicking it, without that feeling of love in his heart, or the awareness that his "name"/essence & God's "name"/essence are one & the same. So the word "word" (though it could also be "work") - in the phrase "human word"- makes sense to me, as it seems to be supported by the rest of the lyrics in the verse. Interesting also, that now Leonard gives us "in every atom/ broken is the Name" & "Blessed is the Name". . .)