Leonard Cohen : Thanks For The Dance

I was always working steady But I never called it art I got my shit together Meeting Christ and reading Marx It failed my little fire But it's bright the dying spark Go tell the young messiah What happens to the heart There's a mist of summer kisses Where I tried to double-park The rivalry was vicious The women were in charge It was nothing, it was business But it left an ugly mark I've come here to revisit What happens to the heart I was selling holy trinkets I was dressing kind of sharp Had a pussy in the kitchen And a panther in the yard In the prison of the gifted I was friendly with the guards So I never had to witness What happens to the heart I should have seen it coming After all I knew the chart Just to look at her was trouble It was trouble from the start Sure we played a stunning couple But I never liked the part It ain't pretty, it ain't subtle What happens to the heart Now the angel's got a fiddle The devil's got a harp Every soul is like a minnow Every mind is like a shark I've broken every window But the house, the house is dark I care but very little What happens to the heart Then I studied with this beggar He was filthy, he was scarred By the claws of many women He had failed to disregard No fable here no lesson No singing meadowlark Just a filthy beggar guessing What happens to the heart I was always working steady But I never called it art It was just some old convention Like the horse before the cart I had no trouble betting On the flood, against the ark You see, I knew about the ending What happens to the heart I was handy with a rifle My father's .303 I fought for something final Not the right to disagree

Moving On

I loved your face, I loved your hair Your T-shirts and your eveningwear As for the world, the job, the war I ditched them all to love you more And now you're gone, now you're gone As if there ever was a you Who broke the heart and made it new Who's moving on, who's kidding who I loved your moods, I loved the way They threatened every single day Your beauty ruled me, though I knew 'Twas more hormonal than the view And now you're gone, now you're gone As if there ever was a you Queen of lilac, Queen of blue Who's moving on, who's kidding who I loved your face, I loved your hair Your T-shirts and your eveningwear As for the world, the job, the war I ditched them all to love you more And now you're gone, now you're gone As if there ever was a you Who held me dying, pulled me through Who's moving on, who's kidding who Who's moving on, who's kidding who

The Night Of Santiago

She said she was a maiden That wasn't what I heard For the sake of conversation I took her at her word The lights went out behind us The fireflies undressed The broken sidewalk ended I touched her sleeping breasts They opened to me urgently Like lilies from the dead Behind a fine embroidery Her nipples rose like bread Then I took off my necktie And she took off her dress My belt and pistol set aside We tore away the rest The night of Santiago And I was passing through So I took her to the river As any man would do Her thighs they slipped away from me Like schools of startled fish Though I've forgotten half my life I still remember this Now, as a man I won't repeat The things she said aloud Except for this, my lips are sealed forever And for now And soon there's sand in every kiss And soon the dawn is ready And soon the night surrenders To a daffodil machete I gave her something pretty And I waited till she laughed I wasn't born a gypsy To make a woman sad The night of Santiago And I was passing through I took her to the river As any man would do The night of Santiago And I was passing through I took her to the river As any man would do I didn't fall in love of course It's never up to you But she was walking back and forth And I was passing through When I took her to the river In her virginal apparel When I took her to the river On that night of Santiago And yes she lied about it all Her children and her husband You were born to judge the world Forgive me but I wasn't The night of Santiago And I was passing through I took her to the river As any man would do The night of Santiago And I was passing through I took her to the river As any man would do

Thanks For The Dance

Thanks for the dance I'm sorry you're tired The evening has hardly begun Thanks for the dance Try to look inspired One-two-three, one-two-three, one There is a rose in your hair Your shoulders are bare You've been wearing this costume forever So turn up the music Pour out the wine Stop at the surface The surface is fine We don't need to go any deeper Thanks for the dance I hear that we're married One-two-three, one-two-three, one Thanks for the dance And the baby you carried It was almost a daughter or a son And there's nothing to do But to wonder if you Are as hopeless as me And as decent We're joined in the spirit Joined at the hip Joined in the panic Wondering if We've come to some sort Of agreement It was fine, it was fast We were first, we were last In line at the Temple of Pleasure But the green was so green And the blue was so blue I was so I And you were so you The crisis was light As a feather Thanks for the dance It was hell, it was swell, it was fun Thanks for all the dances One-two-three, one-two-three, one

It's Torn

I see you in windows That open so wide There's nothing beyond them And no one inside You kick off your sandals And shake out your hair The salt on your shoulders Like sparks in the air There's silt on your ankles And sand on your feet The river too shallow The ocean too deep You smile at your suffering The sweetest reprieve Why did you leave us? Why did you leave? You kick off your sandals And shake out your hair It's torn where you're dancing It's torn everywhere It's torn on the right And it's torn on the left It's torn in the centre Which few can accept It's torn where there's beauty It's torn where there's death It's torn where there's mercy But torn somewhat less It's torn in the highest From kingdom to crown The messages fly But the network is down Bruised at the shoulder And cut at the wrist The sea rushes home To its thimble of mist The opposites falter The spirals reverse And Eve must re-enter The sleep of her birth And up through the system The worlds are withdrawn From every dominion The mind stood upon And now that you told her And now that it's done The name has no number Not even the one Come gather the pieces All scattered and lost The lie in what's holy The light in what's not The story's been written The letter's been sealed You gave me a lily But now it's a field You kick off your sandals And shake out your hair It's torn where you're dancing It's torn everywhere

The Goal

I can't leave my house Or answer the phone I'm going down again But I'm not alone Settling at last Accounts of the soul This for the trash That paid in full As for the fall, it Began long ago Can't stop the rain Can't stop the snow I sit in my chair I look at the street The neighbor returns My smile of defeat I move with the leaves I shine with the chrome I'm almost alive I'm almost at home No one to follow And nothing to teach Except that the goal Falls short of the reach

Puppets

German puppets burnt the Jews Jewish puppets did not choose Puppet vultures eat the dead Puppet corpses they are fed Puppet winds and puppet waves Puppet sailors in their graves Puppet flower, puppet stem Puppet time dismantles them Puppet me and puppet you Puppet German, puppet Jew Puppet presidents command Puppet troops to burn the land Puppet fire, puppet flames Feed on all the puppet names Puppet lovers in their bliss Turn away from all of this Puppet reader shakes his head Takes his puppet wife to bed Puppet me and puppet you Puppet German, puppet Jew Puppet presidents command Puppet troops to burn the land Puppet fire, puppet flames Feed on all the puppet names Puppet night comes down to play The after-act to puppet day

The Hills

I can't make the hills The system is shot I'm living on pills For which I thank God My animal howls My angel's upset But I'm not allowed A trace of regret For someone will use The thing I could not be My heart will be hers Impersonally She'll step on the path She'll see what I mean My will cut in half And freedom between For this in a second Our lives will collide The endless suspended The door opened wide And she will be born To someone like you What I left undone She will certainly do I know she is coming And I know she will look And that is the longing And this is the hook I can't make the hills The system is shot I'm living on pills For which I thank God My page was too white My ink was too thinned The day wouldn't write But the night pencilled in But I know she's coming And I know she will look That is the longing This is the hook I know she is coming And I know she will look That is the longing And this is the hook I can't make the hills The system is shot I'm living on pills For which I thank God I sailed like a swan I sank like a rock But time is long gone Past my laughing stock I can't make the hills The system is shot I'm living on pills For which I thank God

Listen To The Hummingbird

Listen to the hummingbird Whose wings you cannot see Listen to the hummingbird Don't listen to me Listen to the butterfly Whose days but number three Listen to the butterfly Don't listen to me Listen to the mind of God Which doesn't need to be Listen to the mind of God Don't listen to me Listen to the hummingbird Whose wings you cannot see Listen to the hummingbird Don't listen to me