Thanks, friend.
I guess I didn't express the feeling of "turning into gold" very well.
But there is a reason why I didn't.
And why I couldn't.
~~
The feeling of "turning into gold" could very well include a feeling
of "turning into a legend". Or of "growing old", even!
But that's only because it could also include virtually everything else, equally well.
Because the feeling of "turning into gold" has nothing to do with any particular
subject that the feelings happen to be about. It has, rather, to do with
certain kinds of qualities which feelings can sometimes have, in certain
situations.
These particular qualities come in alternating waves.
In one wave, the "heroes" will talk effusively, and seemingly
endlessly. This phase is called
rapping.
The singer of the song is riding one of these waves.
In this he is no different from any of the other "heroes".
They are all very eagerly trying to get their own brilliant
insights in edge-wise. The word "quarrelsome" is a very
accurate characterization of his phase, -provided it's
shorn of any implication of any real anger. Although
everybody may be talking at once, they aren't really
arguing, or angry. They are really "grooving" on each other.
And on "life" - in the full meaning of the word.
And on shiny objects.
These talkative waves are then followed by waves in which
everybody withdraws into themselves. The word "morose"
could be used for this phase provided that, like "quarrelsome",
the word is shorn of any of its really heavy negative connotations.
Because a "morose thought" in these states is just as likely
to be followed by a giggle, as a "happy thought" is likely
to be followed by a tear or two.
Finally, there is the very famous third wave,
called "the munchies".
~~
Again, it is very hard to describe any of this
to anyone who has never "been there".
~~
As for the line
"I guess that these heroes must always live there
where you and I have only been"
-- I think I know what Cohen was referring to.
I think he was talking about the once famous difference
between two different kinds of drug users;
1) Those who "experiment", mostly with psychedelics,
"in order to expand their minds".
2) And those who use drugs indiscriminately,
- whatever they can get, - in order to escape their lives.
These two different kinds of users have, of course,
always existed. But somewhere between the 1960s
and the 1970s there was tidal change.
In the late 1970s I met a kid who said he was addicted
to marijuana! He said he had to go to some kind of
support group, in order to help him withdraw!
I was certain he was "putting me on".
But he wasn't.
One reason it was even possible was undoubtedly
because the stuff had became a whole lot stronger over the years.
But in any case, the kid became for me an example
of someone who "must always live there
where you and I have only been."
~~
Incidentally, the kind of marijuana that Leonard Cohen
was talking about in "A Bunch Of Lonesome Heroes"
was the very famous, and, back then, not at all
hard to get, ---
Acapulco gold.
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acapulco_gold
And that's just a fact that has always been obvious
to everyone who lived through those times.
It ought to explain why it is very difficult to explain
the feeling of "turning into gold" to anyone who has never "been there".
And why it's hardly necessary to explain it to anyone who has.
thus spaketh I
~~
Pinto > That means that...
our whole solar system...
could be, like...
one tiny atom in the fingernail of some other giant being!
This is too much!
That means...
-one tiny atom in my fingernail could be--
-Could be one little...
Professor Jennings > ...tiny universe.
Pinto > Could l buy some pot from you?
- Animal House