Joan of Arc lyrics

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 5:00 am

Please excuse me if this has been canvassed before here, I could not find anything about it elsewhere, or by searching this site... And, perhaps, it's just my hearing, or it's the crackly vinyl I'm playing, but, having listened to my LP Jennifer of Jennifer Warne's Famous Blue Raincoat, it sounds to me as if the final lines of Joan of Arc as sung by Leonard are not:

Myself I long for love and light,
but must it come so cruel, must it be so bright?

but, something close to:

Myself I long for love and lace
but must it come so cruel, must it be so brace/grace/something with rhymes with ace??!

Am I hearing things incorrectly - or is this a variation on the lyrics, and, if so, what is the actual wording?

thanks for any insight ( :

cheers, Adrian

smile · Post by **smile** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 3:40 pm

error

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:30 pm

Hi Adrian ~ Great to see you! You're feeling better, eh?

"Actual" is also highly relative if you're talking about performances. However, on a given album, it would be constant.

~ Lizzy

Byron · Post by **Byron** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 7:48 pm

Hello Adrian, I'm sitting here listening and listening to the 4th song. I understand your query. It is indistinct and difficult to pin the words down. I'll keep on playing it while I'm getting the family's dinner warmed up. I shall return.......

I have returned...... I am hearing 'light' and 'bright.' But I can fully appreciate your questioning of leonard's diction.

(stop sniggering at the back !!)

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:35 pm

thanks smile (for your concise reply), Elizabeth (yes, I'm well enough to be pulling out vinyl discs trying to decipher lyrics), and Byron (for following the empirical method and assuring me it's not a totally wild thought that I could be hearing something different in the grooves!) ~ it's much appreciated, and I will now return to playing the album, satisfied that "light" and "bright" are indeed preserved on this recording.

cheers

Adrian

Rhodes · Post by **Rhodes** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 7:36 pm

I had a listen last night, and the word 'light' sounds very much like 'lace', although 'bright' sounded clearer. I love that song, and in particular when Leonard Cohen starts singing.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:29 am

yes, that's how I heard it, too ~ and could not find any word that would fit as a rhyme for lace... ; of course, I have the same needle in my stylus as I did 20 years ago, so, that fact added little to my confidence level ( :

listening to this version of Joan of Arc, sung as a duet/dialogue between Joan and Fire, unlocked, for me, some deeper understanding of the allegory - 't'is indeed a profound song

cheers, Ad