Genius Lyrics
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boygenius – Leonard Cohen
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[Verse 1: Dacus] / On the on-ramp, you said / "If you love me, you will listen to this song" / And I could tell that you were serious / So I didn't tell you you were driving the
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Leonard Cohen – Suzanne
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Suzanne is the first track on Leonard Cohen’s 1967 debut album: Songs of Leonard Cohen. It was first published as a poem in Cohen’s 1966 collection “Parasites of Heaven”.
It
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Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
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By some interpretations, Cohen is in an argument with God. King David’s “hallelujah,” in the book of Psalms, is said to have pleased the Lord. Cohen addresses God: “But you don’t
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Leonard Cohen – Field Commander Cohen
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Cohen, referring to himself in the third person as a soldier, has always embodied both sides of the lover/fighter dichotomy. This song was written shortly after his volunteering to
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Leonard Cohen – Dance Me to the End of Love
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From the 1984 album Various Positions, this classic by poet Leonard Cohen generated much debate and discussions as to the meaning and the background of the song.
While different
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Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
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The title track to Leonard Cohen’s most recent album, announced on his 82nd birthday, “delves into an unflinching exploration of the religious mind,” according to a press release.
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Leonard Cohen – Leaving the Table
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Reconciliation is a key theme in Leonard Cohen’s lyrics. In this song, Cohen seems to let go of some form of conflict or battle with an unspecified person. He is ‘leaving the table
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Leonard Cohen – Everybody Knows
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From Leonard Cohen’s iconic I’m Your Man album.
A “dark” song, which some perceive as his pessimistic view of the world, with multiple references to social issues.
Written in
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Leonard Cohen – Master Song
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[Verse 1] / 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
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Leonard Cohen – The Future
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The title track of the album The Future, released in 1992, this is one of Leonard Cohen’s darkest and most mysterious songs.
The ambiguous singer is describing a prophetic
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Leonard Cohen – The Law
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This song is from Cohen’s 7th album, Various Positions, released in 1984. The song speaks of the chains of love, and the preordained rules which we must follow, painful tho at
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Leonard Cohen – First We Take Manhattan
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Initially written for and recorded in 1987 by his ex backup singer Jennifer Warnes.
The song became a staple in Leonard Cohen’s concerts, and a major source of discussion among
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Leonard Cohen – On the Level
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[Verse 1] / I knew that it was wrong / I didn't have a doubt / I was dying to get back home / And you were starting out / I said I best be moving on / You said we have all day
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Leonard Cohen – I'm Your Man
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Per Leonard Cohen (more here):
It’s a song that is a response to a question that has been perplexing men for 5 or 6,000 years. That is the question: “What does a woman want?”. I
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Leonard Cohen – Traveling Light
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An early version of the lyrics is found in Cohen’s poetry collection Book of Longing (2006).
In the song, a Greek bouzouki is heard. Cohen has spent some years of his early life
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Leonard Cohen – The Partisan
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This song is an adaptation made by Hy Zaret of “La Complainte du Partisan” written in 1943, by Emmanuel D'Astier de la Vigerie (called “Bernard” in the French Resistance) and Anna
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Leonard Cohen – Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
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On the 2009 Greatest Hits compilation textbook, Leonard wrote:
This song arises from an over-used bed in the Penn Terminal Hotel in 1966. The room is too hot. I can’t open the
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Leonard Cohen – Bird on the Wire
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This is the opening song to 1969’s Songs from a Room. It’s a kind of Cohen’s own “My Way.” Country musician Kris Kristofferson has stated he wants the first three lines on his
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Leonard Cohen – Teachers
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[Verse 1] / I met a woman long ago / Her hair the black that black can go / Are you a teacher of the heart? / Soft, she answered no / [Verse 2] / I met a girl across the sea / Her
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Leonard Cohen – Night Comes On
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[Verse 1] / I went down to the place where I knew she lay waiting / Under the marble and the snow / I said, "Mother I'm frightened, the thunder and the lightning / I'll never come
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Leonard Cohen – Democracy
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A very “American” song using a dark past to bring hope for a better future in the USA, narrated/sung by a Canadian poet, who captures the essence of this country’s continuous
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Leonard Cohen – The Gypsy's Wife
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A song from Leonard Cohen’s 1979 album Recent Songs, which Leonard Cohen later claimed was his favorite.
This was the first album to feature Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson
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Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat
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From the acclaimed 1971 album Songs of Love and Hate – a very personal song in a form of a letter from one side of a love triangle to another, invoking multiple images including
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The Dreadnoughts – Leonard Cohen
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[Verse 1] / Well you're living in disgrace, now heaven's in your face, turn to, turn to / When you're down to fucking walking, your hands are in your pocket, turn to, turn to / And
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Leonard Cohen – Stories of the Street
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Presuming this song to be inspired, at least in part, by Leonard Cohen’s 1961 Havana Adventure, Cohen’s contextualization of the trip to Mark Rowland in Musician is important:
I
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Leonard Cohen – The Guests
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One by one the guests arrive / The guests are coming through / The open-hearted many / The broken-hearted few / And no one knows where the night is goin' / And no one knows where
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Leonard Cohen – One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
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This song was inspired by Nico. Sylvie Simmons sums up the song as follows:
“One of Us Cannot Be Wrong”, Leonard’s wryly humorous song, inspired by Nico, about a man battered but
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