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Leonard Cohen : Live Songs
1973

  1. Minute Prologue
  2. Passing Through
  3. Improvisation
  4. Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)
  5. Queen Victoria

Minute Prologue

A
A
I've been listening
C#m
To all the dissension
A
I've been listening
C#m
To all the pain
Bm
And I feel that no matter
Bm
What I do for you
A
It's going to come back again
C#m
F#m
But I think that I can heal it
C#m
F#m
But I think that I can heal it
C#m
D
I'm a fool, but I think that I can heal it
A
E
With this song

Passing Through

E
E
A
E
I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary
B7
"Do you hate mankind for what they done to you?"
E
E7
A
E
He said, "Talk of love not hate, things to do, it's getting late
B7
E
I've so little time and I'm only passing through"
E
Passing through, passing through
E7
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue
A
E
Glad that I ran into you
B7
E
Tell the people that you saw me passing through ("Come a little closer, friends") I saw Adam leave the Garden with an apple in his hand I said, "Now you're out, what are you gonna do?" "Plant some crops and pray for rain, maybe raise a little cane I'm an orphan now and I'm only passing through." ("and so are you") Passing through, passing through Sometimes happy, sometimes blue Glad that I ran into you Tell the people that you saw me passing through I was with Washington at Valley Ford, shivering in the snow I said, "How come the men here suffer like they do?" "Men will suffer, men will fight, even die for what is right Even though they now they're only passing through" Passing through, passing through Sometimes happy, sometimes blue Glad that I ran into you Tell the people that you saw me passing through I was at Franklin Roosevelt's side on the night before he died He said, "One world must come out of World War II" ("ah, the fool") "Yankee, Russian, white or tan," he said, "A man is still a man We're all on one road and we're only passing through" Passing through, passing through Sometimes happy, sometimes blue Glad that I ran into you Tell the people that you saw me passing through ("Let's do it one more time") Passing through, passing through Sometimes happy, sometimes blue Glad that I ran into you Tell the people that you saw me passing through

Improvisation

First couple of bars:
Am
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Am
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Am
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Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)

I was walking in New York City And I brushed up against the man in front of me I felt a cardboard placard on his back And when we passed a streetlight I could read it, it said "Please don't pass me by, I am blind But you can see, I've been blinded totally Please don't pass me by" I was walking along 7th Avenue When I came to 14th Street I saw on the corner Curious mutilations of the human form It was a school for handicapped people And there were cripples, and people in wheelchairs And crutches and it was snowing And I got this sense that the whole city was singing this
A
E
A
Oh please don't pass me by
A
E
A
Oh please don't pass me by
D
A
For I am blind, but you can see
D
A
Yes, I've been blinded totally
A
E
A
Oh please don't pass me by And you know as I was walking I thought it was them who were singing it I thought it was they who were singing it I thought it was the other who was singing it I thought it was someone else But as I moved along I knew it was me And that I was singing it to myself It went Oh please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, but you can see Yes, I've been blinded totally Oh please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by Now I know that you're sitting there Deep in your velvet seats And you're thinking "Uh, he's up there saying something that he thinks about But I'll never have to sing that song" But I promise you friends That you're going to be singing this song It may not be tonight It may not be tomorrow But one day You'll be on your knees And I want you to know the words When the time comes Because you're going to have to sing it To yourself Or to another Or to your brother You're going to have to learn How to sing this song, it goes Oh please don't pass me by Oh you don't have to sing this, not for you Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, but you can see Yes, I've been blinded oh totally Oh please don't pass me by Well I sing this for the Jews and the Gypsies And the smoke that they made And I sing this for the children of England Their faces so grave And I sing this for a saviour with no one to save Hey, won't you be naked for me? Hey, won't you be naked for me? It goes Please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, oh but you can see Yes, I've been blinded oh totally Oh now please don't pass me by Now there's nothing that I tell you that will help you connect The blood tortured night with the day that comes next But I want it to hurt you, I want it to end Oh, won't you be naked for me? Oh now Please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, oh but you, you can see Oh yes, I, I've been blinded oh totally Oh please don't pass me by Well I sing this song for you Blonde Beasts I sing this song for you Venuses Upon your shells on the foam of the sea And I sing this for the freaks And the cripples And the hunchback And the burned And the burning And the maimed And the broken And the torn And all of those that you talk about At the coffee tables At the meetings At the demonstrations On the streets In your music In my songs I mean the real ones that are burning I mean the real ones that are burning I say Please don't pass me by Oh now please don't pass me by For I am blind, yeah, but you, you can see But now, I've been blinded oh totally Oh now please don't pass me by I know that you still think its me I know that you think that there's somebody else I know that these words aren't yours But I tell you friends one day You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down on your knees You're gonna get down Oh please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, yeah but you, you can see Yes, I've been blinded oh totally Oh please don't pass me by Well you know I have my songs And I have my poems I have my book and I have the Army And sometimes I have your applause I make some money But you know what my friends I'm still out there on the corner I'm with the freaks I'm with the hunted I'm with the maimed, yes I'm with the torn I'm with the down I'm with the poor Come on now, oh Oh please don't pass me by I've got to go now friends But please don't pass me by For I am blind, yeah but you, you can see Oh, I've been blinded, I've been blinded totally Oh now please don't pass me by Now I want to take away my dignity Yes take my dignity, my friends Take my dignity Take my form Take my style Take my honour Take my courage Take my time Take my time Take my time 'Cause you know I'm with you singing this song And I wish you would I wish you would I wish you would go home with someone else Wish you'd go home with someone else I wish you'd go home with someone else Don't be the person that you came with Oh, don't be the person that you came with Oh don't be the person that you came with Ah, I'm not gonna be, I can't stand him I can't stand who I am That's why I've got to get down on my knees Because I can't make it by myself I'm not by myself anymore because... The man I was before... He was a tyrant He was a slave He was in chains He was broken And then he sang Oh please don't pass me by Oh please don't pass me by For I am blind, but you can see Yes, I've been blinded totally Oh please don't pass me by Well I hope I see you up there on the corner Yeah I hope as I go by that I hear you whispering with the breeze Because I'm going to leave you now I'm gonna find me someone new Find someone new And please don't pass me by

Queen Victoria

Am
Queen Victoria
F
My father and all his tobacco loved you
Am
I love you too in all your forms
F
The slim unlovely virgin floating among German beards
Am
The mean governess of the huge pink maps
F
F/e
E
The solitary mourner of a prince
Am
Queen Victoria
F
I am cold and rainy
Am
G
I am dirty as a glass roof in a train station
Am
I feel like an empty cast iron exhibition
F
I want ornaments on everything
F/e
E
Because my love, she gone with other boys
Am
Queen Victoria
F
Do you have a punishment under the white lace
Am
F
Will you be short with her, make her read those little Bibles
C
E/b
Will you spank her with a mechanical corset
Am
F
I want her pure as power, I want her skin slightly musty with petticoats
F/e
E
Will you wash the easy bidet out of her head?
Am
Queen Victoria
F
Am
I'm not much nourished by modern love
C
G
Will you come into my life
F
F/e
With your sorrow and your black carriages
E
And your perfect memories
Am
Queen Victoria
F
Am
The Twentieth Century belongs to you and me
C
E/b
Am
Let us be two severe giants not less lonely for our partnership
F
E
Who discoloured test tubes in the halls of Science
C
G
Who turned up unwelcome at every World's Fair
Am
G
Heavy with proverbs and corrections
Am
Confusing the star-dazed tourists
F
E
With our incomparable sense of loss