I've Counted What I Have

(Angels) I've counted what I have; it's not enough
And what I need I do not dare to say.
I've heard the soul is diamond in the rough
That pain must polish it to a bright display;
But mine is diamond dust that's blown away.

(Michael) And covered up the world with glittering --
Come back my soul, I cry, it won't obey,
And I'm the empty shape of everything ...
Come back my soul, come back to me I sing.

I'm sick with greed, with unrequited greed
And everyman becomes my enemy.
I need his woman, his career I need
For what he has, he's taken it from me
And what is mine he uses clumsily.
That pagan there pretending he can dance,
This Christian peddling his humility,
These carbons of Hitlerian romance,
These lovers photographed without their pants.

(Frank, Louis & Then, Doubt, sloppy mother mistress that you
Jean-Marc) Can't get rid of, who loves you more the more
You turn away, whose perfume's pity, who
Isn't feeling well, whose shoulder's sore --
Doubt comes generous as a dinosaur.

(Doubt) O love forget this metaphysic bit
About the lost world and the grieving heart
You really can't believe is haunting it;
While you brood here, other lovers part
Their lips, prettier than you, and just as smart.

(F, L & J-M) Doubt has all the reasons why you have to fail
And you agree, you've heard them all before.
Her heart is broken and her breath is stale
And you say, Tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt) Give up your conquering plan, give up your plan.
Time makes a choir of our lonely art
And women know that since the world began
There never was, there is no leading man!

(F, L & J-M) Oo tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt & Pinky) And women know that since the world began
There never was, there is no leading man.

(Michael) I've counted what I have; it's not enough.
And women know that since the world began
There never was, there is no leading man.

(F, L & J-M) Tell me more my nightingale.

(Doubt & Pinky) There's no leading man - no leading man!

Wishing Window

(Michael) Is this the moment in my story when
The messengers of destiny prepare
The usual historic specimen,
Some lonely little hero starving there,
And feed him with the fruits of solitaire?
Is this my miracle of bread and fishes?
This the mystery of answered prayer?
Is this my table laid with golden dishes?

(Angels) Let us not say prayer, let's just say wishes.
Don't stand there dreaming, let us in,
It wasn't all that easy getting here. We had
To metamorphosize at least a hundred
Thousand times through all the dreary realms of
Sense, just to get us from the astral, to
The mental, to the solid and the dense.
And that's not counting countless times we spent
Manifesting aimlessly as
Elements of chaos in the undifferentiated
Anti-universe before
We even had a chance to be unborn
As shadowy particals in streams of light --
Now hurry up, we haven't got all night!

(Michael) What am I supposed to do?

(Angels) Ask for something.

(Michael) I can't think.

(Angels) Come on darling.

(Michael) Help me!

(Angels) You can ask for peace on earth. There's a few
That do. Or you can ask for peace of mind.
It's very rare but we've had one or two.
Or ask that human suffering unwind
And justify itself by what's behind.
Too abstract -- somewhat off the beaten track.
We'd like to have this contract sealed and signed.
Then we must get back -- ask for what you lack
And we will leave you, sweet insomniac.

(Michael) Well could I have someone to love?

(Angels) You can

(Michael) Can I send her away?

(Angels) We have written it down.

(Michael) Then could I call her back again?

(Angels) You certainly can, you merry-go-man.

(Michael) Could I write whatever's in my heart?

(Angels) It's on your desk, the writer's mighty pen.

(Michael) And could I sing whatever's in my heart?

(Angels) Just close your eyes and keep your lips apart.

(Michael) I could have my heart's desire when
And where and how my heart desires it?
And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

(Angels) O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
So boring. Everyone's like everyone
Your famous heart is like an onion,
All layers and layers of wild distress
All gathered into rings round nothingness.

(Michael) But can I have it, can I have it?

(Angels) Yes!

(Michael) If woman, heart and song are mine
The rest will come, where do I sign?

(Troupe) But could he write whatever's in his heart?

(Angels) It's on his desk, the writer's mighty pen.

(Troupe) And could he sing whatever's in his heart?

(Angels) He'll close his eyes and keep his lips apart

(Everyone) And could he have his heart's desire when
And where and how his heart desires it?

(Michael) And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

(Everyone) O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
So boring. Everyone's like everyone
Your famous heart is like an onion,
All layers and layers of wild distress
All gathered into rings round nothingness.

(Michael) But can I have it?

(Troupe) Can he have it?

(Angels) Yes!

(Michael) Can I have it?

(Troupe) Can he have it?

(Everyone) Yes!

(Angels) The night is ending, we have many duties
Still, much gold and silver light to spill
On anxious girls and frightened boys like you,
All brooding deeply on some window sill.
But one condition there remains to fill.
One term before the heart begins to play
With other hearts the music of its will.

(Michael) If I don't agree?

(Angels) Still you have to pay
The ordinary price that humans pay...
With suff'ring, joy, redemption, and decay!

(Michael) All my heart's desire ... let's keep the part
about joy.

(Angels) It's a package.

(Michael) ...Suffering, redemption, and decay!

(Angels) It's a bitch.

(Michael) I have to get some sleep, I'm opening
tomorrow night.

(Angels) Then you agree?

(Michael) Yes, yes, I agree.

(Angels) ...Do you remember long ago
You summoned us across the high frontier
Of sleep and bid us urgently appear.

The Throne of Desire

A slave to their favours
Their no and their yes
I'm crushed in the crease
Of a cotton dress

And I'm dead except
In their company
And I'm only at rest
When they motion to me

And night after night
I turn to myself
And I raise them
Out of my panic
And they come to me
Willing at last
Inflamed and fast
Mutual and graphic.

And suddenly they drill my heart
With cavities of absence
And they cover their thighs
with cellophane
And they cover their breasts
with a shadow
And they nail my good right hand
to a wall in the attic

O take me away
From the thorns and the fire
And let me recline
On the Throne of Desire

From the Throne of Desire
I make this solemn decree
Every woman I want
Will want, will want, will want
Will more than want me!

o o o

Throne of Desire Variations

Miss Shy come to me
Along the snowy paths of modesty
Tip toe, tip toe
Hiding your silky treasure

Come to me with downcast eyes
Come to me and claim the prize
Of your outrageous pleasure

How I like you Miss Shy
Bundled up in your mother's lie
Tip toe --
Claim your outrageous pleasure!

o o o

And you I want strong
With your hatred intact
With your father's pipe
And your brother's bat
And your quaint belief
In holy authority

With your discipline
And your Darwin claws
And your legal eye
On the peacock's flaws
I see what fallen man
Was meant to be

With your absolute
No man can refute
Your absolutely unique
Contempt for the weak
Down on our paws
There are no laws
Kiss me where I can not speak

You I want strong
With your hatred intact
With your father's pipe
And your brother's bat
Now kiss me
Where I cannot speak!

o o o

You I want for my friend
To gossip with me and drink tea
To walk down by the river's bend
You I want for my friend

To watch the water going by
The swallows climbing above
To tell me that I lie
When I tell you I cannot love,
Cannot love

To know my heart better than me
To be my friend in charity
To speak of lovers old and new
To say to me, what they've done to you

You I want for my friend
To make some sense of our difference
To eat and drink together
To comfort one another,
And may our conversation never end!

o o o

And you
I want your
Beauty hidden
From all
Sight but my
Own
So none may know
your womanhood
Or hear you moan
Your pleasures
To an infant thumb

You will be
True to me
There will be no
Infidelity
For I will weave
A cloak so tight
About your loveliness
No man will ever guess
The wild commands you whisper
From your childhood to the night

And what
Drops the moon
About a man
And draws
Him tidal to
Your lips
And lets your nipples
harden I can
Hear you moan
Your pleasures
To an infant thumb

And you I want
To wink at me
And you I want
To think of me
You I want above
I want you below
You I want veiled
And you to know
I want you clumbsy
I want you skilled
You be ferocious
You be mild...

You be foolish
You be wise
You stay here
You stay outside
You comb out your hair
You keep it curled
I want, I want, I want
I want to know the world
You comb out your hair
You keep yours curled
I want, I want to know the world!

o o o

And you
Who did not come tonight
I will wait for you
And you
Who are not born
I will write for you
And you
Who must appear
In veils of chance
And mystery
I will kneel
I will kneel
Like a child
Who's watching Mary
As she stands
Upon the air
In gentle splendour
In the black
Mouth of a cave
Open-armed and radiant
To save mankind
And all the broken
World to mother

And I swear
By the obscure
Truth
Of this
Enfolded heart
I swear
By
The unrequited greed
Of this
Human heart
And all
Its
Disappointed pleasures
I swear
By
The deep light
Of my soul
Stained
And covered over
With
Intrigues of pride
Whose mercy is
To let me sing
I swear
That I will be
For the one
Who will not come
To me
I swear that
I will be
Her lover
Her eternal
And imperfect
Spirit lover.

Angels Eyes

(Judy) I'm in love

(Angels) You nut!

(Michael) Angel eyes
You've been crying lately
Paradise
Ain't like it used to be
Can't get to sleep
Can't face the light
Weep baby weep
You've no angel tonight

(Judy) Angel eyes
You've been crying lately
Paradise
Ain't like it used to be
Can't get to sleep
Can't face the light
Weep baby weep
You've no angel tonight

(Michael & You've been bad
Angels) You've been good
You've been around
Like a good angel should

(Judy) One more heart
One more town
Falling apart
When there's no one around

(Angels) Falling angel, angel...

(Michael & Judy) Angel eyes
You've been crying lately
All this time
Aren't you tired baby
Trying to fly when you
Don't have the height
Cry baby cry
You're no angel tonight

(Michael & Holy ground
Angels) Hollywood
You've been around
Like a good angel should

(Judy) One more heart
One more town
Falling apart
When there's no one around

(Angels) Falling angel, angel...

You've got to be kidding
Yes we know what you're
Thinking about but you'd
Better stop dreaming, Angel
Better stop by here and now
He's just an ordinary man
And you're all mixed up
Why are you listening to him?
Why say Angel - say Angel
Angel, Angel... oo - oo - oo

(Michael) You're no angel, baby
(Judy) You're no angel, baby

(Michael & Judy) Can't get to sleep
Can't face the light
Weep baby weep
You're no angel,
You're no angel tonight!

The Law

It is writ in stone
And capitals bold
You do, you do
Just what you're told

And you have fun
Lots of fun
Because you do
What must be done

We've told you once
And we'll tell you again
Creatures that fly
Will only die
If they lie
In the arms of men!

And this we must condemn!

The Promise

(Angels) We could have passed him by

(Judy) Should have passed him by
So many others cry

(Angels) One more human cry

(Judy) So many others
Reaching for
A thread through the night
Or one lover more

He has a dream

(Angels) It's his dream

(Judy) I dream it too

(Angels) It's not your dream

(Judy) He dreams of the promise
We swore we would come through

(Angels) The promise is not yours alone to honor

(Judy) But we said we'd...

(Angels) This is not our part

(Judy) Open his heart

(Angels) Now it is open

(Judy) No, now it must start

(Michael) You promised me whatever was in my heart

(Angels) We promised him whatever was in his heart

(Michael) You swore that I could speak from the heart
(Angels) Yes, we said he'd speak from his heart

(Michael) Now I have chosen
And you must obey

(Judy) I will obey

(Michael) It's my heart that commands
And it must have its way
I want you
I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

(Judy) Your heart commands me
And I will obey you
I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

(Judy & Angels) We promised him whatever was
in his heart

(Michael) You promised me whatever was
in my heart

(Judy & Angels) We said that he could speak
from the heart

(Michael) You swore that I could speak
from the heart

(Judy) And now he has chosen
And now I must choose
Tho' garlands of planets
And starlight I lose

(Angels) Now you must choose
Starlight, starlight
You're gonna lose him

(Judy & Michael) I want you, I need you
I can't live without you

(Everyone) I want you, I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

The Marriage March

Sights and best of wishes and
A silence you can hear
The vow that breaks the world are spoke
And the whole world sheds a tear

(Beggar) Out of the joy of your marriage feast
O brother be good to me
The way is long and the shrine is far
Where my weary feet would be
And feasting is always somewhat sad
To those outside the door
Still love is only a dream
And life itself is hardly more

(Everyone) The human company draws close
And lends an ear
The vows that break the world are spoke
As the whole world sheds a tear

The vows that break the world
And the whole world sheds a tear

The Third Invention

Feeling his way
To a cleaner expression
Of whatever it was
He stumbled across

All for the sake
Of a possible woman
He goaded himself
With a technical hope

For the sake of his longing
We came to the window
He put on his cloths
And he walked through the smoke

All for the sake
Of an interested woman
Riding to him
On a flicker of hope

Some tourist of beauty
In full disappointment
Ready to fall
In love with a ghost

And here was his ghost
With his third invention
The usual claim
To the highest reward

And now it was ready
His third invention
Ready to fall
In love with the world

And he falls back
And she comes forward
The eye of his labour
Measures them both

And she lies in the arms
Of his third invention
And back in his room
He commences the fourth

This is the work
Of the highest pretension
An automatic
Ode to the world

O deep in comfort
O full employment
He's lost to the fourth
He's lost to the third.

Clap! Clap! (Mirror Song)

(Audience) We always knew you would

(Michael) I've put a little weight on

(Audience) Not really, it looks good.

(Michael) These lines around my mouth are new

(Audience) They're the lines of wisdom

(Michael) This puffiness around my eyes?

(Audience) The burden of the kingdom!

(Michael) You know I like to talk with you

(Audience) We do too, we never knew
Someone who we could talk to
Who was quite as smart as you.

We would like to hear you talk all night
But tell us if we might
Interrupt you with applause
If you should chance to pause.
We would love to rock the walls
Again and again with curtain calls
And a standing ovation
For your brilliant conversation ...

(Michael) Clap, clap!
Now silence

Have you noticed people wear...

(Audience) Copies of your favourite hat?

(Michael) You have noticed that my dears?

(Audience) O yes we have noticed that.

(Michael) They wear copies of my shoes

(Audience) Two by twos they wear your shoes

(Michael) And they like to sing my blues

(Audience) Echoes of your ah's and ooh's.

(Michael) You know I like to talk with you

(Audience) We do too, we never knew
Someone who we could talk to
Who was quite as smart as you.

(Michael) I'm afraid that I've become
For nearly everyone
A model of behaviour
A devil or a saviour.

(Audience) He's afraid that he's become
For next to nearly everyone
The very latest model of behaviour
He's a devil, he's a saviour

(Michael) They read my news and
they hold their views
On whether I'm the devil
or a saviour

(Audience) He's afraid that he's become
For almost everyone
The very latest model of behaviour
He's a devil, he's a saviour

(Michael) I'm the very latest model of behaviour

But I've paid my dues

(Audience) We know you have!
We hold your views!

(Michael) You read my news?

(Audience) Of course we do!

(Michael) I've been a bum.

(Audience) How very, very, very, very far you've come!

(Michael) I've crossed this country on my thumb.
I've met a lot of people...

(Audience) Good and evil?

(Michael) Good and evil!
I've been up hills

(Audience) You've been down hills.

(Michael) I've been on junk.

(Audience) You've beaten junk.

(Michael) I don't mean pills

(Audience) You don't mean pills!

(Michael) I mean the needle

(Audience) He means the needle
He means the needle!
He means the needle!

(Michael) I've noticed my words on everyone's lips
And women are always leaving me slips
Of paper
I'm supposed to get back to them later
And sometimes I do

(Audience) It's only your due
After all that you've been through
To lie down with some grateful stranger

To think he honours someone's bed
With his wine and with his bread
And his legendary member
It is April in December

It's charity
It's religion
Saint Francis with the birds
Jesus with the leper
Please talk to us forever
And ever and ever

(Michael) Clap, clap
Now silence!

But now I make my confession
Before all the mirrors of history
This power was given to me
It must have been given to me
For something more
Than a star on the door
And a foot in this shabby profession

(Audience) This is surely the sound
Of the most profound
Remark that has ever been made
From the pulpit or the stage
Or even the gates of heaven

(Michael) There's something waiting for me
There's something I must feel
There's something that must bend its knee
And I must see it kneel

There's nothing to be conquered there
A beast that keeps the crown
And marble steps into the air
And one man looking down

(Audience) He's smiling
He's smiling

There is something that is waiting for him
Something that he must feel
Something that must bend its knee
And it's he must see it kneel

There is something to be conquered there
There's a beast that keeps the crown
And marble steps into the air
And one man looking down

Smiling, smiling

(Michael) Clap clap!

(Audience) Smiling, smiling

(Michael) Clap, clap!

Hunter's Lullaby

(Judy) Your father's gone a-hunting
Into the forest wild
He cannot take his wife with him
He cannot take his child

Your father's gone a-hunting
In the quicksand and the clay
A woman cannot follow him
Although she knows the way

Your father's gone a-hunting
Through the mirror and the glass
Where only greed can enter
But spirit cannot pass

Your father's gone a-hunting
For the beast he cannot bind
And he's left a baby sleeping
And his blessings all behind

Your father's gone a-hunting
And he's lost my lucky charm
And he's lost the guardian heart
That keeps the hunter from the harm

There's a darkness in the thicket
That was not there before
And among the tangled undergrowth
There is one tangle more

Your father's gone a-hunting

We Told You So

The human life
Is full of quirks
We can't work it out
Nothing works

It's a lemon
This mechanic
Live, love, suffer
Die and panic

It lives, it loves
Suffers and dies
It eats cow's meat
And apple pies

Dumb, dumb, dumb
And full of fear
Anxiety and strife..
This is the human life!

...We have many duties still
Much gold and silver light to spill
On anxious boys and frightened girls like you...

Fire

Certain creatures of the air
Frightened by the night
They came to see the world again
And they perished in the light

So now I sail from sky to sky
And all the blackness sings
Against the boat that I have made
Of mutilated wings

Fire in this house of mine
Fire of my own design
Fire from the sky
Fire from the sea
Come fire come
Fire onto thee
Fire in the house of love

I burnt the house of love tonight
I burnt the house of love tonight
I burnt the house of love tonight

Song of Destruction

(Michael) My drummer is the only one I trust
Let the drums go rolling through the night
And let them pulverise my deep disgust
With steady thunder, whips and dynamite
The man of sticks and skins is always right.
I found him near the cremetorium
Humiliated, begging for a fight.
I wrote the name of honour on a drum
O drummer tell the people why I've come!

O listen to him and his saxophone

(Frank & Louis) Our musical genital unicorn

(Michael) He's very well hung with his golden horn
He'd like to be standing out here alone
The light on his hands, his mouth, and his bone.

(Frank & Louis) So take your solo now and loose your way
In every fingered hole and brassy groan...
You'll soon begin to choke on what you play

(Michael) You're choking now exactly as I say!

(Michael, Frank As for the deeper spirits in the hall
& Louis) Annointed ones and truely different
Whom orgy doesn't satisfy at all
Who loathe the horizontal argument

(Frank & Louis) It is to such as you that he was sent.

(Michael) I understand the loyalties that insist
You burn a child or shoot a president
Or tattoo numbers on a woman's wrist
I know the sorrow of the good idealist.

It is to such as you that I was sent
To speak directly to your deepest shame
And light the fires of experiment
And burn all hesitation in the flame --
I claim you now, I claim you in the name
Of that which you have never done before
And having done it never be the same.
The victim shall be smitten on his sore.
The haughty one shall have a visitor.

(Michael, Frank We heard that drummer, do not think we missed
& Louis) Your subtle derivation from the beat

(Michael) Which I established with an iron fist
A thousand years ago, a small deceit
To be enlarged until you have complete
Control of the mood and the atmosphere --
Your crooked time endangering my defeat --
Now all your instruments must disappear
And on your traitor's face pursue your
dark career!

The Walls

(Judy) What was it we were thinking of?

(Michael & Judy) We didn't want this,
did we?

(Judy) There must be some mistake

(Michael) What was it I forgot to tell you?

(Judy) What was it I forgot?

There was a promise here
A child who knew me
A bitter bedtime story

(Michael & Judy) Another house of some forgotten family
It's very late
There must be some mistake
And now this place
for none

(Michael) There was a woman here
A woman who knew me
A table set before me

(Michael & Judy) It is the walls
it is the victory of the walls
It is the room
it is the distance of the room

(Michael) Without her...

(Judy) Without you.

Coming Back

(Judy) I hear my baby calling
He is asking to be born
I see the curtains parting
That our kisses have outworn ...

(Angels) Kisses all outworn...

(Judy) I'll raise a tent of shelter
Now though every thread is torn

(Angels) Every thread is torn...

(Judy) I take my life from realms of light
And hang it on a thorn

(Angels) Hanging on a thorn...

(Judy) I hear the children calling
Asking to be born
I see the curtains parting
And my life upon a thorn

The stars have lost their fire
And the moon has lost her voice
And I'm coming back to find you
I have made the human choice.

(Angels) You've made your choice
The world you choose
Garlands of planets and starlight
Now you lose

(Judy) He's the only one who knows me
He's the riddle of my life
And they'll never tell the story
Of the husband and the wife

(Angels) The world she chooses, she loses...

(Judy) He's the stone that broke my heart
The foundation of my home --

(Angels) This we must do!

(Judy) He's the sweetness of the sweetness
Of the sweetness honeycomb

(Angels) We must do what we must do!

(Judy) And he's welcome to his glory
And he's buried in my life
And they'll never tell the story
Of the husband and the wife

(Angels) She takes her life from realms of light

(Valkyries) She hangs it on a thorn

(Angels) She disobeys the law

(Valkyries) The law is broken
You must get them

(Angels) Get him.

(Valkyries) Get them!

Messenger
Listen
Messenger
Do what must be done
And our will be done
Will be done

Song to My Assassin

(Angels) We were chosen
We do what must
What must be done

(Michael) The love is intermittent
The discipline continues
I work on your spirit
You work on my sinews.

(Angels) We work on his sinews
And the discipline continues

We have fun 'cause
We do what must
What must be done

(Michael) I watch myself from where you are
Please do not be mistaken
The spider web you see me through
Is the view I've always taken

Begin the ceremony now
That we have been preparing
I'm tired of this marble floor
That we have both been sharing.

(Angels) Now we will be sharing
What he has been preparing!

(Girls) He's the only one
He's the only one
He's the riddle of the music
He's the music of my life

(Boys) Now it begins
Now it begins
He's the riddle of the music
He's the music of the sacrifice

(Valkyries) Messenger
Messenger
Our will
Will be done

(Angels) We work on his sinews
And the discipline continues

(Everyone) Begin the ceremony
Begin the sacrifice ...

The Bells

(Judy) The birds they sang at break of day
Start again, I heard them say
Nor dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be.

The wars they will be fought again
The holy dove be caught again
Bought and sold and bought again
Until we set them free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
The light behind to see.

Add up the parts, not yours the sum
Strike up the march, there is no drum
Every heart to love must come
Like a refugee

Credits:

Lyrics reprinted with Leonard Cohen's permission.

Thanks to Serge Mironneau (France) for the CD,
to Rob Robillard (Canada) for the home video,
to Albert Labbouz (France) for additional info,
and to J.-C. Brochard for finding the rare single

Single RCA PB 40171 (France 1985)
with two tracks: Fire / Angel Eyes
(From the collection of Dominique Boile)