  
   
OLD IDEAS
 
 
January 2012
 
From our master singer-songwriter, here are ten new songs that mine the heart, shake the body, and break the boundaries as everybody knows only Leonard Cohen can do.  
A signature of our time, Leonard's baritone holds us like the voices of Hank, Frank, and Ray.  These are songs that nobody knows and everyone will treasure. 
  
The album by Leonard Cohen was produced with Patrick Leonard, Anjani Thomas, Ed Sanders and Dino Soldo. Complementing Cohen's signature baritone on Old Ideas are the exceptional vocalists Dana Glover, Sharon Robinson, The Webb Sisters (Hattie and Charley Webb) and Jennifer Warnes. The album's cover design and drawings are Cohen's own.
  
Old Ideas is Cohen's twelfth studio album with Columbia Records since 1967. 
 
 
 
  
Going Home
 
I love to speak with Leonard 
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd 
He’s a lazy bastard 
Living in a suit
  
But he does say what I tell him 
Even though it isn’t welcome 
He just doesn’t have the freedom 
To refuse
  
He will speak these words of wisdom 
Like a sage, a man of vision 
Though he knows he’s really nothing 
But the brief elaboration of a tube
  
Going home 
Without my sorrow 
Going home 
Sometime tomorrow 
Going home 
To where it’s better 
Than before
  
Going home 
Without my burden 
Going home 
Behind the curtain
  
Going home 
Without the costume 
That I wore
  
He wants to write a love song 
An anthem of forgiving 
A manual for living with defeat
  
A cry above the suffering 
A sacrifice recovering 
But that isn’t what I need him 
to complete
  
I want to make him certain 
That he doesn’t have a burden 
That he doesn’t need a vision 
That he only has permission
  
To do my instant bidding 
Which is to SAY what I have told him 
To repeat
  
Going home…
  
I love to speak with Leonard 
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd 
He’s a lazy bastard 
Living in a suit
  
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen Music written, produced, arranged, engineered, programmed and performed by Patrick Leonard 
Additional engineering: Jesse String 
Violin: Bela Santelli 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Dana Glover
  
 
Amen
 
Tell me again 
When I’ve been to the river 
And I’ve taken the edge off my thirst 
Tell me again 
We’re alone & I’m listening 
I’m listening so hard that it hurts 
Tell me again 
When I’m clean and I’m sober 
Tell me again 
When I’ve seen through the horror 
Tell me again 
Tell me over and over 
Tell me you want me then 
Amen
  
Tell me again 
When the victims are singing 
And Laws of Remorse are restored 
Tell me again 
That you know what I’m thinking 
But vengeance belongs to the lord 
Tell me again…
  
Tell me again 
When the day has been ransomed 
& night has no right to begin 
Try me again 
When the angels are panting 
And scratching the door to come in 
Tell me again 
When I’m clean and I’m sober 
Tell me again…
  
Tell me again 
When the filth of the butcher 
Is washed in the blood of the lamb 
Tell me again 
When the rest of the culture 
Has passed thru’ the Eye of the Camp 
Tell me again…
  
Words & music by Leonard Cohen 
 Produced and engineered by Ed Sanders  
Basic tracks arranged, programmed and played by Leonard Cohen 
Guitar: Leonard Cohen 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Sharon Robinson 
Synth bass: Sharon Robinson 
Violin: Robert Korda (OBM) 
Drums: Chris Wabich 
Guitar: Jordan Charnofsky
 
 
  
 
Show Me The Place
 
Show me the place 
Where you want your slave to go 
Show me the place 
I’ve forgotten, I don’t know 
Show me the place 
For my head is bending low 
Show me the place 
Where you want your slave to go
  
Show me the place 
Help me roll away the stone 
Show me the place 
I can’t move this thing alone 
Show me the place 
Where the Word became a man 
Show me the place 
Where the suffering began
  
The troubles came 
I saved what I could save 
A thread of light 
A particle a wave 
But there were chains 
So I hastened to behave 
There were chains 
So I loved you like a slave
  
Show me the place 
Where you want your slave to go 
Show me the place 
I’ve forgotten, I don’t know
  
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen 
Music written, produced, arranged, engineered, programmed and performed by Patrick Leonard 
Additional engineering: Jesse String 
Violin: Bela Santelli 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Jennifer Warnes
  
 
The Darkness
 
I caught the darkness 
Drinking from your cup 
I caught the darkness 
Drinking from your cup 
I said: Is this contagious? 
You said: Just drink it up
  
I got no future 
I know my days are few 
The present’s not that pleasant 
Just a lot of things to do 
I thought the past would last me 
But the darkness got that too
  
I should have seen it coming 
It was right behind your eyes 
You were young and it was summer 
I just had to take a dive 
Winning you was easy 
But darkness was the prize
  
I don’t smoke no cigarette 
I don’t drink no alcohol 
I ain’t had much loving yet 
But that’s always been your call 
Hey I don’t miss it baby 
I got no taste for anything at all
  
I used to love the rainbow 
I used to love the view 
I loved the early morning 
I’d pretend that it was new 
But I caught the darkness baby 
And I got it worse than you 
I caught the darkness…
  
The Unified Heart Touring Band performed Darkness: 
Roscoe Beck (musical director): bass 
Javier Mas: archilaud
Bob Metzger: guitars 
Dino Soldo: horns 
Rafael Bernardo Gayol: drums 
Neil Larsen: keyboards 
Sharon Robinson and Hattie and Charley Webb, the Webb Sisters: vocals 
Leonard Cohen: guitar and vocals 
Mark Vreeken, Leanne Ungar: engineers 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Sharon Robinson (with the Webb Sisters) 
 
Anyhow
 
It’s a shame and it’s a pity 
The way you treat me now 
I know you can’t forgive me 
But forgive me anyhow 
The ending got so ugly 
I even heard you say 
You never ever loved me 
Oh but love me anyway
  
Dreamed about you baby 
You were wearing half your dress 
I know you have to hate me 
But could you hate me less?
  
I used up all my chances 
And you’ll never take me back 
But there ain’t no harm in asking 
Could you cut me one more slack? 
I’m naked and I’m filthy 
And there’s sweat upon my brow 
And both of us are guilty 
Anyhow
  
Have mercy on me baby 
After all I did confess 
Even though you have to hate me 
Could you hate me less?
  
It’s a shame and it’s a pity 
I know you can’t forgive me 
The ending got so ugly 
You never ever loved me 
Dreamed about you baby 
I know you have to hate me 
I’m naked and I’m filthy 
And both of us are guilty 
Anyhow 
Have mercy on me baby
  
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen 
Music written, produced, arranged, engineered, programmed and performed by Patrick Leonard 
Additional engineering: Jesse String 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Dana Glover 
 
Crazy To Love You
 
Had to go crazy to love you 
Had to go down to the pit 
Had to do time in the tower 
Begging my crazy to quit
  
Had to go crazy to love you 
You who were never the one 
Whom I chased through the souvenir heartache 
Her braids and her blouse all undone
  
Sometimes I’d head for the highway 
I’m old and the mirrors don’t lie 
But crazy has places to hide in 
Deeper than saying goodbye
  
Had to go crazy to love you 
Had to let everything fall 
Had to be people I hated 
Had to be no one at all
  
I’m tired of choosing desire 
Been saved by a sweet fatigue 
The gates of commitment unwired 
And nobody trying to leave
  
Sometimes I’d head for the highway…
  
Had to go crazy to love you 
You who were never the one 
Whom I chased through the souvenir heartache 
Her braids and her blouse all undone
  
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen 
Music by Anjani Thomas 
Produced by Anjani Thomas 
Engineered by Ed Sanders 
Guitar by Leonard Cohen 
 
Come Healing
 
O gather up the brokenness 
And bring it to me now 
The fragrance of those promises 
You never dared to vow
  
The splinters that you carry 
The cross you left behind 
Come healing of the body 
Come healing of the mind
  
And let the heavens hear it 
The penitential hymn 
Come healing of the spirit 
Come healing of the limb
  
Behold the gates of mercy 
In arbitrary space 
And none of us deserving 
The cruelty or the grace
  
O solitude of longing 
Where love has been confined 
Come healing of the body 
Come healing of the mind 
  
O see the darkness yielding 
That tore the light apart 
Come healing of the reason 
Come healing of the heart
  
O troubled dust concealing 
An undivided love 
The Heart beneath is teaching 
To the broken Heart above
  
O let the heavens falter 
And let the earth proclaim: 
Come healing of the Altar 
Come healing of the Name
  
O longing of the branches 
To lift the little bud 
O longing of the arteries 
To purify the blood 
  
And let the heavens hear it 
The penitential hymn 
Come healing of the spirit 
Come healing of the limb
  
O let the heavens hear it
  
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen 
Music written, produced, arranged, engineered, programmed and performed by Patrick Leonard 
Additional engineering: Jesse String 
Violin: Bela Santelli 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Dana Glover 
 
Banjo
 
There’s something that I’m watching 
Means a lot to me 
It’s a broken banjo bobbing 
On the dark infested sea
  
Don’t know how it got there 
Maybe taken by the wave 
Off of someone’s shoulder 
Or out of someone’s grave
  
It’s coming for me darling 
No matter where I go 
Its duty is to harm me 
My duty is to know
  
There’s something that I’m watching 
Means a lot to me 
It’s a broken banjo bobbing 
On the dark infested sea
  
Words and music by Leonard Cohen 
Produced and engineered by Dino Soldo 
All instruments played by Dino Soldo 
Cornet: Neil Larsen 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Sharon Robinson 
 
Lullaby
 
Sleep baby sleep 
The day’s on the run 
The wind in the trees 
Is talking in tongues
  
If your heart is torn 
I don’t wonder why 
If the night is long 
Here’s my lullaby
  
Well the mouse ate the crumb 
Then the cat ate the crust 
Now they’ve fallen in love 
They’re talking in tongues
  
If your heart is torn…
  
Sleep baby sleep 
There’s a morning to come 
The wind in the trees 
they’re talking in tongues
  
If your heart is torn 
I don’t wonder why 
If the night is long 
Here’s my lullaby
  
Words and music by Leonard Cohen 
Produced and engineered by Ed Sanders 
Basic tracks arranged, programmed and played by Leonard Cohen 
Guitars: Leonard Cohen, Ed Sanders 
Synth bass: Sharon Robinson 
Men's choral parts arranged and sang by Ed Sanders 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Sharon Robinson 
 
Different Sides
 
We find ourselves on different sides 
Of a line that nobody drew 
Though it all may be one in the higher eye 
Down here where we live it is two
  
I to my side call the meek and the mild 
You to your side call the Word 
By virtue of suffering I claim to have won 
You claim to have never been heard
  
Both of us say there are laws to obey 
But frankly I don’t like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
I want to leave it alone (I want to leave it…)
  
The pull of the moon the thrust of the sun 
And thus the ocean is crossed 
The waters are blessed while a shadowy guest 
Kindles a light for the lost
  
Both of us say there are laws to obey…
  
Down in the valley the famine goes on 
The famine up on the hill 
I say that you shouldn’t you couldn’t you can’t 
You say that you must and you will
  
Both of us say there are laws to obey…
  
You want to live where the suffering is 
I want to get out of town 
C’mon baby give me a kiss 
Stop writing everything down
  
Both of us say there are laws to obey 
But frankly I don’t like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
I want to leave it alone
  
Both of us say there are laws to obey
  
Words and music by Leonard Cohen 
Produced and engineered by Ed Sanders 
Basic tracks arranged, programmed and played by Leonard Cohen 
Hammond B3, piano, synth bass and percussion: Neil Larsen 
Women's parts arranged and sang by Dana Glover 
 
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 The album is discussed here on the Forum -  thousands of comments and details 
Marie's Old Ideas Media Report is here.
  Old Ideas page also here, hosted by Roman Gavrilin.
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  The lithography of the special edition
  
 
  
Listen to the song  Darkness
  
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Watch the lyric video of the song  Show Me the Place.  The director/animator of the video is Aaron Hymes. 
 A song by Leonard Cohen/Patrick Leonard.  Vocals Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes.  Bela Santelli on violin. Music arranged  and performed by Patrick Leonard.
  
Listen to the
song 
 Going Home
 
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