Leonard Cohen Talks About First New Album of the Decade

[KjeXXXer]

These tunes sound bitching, I reckon! Just over a month till my next Cohen gig, I SHALL be at the very front with my hat and trenchcoat and all the rest.

[tomsakic]

Unfortunately, it seems that you can't hear MP3s at ~greg's site anymore, its URL at http://relay.twoshakesofalambstail.com is unavailable anymore, probably because ~greg is gone.

[lizzytysh]

Oh, no, I'm so sorry to hear that. That was such a gift that ~greg had left us, and I'm guessing people didn't copy & paste from there, but just went and read it.

[tomsakic]

It seems that only MP3s of rare songs are gone, at http://relay.twoshakesofalambstail.com/

Jarkko checked and the complete archive of the old alt-music newsgroup is still as archived and indexed by ~greg at http://web.archive.org/web/200807140553 ... stail.com/

[hadley]

Thanks for posting the lyrics to 'The Street', Jarkko, one of those rare moments where you unexpectedly encounter something of such genius that it totally flaws you!

I so hope he records a version of the recital of 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' on this album, in my opinion it's a real masterpiece and is arguably as beautiful as anything he has ever committed to disc. And I'm sure a "complete" recorded version of Hallelujah with all the verses would hardly hurt sales

[cohenfreek]

For a long time I've wished that Leonard would attempt a bonafide "concept album" that told a particular "story" and combined both songs and spoken word compositions. Not to mess with Leonard's creative process, but I've always thought he would blow us away if he attempted an album like this. Here's hoping one day...

[tomsakic]

2. "Taken Out Of Egypt": the original version of "I Can't Forget", discarded in 1987-88. Also titled at one point as "Born in Chains".

"[...] that song started off as a song about the exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt. As a metaphor for the journey of the soul from bondage into freedom. It started out, I was born in chains but I was taken out of Egypt / I was bound to a burden but the burden it was raised / Lord I can no longer keep this secret / Blessed is the name, the name be praised. It went on like that for a long, long time, and I went into the studio and tried to sing this song about how "I was born in chains and I was taken..." But I wasn't born in chains and I wasn't taken out of Egypt, and not only that, but I was on the edge of what was going to become a very serious nervous breakdown. So I hadn't had the burden lifted and the whole thing was a lie! It was wishful thinking. And this song, "Taken Out of Egypt," took months and months to write. Nobody believes me when I say these things but I have the notebooks and I don't fill them in an evening. And there were many of them. So it wasn't as if I had an endless supply of songs: I had to start over. And I was saying to myself, "What is my life?" and that's when I started writing that lyric: I stumble out of bed / I got ready for the struggle / I smoked a cigarette / And I tightened up my gut / I said this can't be me / Must be my double / And I can't forget / I can't forget / But I don't remember what. That was really true."
(Leonard Cohen, interviewed by Mark Rowland, "Leonard Cohen's Nervous Breakthrough", Musician, July 1988
Source: http://www.leonardcohenlive.com/storero ... ttakes.htm

Leonard can be heard mumbling these lines "I was born in chains" etc. to the unknown melody in Lian Lunson's 2005 documentary Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. Obviously, at the time of film's shooting he was working again on the song.

This song was played yesterday afternoon at the soundcheck in Zagreb, in its full glory. Ed Sanders said he recorded demo version with Anjani few years back (probably in 2005-06, for Blue Alert).

I expect it to be premiered in next shows, sadly didn't happend on the very first night of the tour as I hoped. You can see it's first in the alternative songs on the setlist.

[bridger15]

...
"Taken Out Of Egypt": the original version of "I Can't Forget", discarded in 1987-88. Also titled at one point as "Born in Chains".
...
I expect it to be premiered in next shows, sadly didn't happend on the very first night of the tour as I hoped. You can see it's first in the alternative songs on the setlist.

Ah, Tom. I hope so!

[MaryB]

To hear this song performed live would be the ultimate bonus. Thank you for the info Tom!

[tomsakic]

I can't recall any line, excpet the chorus about "blessed one" and "born in chains". The song went like: LC's verse, Sharon's verse, Hattie's verse, Charley's verse, Leonard, with chorus in the between. It reminded me on black gospel songs I know from US movies, a little touch of Joe Cocker also.

[MaryB]

Sounds better and better Tom.

[tomsakic]

As premiered in Salzburg, July 27, 2010. Shot by Maarten from the 2nd row.

Born In Chains is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv6aZ945StQ

Thanks Maarten

[Jokapaikanapina]

The Darkness has a slightly chilling effect on me and I hope that the final version will be somewhat different. I bet that the instrumentation at least will be. Feels So Good comes across as just a good song, sounding nice and all, but nothing really special. But Born In Chains really sounds amazing and I really hope that the studio version will have the three verses of the women too, and also sung by them.

I bet that this album will musically be a step away from the last two ones. It's gonna have a band feeling without too too many programmed sequences and synthesizers. These huge tours and playing with a band will definately contribute to the overall sound.

[tomsakic]

Feels So Good in Salzburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5frYMa1aI

[tomsakic]

So, we can add new song to our list: brand new song MY OH MY was tried out on the sound checks in Helsinki (August 10) and Ghent (2nd day, August 22, and 3rd day, August 23). It's also blues, it seems, very similar to Feels So Good.