It is actually the only spoken word recitation on the album. The other »spoken-words« tracks start out that way but become songs (even if curious ones) along the way. It is a great poem, though. You amust know that A. M. Klein had the dementia into which he slipped rather early. There was an article comparing him and Layton in Canadian Poetry. He was passionate and represented the Canadian Jewish milieu and I'm sure reminded Leonard of his grandfather who also was lost to dementia. The line »How can I leave you in this house?« – which, of course, references the looney bin – probably resonates with overtones of problems that Leonard and his mother faced with his grandfather who lived with them during his declining years. There is that line from Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen, where Leonard talks of his grandfather and in one of his lucid moments says to Leonard, »Yes, you are the writer.« The jazz background I'm sure is reminiscent of music from the jazz clubs where Leonard used to read poetry in Montreal, one of which we have on live recording.

The text has the most intricate figures of speech of all the texts on the album. As such the text is more akin to the lyrics up to and including The Future than to the prevailing lyrical minimalism of Dear Heather and Ten New Songs. I personally prefer the more elaborate poetry.
The joining of the poem and the musical accompaniment is simply very well accomplished: the timing lends a great rhythm to the words, in harmony with the instrumentation. I also find Leonard Cohen gets the right voice for the poem, sounding the acquiescence of someone who realises that the situation (of the subject ending up in an asylum) cannot be reversed – although he protests »How can I leave you in such a house?« I love the dragging of some of the words, accentuating the rhyme; and the calm, dry wit of »Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror and rest because he had finally come?« I love the curious, near-comic wallpaper music, a steady low-key groove expressing the inevitabiliy of nature's course and of the degeneration of living beings. Such accomplished musical treatment of this poem makes me eager to hear more in this rare genre.

»Hurt once and for all into silence.
A long pain ending without a song to prove it.«
This album was talking about the loss, an old idea for Cohen. Not the loss that came by death, but the loss that came by the spirit leaving the body in another way. Like for Mr. Klein. What he is saying, I think (besides »I love you«) is »it does not matter if you are now a sick man, you were and you are this giant that was (and still is) so important to me and I am proud of being your descendant« (poetically speaking).
»Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror
and rest because he had finally come?«
I see this as a measure of what he is still thinking and feeling about his teacher (with other degrees of understanding: the Jewish affiliation, his peculiar sense of humour tinted with tenderness, among others). »You may be confuse now, but you are such a great person that it is possible to see you as a Messiah, in a reflection.«
The next song is »The Faith«, like a hymn that has to come after the spoken tribute to somebody you have lost. And by extension, for all the people he had lost and paid a tribute to on this album and/or other albums or elsewhere. As it is inspired from a Québec folk song and a favourite of his mother, I imagine it has something to do with his roots and the important figures who stood along his path.

I think that the most interesting aspect of this poem is the relationship between Leonard and his father figure, Klein. It's a relationship of fear and respect, but also of tenderness. I think I even sense some guilt in Leonard. As if he wanted to prove himself to him so badly that he considered him his rival, and now that he's won, it's a bitter victory, because now he can see that they never were enemies. There's some similarity in this relationship to other »strong male figures« in his work, ranging from his father to G-d, and even »rulers« (»Story Of Isaac«) of countries. In a way, they are all the same person – the one who commands him what to do, and the one Leonard respects, loves, but also hates and fears, probably because he doesn't want to be told or shown what the right path for him is. I think this song is a lot about killing your idols, making peace with them and searching for your own path in this world.

song index