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Lyrics of the new song "The Street"
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:04 am
by Kifer
I was listening to NPR today and just heard the tail end of a poem he was saying.
The lyrics that i remember went...
"so lets drink to when its over, lets drink to when we meet..."
Thats all i remember, but i want to read the whole thing. Can you guys help?
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:15 am
by tomsakic
This is the new song's lyrics he recited in Toronto at Indigo event. It's titled "The Street".
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 9:03 pm
by Kifer
Do you know where i could find the lyrics? or is it too new to find just yet. I have been looking and can't find a peep.
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:05 pm
by ~greg
this includes a bit of the lead-in&out, because they're fun:
http://relay.twoshakesofalambstail.com/ ... _Cohen.mp3
4min 3.7 meg
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:41 pm
by margaret
thanks once again Greg for bringing this here.
transciption
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:15 am
by Joe Way
Here's my transcription:
"I used to be your favorite drunk
Good for one more laugh.
Then we both ran out of luck
And luck was all we had.
You put on a uniform
To fight the civil war
I tried to join but no one liked
The side I'm fighting for.
So let's drink to when it's over
And let's drink to when we meet
I'll be waiting on this corner
Where there used to be a street
It wasn't all that easy
When you upped and walked away
But I'll save that little story
For another rainy day
I know the burden's heavy
As you wheel it through the night
The guru says it's empty
But that doesn't mean it's light.
So let's drink to when it's over
And let's drink to when we meet
I'll be waiting on this corner
Where there used to be a street
You left me with the dishes
And a baby in the bath
And you’re tight with the militia
And you wear their camouflage
Well I guess that makes us equal
But I want to march with you
It’s just an extra to the sequel
To the old, Red, White & Blue
So let's drink to when it's over
And let's drink to when we meet
I'll be waiting on this corner
Where there used to be a street
It's gonna be September now
For many years to come
Many hearts adjusting
To that strict September drum
I see the ghost of culture
With numbers on his wrist
Salute some new conclusion
That all of us have missed.
So let's drink to when it's over
And let's drink to when we meet
I'll be waiting on this corner
Where there used to be a street."
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:45 am
by lizzytysh
Reading your transcription, Joe, reminded me of what I meant to say on the NPR interview thread, and that is that there is nothing like hearing Leonard read his own poetry. I hope that serious consideration will be given to his doing a recording of just that with Book of Longing.
~ Lizzy
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:23 am
by tomsakic
What do you think, how will it sound on the album? I can't decide from lyrics - it could be recited-spoken-slow like The Letters, or something like On That Day (which theme it continues), but it could be countrified smash hit like Closing Time (has that feeling). I like social relevance of the lyrics.
Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:24 pm
by Tchocolatl
Quel charme! Anjani and Lorca should register whatever he is saying with this - you know - special patent to register birds (in the wood). The man with the golden voice.
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:56 pm
by tomsakic
I listened to this mp3 again. It's very powerfull song, on the trace of The Future. I particularly like the references to post-9-11 world. (It's gonna be September now, For many years to come, Many hearts adjusting, To that strict September drum). I wonder how will it sound on the album. And known mix of personal matters with the public situation. We're living in the times of Leonard's flood, so his personal messages correspond with the social reality again. Back to The Future. And to "the ghost of culture". Only that single phrase brings so many intertextuality with so many theories of culture and the world of "post-everything" (from post-modernity to post-humanity) we're living in. "Culture" is the word, and we heard already in 1993 what we can do with only tree that’s left and our culture.
Let's take a closer look at those lyrics
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:10 pm
by humanponysss2000
THIS IS ANOTHER GREAT POEM, OR SONG-IN-TRAINING.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT OUR MAN IS SAYING HERE:
Joe Way wrote:Here's my transcription:
"I used to be your favorite drunk
Good for one more laugh.
Then we both ran out of luck
And luck was all we had.
You put on a uniform
To fight the civil war
I tried to join but no one liked
The side I'm fighting for.
NOTICE LC DOES NOT TELL US WHICH SIDE HE'S FIGHTING FOR.
HE LEAVES THAT TO OUR IMAGINATION. PERHAPS HE REALLY IS ON THE SIDE OF "THE IMAGINATION" -- OR PERHAPS THE ANGELS, OR SIMPLY THE TRUTH.
THAT IS MY HOPE. NOT MY BELIEF BECAUSE I TRY TO BASE MY BELIEFS ON TANGIBLE PROOF, NOT HOPE
SO I HOPE THAT'S WHAT HE MEANS
It wasn't all that easy
When you upped and walked away
But I'll save that little story
For another rainy day
I know the burden's heavy
As you wheel it through the night
The guru says it's empty
But that doesn't mean it's light.
IT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA IF LEONARD DIDN'T SAVE THE BACKGROUND TO THIS SONG 'FOR A RAINY DAY"
MIGHT BE BETTER, ALL ROUND, IF PEOPLE VOICED THEIR FEELINGS OPENLY, INSTEAD OF STUFFING THEM AND LETTING THEM FESTER INTO WARS... BUT THEN, LEONARD PROBABLY KNOWS THIS AND THAT'S WHY HE WROTE THESE LINES.
ON TO THE REALLY CLEVER PART: HIS USE OF THE WORD "MILITIA" TO ADD ANOTHER LAYER OF DISGUISE:
You left me with the dishes
And a baby in the bath
And you’re tight with the militia
And you wear their camouflage
I HAVE NO INSIDE KNOWLEDGE, BUT MY GUESS IS, EARLIER ON, THAT LINE READ: "You're tight with the RESISTANCE"
I COULD BE WRONG, BUT THAT'S MY FEELING. BUT SOMETHING MADE HIM CHANGE IT TO "MILITIA" WHICH IMPLIES, LET'S SEE, REDNECKS, CRAZIES, RIGHT WING FANATICS, MAD BOMBERS, EXTREMISTS, etc.
ON THE OTHER HAND, MILITIA IS VAGUE. THERE ARE, SUPPOSEDLY, LEFT-WING MILITIAS OUT THERE AS WELL
"RESISTANCE" WOULD HAVE IMPLIED THAT THIS WOMAN LEFT HIM TO JOIN AN ETHICAL CAUSE, A MORAL CAMPAIGH AGAINST OPPRESSION. LEAVING HIM TO WASH THE DISHES AND THE BABY.
HAD HE SAID "RESISTANCE" -- WELL, THEN THE NEXT LINES WOULD BE CLEARER AND MAKE MORE SENSE:
Well I guess that makes us equal
But I want to march with you
It’s just an extra to the sequel
To the old, Red, White & Blue
SO LEONARD WANTS TO MARCH WITH "THE MILITIA" -- WHICH MILITIA IS HE TALKING ABOUT?
IS HE CONFUSING RIGHT AND LEFT, HERE? WOULD HE FALL BACK ON THE POPULAR ARGUMENT THAT "RIGHT AND LEFT" ARE BASICALLY THE SAME? THAT EVERYONE WHO FIGHTS IS AN EXTREMIST, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'RE FIGHTING FOR OR AGAINST?
SO ONCE AGAIN -- WHICH SIDE IS HE FIGHTING FOR?
AND HERE COMES THE CONCLUSION, DELIVERED LIKE A PROPHESY:
It's gonna be September now
For many years to come
Many hearts adjusting
To that strict September drum
I see the ghost of culture
With numbers on his wrist
Salute some new conclusion
That all of us have missed.
So let's drink to when it's over
And let's drink to when we meet
I'll be waiting on this corner
Where there used to be a street."
I'M NEITHER ATTACKING NOR SUPPORTING LEONARD -- BUT ISN'T IT INTERESTING HOW HIS SONGS, SOAKED IN IRONY AS THEY ARE, CAN JUST AS EASILY BE USED TO SUPPORT TYRANNY AS TO OPPOSE IT?
ISN'T THAT A MASTERFUL DISGUISE HE'S WEARING?
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:20 pm
by Fljotsdale
To my mind, the most important part of that song is the repeated:
"I'll be waiting on this corner where there used to be a street."
Our boy has been watching the news.
And I think the only side he is on is the side of humanity and compassion.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:50 am
by lightning
Is anybody able to save the mp3s of these new songs or are they made void deliberately? They appear as mp3 on my desktop but won't play after I try to save them.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:39 pm
by humanponysss2000
When talking about compassion, it's interesting that you use the quote for your signature "Oh chosen love, oh frozen love, oh tangle of matter and ghost..."
I think Leonard was having a Rosicrucian episode when he wrote that.
Angels, ghosts, demons, saints, all mixed together, and nobody knowing which is which.
It's a good description of the 4th dimension. The one we need to get out of now.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:29 pm
by Fljotsdale
Yeah, other people have commented on my sig because I'm an atheist (Anti-Theist in the extreme!), but I chose that for my sig, lol!
I chose it 'cos I like the song a LOT. It doesn't matter at all that it has 'spiritual' themes, or that they are all tangled up. It's just a good song.
I guess I'm more Humanist than anything, and these new lyrics of Cohen's strike me as humanist more than anything else.