Leonard Cohen Songs - Born In Chains Lyrics

Leonard Cohen - Born In Chains

Leonard Cohen - Born In Chains Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Popular Problems
Released: 2014

Born In Chains Lyrics

I was Born In Chains but I was taken out of Egypt
I was bound to a burden, but the burden it was raised
Lord I can no longer keep this secret
Blessed is the name, the name be praised

I fled to the edge of a mighty sea of sorrow
Pursued by the riders of a cruel and dark regime
But the waters parted and my soul crossed over
Out of Egypt, out of Pharaoh’s dream

Word of words and the measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
That’s all I know, I cannot read the rest

I was idled with my soul, when I heard that you could use me
I followed very closely, but my life remained the same
But then you showed me where you had been wounded
In every atom broken is a name

I was alone on the road, your love was so confusing
All my teachers told me I had myself to blame
But in the grip of sensual illusion
The sweet unknowing unifies a name

Word of words, and the measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
That’s all I know, I cannot read the rest

I've heard the soul unfolds in the chambers of its longing
And the bitter liquor sweetens in the amber cup
But all the ladders of the night have fallen
Only darkness now, to lift the longing up

Word of words and measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
That’s all I know, I cannot read the rest

Writer/s: COHEN, LEONARD
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Born In Chains Song Chart

This gospel meditation finds Leonard Cohen singing of the "Word of Words and Measure of all Measures," written on his heart "in burning letters." It was the one track on Popular Problems that Cohen wrote on his own, without the help of producer Patrick Leonard.

Cohen said during an album playback that this was the Popular Problems track that he struggled with for the longest. "That's been kicking around for forty years," he said with a smile. "I've rewritten the lyric many times to accommodate the changes in my theological position, which is very insecure."

"The chords kind of interest me and we came up with this pure gospel version," he added. "It's the one song on the album I'm not 100 percent behind. I didn't nail it, but I've got a thumbtack in it."

Cohen first performed the song on stage in 2010.

Leonard Cohen said of the song to The Daily Telegraph: "We all live lives that are tethered to the circumstances in which we find ourselves, so in a certain sense everyone is born in chains. There are moments of liberation and moments of captivity. Life seems to move between those two polarities."

Although he has embraced Buddhism, the song finds Cohen harking back to his Jewish roots: "I grew up in a very conservative, observant family, so it's not something I ever felt any distance from," he said. "It is essential to my own survival. Torah values are the ones that inform my life."