All Lines
It goes like this
It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder
It is in love that we are made
it is murder
It is not yours
it is this that the darkness is for
it is your flesh that I wear
it is your turn, beloved
It moves from arm to arm
it must have hurt your pride
It opens do not be afraid
It rests in an empty palm
It seems so long ago
It spawns in an empty mind
It took you years to cross
It was always you
It was deep into his fiery heart
it was half my fault and half the atmosphere
It was high and fine and free
It was just the other night
It was never me
It was very calm
It was you who built the temple
it was you who covered up my face
It wasn't dark enough to shut my eyes
It wasn't for nothing
It will only drive you insane
It will reach you everywhere
it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed
It would not stay with them
it's a funny feeling
it's all caked and cracked along the rim
it's CLOSING TIME
it's come to this
It's coming from the feel
It's coming from the silence
It's coming from the sorrow in the street
It's coming from the women and the men
It's coming like the tidal flood
It's coming through a crack in the wall
It's coming through a hole in the air
It's coming to America first
It's dark now and it's snowing
it's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends
It's four in the morning, the end of December
It's got to be you
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
It's here the family's broken
It's here they got the range
it's just a dress rehearsal rag
It's just a man
It's just that I can't speak
it's just the dress rehearsal rag
it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea
It's light enough to let it go
It's light enough, light enough
It's light, light enough
It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star
it's lonely here
It's lost in our embraces
It's love that chooses me
It's love that seizes me
It's not a ... of burning pounds that ruins your mind
It's not a trick, your senses all deceiving
It's over, it ain't going
It's Papa, don't peek, Papa, cover your eyes
it's something in between, I guess
It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace
it's time for the whip
It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
It's very calm
It's what we deserve
It's written in the scriptures
It's written on the walls of this hotel
It's written there in blood
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's yours now. It's all that there is
I'd be caught in the grip
I'd kneel to dry your feet
I'd like to pretend that my father was wrong
I'd like to take you take you to the ceremony
I'd like to tell my story
I'd like to try to read your palm
I'd meet you at the store
I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I'd say please, please
I'd wake up every morning by your side
I'll be marching through the morning
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
I'll be there today
I'll be wearing a river's disguise
I'll be yours, yours for a song
I'll disappear for you
I'll do anything you ask me to
I'll even wear these old laurel leaves
I'll examine every inch of you
I'll go down to Bill's Bar
I'll listen to the darkness sing –
I'll never come through this alone
I'll never get it right
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
I'll show you solitude
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
I'll try to say a little more
I'll wear a mask for you
I'm aching for you baby
I'm afraid it's time for everyone to pray
I'm afraid that he left
I'm back on Boogie Street,
(2)
I'm broken down
I'm broken from bending
I'm burning up the road
I'm chained to the old masquerade
I'm cold as a new razor blade
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
I'm cured and my heart
I'm falling for you
I'm Forty-One, the moon is full
I'm giving you command
I'm glad you stood in my way
I'm going to give you mine to hold
I'm going to miss you forever
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm heading down to Phoenix
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
I'm just a station on your way
I'm just holding the fort
I'm just paying my rent every day
I'm just staying home tonight
I'm leaving, Captain, I must go
I'm listed with the enemies of love
I'm lost in this calling
I'm not asking for mercy
I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time
I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed
I'm on the side that's always lost
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I'm sorry for my crimes against
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song
I'm standing by the window where the light is strong
I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
I'm sure that he told you everything
I'm the little jew
I'm tied to the threads of some prayer
I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed
I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all
I'm wanted at the traffic-jam
I'm way down, way way down
I'm what I am, and what I am
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
I'm your man
I've always been greedy that way
I've been running through these promises to you
I've been sitting here since Wednesday morning
I've been waiting night and day
I've got this joy inside my breast
I've got to have your word on this
I've got you in the glory place
I've got you like a habit
I've got you way down deep
I've got you way down, way way down
I've heard all the wild reports, they can't be right
I've heard their stories, heard them all
I've lain by this window long enough
I've lived too long on my knees
I've looked behind all of the faces
I've never seen your appetite quite this occupied
I've never seen your eyes so wide
I've seen the future, baby
I've seen the future, brother
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
Jazz police are looking through my folders
Jazz police are paid by J.P. Getty
Jazz police are talking to my niece
Jazz police are working for my mother
Jazz police have got their final orders
Jazz police I feel so blue
Jazz police I hear you calling
Jazz police I think I'm falling
Jazzer, drop your axe, it's Jazz police!
Jazzers paid by J. Paul Getty II
Jesus taken joyous by a few
Jesus taken serious by the many
Just a man, just a man
Just a man
Just according to whose plan?
just as it was lost to them
Just dance me to the dark side of the gym
Just open up your dainty little hand
Just take a look at your body now
Just take this longing from my tongue
Just when all the bills are due
just win me or lose me
Knowing as I do
Last night I heard you making love to him
Lately you've started to stutter
lay beside my silver spoon
lay down his hand
lead on, my son, it is your world
Leave it all and like a man
leave it open
leaving the Lady Green Sleeves
Leonard, just let it go by
Let all my guests come in
Let me be somebody I admire
Let me be that muscle down the street
Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
let me see your beauty broken down
Let the hills rejoice
Let the rivers fill
Let your mercy spill
Let's be alone together
Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
Let's say I'm doing fine
let's say you came back some time too soon
Let's see if we're that strong
Let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
lifts a happy face to thank her
light as the breeze
Light enough to let it go
Light, light enough
Like a baby that is shivering
Like a baby, stillborn
like a beast with his horn
Like a bird on the wire
Like a dog in heat
like a drunk in a midnight choir
like a gun that you will not learn to aim
like a knight from some old fashioned book
like a man who is sure what is true
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns
Like a shadow of birds
like a spoon that you turn and you turn and you don't unwind
Like a willow, like a fountain
Like a worm on a hook
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
Like arrows with no targets
Like Bernadette would do
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
Like I always do
Like I used to do
like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner
Like moths on a still yellow light
Like shackles made of snow
Like stars against the sun
like the shy one at some orgy
Like their father or their dog just died
like you knew I'd do
like you would do for one that you love
like you would do for one you love
Long before the sky would open
Look at me one last time
Look at me, Leonard
Look how she welcomes him into her gown
Looked through the paper
looking at the Late Late show
looks like freedom but it feels like death
Lost in the rages of fragrance
Lost in the rags of remorse
Lost in the waves of a sickness
love calls you by your name
Love Itself was gone
love seemed to go along with you
Love went on and on
lures them to exaggerate
Magic always lead
Magic always ruled
Magic is afoot, God is alive
Magic is afoot
Magic is alive
Magic is the end
Magic never faltered
Magic never fled
Magic never hid
Magic never weakened
Magic still was fed
make some kind of joyful sound?
Makes you want to cry
Making more
Making objects
man of peace or man of war
many comb her hair
Many fat men listened
Many hurt men wondered
Many men drove magic
Many men have loved the bells
Many poor men lied
many satisfying one-night stands
Many sick men lied
Many stones were rolled
Many strong men lied
Many strong men thrived
Many struck men bled
many use her body
Many weak men hungered
Many weak men lied
Many wild men lied
Marching through the night
May Christ have mercy on your soul
May everyone live
May it be a shield for you
may it rise up pure and free
May the lights in The Land of Plenty
Maybe I'm still hurting
mine to death
Mistress, oh mistress, of us all
Mmmmm ... for magic loves the hungry
Moods of glory
Moods so foul
Morning came and then came noon
Most of you was naked
Mountain-size on the white stone wall
Moving cross the borders
Moving through the world
Must be my double
My Babylon
my body has grown numb
My cheap violin and my cross
My darling one
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
my father he came in
My father was a dresser of hair
My fingerprints were missing
My hand on your head when you go
My hands below the belt, or my hands above
My holy song
My lawless heart
My masquerade of trust was iodine
My masterpiece unsigned
my mirrored room, my secret life
My mother was a girl you could call on
My mouth on the dew of your thighs
My naked body
my night after night, after night, after night, after night, after night
My pages of concern
My patience and my family
my poverty revealed
My priests they will put flowers there
My room, it looked the same –
My shawl wrapped around you
My sister, hold on tight
My wedding ring
Myself I long for love and light
Nancy was alone
Nancy wore green stockings
Never any good
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
No best way to dream
No I can't make out what your master said
no I did not miss a plate, well
no man to get her through this very smoky night
No massive transfusions of trust
no matter what he said no matter what you'd do
no moon to keep her armour bright
No more evil to stun with the slap
No need for the whip
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
No penance serves to renew them
No sinner need rise up forgiven
No victim need limp to the stand
No, do it once again
No, the words you sang were wrong
Nobody cares if the people Live or die
none of us were strong
Nor the captain on the hill
Nor the dreamer in his cell
not at the centre, the centre of the world
Not by begging on his knees
not even laughter
not even the Lady Green Sleeves
Not from the man
Not in the Tower of Song
Not the thumbnail of a screen
Nothing left to do
Nothing meaning life or death
Nothing you can measure anymore
Nothing's happened in a million years
Now all your songs of beauty fail
now I am too thin and your love is too vast
Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
Now I don't know who I am
Now I look for her always
Now I would attack
Now if you can manage to get
Now if you intend to show me disdain
Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
Now let me be the Lover.
Now let me say I myself gave the order
Now my heart's like a blister
Now Santa Claus comes forward
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
Now Suzanne takes your hand
Now the Captain called me to his bed
Now the Captain he was dying
Now the clasp of this union
Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess
Now the crickets are singing
Now the deal has been dirty
Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
Now the master of this landscape he was standing at the view
Now the Swan it floated on the English river
Now the woman by your side is she awake?
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it
Now you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure
Now your love is a secret all over the block
now you're Santa Claus
O baby I waited
O baby, I have come too late." She knelt beside his feet
O baby, we'll be making love again
O come with me my little one, we will find that farm
O Crown of Light, O Darkened One
O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel
O love, aren't you tired yet?
O mask of iron
O mighty Ship of State!
O my love I must be going
O sure I'd like to marry you
O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb
O you've seen that man before
Of a begging bowl
Of a decent place to stand
of a wet red tongue?
of all the kisses we put on some time before
of all the wheels in Ivory Town
of CLOSING TIME
Of course I was very young
of course you'll say you can't complain
of every government
Of everybody's child
of his famous cigarillo
of losing what I used to think was mine
Of My Secret Life
of smoke and gold and breathing
Of someone that I knew
Of sorrow and despair
of the Sermon on the Mount
Of the undertow
Of the word being made into flesh
Of what my letters meant
Oh beyond all the graves and the hedges
Oh bless thee continuous stutter
Oh blind to her presence
Oh but here, right here
Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love
Oh darling of angels, demons and saints
Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night
Oh here in the moment at hand
Oh here, come over here
oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long
Oh I want you, I want you, I want you
Oh in the Tower of Song
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Oh like a bird on the wire
Oh love I need you
Oh my love, let us unpin you
oh my love, oh my love, oh my love
Oh my love, Oh my love
oh no, there are no, no grapes upon your vine
Oh now you hear your master sing
oh one by one she had to tell them
oh please let me come into the storm
Oh see the men of action falling back
oh something like this
Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me
Oh take this longing from my tongue
Oh tangle of matter and ghost
Oh teachers are my lessons done?
Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone
Oh the women tear their blouses off
Oh the world is sweet
Oh yes, I'd like to tell my story
oh, I hoped you would be someone new
Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are hid
oh, there were times she was just a child
Oh, this room is far too small
Oh, you are really such a pretty one
Oh, your chains are too dark
Okay, you win, enough's enough
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
On a bed where the moon has been sweating
On a chair with a dead magazine
on a plain brown envelope
on a visionary flood of alcohol
On all these burning hearts in hell
on every work on every face
On our lady of the harbour
On that day
On the back of every magazine
On the dark green hill
on the dock of the bay
on the great western sky
On the past
on the side of the ghost and the King
on the very love which I, I do not wish to claim
on the willow trees
on the works of last year's man
On you and never will
once again, once again
Once there was a path
Once you have her she'll always be there
One by one the guests arrive
One by one they enter there
One by one, the guests arrive
One more thin gypsy thief
One morning I woke up alone
Only drowning men could see him
Ooh tell me, Bird of Paradise
Or a King on the run
or any other matter
Or did you report
or give me Hiroshima
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Or if you want to take me for a ride
or in my bed again
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there
Or I'd crawl to you baby
Or none of it is true
Or only want to walk with me a while
Or she'll make a break
Or that love's like the smoke
or to make some woman smile
or what is yet to be
Or with the enemy
or "Why has thou forsaken me?
Our slaves and our gold
Our women unveiled
Out of thoughts
Out of which the Nameless makes
over every living soul
parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties
Past the Reefs of Greed
picking all of the berries that grew there
please baby please
please let me start again
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
Please walk by me again
Police arrested magic and magic went with them
preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Pretty good at holding up the wall
probably still is for those of them left
Put out your cigarette, my love
Quick and cool
Quick as dogs and truly dead were we
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
razor, shivering every ram and son?
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Remember when the scenery started fading
Remember, my son, how they lied
resplendent chemise
Ring the bells that still can ring
rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Rises from the hunger
Round and round the world
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan
said one of them so bold
said one of them so young and bold
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on
Sail on, sail on
Say a prayer for the cowboy
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
say their prayers out loud
saying this she climbed inside
Saying "Do reveal yourself
saying "Yes, yes, yes!"
Saying, When will she summon me
saying, "Whatever you give me, I seem to need so much more."
see her everywhere
Several girls embraced me, then
She beckoned to the sentry of his high religious mood
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
She finds him lying in a heap
She gathered in my soul
She hails him with a microphone
She is the vessel of the whole wide world
She is wearing rags and feathers
She longs to be lost
she mocked his female fashions and his working-class moustache
She moved her body hard against a sharpened metal spoon
She never said she'd wait for us
She said at last I was her finest lover
She said that you gave it to her
She said "no you cannot see
She said, I see your eyes are dead
She said, I'll be with you
she said, "Don't try to use me or slyly refuse me
She said, "I'll make a place between my legs
She said, "I'm tired of the war
She said, "The art of longing's over and it's never coming back
She saw the Queen of Heaven once
She says, You've got a minute left to fall in love
She says, "My body is the light, my body is the way
She sends her regards
She spies him through the glasses
She stands before you naked
She stands in the luminous air
She stopped the bloody rituals of passage to the moon
She tempts him with a clarinet
She tied you
She took his blonde madonna and his monastery wine
She took his much admired oriental frame of mind
She took his tavern parliament, his cap, his cocky dance
She took unto herself most everything her lover lost
She used to wear her hair like you
she wants to be his woman
she waves a Nazi dagger
She will be caught again
she's a hundred but she's wearing
She's gone like the summer
she's happy that you've come
she's huge and she's shy
she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
she's the Angel of Compassion
she's the soft naked lady love meant her to be
Shine on the truth some day
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
Shouldering your loneliness
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
signs for all to see
silver bullet suicides
Since dirty began
Since that day
since the end of World War II
Since you are a shining light
Sincerely, L. Cohen
sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late
So come and stand with me
So come, my friends, be not afraid
So daily I renew my idle duty
So don't look down the ground is gone
So he binds himself
So he started up the mountain
So I closed the Book of Longing
So I could hear you singing
So I could not drink
So I emptied out your drawer
so I hang upon my altar
So I knelt there at the delta
So I pick out a tune
so I studied all night in his school
So I walked through the morning, sweet early morning
So I was with you, O sweet compassion
So I work in that same beauty salon
So I'm laying it on you
so lady I'm going too
So let me judge your love affair
so let nobody put a loophole, a loophole in their way
So lets be married one more night
so long for your kiss
So many graves to fill
So many hearts I find
So my body leaves no scar
So my hand upon your hair
So my heart can take a holiday
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
So rest in peace my nightingale
So set your restless heart at ease
so suddenly
So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed
So twisted these vows and so crushed
So we struggle and we stagger
So we will endure
So We're dancing close, the band is playing Stardust
So won't you let me see
So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
So you moved away the mountain
So your head upon my breast
So, now that you've decided
Soft she answered no
Some country-western song
Some girls wander by mistake
Some people say
Some say the mare
Some say the rider
some very clever doctor went and sterilized the bitch
Some women wait for Jesus, and some women wait for Cain
Somebody's got to listen
someone gave me wishes
something absolutely wrong
something tight
Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past
Sometimes I need you naked
sometimes I need you wild
standing there in the doorway?
Start again
Stick another turtle on the fire
store room, store room
Straight from the sun above
such a cold and lonesome heroine
such as waiting rooms and ticket lines
such as who had a worm and who had a rock
Suddenly the night has grown colder
Summertime I need a sunny day
Summertime when will you come?
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
Take a lesson from these Autumn leaves
Take its broken waist in your hand
Take my books, take my gun
Take my hand
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Take the only tree that's left
Take these silver bars," he said
Take this waltz it's been dying for years
Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws
Take this waltz, take this waltz
taking what he needs
Tell me now oh beautiful and spacious
than just some grateful faithful woman's favourite singing millionaire
than move around just like this
Thank G-d it's not that simple
Thank you Babe ... it just feels
Thank you Babe, thank you Babe
Thank you for the breaking
That a voice be true
that all my priests have passed
that all my priests have passed?
That child, that song of Bernadette
That come all the way from China
That cure for love
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
That don't change the way I feel
That don't count for nothing much at all
That don't count
that drove the crowd from the stands
that God has kept from me
that goes down in every kitchen
that he nailed to her feet
that her name was Joan of Arc
that he's shaken from his head
that hides behind the cause and the effect
That I am not the one who loves –
that I had to draw aside to see
that I keep locked away in my head
That I made and I could not keep
That I speak no more
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
that is so high and wild
that is your vision growing dim
That it's all built upon
That it's either black or white
That keeps the hunter from the harm
that keeps you up
That lists where it will
That loosens the high silver nerves
that men will follow through your grace
That night that you planned to go clear
That nobody else had to die
That old silhouette
That smile you down to you knees
that some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her
that still throw shadows on the wood
that the heart has got to open
That the sun rose behind
that the wilderness is gathering
That there were sorrows to be healed
that they are building on some endless river
that they had been deserted from above
That they put me away
that this ain't exactly real
that Time cannot decay
that tonight will be fine
That we cannot but obey
That we pledged in the passionate night
that we polished so long ago
That wealth has set apart –
That will disclose
that you be this and nothing more
That you have no love to give her
That you made in the barn
That you swore through your teeth
That you were meant to keep
that you wore for the world to look through
that your body is hanging from
That you've always been her lover
that's a crayon in his hand
That's a funeral in the mirror
That's a hard one to remember
that's a jew's harp on the table
that's a razor in his mit
That's all I can say, baby
That's all I can say
that's all, I don't even think of you that often
that's an order!
That's how it goes
That's how the light gets in
That's not the electric light, my friend
That's right, is this what you wanted
