"## Baby, I been waitin' ##" "## I been waitin' night and day ##" "## I didn't see the town ##" "## Now I've waited half my life away ##" "## There were lots of invitations ##" "## I know you sent me some ##" "## But I was waitin' for the miracle ##" "## For the miracle to come ##" "## I know you really love me ##" "## But, you see, my hands look tied ##" "## And I know he must have hurt you ##" "## It must have hurt your pride ##" "## To have to stand beneath my window ##" "## With your bugle and your drum ##" "## And me, I'm up there waitin' ##" "## For the miracle ##" "## For the miracle to come ##" "I'm your man." "I'm your man." "I'm your man." "I'm your man." "If you want a boxer... poet, if you want a driver... singer..." "I was known as a monk." "As a ladies' man... writer, father, musician." "I'm your man." "Thank you." "[Band playing I'm Your Man]" "## If you want a lover ##" "## I'll do anything you ask me to ##" "## And if you want another kind of love ##" "## I'll wear a mask for you ##" "## If you want a partner, take my hand ##" "## Or if you want to strike me down in anger ##" "## Well, here I stand ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## If you want a boxer ##" "## I would step into the ring for you ##" "## And if you want a doctor ##" "## I'd examine every inch of you ##" "## And if you want a driver, climb inside ##" "## Or if you want to take me for a ride ##" "## Well, you know that you can ##" "## I'm your man ##" "The Canadian consulate... wanted to do a show on Leonard Cohen songs... and so I was asked if I'd do this." "Just the idea of being able to spend all that time... with this wonderful material just..." "I jumped right at it." "Every time I, you know, I'm in rehearsal... or see the show or whatever..." "I just get more and more blown away... by this poetry... by this..." "By this music." "'Cause it's just so beautiful." "## Fall at your feet, and I'll ##" "## Crawl at your feet, and I'll ##" "## Fall at your feet, and I'll ##" "## Fall at your feet ##" "## I'll claw at your heart ##" "## I'll tear at your sheet ##" "## And say please ##" "## Please ##" "## I'm your man ##" "When I first heard him..." "I lived in a town called Wangaratta... in, uh, Victoria... and it's a very conservative town." "And I went around to a friend's... a friend's house, and his big sister had..." "Songs of Love and Hate." "And, um... which was, I can't begin to tell you... what an extraordinary thing for someone to have..." "Songs of Love and Hate in Wangaratta is." "And she played it to me... and I just remember..." "Just..." "It just changed things." "I just took..." "It was..." "I just felt like the coolest person in the world... to have discovered this thing... that separated me from everybody... and everything in Wangaratta that I kind of detested." "## If you've gotta sleep a moment on the road ##" "## Well, I will steer for you ##" "## And if you want to work the streets alone ##" "## Well, I'll disappear for you ##" "## And if you want a father for your child ##" "## Or only want to walk with me a while ##" "## Across the sand ##" "## Yeah ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## Well, I'm your man ##" "## Yes, I'm your man ##" "## Yeah ##" "Thank you." "I was born in Montreal, 1934." "## I was born in chains, but I was taken out ##" "It was windy." "Dried leaves crashed against the walls... of the homeopathic hospital." "I was alive." "I was alive in the horror." "The givers huddled over me like a football team." "They started to give me things... and then to take them away." "The things that didn't fit, they chucked back... into the funnel of the void." "The gifts were many... and many were the warnings that went with them." ""We are giving you a great heart..." ""but if you drink wine..." ""you will begin to hate the world." ""The moon is your sister..." ""but if you take sleeping pills..." ""you will find yourself in the company of unhappy women." ""Every time you grab at love... you will lose a snowflake of your memory."" "I'm not a very nostalgic person." "You know, I don't really look at the past... and, you know, summon up regrets..." "Or self-congratulations or you know." "It just is not a mechanism that operates... very strongly in me." "So I neither have regrets... nor, um, you know... nor occasions for self-congratulations." "Leonard is this almost... prophetic voice in music for me." "He's got this almost biblical significance... and authority... which, I think, definitely comes from... his rather unique approach to working on songs... where a song will take years to mature." "He can really write." "I mean, he's..." "he's got that advantage... that he can actually write, I guess." "He just would spend days on every line... and every word and every..." "You know, he said he spends a year looking at a song." "You know, you don't have all the time in the world." "I say to myself, "Look, you know how long..." ""it takes you to get something done..." ""so you know, you know you've got to run through..." ""at least ten versions of this thing." ""You know, you have to write down..." ""what you're going to abandon." ""You've got to see how it works in the whole thing..." ""and then throw it away." "And then throw it away."" "Some people make doors." "Carpenters." "Some people, you know, cut hedges." "Some people are plumbers." "Some people are doctors and nurses." "Leonard Cohen you feel... is a songwriter." "He goes to work at that." "Now you don't get the sense from him..." ""Oh, I woke up one morning..." ""and this beautiful song was just... there it was, freshly painted."" "You know, with him, he goes..." ""No, no." "I..." "I had to wait a long time for that one."" "If it is your destiny to be this laborer... called a writer... you know, you know that you've got to go to work every day... but you also know that... you're not gonna get it every day." "You have to be prepared... but you really don't command the enterprise." "Sometimes when you no longer see yourself... as the hero of your own drama... you know, expecting victory after victory... and you understand deeply that this is not paradise... somehow we're, especially the privileged ones that we are... we somehow embrace the notion that this vale of tears... that it's perfectible." "That you're gonna get it all straight." "I found that things became a lot easier... when... when I... when I no longer expected to win." "I tried to put this into that song called..." "A Thousand Kisses Deep... you know, where you understand that..." "You abandon your masterpiece, and you... and you sink into the real masterpiece." "## The ponies run ##" "## The girls are young ##" "## The odds are there to beat ##" "## You win a while ##" "## And then it's done ##" "## Your little winning streak ##" "## And summoned now ##" "## To deal ##" "## With your invincible defeat ##" "## You live your life ##" "## As if it's real ##" "## A thousand kisses deep ##" "## I'm turnin' tricks ##" "## I'm gettin' fixed ##" "## I'm back on Boogie Street ##" "## You lose your grip ##" "## And then you slip ##" "## Into the masterpiece ##" "## And maybe I ##" "## Had miles to drive ##" "## And promises to keep ##" "## You ditch them all ##" "## To stay alive ##" "## A thousand kisses deep ##" "When I first met him... it was funny because I befriended his daughter... and she's, you know... one of my all-time greatest friends, and... but I was still admittedly a little nervous... to meet her dad, and to, you know... step into that world..." "And when I first met him... we went upstairs for coffee, and he was... the first vision I had of him was..." "He was wearing underwear... and he was boiling soba noodles, and he..." "He was boiling soba noodles... and he also had these little sausages... that he'd cooked... and that he was biting little bits off... and regurgitating onto a toothpick... and feeding this... this... this bird... that had fallen out of a nest... like a little baby bird..." "So he was trying to revive this baby bird." "And that was like the first thing I saw... was him, like, trying to revive... this poor baby bird." "It was just like a Leonard Cohen moment... and in his underwear." "And I was like, OK." "And then... and then he went off... after a pleasant conversation... and then I was sitting with Lorca, talking... and then all of a sudden, he reappeared... in full, like, Armani dress." "Like an Armani suit with his hair slicked back... and, like, these patent leather shoes or whatever... and I literally jumped out of my seat." "I was like, "oh, my God, it's Leonard Cohen."" "You know, kind of, it was 'cause he... he looked like he'd walked off... one of his album covers." "He's really, I don't know..." "He's a snappy dresser." "My father trained as an engineer... but somehow he fell into the clothing business... and manufacturing clothing." "So I grew up wearing suits." "I tried jeans, but, you know, I never felt comfortable... in blue jeans." "Never got it right." "So I just finally surrendered... you know, to the fact that I felt most comfortable... in a suit." "## Everybody knows that the dice were loaded ##" "## Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed ##" "## Everybody knows that the war is over ##" "## Everybody knows that the good guys lost ##" "## Everybody knows the fight was fixed ##" "## The poor stay poor, and the rich get rich ##" "## That's how it goes ##" "## And everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows that the boat is leaking ##" "## Everybody knows that the captain lied ##" "## Everybody's got this broken feeling ##" "## Like their father or their dog just died ##" "## Everybody's talking to their pockets ##" "## Everybody wants a box of chocolates ##" "## And a long stem rose ##" "## And everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## That's how it goes ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## That's how it goes ##" "The Wainwrights are... are bringing my work to life." "I really appreciate that." "## Knows ##" "## And everybody knows that it's now or never ##" "## Everybody knows that it's me or you ##" "## And everybody knows that you'll live forever ##" "## Oh, when you've done a line or two ##" "## Everybody knows the deal is rotten ##" "## Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton ##" "## For your ribbons and bows ##" "## And everybody knows ##" "## And everybody knows that the plague is coming ##" "## Everybody knows that it's moving fast ##" "## Everybody knows that the naked man and woman ##" "## Are just a shinin' article of the past ##" "## Everybody knows the scene is dead ##" "## There's gonna be a meter on your bed ##" "## That will disclose ##" "## What everybody knows ##" "## And everybody knows that you're in trouble ##" "## Everybody knows what you've been through ##" "## From the bloody cross on top of Calvary ##" "## To the beach in Malibu ##" "## Everybody knows it's comin' apart ##" "## Take one last look at this sacred heart ##" "## Before it blows ##" "## And everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## That's how it goes ##" "## And everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## Everybody knows ##" "## That's how it goes ##" "## And ##" "## And ##" "## Everybody ##" "## Knows ##" "There was a very beautiful young woman." "She was a poet... and she fell in love with... with my friend." "I would have preferred her to fall in love with me... but I enjoyed hearing the story from his lips." "And he showed me a poem that he wrote her... and I've never forgotten it." "It goes..." ""I am a dreamer..." ""living in the past of silver nights..." ""that came and swiftly went." ""Your lovely ghost still owns the power." "Your lovely ghost still owns the power."" "He was not insensitive to the honor... that he had received from her... but I thought the poem was beautiful." "And I saw the effect that it had on him... and I suppose it contributed to my investment... in the commitment, you know... to... to writing poems." "Please welcome Martha Wainwright." "## Now the swan ##" "## Floated on the English river ##" "## The rose of high romance, it opened wide ##" "## A suntanned woman yearned me through the summer ##" "## And the judges watched us from the other side ##" "## I told my mother, Mother, I must leave you ##" "## Preserve my room, but do not shed a tear ##" "## And should rumor of a shabby ending reach you ##" "## It was half my fault and half the atmosphere ##" "## But the rose I sickened with a scarlet fever ##" "## And the swan I tempted with a sense of shame ##" "## She said at last I was her finest lover ##" "## And if she withered, I would be to blame ##" "## The judges said, you missed it by a fraction ##" "## Rise up and brace your troops for the attack ##" "## The dreamers ride against the men of action ##" "## See the men of action falling back ##" "## But I lingered on her thigh a fatal moment ##" "## I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still ##" "## And my falsity had stung me like a hornet ##" "## The poison sank and it paralyzed my will ##" "## I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers ##" "## That they had been deserted from above ##" "## So on battlefields from here to Barcelona ##" "## I'm listed with the enemies of love ##" "## And long ago, she said, I must be leaving ##" "## But keep my body here to lie upon ##" "## You can move it up and down ##" "## And when I'm sleeping ##" "## Run some wire through that rose ##" "## And wind the swan ##" "## So daily, I renew my idle duty ##" "## I touch her here and there ##" "## I know my place ##" "## I kiss her open mouth, and I praise her beauty ##" "## And people call me traitor to my face ##" "It was called The Traitor." "It was about the feeling that we have... of betraying some mission that we were mandated... to fulfill... and being unable to fulfill it... and then coming to understand... that the real mandate was not to fulfill it... and that the deeper courage was to stand guiltless... in the predicament in which you found yourself." "## And people call me traitor ##" "## To my face ##" "The first time I actually wrote anything... that I thought had a significance... was after my father died when I was nine." "And I took one of his bow ties... and I slid it open, and I put a little message in it... and I buried it in the..." "In the backyard... in the garden." "And I had no other way of connecting... with the event, which was so mysterious and... and curiously, not devastating." "Seemed to be all right that my father died." "It seemed to be that he..." "he died... and it was in the realm of things that couldn't be disputed... or rejected... or even judged." "And so my writing... and I don't remember what it was." "Perhaps just some kind of prayer to speed him along... in whatever realms he was traveling." "## Traveling lady, stay a while ##" "## Until the night is over ##" "## I'm just a station on your way ##" "## I know I'm not your lover ##" "## I lived with a child of snow ##" "## When I was a soldier ##" "## And I fought every man for her ##" "## Until the nights grew colder ##" "## She used to wear her hair like you ##" "## Except when she was sleeping ##" "## Then she'd weave it on a loom ##" "## Of smoke and gold and breathing ##" "## Why are you so quiet now ##" "## Standing there in the doorway?" "##" "## You chose your journey long before ##" "## You came upon this highway ##" "The first poetry that ever affected me... was in the synagogue, in the liturgy... and the Bible stories." "And that would send shivers down my spine." "The stories I was reading in those days... mostly came from Marvel Comics." "Captain Marvel, Superman, Aquaman, Spider-Man... the various heroes." "I thought I could write." "I was never very sure." "I knew I could write something." "I started writing poetry to girls." "Tried to get girls interested in my mind." "## Sometimes I find I get to thinkin' of the past ##" "## And we swore to each other that our love would last ##" "## You kept right on lovin', and I went on a fast ##" "## Now I am too thin and your love is too vast ##" "## But I know from your eyes ##" "## And I know from your smile ##" "## That tonight will be fine, will be fine ##" "## Will be fine ##" "## For a while ##" "## Oh, I choose the rooms that I live in with care ##" "## The windows are small, and the walls are bare ##" "## There's only one bed, there is only one prayer ##" "## And I listen each night for your step on the stair ##" "## But I know from your eyes ##" "## And I know from your smile ##" "## That tonight will be fine, will be fine ##" "## Will be fine ##" "## For a while ##" "## And sometimes I see her undressing for me ##" "## She's the soft naked lady love meant her to be ##" "## And she's moving her body so brave and so free ##" "## If I've got to remember, that's a fine memory ##" "## And I know from her eyes ##" "## And I know from her smile ##" "## That tonight will be fine, will be fine ##" "## Will be fine ##" "## For a while ##" "## Yes, tonight will be fine, will be fine ##" "## Will be fine ##" "## For a while ##" "Thank you." "Let me read you this." "Have you got more film there?" "I've got plenty of film." "The book, Beautiful Losers... was recently translated into Chinese... and they asked me to do a preface." "So I wrote a preface to the translation... called "A Note to the Chinese Reader."" "It goes like this." ""Dear Reader..." ""Thank you for coming to this book." ""It is an honor and a surprise..." ""to have the frenzied thoughts of my youth..." ""expressed in Chinese characters." ""I sincerely appreciate..." ""the efforts of the translator and the publishers..." ""in bringing this curious work to your attention." ""I hope you will find it useful or amusing." ""When I was young, my friends and I..." ""read and admired the old Chinese poets." ""Our ideas of love and friendship..." ""of wine and distance, of poetry itself..." ""were much affected by those ancient songs." ""So you can understand, dear Reader..." ""how privileged I feel..." ""to be able to graze, even for a moment..." ""and with such meager credentials..." ""on the outskirts of your tradition." ""This is a difficult book even in English..." ""if it is taken too seriously." ""May I suggest that you skip over the parts..." ""you don't like." ""Dip into it here and there." ""Perhaps there will be a passage..." ""or even a page, that resonates..." ""with your curiosity." ""After a while, if you are sufficiently bored..." ""or unemployed..." ""you may want to read it from cover to cover." ""In any case, I thank you for your interest..." ""in this odd collection of jazz riffs..." ""pop art jokes, religious kitsch..." ""and muffled prayer..." ""an interest which indicates to my thinking..." ""a rather reckless, though very touching..." ""generosity on your part." ""Beautiful Losers was written outside..." ""on a table set among the rocks, weeds..." ""and daisies behind my house on Ídhra..." ""an island in the Aegean Sea." ""I lived there many years ago." ""It was a blazing hot summer." ""I never covered my head." ""What you have in your hands..." ""is more of a sunstroke than a book." ""Dear Reader, please forgive me... if I have wasted your time."" "## Nothin' left to do ##" "## When you know you've been taken ##" "## Nothin' left to do ##" "## When you're beggin' for a crumb ##" "## Nothin' left to do... ##" "In Montreal, there was a tight band of poets." "The senior members were Irving Layton... and Louis Dudek and other poets." "Frank Scott." "And they were very, very kind to me." "And we would meet regularly... in an informal way with drinks, of course, and food... and we would read each other's..." "We'd read each other our poems... and then they would be subject... to savage, word-by-word criticism." "I mean, you couldn't get away with anything." "We really wanted to be good writers, good poets." "Great poets." ""His eyes thorough my eyes..." ""Shine brighter than love." ""Oh, send out the raven ahead of the dove." "His life in my mouth."" "We thought it was the most important thing in the world." "We thought every time we met..." "It was a summit conference, you know." "I mean, we really took seriously..." "I think it was Shelley who said..." ""Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."" "I mean, an incredibly naive impression... description of oneself... but we certainly fell for that." "We thought it was terribly important... what we were doing." "Maybe it was." "Who knows?" "Here was a man... who, inside of a pop song, was... you know." "There were, you know... there were some big ideas and big dreams." "He reminded me of Keats... or, you know, Shelley or you know." "They were the poets that I was reading... as a kid, you know." "I said, "This is..." "this is our Shelley." "This is our Byron."" "You know, there was a... there was an otherness to the language." "It was just the sensory overload... of the language that first got to me." "Thank you." "Please welcome to the stage... the lovely Antony." "## If it be your will ##" "## That I speak no more ##" "## And my voice be still ##" "## As it was before ##" "## I will speak no more ##" "## I shall abide until ##" "## I am spoken for ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## That there is a voice ##" "## From the broken hill ##" "## I will sing to you ##" "## From this broken hill ##" "## No, your praises, they shall ring ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## To let me sing ##" "A lot of those songs are just the response... to what struck me as beauty." "Whatever that curious emanation from a being... or an object or a situation or a landscape, you know." "That had a very powerful effect on me... as it does on everyone." "And I prayed to have some response... to the things that were so clearly beautiful to me... and there were a lot." "## From this broken hill ##" "## Know your praises, they shall ring ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## To let me sing ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If there is a choice ##" "## Let the rivers fill ##" "## Let the hills rejoice ##" "## Let your mercy spill ##" "## On all these burning hearts in hell ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## To make us well ##" "## And draw us near ##" "## And bind us tight ##" "## Hold your children dear ##" "## In their rags of light ##" "## In our rags of light ##" "## All dressed to kill ##" "## And end this night ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Oh, end this night ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Oh, end this night ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Oh-oh-oh oh-oh ##" "## Oh-oh oh ##" "## Oh oh-oh ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will, yeah, yeah ##" "## Ohh, ohh ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Ohh, ohh ##" "## Ohh-ohh-ohh, ohh-ohh-ohh ##" "## Ohh, ohh ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Ohh, ohh ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## If it be your will ##" "## Ohh Ohh Ohh ##" "## Ohh ##" "## Ohh ##" "## Ohh ##" "And when I think about Leonard..." "I'm reminded of, like... the very early days of Christianity... where pretty early on, they figured that... to hear God's voice... you have to kind of go somewhere very, very quiet." "And they did that... and that was the beginning of monasticism... where people would isolate themselves... go off into the wilderness and, you know, listen very hard." "They would starve themselves... and in Ireland, they went even further." "They... they actually started to wall themselves... into these rooms, where there was no doors... no windows, just a tiny, little opening... for people to bring them food." "Now I don't think Leonard's ever had to go... quite to that extent... but he's the man for me who's like... comes down from the mountaintop... with the tablets of stone, you know... having been up there and talking to the angels." "We kind of came out of the same city." "The religious aspect is very reminiscent... of Montreal in a lot of ways." "There's lots of spires, there's lots of churches... in Montreal." "There's lots of..." "Lots of convents, religious buildings..." "You know, lots of... and I'm sure when Leonard was growing up... probably a lot of nuns in habits... walking around that you don't see so much today." "I didn't, you know... get the..." "a religious feeling from him." "It was much more tactile or sensual." "The world just was really just brightly colored." "Now the incredible Beth Orton." "## Oh, the sisters of mercy ##" "## They're not departed or gone ##" "## They were waiting for me ##" "## When I thought that I just can't go on ##" "## And they brought me their comfort ##" "## And later they brought me this song ##" "## Oh, I hope you run into them ##" "## You, who've been traveling so long ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la laa ##" "## Yes, you, who must leave everything ##" "## That you cannot control ##" "## It begins with your family ##" "## But soon it moves 'round to your soul ##" "## Well, I've been where you're hangin' ##" "## I think I can see how you're pinned ##" "## When you're not feeling holy ##" "## Your loneliness says that you've sinned ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la laa ##" "## Well, they lay down beside me ##" "## I made my confession to them ##" "## And they touched both my eyes ##" "## And I touched the dew on their hems ##" "## If your life is a leaf ##" "## That the seasons tear off and condemn ##" "## They will bind you with love ##" "## That is graceful and green as a stem ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la la-la la-la ##" "## La-la laa ##" "## When I left, they were sleeping ##" "## I hope you run into them soon ##" "## Don't turn on the light ##" "## You can read their address by the moon ##" "## And you won't make me jealous ##" "## If I hear that they've sweetened your night ##" "## We weren't lovers like that ##" "## And, besides, it would still be all right ##" "## We weren't lovers like that ##" "## And, besides, it would still be all right ##" "Thank you." "When I came to New York I thought, you know... this is almost as good as Montreal." "You know, we've got these guys in Montreal." "We've got these poets." "We've got these musicians." "You know, and in a way..." "It's a little cleaner and purer... and funnier... and vital in Montreal." "Because New York, you know... the challenge of the marketplace... was so clear there, that, you know, people were..." "The people there were playing with the media... and were playing with the marketplace... in a way that we didn't in Montreal." "You know, they were trying to get ahead." "They were trying..." "They were thinking big." "Maybe because it was America." "In Canada, we're trained to think more modestly." "We don't think about changing the world... in the same kind of way." "But in New York and the American writers and poets... the Beats and later the hippies..." "They had a much grander vision for themselves." "You know, I think early in the game... they saw that, well, they could really be... famous writers and pop stars... and important cultural figures." "Then I moved into the Chelsea Hotel." "That was a lot of fun." "Everybody was there." "Nico and Ginsberg would pass through there a lot." "There was Harry Smith, Janis Joplin." "It's the only time I've been that indiscreet." "Where I actually... said to a journalist somewhere along the line... that I had written about Janis Joplin." "You know, the devil made me do it." "I don't know why I was so ungallant." "She wouldn't have minded, no." "It's my mother who would've minded." "Rufus Wainwright does a wonderful job of it." "## I remember you well ##" "## At the Chelsea Hotel ##" "## You were talking so brave and so sweet ##" "## Giving me head on the unmade bed ##" "## While the limousine's waiting in the street ##" "## Those were the reasons ##" "## And that was New York ##" "## We were running for the money and the flesh ##" "## That was called love ##" "## For the workers in song ##" "## Probably still is for those of them left ##" "## Ah, but you got away ##" "## Didn't you, babe?" "##" "## You just turned your back on the crowd ##" "## You got away ##" "## I never once heard you say ##" "## I need you ##" "## I don't need you ##" "## I need you ##" "## I don't need you ##" "## And all of that jivin' around ##" "## I remember you well ##" "## In the Chelsea Hotel ##" "## You were famous ##" "## Your heart was a legend ##" "## You told me again ##" "## You prefer handsome men ##" "## But for me, you would make an exception ##" "## And clenching your fist ##" "## For all the ones like us ##" "## Who are oppressed by the figures of beauty ##" "## You fixed yourself, you said ##" "## Well, never mind ##" "## We are ugly, but we have the music ##" "## Ah, but you got away ##" "## Didn't you, babe?" "##" "## You just turned your back on the crowd ##" "## You got away ##" "## I never once heard you say ##" "## I need you ##" "## I don't need you ##" "## I need you ##" "## I don't need you ##" "## And all of that jivin' around ##" "## I don't mean to suggest ##" "## That I loved you the best ##" "## You can't keep track of each fallen robin ##" "## I remember you well ##" "## At the Chelsea Hotel ##" "## That's all ##" "## I don't even think of you that often ##" "Certainly, growing up in Montreal, there was... everybody knew..." "I mean, the name Leonard Cohen... was spoken frequently with reverence." "And there was a definite aura of... you know, around the area where he lived." "It was just like Leonard Cohen land." "Jesus was a sailor." "In his lonely wooden tower... only drowning men could see him." "There was a woman named Suzanne... who was the wife of a friend of mine..." "Armand Vaillancourt, who is a great Montreal sculptor." "Still a friend of mine." "And his wife was Suzanne Vaillancourt... and she invited me down to her place near the river... and she did serve me Constant Comment tea... which was filled with little pieces of orange, you know." "But that really wasn't what happened." "You know?" "That wasn't remotely what happened." "I mean, it didn't have anything..." "Beside, you know, the fact that her name was Suzanne... the place was by the river and tea and oranges." "There were elements of the real evening... in the song, but... but just sprinkled into it." "He has you at any stage in your life." "He has your youthful idealism." "He has you when... your relationship is splitting up." "He has you when you can't face the world." "And you look for something higher to get you through." "He has you at all stages." "## Suzanne takes you down ##" "## To her place near the river ##" "## You can hear the boats go by ##" "## You can spend the night beside her ##" "## Do you know that she's half crazy?" "##" "## That's why you want to be there ##" "## She feeds you tea and oranges ##" "## That come all the way from China ##" "## Just when you meant to tell her ##" "## You have no love to give her ##" "## She gets you on her wavelength ##" "## She lets the river answer ##" "## That you've always been her lover ##" "## And you want to travel with her ##" "## And you want to travel blind ##" "## And you know that she won't trust you ##" "## For you've touched her perfect body ##" "## With your mind ##" "## And Jesus was a sailor ##" "## When he walked upon the water ##" "## He spent a long time watching ##" "## From his lonely wooden tower ##" "## And when he knew for certain ##" "## Only drowning men could see him ##" "## He said, all men will be sailors then ##" "## Until the sea shall free them ##" "## He himself was broken ##" "## Long before the sky was open ##" "## Forsaken, almost human ##" "## He sank beneath your wisdom ##" "## Like a stone ##" "## And you want to travel with him ##" "## And you want to travel blind ##" "## And you think maybe you'll trust him ##" "## For he's touched your perfect body ##" "## With his mind ##" "## Now Suzanne takes your hand ##" "## She leads you to the river ##" "## She is wearing rags and feathers ##" "## From Salvation Army counters ##" "## The sun pours down like honey ##" "## On our lady of the harbor ##" "## And she shows you where to look now ##" "## Upon the garbage and her flowers ##" "## There are heroes in the seaweed ##" "## There are children in the morning ##" "## They are leaning out for love now ##" "## And they'll lean that way forever ##" "## While Suzanne holds the mirror ##" "## And you want to travel with her ##" "## And you want to travel blind ##" "## And you know that she won't trust you ##" "## For she's touched your perfect body ##" "## With her mind ##" "Thank you." "Thank you." "My real introduction to him strangely enough came... because I was a Phil Spector fan... and he had just made Death of a Ladies' Man." "That record, you know, came out of a painful time." "I was breaking up with the mother of my children... and I had..." "I had kind of lost my way." "I was very uncertain about my singing... and about, you know, and also... the early popularity I had enjoyed... had evaporated." "So... at least, I thought it had, you know?" "That was my perception of it." "So I began this collaboration with Phil Spector." "That was a turbulent project... and though it's aged very well, at the time of its release... and I mean, I don't even..." "I think they had a hard time releasing it." "I never was able to master the record." "I couldn't get into a position." "I couldn't command a song the way I wanted to." "They all got away from me." "So, I've always counted it as a bit of a failure... although... although it was been taken up." "It was taken up by the..." "You know, I've forgotten the different movements." "One of the movements of music..." "Punk." " Oh, yeah?" " Punk." "A lot of the punksters celebrated the album... and wrote me about it or praised me for it." "My daughter likes it." "## I stumbled 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 ##" "## It must be my double ##" "## And I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## No, I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## Oh, I can't forget that I ##" "## I don't remember what ##" "## Mmmmm ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Now, I'm burnin' up the road ##" "## Yeah, I'm headin' down to Phoenix ##" "## I got this old address ##" "## Of someone that I knew ##" "## It was so high and fine and free ##" "## Yeah, you should've seen us ##" "## And I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## No, I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## No, I can't forget that I ##" "## I don't remember who ##" "## Oh, I'll be there today ##" "## With a big bouquet of cactus ##" "## I got this rig ##" "## That runs on memories ##" "## Oh, and I promise, cross my heart ##" "## They'll never catch us ##" "## No, no, no ##" "## But if they do ##" "## You can just tell them it was me ##" "## Yeah, it was me ##" "## Oh, I loved you all my life ##" "## And that's the way I want to end it ##" "## The summer's almost gone ##" "## And the winter's tuning up ##" "## Yeah, the summer's gone ##" "## But a lot goes on forever ##" "## And I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## No, I can't forget ##" "## I can't forget ##" "## Oh, I can't forget that I ##" "## I don't remember what ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Oh, ooooh ##" "## Ohhh ##" "## Ohhh ##" "## Ohhh ##" "## Ahhh ##" "## Ahhh ##" "## Ahhh ##" "I was always attracted to the military, the monastery... the orderly rituals... the regimes, the regiments." "Situations where, you know... the structure of life was very clear and very determined... like in a Zen center or a monastery." "My friend Steve got married, invited me down to his wedding." "And that's when I met Roshi." "Roshi performed the wedding ceremony." "Then I got into a bit of trouble myself... a few months or maybe a year later." "And I drove across Canada and then down the coast... to where Steve was living... and I said, you know... can you bring me to your old teacher again... because, you know, I'd like to cool out somewhere." "So Steve, who was living with his wife... brought me down to Los Angeles... and said, Roshi, this is Leonard... and he wants to stay with you." "And Roshi said, OK, go up to Mount Baldy." "So he sent me up there." "It was full winter." "And, you know, I began to live out there... but I couldn't take it up there." "It was much too severe." "You know, there was Roshi who was Japanese." "And the head monk was German, you know." "And I thought this was the revenge of World War II." "Because they had a bunch of Americans up there... you know, walking in sandals through the snow... and being, you know, beaten in the Zendo with sticks." "And I thought, you know, this is really not the place for me... so I ran away." "But there was something about Roshi that I remembered." "So several months later, I came back again... and then I began to study with him... and practice with him." "I began to study seriously about 30 years ago." "That is, spending, you know... several months of the year with him all the time." "In 1993, I think it was..." "I moved into the Zen center on Mount Baldy." "And afterwards, I was ordained... as a monk of Roshi's." "You know, if Roshi had been a... you know, professor of physics in Heidelberg... you know, I would've learned German... and moved to Heidelberg." "I just felt that there was something... that Roshi had to show me." "And since I was there... and looking after him... as my job in the monastery..." "It was appropriate that I become ordained... because that was just the procedure." "So I became a monk." "But just formally... so that the protocol could be observed." "You know, Roshi happens to be a Zen master... and a Zen monk, you know." "As he said to me... in one of our first personal encounters... formal encounters, he said..." "I not Japanese, you not Jewish." "You know?" "So, you know, Roshi not Zen master... and Leonard not Zen student." "You know." "Other versions of ourselves might arise... that are more interesting." "And so he would..." "became a part of my life... and a deep friend." "In the real sense of friendship." "Someone who really cared about..." "or didn't care." "I'm not quite sure which it is." "Or deeply didn't care about who I was." "Therefore, who I was began to wither." "And the less I was of who I was... the better I felt." "## The birds they sang ##" "## At the break of day ##" "## Start again ##" "## I heard them say ##" "## Don't dwell ##" "## On what has passed away ##" "## Or what is yet to be ##" "## Oh, the wars ##" "## They will be fought again ##" "## The holy dove ##" "## She will be caught again ##" "## And bought and sold and bought again ##" "## The dove is never free ##" "## Ring the bells ##" "## That still can ring ##" "## Forget your perfect offering ##" "## There is a crack ##" "## A crack in everything ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## We asked for signs ##" "## The signs were sent ##" "## The birth betrayed ##" "## The marriage spent ##" "## The widowhood ##" "## Of every government ##" "## Signs for all to see ##" "## I can't run no more ##" "## With that lawless crowd ##" "## While the killers in high places ##" "## Say their prayers out loud ##" "## But they've summoned ##" "## They've summoned up a thunder cloud ##" "## They're gonna hear from me ##" "## Ring the bells that still can ring ##" "## Forget your perfect offering ##" "## There is a crack ##" "## A crack in everything ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## You can add up the parts ##" "## You won't have the sum ##" "## You can strike up the march ##" "## There is no drum ##" "## Every heart ##" "## To love will come ##" "## But like a refugee ##" "## Ring the bells that still can ring ##" "## Forget your perfect offering ##" "## There is a crack ##" "## A crack in everything ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## Ring the bells that still can ring ##" "## Forget your perfect offering ##" "## There is a crack ##" "## There is a crack in everything ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## That's how the light gets in ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Oooh ##" "## Oooh ##" "Julie Christensen!" "Perla Batalla!" "Thank you." "We have to introduce..." "Thank you very much." "We have to introduce some very special people right now... who helped us to bring Leonard's music to you tonight." "Our rhythm section, Rob." "Way over here." "Rob Burger." "Kenny Wollesen." "Don Falzone." "And with us for the first time this year... and I'll say it..." "Chris Spedding." "On strings." "Mr. Maxim Moston." "Beautiful Joan Wasser." "Mr. Charles Burnham." "And on the saw, Mr. David Coulter." "On saxophone, Briggan Krause." "On trumpet and our musical director..." "Mr. Steve Bernstein." "To have this collection of people... in, you know, in the same show... and they're all very different." "All have very different careers and backgrounds and futures." "And it says so much about Leonard Cohen's songs... that can unify people like that." "The people that I remain very faithful to... are the people that really influenced me... when I was very young." "When I didn't know anything about anything." "And... that just really showed that in a very concrete way... showed a direction forward... and for me to be doing this is very much about that." "It's about paying some kind of homage to that." "It's a gesture of thanks." "In a way." "And I think everyone feels a bit like that." "I've been humbled and humiliated as a fan... of Leonard Cohen... you know, every time I listen to one of his songs... but particularly, the song, Hallelujah... is a song that is so surprising... because as well as bringing you to your knees..." "He makes you laugh out loud... and that's the shock." "You see, lots of people, lots of writers... have dared to walk up to the edge... of, you know, reason... and stared into that great chasm." "You know, into the abyss." "Very few people have got there... and kind of laughed out loud at what they saw." "So there's definitely something." "It's the divine comedy." "Thank you very much." "Hi." "My name's Rufus." "And this next song, I've sung many times." "It's a great song and I'm gonna sing it... with my dear friend Joan Wasser... and my sister Martha Wainwright." "Here we go." "## I heard there was a secret chord ##" "## That David played and it pleased the Lord ##" "## But you don't really care for music, do you?" "##" "## It goes like this ##" "## The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall ##" "## The major lift ##" "## The baffled king composing Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Your faith was strong, but you needed proof ##" "## You saw her bathing on the roof ##" "## Her beauty in the moonlight ##" "## Overthrew you ##" "## She tied you to a kitchen chair ##" "## She broke your throne, and she cut your hair ##" "## And from your lips she drew ##" "## The Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Maybe I've been here before ##" "## I know this room and I've walked this floor ##" "## I used to live alone ##" "## Before I knew you ##" "## I've seen your flag on the marble arch ##" "## And love is not a victory march ##" "## It's a cold and it's a broken ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## There was a time you'd let me know ##" "## What's really going on below ##" "## But now you never show it to me, do you?" "##" "## And remember, when I moved in you ##" "## The holy dove was moving, too ##" "## And every breath we drew was Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Maybe there's a god above ##" "## And all I ever learned from love ##" "## Was how to shoot at someone ##" "## Who outdrew you ##" "## And it's not a cry you can hear at night ##" "## It's not somebody who's seen the light ##" "## It's a cold, and it's a broken ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "## Hallelujah ##" "There's a beautiful moment in the Bhagavad Gita." "Arjuna." "The general." "The great general." "He's... he's standing... in his chariot... and all of the chariots are readied for war." "And across the valley, he sees his opponents... and there he sees, not only uncles and aunts and cousins... he sees gurus, he sees teachers... that have taught him." "You know, and you know how the Indians revere that relationship." "He sees them... and Krishna... one of the expressions of the deity... says to him, you know... you'll never untangle the circumstances... that brought you to this moment." "You know?" "You're a warrior." "Arise now, mighty warrior." "You know." "With the full understanding they've already been killed." "And so have you." "This is just, this is just a play." "This is my will." "You're caught up in the circumstances... that I determine for you." "That you did not determine for yourself." "So arise, you're a noble warrior." "Embrace your destiny, your fate... and stand up and do your duty." "That rumble." "You know, that voice... that seemed to come from, you know, a subway." "I thought he was sexy..." "soul singer." "He finds the light in things." "Like in Anthem, you know, there's a crack in everything." "My favorite of his songs is Tower of Song." "I think maybe because I feel like..." "I've been there myself sometimes." "But it's really a masterpiece, that song." "Yeah." "I should really have continued performing..." "Should really have continued performing..." "Yeah, I should really have continued performing... so that the songs themselves could develop." "So maybe if I ever go out on the road again... which, you know, it's not a bad idea." "It's becoming more and more attractive to me." "As we drink." "## Well, my friends are gone ##" "## And my hair is grey ##" "## I ache in the places where I used to play ##" "## And I'm crazy for love ##" "## But I'm not coming on ##" "## I'm just paying my rent every day ##" "## In the Tower of Song ##" "## I said to Hank Williams ##" "## How lonely does it get?" "##" "## Hank Williams hasn't answered yet ##" "## But I hear him coughing ##" "## All night long ##" "## Oh, one hundred floors above me ##" "## In the Tower of Song ##" "## I was born like this ##" "## I had no choice ##" "## I was born with the gift of a golden voice ##" "## And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond ##" "## Ooh ##" "## Well, they tied me to this table ##" "## Right here in the Tower of Song ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## So you can stick your little pins ##" "## In that voodoo doll ##" "## I'm very sorry, baby ##" "## Doesn't look like me at all ##" "## I'm standing by the window ##" "## Where the light is strong ##" "## Oh, they don't let a woman kill you ##" "## Not in the Tower of Song ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## Well, you can say that I've grown bitter ##" "## But of this you may be sure ##" "## The rich have got their channels ##" "## In the bedrooms of the poor ##" "## And there's a mighty judgment coming ##" "## But I may be wrong ##" "## Ooh ##" "## You see, you hear these funny voices ##" "## In the Tower of Song ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## I see you standing on the other side ##" "## Don't know how the river got so wide ##" "## I loved you, baby ##" "## Way back when ##" "## And all the bridges are burning ##" "## That we might have crossed ##" "## I feel so close to everything we've lost ##" "## We'll never ##" "## We'll never have to lose it again ##" "## So I bid you farewell ##" "## I don't know when I'll be back ##" "## They're moving us tomorrow ##" "## To that tower down the track ##" "## But you'll be hearing from me, baby ##" "## Long after I'm gone ##" "## I'll be speaking to you sweetly ##" "## From my window in the Tower of Song ##" "## Well, my friends are gone, and my hair is grey ##" "## I ache in places where I used to play ##" "## And I'm crazy for love ##" "## But I'm not coming on ##" "## I'm just paying my rent every day ##" "## In the Tower of Song ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "## Do na na na, do na na ##" "I had the title poet." "And maybe I was one for a while." "Also the title of singer was kindly accorded me... even though I could barely carry a tune." "Let's be serious here for a second." "There are very, very few people... who occupy the grounds that Leonard Cohen walks on." "You know?" "This is a very..." "this is a rare, rare talent." "And as dark as he gets... like in Democracy or The Future... you still sense that beauty is truth." "And so he makes something beautiful... out of this blackness." "He finds shades in the blackness... that feel like color." "For many years, I was known as a monk." "I shaved my head and wore robes... and got up very early." "I hated everyone, but I acted generously... and no one found me out." "My reputation as a ladies man was a joke." "It caused me to laugh bitterly... through the ten thousand nights I spent alone." "This is an important man to celebrate now... because I think, those days, you know, are gone." "I don't think there's gonna be another Leonard Cohen." "You get the sense with Leonard... that he doesn't mind waiting." "You know, that he will wait." "For God to walk through the room." "Waiting for that right phrase." "That right rhyme, that right rigorous thought." "There's humility to that, too... 'cause he doesn't..." "he doesn't seem to think... that everything he does is great." "And the rest of us would be very humbled... by the stuff he throws away." "## If you want a lover ##" "## I'll do anything you ask me to ##" "## And if you want another kind of love ##" "## I'll wear a mask for you ##" "## If you want a partner, take my hand ##" "## Or if you want to strike me down in anger ##" "## Here I stand ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## If you want a boxer ##" "## I will step into the ring for you ##" "## And if you want a doctor ##" "## I'll examine every inch of you ##" "## If you want a driver, climb inside ##" "## Or if you want to take me for a ride ##" "## You know you can ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## Oh, the moon's too bright ##" "## The chain's too tight ##" "## The beast won't go to sleep ##" "## I've been running through ##" "## These promises to you ##" "## That I made and I could not keep ##" "## But a man never got a woman back ##" "## Not by begging on his knees ##" "## Or I'd crawl to you, baby ##" "## And I'd fall at your feet ##" "## And I'd howl at your beauty like a dog in heat ##" "## And I'd claw at your heart ##" "## And I'd tear at your sheet ##" "## I'd say please ##" "## Please ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## And if you've got to sleep a moment on the road ##" "## I will steer for you ##" "## And if you want to work the street alone ##" "## I'll disappear for you ##" "## If you want a father for your child ##" "## Or only want to walk with me a while ##" "## Across the sand ##" "## I'm your man ##" "## If you want a lover ##" "## I'll do anything that you ask me to ##" "## And if want another kind of love ##" "## I'll wear a mask for you ##"