i love leonard cohen

What’s in that box? What’s hiding in here?
Pictures from Bedford, taken half a blue moon ago.
My we were young then, all mix-tapes and alcopops,
Bum bags, shell suits and meatloaf cds.

Did I really dress like that and dance to that tune?
Then stumble home drunk by the light of the moon.
Guess times they change and the change times they guess,
And nonsense can still be a welcome relief.

My Weezer cd’s well they hardly get played,
My obsession with Ani Difranco has faded,
You might ask is anything sacred these days,
And I’d probably tell you that I love Leonard Cohen.

A snail carries with him some slime and a shell,
I have ten boxes plus cartons as well
As these books, bags and a case
My grandfather used in the war.

Did I really write those words
And did she write back?
Stray hands in Row G all through that James Bond film.
Nonsense it still has a welcoming ring,
And heroes they never don’t come easy.

Chorus

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’till dawn

picking my way
back through the rain
grey skies today
but its fine

here in my mind
play like a child
leaves underfoot
autumn could

turn out to be
musically mine
spring in my step
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

my road has been
better believe
better pretend
consigned to

some place before
memory me
wind in my hair
thoughts of your

smile in my dreams
patch up the past
love and cheap booze
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

dance in the street
break out the flag
singing aloud
foreign eye

textures and words
things that we heard
my pen it feels
momentum

sat on a train
palette of greens
strangers with shoes
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

and I sat there
watching her sleep
how do you dream?
when will you

wake? I must say
one of a kind
parallel lines
meet at the

vanishing point
not what I mean
I meant to say…
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

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thoughts about tomorrow

I woke this morning in stillness and in silence
To the sound of birds singing in the trees.
I lie in this bed, rest a tired and weary soul,
And a heart that is longing for some peace.

I call on my emotions to end this futile war,
Which has been raging in my mind for far too long.
So I’ll sit & write, I’ll sing & play, I’ll laugh and eat and drink,
And leave all thoughts about tomorrow until then.

I sit here naked as I play on my guitar
There is no one round for miles and miles to see.
Greet a horizon which is free from brick and mortar,
And I know this is a better place to be.

You tell me that you’ll write and I’m excited by the thought of
Receiving anything that you might send.
But I’m not penning you into the future quite just yet,
And I’ll leave thoughts about tomorrow until then

I have found catharsis in the eye of a storm
And I felt love although it may have been a dream.
I stumbled over more than a dozen wicked words
In an effort to find out what it means.

The wind is blowing symphonies to the drainpipes outside
They keep asking me “How, where, and when?”
I have just decided to play the counterfeit
And leave thoughts about tomorrow until then

The sun is riding high in a deep blue summer sky,
Watching me from high above the clouds.
I can hear him now, as he sings with me aloud,
I know this is not where our road ends.

Somewhere up north, maybe two hundred miles away,
You’re waking up next to another man.
There’s no second-guessing these matters of the heart,
So I’ll leave thoughts about tomorrow until then.

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looking for distraction

Looking for distraction, close your eyes and count to three.
There’s a gun, a rope, & a candle stick, so please choose carefully.
I’ve got Dylan on my stereo, I’ve got women on my mind.
I’ve got a fire burning in my heart and a pulse racing fast behind.

It’s the break of dawn on Christmas morn
But the clock reads half past three,
But the clock broke down years before and spectates silently.
I’ve got lawyers trying to chase me
For some money they say I owe,
But I’m broke and sure I’m in the clear
So I’ll tell them where they should go…

I say hey there, you there, look there… how’s it going to be?
I’d love to know what’s on your mind,
Maybe one day we’ll find the time,
And then put the world to rights, oh how much fun it would be,

Looking for distraction, turn your head and smile at me.
I’m in danger of being happy now so please speak carefully.
I know now for the first time there’s no distance left to run –
Sit back, enjoy the ride, and I’m sure that the rest will just come.

I say hey there, you there, look there… how’s it going to be?
I’d love to know what’s on your mind,
Maybe one day we’ll find the time,
And then put the world to rights, oh how much fun it would be;
Running round late at night, naked in the candlelight

But that was just a daydream, you’re so stubbornly fully clothed,
And I change address every two months now
So perhaps it’s time to go
But I think that this year will be different, I can feel it in the air.

You know it’s a miracle that I made it here at all,
They placed bets I’d die young at school -
I guess I proved them wrong.
You might see me in the street one day, and never really know
But some things they are best left unsaid,
And melt with the winter snow.

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paper army

They’re building a pyramid in London Bridge
With a hotel, offices, and residential quarters
I saw the plans the other day, as I was walking by.

I bought a sandwich in a box
from a posh shop somewhere near the station concourse
you wouldn’t get that in King’s Cross
It came with a plastic knife and fork wrapped in bags to keep them clean.
I mean how much packaging do you really need?

Then I stumble down the street fighting back the paper army
and I have no desire to buy a cheap flight, designer clothes, or a mobile phone

I don’t take the tube no more
I like to be able to see where I am going
I prefer to ride up to of the big red buses
and maybe catch a glimpse of the horizon from time to time

They’re building a pyramid in London Bridge
It should be visable from where I live in Dalston.
I saw the plans the other day, as I was walking by.

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joanna

Down by the sea and the sky, we walked and talked
Until the last light bid goodbye. My coat kept me
Warm but I missed my favourite hat which I lost last year.

You balled up both of your hands to keep them warm, we
Turned and walked back on the sand. The wind roaring
Loud in our ears, we made our way back to the harbour lights.

It seems with our coming of age, so much has changed but
So much it still stays the same and will we be
Having the same conversations again this time next year?

The same questions dwell on our minds – how hard should
Seek before you shall find? Perhaps that is
Missing the point but something has got to give.

Or perhaps time will find us here again.

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the suitor’s ballyhoo

Tell me do you see me as you close your eyes at night;
Painted on your eyelids as you’re turning out the light?
Your voice spins in my mind – it’s been wearing through the grooves.
We’ve been intimately distant and I still don’t get the rules.

I want you, girl

Last week I wrote a letter now I’m rereading it through.
I wasted all those fancy words – I just meant “I love you”.
So forgive my confusion, dear, won’t you understand,
That sometimes knowing what to say slips right out of my hands.

I’ve never met a mind so fancy free as yours before,
I was busy at the books, while you were danced by the door.
And somewhere in the middle there is love and common ground,
So I sweep away the leaves and we can keep dancing about.

I lie here playing out the scene a hundred million times,
What you will be wearing and the beauty in your eyes.
There’s no time like the present so I’m reaching for the phone
But you’ve never cared for mornings and there’s places I should go

The horses left with elvis and they rode into the sun,
Two dots on the horizon, strained my eyes and they were gone.
It’s been a torrid day, I’ve been waiting for your call
Sometimes I more than wonder if you care for me at all,

As I walk on Church Street the last light fades away
It’s getting darker early now and winters on the way.
Something’s gotten missing, the puzzle is upside down.
The Guinness didn’t clear my head it just brought on the clouds.

The moon it whispered in my ear and kept me from my dreams.
The silhouettes around my room are never what they seem.
‘You and me’ or ‘me and you’ said either way around,
Would surely make such sense in this cold unforgiving town.

I love you, girl.

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five

Winter sun on two cold feet.
First light of the day finds me here.
Leaves are falling from the trees.
Make my way down Amhurst Road
With my routine.

I have been a fool over you.
I have been a fool over you
My oh my, my oh my

The wise man built his house on the solid rock.
Easier said than done, easier said than done.

When it comes watch out, don’t lose your feet.
Easier said than done, easier said than done.

I have been a fool over you.
I have been a fool over you
My oh my, my oh my

I wonder how you are, I wonder how you’ve been.
Is it working out how you hoped it would?

I have been a fool over you.
I have been a fool over you
My oh my, my oh my

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swan song

Why do I stand here getting burnt
By the embers of this dying dream,
When all around day it is breaking
And the fire didn’t help me to sleep.

Maybe it’s time for our swan song
Or a pheonix to rise from the deep,
Maybe it’s time that your skin and it’s charms
Are consigned to the pocket full of memories I keep.

Memories which come out on a rainy day
And remind me that I have lived;
I worked pretty hard to arrive at this day
And still feel I have love to give.

I could toss one more branch to the fire –
My skin it still craves for the heat
But I heard someone sing that a moth never knows
That the bright burning candle won’t make it complete

And will the angels be watching
If I head one time to the flames?
Up late at night, cloaked by the stars,
Chasing the flickering silhouette of your frame.

Today I washed both my eyelids
And talked with the mice and the moon.
Tonight we’re entwined together in my mind –
I wonder do you think of me too?

Maybe it’s time for a swan song
Or a pheonix to rise from the deep,
Perhaps with a smile I could bid you farewell
Then we’ll head different ways down the street.

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only the missile

The punches come fast and I fall in the ring.
All I can do now is laugh, cry, or sing.
I’ll tell you the story and a couple of things
That have been running in rings round my mind

It was one of those days when the lights all turn red
And the pills just won’t clear all the pain from your head
You wish that you hadn’t of got out of bed
‘Cos the shit sure is flying your way

Second hand news at an unwelcome time,
Your brain’s clogging up
Soon you’re losing your mind
You’re wondering if fate could be any less kind
When she suddenly twists the knife in.

The moment it passed with the help of a friend,
A couple of strangers and this song that I penned.
My hearts is in tact and my minds on the mend.
I don’t plan to do that again.

The sun’s given up on this god awful day
And my pain with the light is now fading away.
Somewhere in Kilburn I silently play
An ode to the tracks of my tears.

A jack in the box I come springing right back,
I pull on these strings for my counter attack
Today I feel sure I can take any flak
The world might be sending my way.

So give me your hopes and then tell me your fears
And leave all the rest in a pile over there
They’ll fit like a dream with these chords I have dear
As I dance in a dream round this town.

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