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..... I persuaded my wife to come along to the NEC in November on the basis that this would be one of the highlights .... and it's disappeared from the list

Can it be brought back for Birmingham, please

Mike

so far, as far as i am aware Leonard has only recited this for english speaking audiences. So fingers crossed for UK ! ( a highlight in Manchester & London in the summer tour)

personal favourite here too. fingers crossed

May I join your petition and add that we would love to hear it in Berlin, too.

Unlikely though it may seem, audiences across the world do understand English

He didn't recite it in Copenhagen in July. I sincerely hope it will be included in October. A Thousand Kisses Deep is, in my opinion, one of the best texts of Cohen’s entire career and easily the high point of the last 15-20 years. Let's hear it, please!!!

Yes, THE highlight of the summer shows for me too.
I really, really hope it reappears for the UK dates.

I am not a native English speaker and have difficulty understanding the LC expression "a thousand kisses deep". Can someone spare a minute and walk me through the meaning? Many thanks.

Dima

Dima – we would all love to know what Leonard means when he pens his song lyrics and poetry – but he’s on record as saying he’s not always sure himself…. I have heard him quoted (I think it was Jennifer Warnes) a long time ago as saying that he would use “whatever it takes to make the song (or poem) work.”

I have always liked this idea; that although the words may have meaning on certain occasions, at other times they are there simply because they sound right. This has the added benefit that I can claim my own interpretation to be just as valid as any interpretation that Leonard may choose!

Some of the words spoken by Leonard when delivering “A Thousand Kisses Deep” have been changed several times during the current tour as well, so I think we can take it that there is nothing permanent or definitive about any particular version.

And, as a native English speaker, I will only add that the words I have heard this year are beautiful, and that they have been spoken beautifully.

dimate wrote:I am not a native English speaker and have difficulty understanding the LC expression "a thousand kisses deep". Can someone spare a minute and walk me through the meaning? Many thanks.Dima

It is the nature of poetry that its words mean different things to different people. Or if you prefer, the power of poetry is that it illuminates something within each of us, and that thing may differ from person to person. Therefore it would be wrong to claim that the wonderfully emotive phrase 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' has just a single objective meaning agreed by all.

That said, for me personally, it refers to that sublime state of union that occurs when you know your partner so well that you almost become one. "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 would say that you begin to have a deep relationship with your lover when you have lived together for two or three years, at which point you will have kissed a thousand times or more. In an age of casual sex and multiple partners, to go a Thousand Kisses Deep may seem boringly old-fashioned, but as someone who has been there I recommend it highly. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a person is not a complete human being until he or she has been A Thousand Kisses Deep.

Note that the poem recited during the summer tour referred to in this thread is different from the song. Or rather, published on pages 56 and 57 of Book Of Longing, Thousand Kisses Deep is divided into two sections, the first about the wonder of deep love, the second about the loss of that love. The first section is what Leonard has recited on stage, the second section is what is sung on Ten New Songs.

Note also that the poem is dedicated to the memory of Sandra Merriman who died in 1998, a talented painter who wrote many times of how Leonard's words had helped her combat her own depression. Leonard has said of her: "She was a woman in her middle fifties, and she committed suicide at a certain point. We corresponded and she kind of indicated that my work kind of got her through the night. But, I guess it failed. I just wanted to keep her memory alive. She was an American woman. She had cancer and was in a lot of pain."

Jeremy and hydriot, thank you so much for taking the time to explain. I feel much closer to the poem now. It is also a revelation for me that there is an alternative/additional text of the original song. I will definitely take a look at it as well. And I do share with you both the love for LC poetry and conviction that one reaches a different level of relationship past the first two-three years of being close. Again, many thanks!

Dima

Hi all - I'm adding my little voice to the plea for the return of A Thousand Kisses Deep. Without wishing to sound too evangelical, the first time I heard the spoken recital in Montreal was not only a highlight of the concert, but a highlight of being in this crazy world!

Hydriot - I loved what you wrote about the meaning of the poem for you. For me there's also a parallel one, where references to love and partnership reflect the spiritual senses of those terms - of connection with the all-that-is, god (or whatever terms we happen to use for the 'bigger picture'), and with our muse - that inner voice that brings inspiration, comfort, solace, the will and the ideas to keep going forward. Having spent many years battling depression myself (thankfully cured now) like the lovely Leonard and Sandra Merriman - songs and poems of love and loss often speak to me of that experience, where depression is essentially an experience of absence of love/loss of love (i.e. love as an energy, rather than romantic love), and its passing, an experience of the return of love.

Yes, aaah, A Thousand Kisses Deep... Again, again!

I was lucky enough to be at the concert in Manchester on the second night. When Leonard recited A Thousand Kisses Deep it felt as if the entire Opera House held its breath. It was so powerful and so beautiful and something I won't forget.

For me the poem is about love, beauty, longing, belonging and just so much more.

Big thanks for help in sorting out which lyrics to bring [me being deaf y'see]

Of course it might not get played, but I think it was on the reserve list on that official setlist of one of the shows this tour.

I assume that reserve list doesn't change much by the way... Anyone know of any songs appearing on other lists that weren't on that one ?

.... we've switched venues to the RAH [Monday 17th] where I'm sure a recital of ATKD would be much appreciated - my wife is still accompanying me so I have a promise to keep !!

Mike

Not included last night (Nov 5th) at Glasgow; thank God I heard it in summer time at Edinburgh Castle!

fc