This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
I believe that you heard your master sing
When I was sick in bed
I suppose that he told you everything
That I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
Well, at least that's what you said
And now, do you come back to bring
Your prisoner wine and bread?
You met him at some temple
Where they take your clothes at the door
He was just a numberless man in a chair
Who'd just come back from the war
And you wrap up his tired face in your hair
And he hands you the apple core
Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bare
Of all the kisses we put on some time before
And he gave you a German Shepherd to walk
With a collar of leather and nails
And he never once made you explain or talk
About all of the little details
Such as who had a word and who had a rock
And who had you through the mails
Now your love is a secret all over the block
And it never stops, not even when your master fails
And he took you up in his aeroplane
Which he flew without any hands
And you cruised above the ribbons of rain
That drove the crowd from the stands
Then he killed the lights in a lonely lane
And an ape with angel glands
Erased the final wisps of pain
With the music of rubber bands
And now I hear your master sing
You kneel for him to come
His body is a golden string
That your body is hanging from
His body is a golden string
My body has grown numb
Oh, now you hear your master sing
Your shirt is all undone
And will you kneel beside this bed
That we polished so long ago
Before your master chose instead
To make my bed of snow?
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red
And you're speaking far too low
No, I can't make out what your master said
Before he made you go
And then I think you're playing far too rough
For a lady who's been to the moon
I've lain by this window long enough
You get used to an empty room
And your love is some dust in an old man's cup
Who is tapping his foot to a tune
And your thighs are ruined, you want too much
Let's say you came back some time too soon
I loved your master perfectly
And I taught him all that he knew
He was starving in some deep mystery
Like a man who is sure what is true
And I sent you to him with my guarantee
I could teach him something new
And I taught him how you would long for me
No matter what he said, no matter what you'd do
I believe that you heard your master sing
While I was sick in bed
I'm sure that he told you everything
I must keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
Well, at least that's what you said
And now, do you come back to bring
Your prisoner wine and bread?
When I was sick in bed
I suppose that he told you everything
That I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
Well, at least that's what you said
And now, do you come back to bring
Your prisoner wine and bread?
You met him at some temple
Where they take your clothes at the door
He was just a numberless man in a chair
Who'd just come back from the war
And you wrap up his tired face in your hair
And he hands you the apple core
Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bare
Of all the kisses we put on some time before
And he gave you a German Shepherd to walk
With a collar of leather and nails
And he never once made you explain or talk
About all of the little details
Such as who had a word and who had a rock
And who had you through the mails
Now your love is a secret all over the block
And it never stops, not even when your master fails
And he took you up in his aeroplane
Which he flew without any hands
And you cruised above the ribbons of rain
That drove the crowd from the stands
Then he killed the lights in a lonely lane
And an ape with angel glands
Erased the final wisps of pain
With the music of rubber bands
And now I hear your master sing
You kneel for him to come
His body is a golden string
That your body is hanging from
His body is a golden string
My body has grown numb
Oh, now you hear your master sing
Your shirt is all undone
And will you kneel beside this bed
That we polished so long ago
Before your master chose instead
To make my bed of snow?
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red
And you're speaking far too low
No, I can't make out what your master said
Before he made you go
And then I think you're playing far too rough
For a lady who's been to the moon
I've lain by this window long enough
You get used to an empty room
And your love is some dust in an old man's cup
Who is tapping his foot to a tune
And your thighs are ruined, you want too much
Let's say you came back some time too soon
I loved your master perfectly
And I taught him all that he knew
He was starving in some deep mystery
Like a man who is sure what is true
And I sent you to him with my guarantee
I could teach him something new
And I taught him how you would long for me
No matter what he said, no matter what you'd do
I believe that you heard your master sing
While I was sick in bed
I'm sure that he told you everything
I must keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
Well, at least that's what you said
And now, do you come back to bring
Your prisoner wine and bread?
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I second that emotion ...Sorry... It is a massively under-rated song though, I can't understand why you never see it on the compilations. I just found this which might help: leonardcohenfiles.com/jfmaster.html
The song is clearly about a love triangle but I've often wondered if the master and the prisoner are actually the same person. It could be interpretated as being about the singers personality changing so he doesn't always identify with himself. Perhaps in a manic depressive way since there is such an obvious contrast between the two personas. The Master is wild, free but also destructive and in some ways broken while the prisoner is quiet, thoughtful, used to loneliness, sick but also in the end the one the lover actually cares about.
If they are same person then when the Prisoner persona says that the Master persona told the lover everything he keeps locked away in his head which would could be taken quite literally as the Master telling all the Lover his secrets which the Prisoner then regrets.
this is the most beautiful song i have ever heard
I never heard this song, I just stumbled upon the lyrics. I think it's kind of a partner to Famour Blue Raincoat, like a sequel of a prequel (I don't know which was written first), but with a kind of "Story of O" thing going on. Both songs seem to be about a woman bouncing between two friends (like Sir Stephen and Rene?) who returns to her original lover a changed woman, longing more for the alternate than for the singer. While in the second to last verse, the singer seems confident that he will be the woman's preference, the question of the final line may mean he's not so sure where he affections lie anymore.
Having never heard the song, I could be way off the mark. Now I'll have to track it down and listen to it, and maybe revise me opinoin.
i get a cyrano de bergerac vibe from it. the narrator taught the "master" everything he knew, such as how to seduce and talk beautifully and love a woman, and now he has stolen her away from him and he lies sick, waiting for her to return
This has always been one of my favorites, and I've always understood it to be from the perspective of the person who was first left/sexually betrayed in a three-way relationship, using Cohen's wonderful way of mythologizing the small importances of an individual life. "You" have left me and followed your master, because you found ecstasy with him (been to the moon). And I here am still your prisoner, and now you know how it feels, because he has sent you away as well because he doesn't feel he has your complete loyalty, since part of you continues to long for me. But even so, you aren't coming back to me fully, so I will likely only get a bare level of sustenance from your return (I am sick in bed / your thighs are ruined/ and you only bring me wine and bread.)
I agree with BlackEyedAngel that this song is in many ways a partner with Famous Blue Raincoat -- it asks the same essential question: What do you do/how can you feel when you are betrayed and then your lover returns?
I think the narrator is God, the master is mammon, and the subject is humankind. God taught humans everything, then humans turned from God and sought mammon and found it amazing, but God knew humans would come back once they learned the shallowness of mammon. Mammon is represented mostly by sex, but also by war, planes, cars and so on. The snowy bed that used to be polished (used a lot) is God being ignored - used to an empty room. In fact we learn that God sent humans to mammon just to learn that it's not all it's cut out to be - and he guarantees that no matter how we interact with it,m it will never be as good as God.
I think the master and the slave are one and the same. But the master is when he feels reciprocated love; he feels powerful, and even sometimes abuses his power. When love is lost, he is weak
oh my god. I just listened to this for the first time. and then 3 times in a row afterwards. stunned...
It is about the clash, the ever continuing fight between knowledge and wiseness and the temptation that every single human being feels to know everything. The man who is " sick in bed " is the wise man who holds a knowledge that is not yet ready to be spread. The master is the man who is full of knowledge and is spreading it in order to gain personnal gratification - because he is unwise. He tells everything to his student even though the student is most probably not wise enough to handle the knowledge given to him. There is a strong religious side to this song, in my opinion. The roman catholic God is a symbol of wisdom while Satan is one of knowledge. Satan and his demons often offer knowledge in order to corrupt human beings. It's a warning about what might happen one day - or what has already happened. While knowledge is the prime tool towards evolution, it is also creating all sorts of evil in the process. Also, perhaps is it a hint, the " lady who went to the moon " is most probably the USA.
I doubt the "lady who went to the moon" is a reference to the USA, considering the song was written in 1967, two years before the moon landing.
I don't think true knowledge corrupts anyone. Master is rather a "man who is sure what is true"; in other words, Master is a person who thinks he knows everything. Ambiguous, intriguing lyrics; both a love triangle and a religious master - disciple -relationship, or actually three of of them (narrator teaching Master, narrator teaching the woman, Master teaching the woman). Master could also be a side of Cohen's personality.