will surrender right there and I will leave with you one broken man whom I will teach you to repair. You know who I am... I cannot follow you, my love, you cannot follow me. I am not life, I am not death, I am not slave or free. You know who I am... Sometimes I'm gonna need you naked, sometimes I'm gonna need you wild, I need you to carry my children in and I need you to kill a child. You know who I am... Bird on the wire Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in some midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Like a worm on a hook, like a knight man in some old fashioned book it was the shape, the shape of our love twisted me. If I, if I have been unkind, I hope you can, I hope you can just let it all go by. If I, if I have been untrue I hope you know it was never to you. Like a baby, stillborn, like a beast with his horn I have torn everyone who reached out for me. But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong I will make it all up to thee. I saw a beggar, he was leaning on his wooden crutch, he said to me, ``Come on, now, you must not ask for so much.'' And another pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried out to me, ``Hey, why not ask for just a little more?'' Ah, don't cry, don't cry, don't, don't cry, don't cry no more It's over, baby, don't cry no more I say don't, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry no more It's over, it's completed, it's finished, it has been paid for. Oh like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a some old midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Nancy It seems so long ago, (The morning had not came,) Nancy was alone, looking ate the Late Late show through a semi-precious stone. In the House of Honesty her father was on trial, in the House of Mystery there was no one at all, there was no one at all. It seems so long ago, none of us were (very) strong; Nancy wore green stockings and she slept with everyone. She never said she'd wait for us (even though) although she was alone, I think she fell in love for us in nineteen sixty one, in nineteen sixty one. It seems so long ago, (The morning would not came,) Nancy was alone, a forty five beside her head, an open telephone. We told her she was beautiful, we (all) told her she was free but none of us would meet her in the House of Mystery, the House of Mystery. And now (why don't) you look around you, see her everywhere, many (of you) use her body, many comb her hair. In the hollow of the night when you are cold and numb you hear her talking freely then, she's happy that you've come, she's happy that you've come. Improvvisation (Instrumental) Story of Isaac This song is called Story of Isaac, and it's about those who would sacrifice one generation on (?) the other. Well, the door it opened slowly, my father he came in, I was nine years old. And he stood so tall above me, his blue eyes they were shining and his voice was very cold. He said, ``I've had a vision and you know I'm strong and holy, I must do what I've been told.'' So he started up the mountain, I was running, he was walking, and his axe was made of burning gold. Well, the trees they got much smaller, yes, the lake was like a lady's mirror, then we stopped to drink some wine. Then he threw the bottle over. Broke a minute later and he put his hand on mine. Thought I saw an eagle but it might have been a vulture, I have never could decide. Then my father built an altar, he looked once behind his shoulder, I guess he knew I would not hide. You who build these altars now to sacrifice our children, you must not do it anymore. A scheme is not a vision and you never have been tempted by a demon or a god. You who stand above them now, your hatchets blunt and bloody, you were not there before, when I lay upon a mountain and my father's hand was trembling with the beauty, I mean the beauty of the word. And if you call me brother now, forgive me but I must inquire, ``Just according to whose plan?'' When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can. And mercy, mercy on our uniform, man of peace or man of war, the peacock spreads his deadly fan. Please don't pass me by (a disgrace) I was walking in New York City and I brushed up against the man in front of me. I felt a cardboard placard on his back. And when we passed a streetlight, I could read it, it said ``Please don't pass me by -- I am blind, but you can see -- I've been blinded totally -- Please don't pass me by.'' I was walking along 7th Avenue, when I came to 14th Street I saw on the corner curious mutilations of the human form; it was a school for handicapped people. And there were cripples, and people in wheelchairs and crutches and it was snowing, and I got this sense that the whole city was singing this: Oh please don't pass me by, oh please don't pass me by, for I am blind, but you can see, yes, I've been blinded totally, oh please don't pass me by. And you know as I was walking I thought it was them who were singing it, I thought it was they who were singing it, I thought it was the other who was singing it, I thought it was someone else. But as I moved along I knew it was me, and that I was singing it to myself. It went: Please don't pass me by, oh please don't pass me by, for I am blind, but you can see, well, I've been blinded totally, oh please don't pass me by. Oh please don't pass me by. Now I know that you're sitting there deep in your velvet seats and you're thinking ``Uh, he's up there saying something that he thinks about, but I'll never have to sing that song.'' But I promise you friends, that you're going to be singing this song: it may not be tonight, it may not be tomorrow, but one day you'll be on your knees and I want you to know the words when the time comes. Because you're going to have to sing it to yourself, or to another, or to your brother. You're going to have to learn to sing this song, it goes: Please don't pass me by, ah, you don't have to sing this... not for you. Please don't pass me by, for I am blind, but you can see, yes, I've been blinded totally, oh please don't pass me by. Well I sing this for the Jews and the Gypsies and the smoke that they made. And I sing this for the children of England, their faces so grave. And I sing this for a saviour with no one to save. Hey, won't you be naked for me? Hey, won't you be naked for me? It goes: Please don't pass me by, oh please don't pass me by, for I am blind, but you can see, yes, I've been blinded totally, oh now, please don't pass me by. Now there's nothing that I tell you that will help you connect the blood tortured night with the day that comes next. But I want it to hurt you, I want it to end. Oh, won't you be naked for me? Oh now: Please don't pass me by, oh please don't pass me by, for I am blind, but you can see, but I've been blinded totally, oh, please don't pass me by. Well I sing this song for you Blonde Beasts, I sing this song for you Venuses upon your shells on the foam of the sea. And I sing this for the freaks and the cripples, and the hunchback, and the burned, and the burning, and the maimed, and the broken, and the torn, and all of those that you talk about at the coffee tables, at the meetings, and the demonstrations, on the streets, in your music, in my songs. I mean the real ones that are burning, I mean the real ones that are burning I say, please don't pass me by, oh now, please don't pass me by, for I am blind, yeah but you can see, ah now, I've been blinded totally, oh no, please don't pass me by. I know that you still think that its me. I know that you think that there's somebody else. I know that these words aren't yours. But I tell you friends that one day You're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down on your knees, you're going to get down... Oh, please don't pass me by, oh, please don't pass me by, for I am blind, yeah but you can see, yes, I've been blinded totally, oh, please don't pass me by. Well you know I have my songs and I have my poems. I have my book and I have the army, and sometimes I have your applause. I make some money, but you know what my friends, I'm still out there on the corner. I'm with the freaks, I'm with the hunted, I'm with the maimed, yes, I'm with the torn, I'm with the down, I'm with the poor. Come on now... Ah, please don't pass me by, well I've got to go now friends, but, please don't pass me by, for I am blind, yeah but you can see, oh, I've been blinded, I've been blinded totally, oh now, please don't pass me by. Now I want to take away my dignity, yes take my dignity, my friends, take my dignity, take my form, take my style, take my honour, take my courage, take my time, take my time, take my time... 'Cause you know I'm with you singing this song. And I wish you would, I wish you would, I wish you would go home with someone else. Wish you'd go home with someone else. I wish you'd go home with someone else. Don't be the person that you came with. Oh, don't be the person that you came with, Oh don't be the person that you came with. Ah, I'm not going to be. I can't stand him. I can't stand who I am. That's why I've got to get down on my knees. Because I can't make it by myself. I'm not by myself anymore because the man I was before he was a tyrant, he was a slave, he was in chains, he was broken and then he sang: Oh, please don't pass me by, oh, please don't pass me by, for I am blind, yes I am blind, Oh but you can see, yes, I've been blinded totally, oh, please don't pass me by. Well I hope I see you out there on the corner. Yeah I hope as I go by that I hear you whisper with the breeze. Because I'm going to leave you now, I'm going to find me someone new. Find someone knew. And please don't pass me by. Tonight will be fine Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past. We swore to each other that our love would surely last. You kept right on loving, 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 (?) little smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. Well, I choose the rooms that I live in with care, the windows are small and the walls almost bare, there's only got one bed and there's only got one prayer; I listen all night for your step on the stair. But I know from your eyes and I know from your (?) little smile that tonight, tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. Oh, sometimes I see her undressing for me, she's the soft naked lady that 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 your eyes and I know from your (?) little smile that tonight, tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. Ah, I looked into the mirrors in numberous places They all smile back at me with their troublous (?) faces And the car that they delt me...(?) And the horses to me at the races. But I know from your eyes and I know from her your (?) little smile that tonight, tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. There's still one or two of us walking the street No arrows or directions...(?) under their feet No angels...(?) away from the...(?) And no...(?) But I know from your eyes and I know from your (?) little smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. And I know from your eyes and I know from your (?) little smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while. Queen Victoria (A Cohen poem set to music) Queen Victoria, My father and all his tobacco loved you, I love you too in all your forms, the slim and lovely virgin floating among German beer, the mean governess of the huge pink maps, the solitary mourner of a prince. Queen Victoria, I am cold and rainy, I am dirty as a glass roof in a train station, I feel like an empty cast iron exhibition, I want ornaments on everything, because my love, she gone with other boys. Queen Victoria, do you have a punishment under the white lace, will you be short with her, will you make her read those little Bibles, will you spank her with a mechanical corset. I want her pure as power, I want her skin slightly musty with petticoats will you wash the easy bidet out of her head? Queen Victoria, I'm not much nourished by modern love, will you come into my life with your sorrow and your black carriages, And your perfect memories. Queen Victoria, the Twentieth Century belongs to you and me. Let us be two severe giants not less lonely for our partnership, who discolour test tubes in the halls of Science, who turn up unwelcome at every World's Fair, heavy with proverbs and corrections, confusing the star-dazed tourists with our incomparable sense of loss.
 * New skin for the old ceremony *  Is this what you wanted You were the promise at dawn, I was the morning after. You were Jesus Christ my Lord, I was the money lender. You were the sensitive woman, I was the very reverend Freud. You were the manual orgasm, I was the dirty little boy. And is this what you wanted to live in a house that is haunted by the ghost of you and me? Is this what you wanted... You were Marlon Brando, I was Steve McQueen. You were K.Y. Jelly, I was Vaseline. You were the father of modern medicine, I was Mr. Clean. You where the whore and the beast of Babylon, I was Rin Tin Tin. And is this what you wanted... And is this what you wanted... You got old and wrinkled, I stayed seventeen. You lusted after so many, I lay here with one. You defied your solitude, I came through alone. You said you could never love me, I undid your gown. And is this what you wanted... And is this what you wanted... I mean is this what you wanted... That's right, is this what you wanted... Chelsea Hotel #2 I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, you were talking so brave and so sweet, giving me head on the unmade bed, while the limousines wait in the street. Those were the reasons and that was New York, we were running for the money and the flesh. And 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 jiving around. I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, you were famous, your heart was a legend. You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception. And clenching your fist for 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.'' And then you got away, didn't you babe... I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best, I can't keep track of each fallen robin. I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, that's all, I don't even think of you that often. Lover lover lover I asked my father, I said, ``Father change my name.'' The one I'm using now it's covered up with fear and filth and cowardice and shame. Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. He said, ``I locked you in this body, I meant it as a kind of trial. You can use it for a weapon, or to make some woman smile.'' Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. ``Then let me start again,'' I cried, ``please let me start again, I want a face that's fair this time, I want a spirit that is calm.'' Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. ``I never turned aside,'' he said, ``I never walked away. It was you who built the temple, it was you who covered up my face.'' Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. And may the spirit of this song, may it rise up pure and free. May it be a shield for you, a shield against the enemy. Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me, yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover come back to me. Field Commander Cohen Field Commander Cohen, he was our most important spy. Wounded in the line of duty, parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties, urging Fidel Castro to abandon fields and castles. Leave it all and like a man, come back to nothing special, such as waiting rooms and ticket lines, silver bullet suicides, and messianic ocean tides, and racial roller-coaster rides and other forms of boredom advertised as poetry. I know you need your sleep now, I know your life's been hard. But many men are falling, where you promised to stand guard. I never asked but I heard you cast your lot along with the poor. But then I overheard your prayer, that you be this and nothing more than just some grateful faithful woman's favourite singing millionaire, the patron Saint of envy and the grocer of despair, working for the Yankee Dollar. I know you need your sleep now... Ah, lover come and lie with me, if my lover is who you are, and be your sweetest self awhile until I ask for more, my child. Then let the other selves be wrong, yeah, let them manifest and come till every taste is on the tongue, till love is pierced and love is hung, and every kind of freedom done, then oh, oh my love, oh my love, oh my love, oh my love, oh my love, oh my love. Why don't you try Why don't you try to do without him? Why don't you try to live alone? Do you really need his hands for your passion? Do you really need his heart for your throne? Do you need his label for your baby? Do you need his beast for the bone? Do you need to hold a leash to be a lady? I know you're going to make, make it on your own. Why don't your try to forget him? Just open up your dainty little hand. You know this life is filled with many sweet companions, many satisfying one-night stands. Do you want to be the ditch around a tower? Do you want to be the moonlight in his cave? Do you want to give your blessing to his power as he goes whistling past his daddy, past his daddy's grave. I'd like to take you take you to the ceremony, well, that is if I remember the way. You see Jack and Jill they're going to join their misery, I'm afraid it's time for everyone to pray. You can see they've finally taken cover, they're willing, yeah they're willing to obey. Their vows are difficult, they're for each other, so let nobody put a loophole, a loophole in their way. There is a war There is a war between the rich and poor, a war between the man and the woman. There is a war between the ones who say there is a war and the ones who say there isn't. Why don't you come on back to the war, that's right, get in it, why don't you come on back to the war, it's just beginning. Well I live here with a woman and a child, the situation makes me kind of nervous. Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says ``I guess you call this love''; I call it service. Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be a tourist, why don't you come on back to the war, before it hurts us, why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get nervous. You cannot stand what I've become, you much prefer the gentleman I was before. I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control, I didn't even know there was a war. Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be embarrassed, why don't you come on back to the war, you can still get married. There is a war between the rich and poor, a war between the man and the woman. There is a war between the left and right, a war between the black and white, a war between the odd and the even. Why don't you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden, why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get even, why don't you come on back to the war, can't you hear me speaking? A singer must die Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess. Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is Yes. Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine, I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline. And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice, a singer must die for the lie in his voice. And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty, you keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty. Your vision is right, my vision is wrong, I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song. Lalala... Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are hid in the clothes of a woman I would like to forgive, in the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs, where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise. Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night, my night after night, after night, after night, after night, after night. I am so afraid that I listen to you, your sun glassed protectors they do that to you. It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace, their knee in your balls and their fist in your face. Yes and long live the state by whoever it's made, sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late. Lalala... I tried to leave you I tried to leave you, I don't deny I closed the book on us, at least a hundred times. I'd wake up every morning by your side. The years go by, you lose your pride. The baby's crying, so you do not go outside, and all your work it's right before your eyes. Goodnight, my darling, I hope you're satisfied, the bed is kind of narrow, but my arms are open wide. And here's a man still working for your smile. Who by fire And who by fire, who by water, who in the sunshine, who in the night time, who by high ordeal, who by common trial, who in your merry merry month of may, who by very slow decay, and who shall I say is calling? And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate, who in these realms of love, who by something blunt, and who by avalanche, who by powder, who for his greed, who for his hunger, and who shall I say is calling? And who by brave assent, who by accident, who in solitude, who in this mirror, who by his lady's command, who by his own hand, who in mortal chains, who in power, and who shall I say is calling? Take this longing Many men have loved the bells you fastened to the rein, and everyone who wanted you they found what they will always want again. Your beauty lost to you yourself just as it was lost to them. Oh take this longing from my tongue, whatever useless things these hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you love. Your body like a searchlight my poverty revealed, I would like to try your charity until you cry, ``Now you must try my greed.'' And everything depends upon how near you sleep to me, Just take this longing from my tongue, all the lonely things my hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one your love. Hungry as an archway through which the troops have passed, I stand in ruins behind you, with your winter clothes, your broken sandal straps. I love to see you naked over there especially from the back. Oh take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, untie for me your hired blue gown, like you would do for one that you love. You're faithful to the better man, I'm afraid that he left. So let me judge your love affair in this very room where I have sentenced mine to death. I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head. Just take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you love. Like you would do for one you love. Leaving Green Sleeves Alas, my love, you did me wrong, to cast me out discourteously, for I have loved you so long, delighting in your very company. Now if you intend to show me disdain, don't you know it all the more enraptures me, for even so I still remain your lover in captivity. Green sleeves, you're all alone, the leaves have fallen, the men have gone. Green sleeves, there's no one home, not even the Lady Green Sleeves. I sang my songs, I told my lies, to lie between your matchless thighs. And ain't it fine, ain't it wild to finally end our exercise. Then I saw you naked in the early dawn, oh, I hoped you would be someone new. I reached for you but you were gone, so lady I'm going too. Green sleeves, you're all alone, the leaves have fallen, the men have gone. Green sleeves, there's no one home, not even the Lady Green Sleeves. Green sleeves, you're all alone, the leaves have fallen, the men have all gone home. Green sleeves, it's so easily done, leaving the Lady Green Sleeves.
 * Death of a ladies' man *  All songs by Phil Spector and Leonard Cohen. True love leaves no traces As the mist leaves no scar On the dark green hill So my body leaves no scar On you and never will Through windows in the dark The children come, the children go Like arrows with no targets Like shackles made of snow True love leaves no traces If you and I are one It's lost in our embraces Like stars against the sun As a falling leaf may rest A moment on the air So your head upon my breast So my hand upon your hair And many nights endure Without a moon or star So we will endure When one is gone and far True love leaves no traces If you and I are one It's lost in our embraces Like stars against the sun Iodine I needed you, and I knew I was in danger of losing what I used to think was mine You let me love you till I was a failure, You let me love you till I was a failure -- Your beauty on my bruise like iodine I asked you if a man could be forgiven And though I failed at love, was this a crime? You said, Don't worry, don't worry, darling You said, Don't worry, don't you worry, darling There are many ways a man can serve his time You covered up that place I could not master It wasn't dark enough to shut my eyes So I was with you, O sweet compassion Yes I was with you, O sweet compassion Compassion with the sting of iodine Your saintly kisses reeked of iodine Your fragrance with a fume of iodine And pity in the room like iodine Your sister fingers burned like iodine And all my wanton lust was iodine My masquerade of trust was iodine And everywhere the flare of iodine Paper Thin Hotel The walls of this hotel are paper-thin Last night I heard you making love to him The struggle mouth to mouth and limb to limb The grunt of unity when he came in I stood there with my ear against the wall I was not seized by jealousy at all In fact a burden lifted from my soul I heard that love was out of my control A heavy burden lifted from my soul I heard that love was out of my control I listened to your kisses at the door I never heard the world so clear before You ran your bath and you began to sing I felt so good I couldn't feel a thing I stood there with my ear against the wall... And I can't wait to tell you to your face And I can't wait for you to take my place You are The Naked Angel In My Heart You are The Woman With Her Legs Apart It's written on the walls of this hotel You go to heaven once you've been to hell A heavy burden lifted from my soul I heard that love was out of my control Memories Frankie Lane, he was singing Jezebel I pinned an Iron Cross to my lapel I walked up to the tallest and the blondest girl I said, Look, you don't know me now but very soon you will So won't you let me see I said ``won't you let me see'' I said ``won't you let me see Your naked body?'' Just dance me to the dark side of the gym Chances are I'll let you do most anything I know you're hungry, I can hear it in your voice And there are many parts of me to touch, you have your choice Ah but no you cannot see She said ``no you cannot see'' She said ``no you cannot see My naked body'' So We're dancing close, the band is playing Stardust Balloons and paper streamers floating down on us She says, You've got a minute left to fall in love In solemn moments such as this I have put my trust And all my faith to see I said all my faith to see I said all my faith to see Her naked body I left a woman waiting I left a woman waiting I met her sometime later She said, I see your eyes are dead What happened to you, lover? What happened to you, my lover? What happened to you, lover? What happened to you? And since she spoke the truth to me I tried to answer truthfully Whatever happened to my eyes Happened to your beauty Happened to your beauty What happened to your beauty Happened to me We took ourselves to someone's bed And there we fell together Quick as dogs and truly dead were we And free as running water Free as running water Free as running water Free as you and me The way it's got to be The way it's got to be, lover Don't go home with your hard-on I was born in a beauty salon My father was a dresser of hair My mother was a girl you could call on When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there Ah but don't go home with your hard-on It will only drive you insane You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain I've looked behind all of the faces That smile you down to you knees And the lips that say, Come on, taste us And when you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please Ah but don't go home with your hard-on... Here come's your bride with her veil on Approach her, you wretch, if you dare Approach her, you ape with your tail on Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Ah but don't go home with your hard-on... So I work in that same beauty salon I'm chained to the old masquerade The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone I follow my father's trade I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Ah but don't go home with your hard-on It will only drive you insane You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain Fingerprints I touched you once too often Now I don't know who I am My fingerprints were missing When I wiped away the jam Yes I called my fingerprints all night But they don't seem to care The last time that I saw them They were leafing through your hair Fingerprints, fingerprints Where are you now my fingerprints? Yeah I thought I'd leave this morning So I emptied out your drawer A hundred thousand fingerprints They floated to the floor You know you hardly stopped to pick them up You don't care what you lose Ah you don't even seem to know Whose fingerprints are whose Fingerprints, fingerprints Where are you now my fingerprints? And now you want to marry me You want to take me down the aisle You want to throw confetti fingerprints You know that's not my style O sure I'd like to marry you But I can't face the dawn With any girl who knew me When my fingerprints were on Fingerprints, fingerprints Where are you now my fingerprints? Fingerprints, oh fingerprints Where are you now my fingerprints? Death of a ladies' man Ah the man she wanted all her life was hanging by a thread ``I never even knew how much I wanted you,'' she said. His muscles they were numbered and his style was obsolete. ``O baby, I have come too late.'' She knelt beside his feet. ``I'll never see a face like yours in years of men to come I'll never see such arms again in wrestling or in love.'' And all his virtues burning in the smoky Holocaust She took unto herself most everything her lover lost Now the master of this landscape he was standing at the view with a sparrow of St. Francis that he was preaching to She beckoned to the sentry of his high religious mood She said, ``I'll make a place between my legs, I'll show you solitude.'' He offered her an orgy in a many mirrored room He promised her protection for the issue of her womb She moved her body hard against a sharpened metal spoon She stopped the bloody rituals of passage to the moon She took his much admired oriental frame of mind and the heart-of-darkness alibi his money hides behind She took his blonde madonna and his monastery wine -- ``This mental space is occupied and everything is mine.'' He tried to make a final stand beside the railway track She said, ``The art of longing's over and it's never coming back.'' She took his tavern parliament, his cap, his cocky dance, she mocked his female fashions and his working-class moustache. The last time that I saw him he was trying hard to get a woman's education but he's not a woman yet And the last time that I saw her she was living with some boy who gives her soul an empty room and gives her body joy. So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far. It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far. It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.
 * Recent Songs *  ``...wilder and wilder I sang and my loins wrinkled like the forehead of a sage.'' -- Irving Layton The Guests One by one The Guests arrive The Guests are coming through The open-hearted many The broken-hearted few And no one knows where the night is going And no one knows why the wine is flowing O love, I need you, I need you, I need you I need you, O... I need you now And those who dance begin to dance Those who weep begin And, Welcome, Welcome cries a Voice Let all my guests come in And no one knows where the night is going... And all go stumbling through that house In lonely secrecy Saying, Do reveal yourself Or, Why has thou forsaken me And no one knows where the night is going... All at once the torches flare The inner door flies open One by one they enter there In every style of passion And no one knows where the night is going... And here they take their sweet repast While house and grounds dissolve And one by one The Guests are cast Beyond the garden wall And no one knows where the night is going... And those who dance begin to dance Those who weep begin Those who earnestly are lost Are lost and lost again And no one knows where the night is going... One by The Guests arrive The Guests are coming through The broken-hearted many The open-hearted few And no one knows where the night is going... Humbled in love Do you remember the pledges That we pledged in the passionate night They're soiled now and torn at the edges Like moths on a still yellow light No penance serves to renew them Nor massive transfusions of trust Not even revenge can undo them So twisted these vows and so crushed And you say you've been humbled in love Cut down in your love Forced to kneel in the mud Next to me Ah but why so bitterly Turn from the one Who kneels there As deeply as thee Children have taken these pledges They have ferried them out of the past Oh beyond all the graves and the hedges Where love must go hiding at last And here where there is no description Here in the moment at hand No sinner need rise up forgiven No victim need limp to the stand And you say you've been humbled in love... And look, dear heart, at the virgin Look how she welcomes him into her gown Yes, and mark how the stranger's cold armour Dissolves like a star falling down Why trade this vision for desire When you may have them both You will never see a man this naked I will never hold a woman this close And you say you've been humbled in love... The window Why do you stand by the window Abandoned to beauty and pride The thorn of the night in your bosom The spear of the age in your side Lost in the rages of fragrance Lost in the rags of remorse Lost in the waves of a sickness That loosens the high silver nerves Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love Oh tangle of matter and ghost Oh darling of angels, demons and saints And the whole broken-hearted host Gentle this soul And come forth from the cloud of anoint And kiss the cheek of the moon The New Jerusalem glowing Why tarry all night in the ruin And leave no word of discomfort And leave no observer to mourn But climb on your tears and be silent Like a rose on its ladder of thorns Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love... Then lay your rose on the fire The fire give up to the sun The sun give over to splendour In the arms of the high holy one For the holy one dreams of a letter Dreams of a letter's death Oh bless thee continuous stutter Of the word being made into flesh Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love... Gentle this soul I came so far for beauty (co-written and arranged by John Lissauer) I came so far for beauty I left so much behind My patience and my family My masterpiece unsigned I thought I'd be rewarded For such a lonely choice And surely she would answer To such a very hopeless voice I practiced all my sainthood I gave to one and all But the rumours of my virtue They moved her not at all I changed my style to silver I changed my clothed to black And where I would surrender Now I would attack I stormed the old casino For the money and the flesh And I myself decided What was rotten and what was fresh And men to do my bidding And broken bones to teach The value of my pardon The shadow of my reach But no, I could not touch her With such a heavy hand Her star beyond my order Her nakedness unmanned I came so far for beauty I left so much behind My patience and my family My masterpiece unsigned Un Canadien errant (by M. Antoine Gerin-Lajoie in 1842) Un Canadien Errant Banni de ses foyers, Parcourait en pleurant Des pays étrangers. Un jour, triste et pensif Assis au bord des flots, Au courant fugitif Il adressa ces mots Si tu vois mon pays Mon pays malheureux Va dire à mes amis Que je me souviens d'eux O jours si pleins d'appas Vous êtes disparus Et ma pays, hélas Je ne la verrai plus The lost Canadian A wandering Canadian, banned from his hearths, travelled while crying in foreign lands. travelled while crying in foreign lands. One day, sad and pensive, sitting by the flowing waters, to the fleeing current he addressed these words: to the fleeing current he addressed these words: ``If you see my country, my unhappy country, go tell my friends that I remember them. go tell my friends that I remember them. O days so full of charms, you have vanished... And my native land, alas! I will see it no more. And my native land, alas! I will see it no more. Once a Canadian lad Exiled from hearth and home Wandered alone and sad Through alien lands unknown Down by a rushing stream Thoughful and sad one day He watched the water pass And to it he did say If you should reach my land My most unhappy land Please speak to all my friends So they will understand Tell them how much I wish That I could be once more In my beloved land That I will see no more The traitor Now the Swan it floated on the English river The Rose of High Romance it opened wide A suntanned woman yawned me through the summer The Judges watched us from the other side I told my mother, Mother