I think this song is about Cohen's relationship with Joni Mitchell.
He sees himself alone in an apartment in New York without her. The Jew's harp is on the table in front of him. Its raining and the rain is pounding on the skylight above him. He is trying to write the lyrics for a song - this song.
The blueprint of what he thought would be his relationship with Joni has its edges rolled up - it is ruined.
And now we meet Joni or at least he remembers her. She has many lovers competing for her love. They are the soldiers of whom Cohen is one. They all originally think she is a regular woman that they can dominate only to find out one by one how powerful - almost godlike - she is, and how she dominates the relationships she forms.
Cohen thanks Joni for not hurting him too deeply when she ended their relationship and he makes note of the suffering among all the other soldiers who are wounded in their pursuit of love with her. (Graham Nash, for example.)
The wedding between old families symbolizes the relationship between Cohen, whose old family is that of the Jews, and Joni', whose old family is that of the gentiles. But the usual gender roles are reversed. The groom is the innocent one (Bethlehem) and the bride is the epitome of experience and jadedness (Babylon).
The purity that was left in each of them enflamed their relationship and their passion masked (veiled) for awhile the jadedness that Cohen ultimately found in Joni, represented by the serpent.
Cohen comments that Joni seems to be looking for someone who is as jaded as she is (Cain) rather than someone as pure hearted as Cohen (Jesus). So, having lost Joni, Cohen has returned to his roots, playing songs on his guitar (axe) and taking whichever woman likes his music home to bed. But these women are traditional women who look to the man to be the aggressor and dominator of the ralationship (Cain).
Cohen notes that the truth expressed in the press (which is filled with news of the bloody conflict in Viet Nam and thus is bound in blood and skin) is that Joni has retreated back to Laurel Canyon where the wilderness is gathering the hippies together again (the California music scene - Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Jackson Brown, Kris Kristopherson, etc.)
Now Cohen is back in his apartment and he hasn't written anything. His hand hasn't moved. But he knows that when he does write, he will tell the story of himself and Joni (the lovers rising up) and their return to earth (the mountains touching down). It's still raining and drumming on the skylight. And ironically, the story has now been told in the works of last year's man.
I think this song is about Cohen's relationship with Joni Mitchell.
He sees himself alone in an apartment in New York without her. The Jew's harp is on the table in front of him. Its raining and the rain is pounding on the skylight above him. He is trying to write the lyrics for a song - this song.
The blueprint of what he thought would be his relationship with Joni has its edges rolled up - it is ruined.
And now we meet Joni or at least he remembers her. She has many lovers competing for her love. They are the soldiers of whom Cohen is one. They all originally think she is a regular woman that they can dominate only to find out one by one how powerful - almost godlike - she is, and how she dominates the relationships she forms.
Cohen thanks Joni for not hurting him too deeply when she ended their relationship and he makes note of the suffering among all the other soldiers who are wounded in their pursuit of love with her. (Graham Nash, for example.)
The wedding between old families symbolizes the relationship between Cohen, whose old family is that of the Jews, and Joni', whose old family is that of the gentiles. But the usual gender roles are reversed. The groom is the innocent one (Bethlehem) and the bride is the epitome of experience and jadedness (Babylon).
The purity that was left in each of them enflamed their relationship and their passion masked (veiled) for awhile the jadedness that Cohen ultimately found in Joni, represented by the serpent.
Cohen comments that Joni seems to be looking for someone who is as jaded as she is (Cain) rather than someone as pure hearted as Cohen (Jesus). So, having lost Joni, Cohen has returned to his roots, playing songs on his guitar (axe) and taking whichever woman likes his music home to bed. But these women are traditional women who look to the man to be the aggressor and dominator of the ralationship (Cain).
Cohen notes that the truth expressed in the press (which is filled with news of the bloody conflict in Viet Nam and thus is bound in blood and skin) is that Joni has retreated back to Laurel Canyon where the wilderness is gathering the hippies together again (the California music scene - Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Jackson Brown, Kris Kristopherson, etc.)
Now Cohen is back in his apartment and he hasn't written anything. His hand hasn't moved. But he knows that when he does write, he will tell the story of himself and Joni (the lovers rising up) and their return to earth (the mountains touching down). It's still raining and drumming on the skylight. And ironically, the story has now been told in the works of last year's man.