alexandra leaving

Leonard Cohen's recent albums - share your views with others!
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greta
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alexandra leaving

Post by greta »

i like very much the way river's disguise expressed what he thinks/feels about the song. Altough there were more than one ideas, i saw the song much more deeper than i had before...

Now if anybody would be so kind and analyze Alaxandra leaving...it has been on my mind a lot lately...I'd like to see what you people think about it

thanks
jurica
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Post by jurica »

i think you should read an article on files:

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/cavafy.html

...it's a good start. i don't think this poem intended to do much more than show how universal emotion loss is. how it makes little difference what it is you're losing. a city or a woman - loss is loss.
kieron
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Post by kieron »

Hi Greta,
I hope you are well.

Alexandra leaving for me signifies loss. To me it is a song about death of a beloved, someone who has been with you for a significant part of your life, a person who has shared, loved, cried, laughed and lost with you, I feel regret, happiness, pity, loss, and most of all comforting love in this song. I adore this piece and it always lifts me through its grounding. It teaches me an appreciatation and also personally I believe it prepares me for such an occaison in its own little way. What I find magical about this tune is that I cannot escape it. It draws me to it and I play it and it gives me such a lift to absorb it, a sense of realism in its applicaton in my life, a very powerful stimulant.

I hope this helps, let us know what this song means to you and as you can see I understand how possesive and personal this piece is.

By the way, I have had this discussion with a small group of friends and out of 4, all agreed loss (easy) but three agreed death in some sense.

K
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greta
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Post by greta »

Jurica, thanks for the link...Reading the original poem helped a lot :)

Kieron, i agree that this song deals with loss and grief...
but i'm not really sure how just yet..i'll have to think about it a little more
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

greta wrote:Jurica, thanks for the link...Reading the original poem helped a lot :)

Kieron, i agree that this song deals with loss and grief...
but i'm not really sure how just yet..i'll have to think about it a little more
To me this means a man who has been in this situation before, he knows that the woman he is in love with is driffting away, even before she knows it herself. He knows the signs. a beautiful and despairing song.
Rob, Cardiff
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Joe Way
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Post by Joe Way »

Hi All,

It may be helpful to go back and look at the original sources for Cavafy's poem and Leonard's adaptation and song. The original springs from Plutarch's Lives and relates to:

"The poem refers to Plutarch's story that,
when Antony was besieged in Alexandria
by Octavian, he heard the sounds of instruments
and voices, which made its way through the city,
and then passed out; the god Bacchus (Dionysus),
Antony's protector, was deserting him."

Shakespeare used this in his play, "Antony and Cleopatra." There is a scene where Cleopatra has barracaded herself in a tower to try to protect herself from Octavian's onslaught. Antony, mortally wounded, asks to be taken to Cleopatra where she refuses to open the door and insists that Antony be hoisted up by ropes. Shakespeare's language in these passages is some of the most moving (in my opinion) in all his work. The farewell scene between Antony and Cleopatra is filled with imagery that resonates with Leonard's beautiful song.

Here is a link to John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Lives:

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin ... up?num=674

Joe
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wildrose
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Post by wildrose »

This post might be a little bit late, but I would like to add something to it.
I bought the Leonard Cohen Essential album and at that time I had an affair with a woman, called Alexandra. We broke up only one day after I'd bought the album, but until then I hadn't seen the song on the album. Since then I've always been skipping the song.
Outside I sit on the stone steps
With nothing much to do
Forlorn and exhausted, baby
By the absence of you

Brompton Oratory - Nick Cave
Arno
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Post by Arno »

not too late at all...
I know how one can feel about certain songs, there are songs that i skip too...
For example Kathys Song by Paul Simon since thats her name and Leaving on a jet plane since thats exactly what she'll do on friday... only that she wont wear my ring when she comes back (not that she ever did)... there is a (beautiful) version by sheryl crow of leaving on a jet plane and I only listened to it one time and never had the guts to listen to it again :?

but in any way, Alexandra Leaving is one of the most beautiful songs in my opinion and maybe you could give it a try... I hope you will be able to enjoy that song someday...

take care,

Arno
songbird
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Post by songbird »

I know the song is about loss and grief and how there is nothing really too loose..
I always thought the guy was seeing the woman he loved with some one else....
"say good bye to alexandra leaving alexandra leaving wiht her lord"
The song makes me think of my ex bf. I used to cry whenever I heard it.
I think the writer is trying to accept that his lover was with him andhe shoudlnt' deny they were together just cherish the time he had with her.....
I loved you for your beauty that doesn't make a fool of me,
You were in it for your beauty too.

While pursueing your dreams, confront your nightmares.

People hold on to the past, because they are afraid of the future.
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icecreamtruck
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Post by icecreamtruck »

The first time I heard this song I was not the biggest Leonard Cohen fan. Obviously I am now if I am posting here. My parents didn't like 10 New Songs so I was left to discover it on my own. I discovered it one song at a time. This was the first one. I took it to mean "Say goobye to ANDREA leaving" and "Say goodbye to ANDREA gone." I think it means get over that she's leaving and get over that she's gone. Just GET OVER IT!
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

:lol: icecreamtruck ~ What more can you say, right :wink: :lol: ? Your fortuitous means of discovering Leonard reminds me of the truth in the saying here that, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

~ Lizzy
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ForYourSmile
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Post by ForYourSmile »

For Shakespeare, Hercules leaves Antony: a soldier says "Tis the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd, now leaves him ", for Kavafis, Antony loses a city, for Cohen, a woman leaves us.

As him already did with "El pequeño Vals Vienés" of Lorca, the adaptation seems to be totally free, some common images are observed alone, then I realize that the essence is, and the result is wonderful.

The same feelings of loss of something dear, which we will not be able to recover, with his longing "exquisite music", and also feeling decline. The loss is definitive.

The death is present. We know Antony's end. "Alexandra living with her lord" in the song and also the end was long "As someone long prepared for this happen", "... for the occasion".

Cohen feels old, extremely pessimistic and sincere (no new) he thinks over the death that of some dear being or in himself and expresses it doing art. A beautiful song.

Recently I have said goodbye of my father, we have had time to speak, but the loss has been painful and I long for him.

Pessimistic and sincere Cohen, also brave and clear. He doesn't depress me, he has never done it. He has warned me and has amused me (like my father).

Thank you Mr. Cohen.

Toni

Well, this is a song, each one can have his own interpretation.
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

Dear Toni ~

I was very touched by the way you spoke of Leonard, compared him to your father, and thanked him. A very dear tribute to both of them. I'm sorry to hear of your father's loss. It's very clear how much you love him.

~ Elizabeth
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Lily_Marlene
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Post by Lily_Marlene »

[/quote]
To me this means a man who has been in this situation before, he knows that the woman he is in love with is driffting away, even before she knows it herself. He knows the signs. a beautiful and despairing song.
Rob, Cardiff[/quote]


I love your interpretation of Alexandra Leaving!

I have a feeling that Alexandra is someone who was at one time a very grounded person. Through years of being unappreciated by lovers, she is always on the verge of perhaps leaving her own peace of mind and self worth. Finally, Alexandra has drifted into a state of "lost". Leonard, the observer of Alexandra's life, is witness to her destruction. He is capable of seeing her meaning and acknowledges that others have not. Each failed and unappreciated relationship is Alexandra leaving. Alexandra lost, is Alexandra giving up on physical relationships. Perhaps she turns away from romance, and moves to the mountains to build a truly loving relationship with God. :?: :?: :?

I may be wrong, but that's the vision I have every time I hear Alexandra Leaving.
"For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds'

- William Shakespeare
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