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Leonard Cohen - Almost Like The Blues

Leonard Cohen - Almost Like The Blues Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Popular Problems
Released: 2014

Almost Like The Blues Lyrics

I saw some people starving
There was murder, there was rape
Their villages were burning
They were trying to escape
I couldn't meet their glances
I was staring at my shoes
It was acid, it was tragic
It was Almost Like The Blues
It was almost like the blues

I have to die a little
Between each murderous thought
And when I'm finished thinking
I have to die a lot
There's torture and there's killing
And there's all my bad reviews
The war, the children missing
Lord, it's almost like the blues
It's almost like a blues

So I let my heart get frozen
To keep away the rot
My father says I'm chosen
My mother says I'm not
I listened to their story
Of the Gypsies and the Jews
It was good, it wasn't boring
It was almost like the blues
It was almost like the blues

There is no God in Heaven
And there is no Hell below
So says the great professor
Of all there is to know
But I've had the invitation
That a sinner can't refuse
And it's almost like salvation
It's almost like the blues
It's almost like a blues
Almost like a blues

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

Almost Like The Blues Song Chart

The lead single from Popular Problems finds Cohen reacting to political disasters, death, destruction and bad reviews by noting that they are "almost like the blues."

Popular Problems was produced by and co-written with Patrick Leonard, who is best known for his work with Madonna from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. "It was a very agreeable collaboration because of an absence of ego and an abundance of musical ideas on Patrick's part," Cohen explained during an interview with Bob Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum, after an album playback.

"I would have a rhythm in mind and a position" on tempo and accompaniment," Cohen added. "I had the function of the veto. Most of the musical ideas were Patrick's, with a bit of modifications. Whether there were horns or violin, all of those things were decided mutually."

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."

Leonard Cohen - Slow

Leonard Cohen - Slow Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Popular Problems
Released: 2014

Slow Lyrics

I’m Slowing down the tune
I never liked it fast
You want to get there soon
I want to get there last

It’s not because I’m old
It’s not the life I led
I always liked it slow
That’s what my momma said

I’m lacing up my shoe
But I don’t want to run
I’ll get here when I do
Don’t need no starting gun

It’s not because I’m old
And it’s not what dying does
I always liked it slow
Slow is in my blood

I always liked it slow:
I never liked it fast
With you it’s got to go:
With me it’s got to last

It’s not because I’m old
It’s not because I’m dead
I always liked it slow
That’s what my momma said

All your moves are swift
All your turns are tight
Let me catch my breath
I thought we had all night

I like to take my time
I like to linger as it flies
A weekend on your lips
A lifetime in your eyes

I always liked it slow:
I never liked it fast
With you it’s got to go:
With me it’s got to last

It’s not because I’m old
It’s not the life I led
I always liked it slow
That’s what my momma said

I’m slowing down the tune
I never liked it fast
You want to get there soon
I want to get there last

So baby let me go
You’re wanted back in town
In case they want to know
I’m just trying to slow it down

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

Slow Song Chart

This song finds Cohen arguing that his slowness is a lifelong predilection and not just a sign of encroaching mortality:

It's not because I'm old
It's not the life I led
I always liked it slow

Cohen is self-depreciating about his preference for a dilatory pace both in terms of slow sex ("Let me catch my breath. I thought we had all night") and his dedication to taking time to find the right words and the right melody for his creative output. "I've said it before - being a songwriter is like being a nun: you're married to a mystery," Cohen said to hearty laughter during a playback for the Popular Problems album. "My methods are obscure and not to be replicated. A song will yield itself if you stick with it long enough. But you've got to stick with it for a very long time."

Leonard Cohen - You Got Me Singing

Leonard Cohen - You Got Me Singing Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Popular Problems
Released: 2014

You Got Me Singing Lyrics

You Got Me Singing
Even tho’ the news is bad
You got me singing
The only song I ever had

You got me singing
Ever since the river died
You got me thinking
Of the places we could hide

You got me singing
Even though the world is gone
You got me thinking
I’d like to carry on

You got me singing
Even tho’ it all looks grim
You got me singing
The Hallelujah hymn

You got me singing
Like a prisoner in a jail
You got me singing
Like my pardon’s in the mail

You got me wishing
Our little love would last
You got me thinking
Like those people of the past

You got me singing
Even though the world is gone
You got me thinking
I’d like to carry on

You got me singing
Even tho’ it all went wrong
You got me singing
The Hallelujah song

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

You Got Me Singing Song Chart

Popular Problems brings Cohen's near-apocalyptic vision outlined on "The Future" rudely into the present. "When I said: 'I've seen the future, brother, it is murder,' unfortunately, I think that vision has been realized," he told The Daily Telegraph.

However, this final uplifting track finds him in more optimistic mood as he croons, "The bulletin is: 'You got me singing even though the world is gone. You got me thinking I'd like to carry on.'" During a press conference at the Canadian High Commission, someone suggested this was evidence of hidden optimism. "Yeah, I'm a closet optimist," Cohen dryly responded.