First We Take Manhattan

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom for trying to change the system from within. I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I’m guided by a signal in the heavens. I’m guided by this birthmark on my skin. I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I’d really like to live beside you, baby. I love your body and your spirit and your clothes. But you see that line there moving through the station? I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those.

Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you’re worried that I just might win. You know the way to stop me, but you don’t have the discipline. How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I don’t like your fashion business, mister. And I don’t like these drugs that keep you thin. I don’t like what happened to my sister. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I’d really like to live beside you, baby. I love your body and your spirit and your clothes. But you see that line there moving through the station? I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those.

And I thank you for those items that you sent me: the monkey and the plywood violin. I’ve practiced every night, now I’m ready. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

Remember me? I used to live for music. Remember me? I brought your groceries in. Well, it’s Father’s Day, and everybody’s wounded. First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

Ain’t No Cure For Love

I loved you for a long long time. I know this love is real. It don’t matter how it all went wrong. That don’t change the way I feel. And I can’t believe that time’s gonna heal this wound I’m speaking of – There ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure for love.

I’m aching for you, baby. I can’t pretend I’m not. I need to see you naked In your body and your

thought. I’ve got you like a habit And I’ll never get enough – There ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure for love.

There ain’t no cure for love, there ain’t no cure for love. All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky, the holy books are open wide, the doctors working day and night, but they’ll never ever find that cure for love – there ain’t no drink, no drug – (Ah tell them, angels) there’s nothing pure enough to be a cure for love.

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus. I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up. I see your hand, I see your hair, your bracelets and your brush. And I call to you, I call to you, but I don’t call soft enough – There ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure for love.

I walked into this empty church – I had no place else to go – when the sweetest voice I ever heard whispered to my soul. I don’t need to be forgiven for loving you so much. It’s written in the scriptures, it’s written there in blood. I even heard the angels declare it from above – There ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure for love.

There ain’t no cure for love, there ain’t no cure for love. All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky, the holy books are open wide, the doctors working day and night, but they’ll never ever find that cure for love – there ain’t no drink, no drug – (Ah tell them, angels) there’s nothing pure enough to be a cure for love.

Everybody Knows

co-written by Sharon Robinson

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows that the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed: the poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows that the captain lied. Everybody got this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died. Everybody talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stem rose. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you love me, baby. Everybody knows that you really do. Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful, ah, give or take a night or two. Everybody knows you’ve been discreet but there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes. And everybody knows.

Everybody knows, everybody knows, that’s how it goes, everybody knows. Everybody knows, everybody knows, that’s how it goes, everybody knows.

And everybody knows that it’s now or never. Everybody knows that it’s me or you. And everybody knows that you live forever, ah, when you’ve done a line or two. Everybody knows the deal is rotten: Old Black Joe’s still picking 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 shining artifact of the past. Everybody knows the scene is dead, but there’s going to be a metre 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 of Malibu. Everybody knows it’s coming apart: take one last look at this Sacred Heart before it blows. And everybody knows.

Everybody knows, everybody knows, that’s how it goes, everybody knows. Oh, everybody knows, everybody knows, that’s how it goes, everybody knows, everybody knows.

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

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

Ah, 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

Ah 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 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

Take This Waltz

After Lorca

Now in Vienna there’s ten pretty women.

There’s a shoulder where death comes to cry.

There’s a lobby with nine hundred windows.

There’s a tree where the doves go to die.

There’s a piece that was torn from the morning,

and it hangs in the Gallery of Frost –

Ay, ay ay ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz,

take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws.

Oh, I want you, I want you, I want you

on a chair with a dead magazine.

In the cave at the tip of the lily,

in some hallways where love’s never been.

On a bed where the moon has been sweating,

in a cry filled with footsteps and sand –

Ay, ay ay ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz,

take its broken waist in your hand.

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz

with its very own breath

of brandy and deat,

dragging its tail in the sea.

There’s a concert hall in Vienna

where your mouth had a thousand reviews.

There’s a bar where the boys have stopped talking,

they’ve been sentenced to death by the blues.

Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture

with a garland of freshly cut tears?

Ay, ay ay ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz,

take this waltz, it’s been dying for years.

There’s an attic where children are playing,

where I’ve got to lie down with you soon,

in a dream of Hungarian lanterns,

in the mist of some sweet afternoon.

And I’ll see what you’ve chained to your sorrow,

all your sheep and your lilies of snow –

Ay, ay ay ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz

with its “I’ll never forget you, you know!”

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz

with its very own breath

of brandy and deat,

dragging its tail in the sea.

And I’ll dance with you in Vienna,

I’ll be wearing a river’s disguise.

The hyacinth wild on my shoulder

my mouth on the dew of your thighs.

And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook,

with the photographs there and the moss.

And I’ll yield to the flood of your beauty,

my cheap violin and my cross.

And you’ll carry me down on your dancing

to the pools that you lift on your wrist –

Oh my love, oh my love

Take this waltz, take this waltz,

it’s yours now. It’s all that there is.

Jazz Police

Can you tell me why the bells are ringing?

Nothing’s happened in a million years

I’ve been sitting here since Wednesday morning

Wednesday morning can’t believe my ears

Jazz police are looking through my folders

Jazz police are talking to my niece

Jazz police have got their final orders

Jazzer, drop your axe, it’s Jazz police!

Jesus taken serious by the many

Jesus taken joyous by a few

Jazz police are paid by J.P. Getty

Jazzers paid by J. Paul Getty II

Jazz police I hear you calling

Jazz police I feel so blue

Jazz police I think I’m falling,

I’m falling for you

Wild as any freedom loving racist

I applaud the actions of the chief

Tell me now oh beautiful and spacious

Am I in trouble with the Jazz police?

Jazz police are looking through my folders

Jazz police are talking to my niece

Jazz police have got their final orders

Jazzer, drop your axe, it’s Jazz police!

They will never understand our culture

They’ll never understand the Jazz police

Jazz police are working for my mother

Blood is thicker margarine than grease

Let me be somebody I admire

Let me be that muscle down the street

Stick another turtle on the fire

Guys like me are mad for turtle meat

Jazz police I hear you calling

Jazz police I feel so blue

Jazz police I think I’m falling,

I’m falling for you

I Can’t Forget

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,

must be my double.

And I can’t forget

I can’t forget

I can’t forget

but I don’t remember what.

I’m burning up the road.

I’m heading down to Phoenix.

I got this old address

of someone that I knew.

It was high and fine and free;

ah, you should have seen us

And I can’t forget

I can’t forget

I can’t forget

but I don’t remember who.

I’ll be there today

with a big bouquet

of cactus;

I got this rig that runs on memory.

And I promise,

cross my heart,

they’ll never catch us,

but if they do

just tell them it was me.

Yeah I loved you all my life,

and that’s how I want to end it.

The summer’s almost gone.

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

I can’t forget

but I don’t remember what.

Tower Of Song

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, oh, 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,

a 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,

they tied me to this table right here in the tower of song.

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.

Ah, they don’t let a woman kill you, not in the tower of song.

Now 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 judgement coming, but I may be wrong.

You see, you hear these funny voices in the tower of song.

I see you standing on the other side.

I 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,

but I feel so close to everything that we lost –

We’ll never have to lose it again.

Now 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 a window in the tower of song.

Yeah, 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, oh, in the tower of song.

(c) 1988 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company
“Everybody Knows” (c) Leonard Cohen, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company, and Geffen Music for Robinhill Music (Sharon Robinson)
“Take This Waltz” (c) by Leonard Cohen, Sony/ ATV Music Publishing Canada Company, and EMI Songs España S.R.L.

Courtesy of Menart, an exclusive Sony dealer for Croatia
Reprinted here with written permission