| Leonard Cohen – Story of Isaac Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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He explains it in two lines at the beginning of a live version from "Live Songs" : "This is a song called The Story of Issac, and it's about those who would, ah, sacrifice one generation on behalf of another." Later in the lyrics, he admonishes this practice: "You who build these altars now to sacrifice our children, you must not do it anymore..." |
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| Leonard Cohen – Winter Lady Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Just a beautiful love song, yet a strong tinge of melancholy and nostalgia. | |
| Leonard Cohen – Bird on the Wire Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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He later changed the lyric to "like a knight bent down in some old-fashioned book," comparing this to "saving all his ribbons for thee" which seems to me like a kind of mandatory chivalry and devotion. He also added (at the same time) "it was the shape of our love that twisted me," which doesn't go as well with the knight, except that maybe he means he can't believe how head-over-heels he was to act with this sort of devotion, contrary to his intentions. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| If the third party is a woman ("my brother, my killer"), I guess she's really butch | |
| Leonard Cohen – A Thousand Kisses Deep Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Don't forget Leonard's first stanza with his live, spoken word edition from the concert tour of '08: You came to me this morning, and you handled me like meat You'd have to be a man to know how good that feels, how sweet My mirrored twin, my next of kin, I'd know you in my sleep And who but you would let me in A thousand kisses deep. Awesome! Always got a laugh during his concerts, and inevitably a standing ovation after this moving performance. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I believe I read about Mr. Cohen's friend who killed herself, so I think most of the song can be about her and Leonard's reflections on her. When I first heard this song, it sounded a lot like a female acquaintance of mine, who was later diagnosed with Bipolar disorder (manic depression) and I believe she had histrionic personality disorder as well. Histrionic personality disorder with mania: We've all met these girls or crossed their paths at one time. They make you feel that you're the most intelligent, insightful and desirable person on the planet, and they even take it right to the bedroom with you. Then they find the next man and repeat the process. This is not sustainable. If the pattern isn't broken, and left untreated, suicide is very common. ("many of you use her body...", but then she ends up alone, with no one calling, when she really needs it) I agree that the "father on trial" bit is a bit ambiguous, but some kind of molestation or early damaging manipulation seems reasonable. |
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