leonardcohenforum.com

In “So Long Marianne” Leonard writes:

“I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web / is fastening my ankle to a stone.”

My question regarding this is, is the stone fixed (with the rope thereby preventing Leonard from falling or jumping), or is the stone to be thrown (by Marianne)?


And in “Night Comes On” Leonard writes:

“I lie in her arms and says, When I'm gone / I'll be yours, yours for a song”

Does the phrase “for a song” denote a time period or an exchange rate?

I’d like to hear others’ thoughts on these…

Welcome to the Board zword,...........it could be taken either way
the web must refer to marriage
the song seems to be the romantic version
Georges

I have often wondered the same thing about the line from Marianne, Zword, so can't really help you there. I think the spider's web is the long-term relationship, so it would seem to be trapping the singer, but then I don't understand the reference to the ledge.

'Yours for a song' I have always taken to be an exchange rate, as in 'going for a song' i.e. going cheaply. Of course, in Leonard's case, this could also be taken literally to mean if he wrote a song for her.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys, oh, and one more.

In "There is a War" (from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY), Leonard writes:

Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love";
I call it service.

(at least that's how it's reproduced at LeonardCohenFiles.Com)

What I'm unclear on here is, is the "I call it service" comment hers, or just his thoughts? The punctuation used above would suggest that the comment is his (silently), though it could go either way. This complicates things a bit, though, because the version on COHEN LIVE says:

Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love";
I call it room service.

Still same idea there, but, in Stranger Music (pg. 202) it is reproduced as:

I rise up from her arms, she says, "I guess you call this love. I call it Room Service."

That punctuation gives the alternate impression. Any chance we can get an official word on this one or anyone have any thoughts?

Hi Zword,

I've always taken it to be an expression of her thoughts on both phrases, a disgruntled expression of her discontent with their relationship. However, that would be something that he would just as likely be picking up on, even if he wasn't willing to deal with it, and could comment on her lack of emotional investment in their [sexual] exchange ~ the "Room" presumably the bedroom.

When she says, "I guess you....," that sets up the structure for an alternate view to follow ~ most likely her own, i.e. "I call it......"so I've always interpreted it as her held-back anger coming out with the second phrase.

'did my singing please you?'
'and later they brought me this song'
'but I swear by this song'
'I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song'
'they're gone like the smoke, they're gone like this song'
'from this broken hill I will sing to you'
'I'll stand before the Lord of song'
'I'm just paying my rent every day in the tower of song'
'though I take my song from a withered limb'

zword.... you ask about 'yours for a song'.
I believe that Leonard uses his songs as exchange rates. He sometimes threatens with his songs, sometimes he uses them as a bartering tool, sometimes he hides behind the song and sometimes he asks for the song.
Songs are his currency and he refers to his songs within his songs. He is protecting them within the verses.

This is just one opinion. He has full control and the songs are his for me to listen to at his will. I am only borrowing the song for a short duration for I have nothing to barter with.
Pete

The reproduction of the "New Skin for the Old Ceremony" lyrics in the book Stranger Music is indeed very strange...

Instead of:

"Many men have loved the bells
You fastened to the rein..."

the book says:

"Many men have loved the bells
You fastened to the rain..."

which makes no sense, it just sounds the same.

And instead of:

"Then let the other selves be wrong, yeah, let them manifest and come
till every taste is on the tongue..."

the book says:

"Then let the other selves be rung, yes, let them manifest and come
'til every taste is on the tongue..."

this again sounds similar but makes even less sense.

...Can someone explain this?

Matjaz

er.., the words they used were wrung?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes!


...But why?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They must have been written (transcripted) from the songs and the sounding wrong word having been written from a non cohen follower. All the words sound the same, but have diffrent meanings. I think this can be the only logical reason.
Georges

Yeah, that could be it...

But it seems very strange that people who were putting out the book just asked someone to transcribe the songs by ear instead of asking Leonard to provide official lyrics.
There are also some other variations in the lyrics, for example:

The book says:

"...I know that you can make it, you can
make it on your own."

And what Leonard really sings here is:

"...I know you're gonna make it,
make it on your own."

The book says:

"...You were the sensitive woman
I was Sigmund Freud..."

And Leonard of course sings:

"...You were the sensetive woman
I was the very reverend Freud..."


There are more examples like this that indicate that the lyrics for the book were indeed provided by Leonard himself (-> These variations strongly suggest that the lyrics weren't transcribed by ear).

So it seems there is no logical explanation...

For what it's worth, I learned "The Bells" by hearing it sung, and I always envisioned the word as "rain". Somehow the idea of a beautiful (unobtainable?) woman fastening bells to the rain invoked a kind of mystical wringing of beauty and light from a phenomenon usually associated with bleak grayness.

I thought that " the bells you fastened to the rain" meant that he was so awed by her it seemed that her powers gave the rain its tinkling sound.

"Reverend Freud"? I always heard that as "reverent Freud..."