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Bassa e profonda, la voce è quella di uno sciupafemmine oracolare impegnato in un corpo a corpo col mistero.
Con quel filino d'ansia che impedisce di starsene tranquilli, che ci son libri da scrivere, donne da amare...e la misura perfetta da trovare, qualcosa di in sé concluso, ma che al tempo stesso ecceda..
Provate a concentrarvi su ciò che è perfetto in sé, un fiore, ad esempio, oppure quella nuvola che sembra scherzare, sorridere...
Provate....
Provate a pensar di poter dir parole che abbiano quell'immediatezza, quella verità improvvisa...si, lo so è un delirio da poeti...ma è proprio questa la perfetta misura...
Trovar parole che escano bene dalla bocca e che siano musica anche senza musica...
Oh, vi prego, fate un piccolo esperimento, mettetevi a cantarla, “Sisters of mercy” e vedrete che se anche la vostra voce non è quella di Leonard Cohen, le parole usciranno bene anche a voi.
L'avete fatto? Vi siete resi conto?
E' una cosa da niente, ma anche una specie di miracolo, che la a poesia a volte è un fastidioso rospo in gola e quel fluire si inceppa.
Ma nelle migliori canzoni del nostro non si inceppa mai...
Come diceva quel tizio francese? “Senza niente che pesi o posi”...ecco si, esatto. Ma voglio che sappiate che non è facile. Che la perfetta misura non è anestesia, paralisi emozionale, aridità di perfezione. Ma tensione nella bellezza, increspatura...
Ecco, io Cohen l'ho conosciuto con questo disco che, anche se è un'antologia, è uno dei miei dischi del cuore...
Ogni brano è un capolavoro assoluto e l'armonia tra voce e musica non è di questo mondo...
Niente track by track...
Isolo solo due momenti, “Bird on the wire” e “Sisters of Mercy”. E lo faccio per le parole. E per quell'armonia. E per quel qualcosa che eccede.
Le parole:
“Come un uccello sul filo, come un ubriaco nel coro di mezzanotte , ho provato, a modo mio, di essere libero” (“Bird on the wire”)
“Bene, son stato dove te ne stai appeso e credo di sapere come ti hanno inchiodato, quando non ti senti benedetto la tua stessa solitudine suggerisce che hai peccato” (“Sisters of mercy”)
Ecco, non starò a spiegare il perché di queste parole (perché queste e non altre, voglio dire)...allungherei il brodo e non è il caso.
Dirò solo che ascoltando Cohen, ognuno di noi trova pane per i suoi denti.
L'armonia:
“Bird on the wire” è una specie di blues da camera definitivo...
“Sisters of mercy” è un'acustica che insiste ed entra nel luna park dell'anima...
Quel qualcosa che eccede:
Ecco, di questo ho già detto...
Aloha...
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Suzanne (03:50)
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river.
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her.
And you know she's half crazy,
But that's why you want to be there.
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her,
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
And Jesus was a sailor, when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower.
And when he knew for certain, only drowning men could see him,
He said: "All men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them."
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open,
Foresaken, almost human,
He sank beneath your wisdom, like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.
Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river.
She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters.
And the sun pours down like honey on our Lady of the Harbor.
And she shows you where to look, among the garbage and the flowers.
There are heros in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
They will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.
02 Sisters of Mercy (03:36)
Oh the sisters of mercy
they are not departed or gone,
they were waiting for me
when I thought that I just can't go on
And they brought me their comfort
and later they brought me this song
Oh I hope you run into them
you who've been travelling so long
You who must leave everything
that you cannot control
it begins with your family
but soon it comes round to your soul
well, I've been where you're hanging
I think I can see how you're pinned
When you're not feeling holy
your loneliness tells that you've sinned
They lay down beside me
I made my confession to them
they touched both my eyes
and I touched the dew on their hem
If your life is a leaf
that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love
that is graceful and green as a stem
When I left they were sleeping
I hope you run into them soon
don't turn on the light
you can read their address by the moon
and you won't make me jealous
if I heard that they sweetened your night
we weren't lovers like that
and besides it would still be all right
03 So Long, Marianne (05:40)
Come over to the window, my little darling,
I'd like to try to read your palm.
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
before I let you take me home.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.
Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
We met when we were almost young
deep in the green lilac park.
You held on to me like I was a crucifix,
as we went kneeling through the dark.
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
Your letters they all say that you're beside me now.
Then why do I feel alone?
I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
For now I need your hidden love.
I'm cold as a new razor blade.
You left when I told you I was curious,
I never said that I was brave.
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
Oh, you are really such a pretty one.
I see you've gone and changed your name again.
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside,
to wash my eyelids in the rain!
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
04 Bird on the Wire (03:27)
like a bird on the wire
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
like a worm on the hook
like a knight from some old-fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
and if I have been unkind
I hope that you will just let it go by
and if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you
like a babe stillborn
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me
but I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch
he said to me "you must not ask for so much"
and the pretty woman leaning in her darkened door
she cried to me "hey, why not ask for more?"
like a bird on the wire
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
06 The Partisan (03:25)
When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I have lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.
An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.
There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.
Les Allemands étaient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, "Signe toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")
mais je n'ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j'ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)
J'ai changé cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entière. (I have all of France)
Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a caché, (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.
07 Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (02:57)
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you,
But now it's come to distances
And both of us must try,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
I'm not looking for another
As I wander in my time,
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme,
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me,
It's just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea,
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
08 Famous Blue Raincoat (05:09)
It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --
She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Sincerely L. Cohen
10 Chelsea Hotel #2 (03:07)
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were talking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.
Ah but you got away, didn't you babe,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."
And then you got away, didn't you babe...
I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't even think of you that often.
11 Who by Fire (02:32)
And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?
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