음유시인 코헨의 68년 앨범으로 오랜 시간 동안 포크팬들의 고전으로 만아있는 명반.`BIRD ON THE WIRE`,`SEEMA SO LONG AGO,NANCY`등 주옥같은 곡들이 수록되어 있다.잔잔한 아쿠스틱 반주위에 고뇌에 찬 그의 목소리가 삿귀처럼 흐르는 걸작이다.(포크)
Bird on the Wire 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 a hook, like a knight from some old fashioned book I have saved all my ribbons for thee. If I, if I have been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by. If I, if I have been untrue I hope you know it was never to you. Like a baby, 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 a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
Oh like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free.
Story of Isaac The door it opened slowly, my father he came in, I was nine years old. And he stood so tall above me, his blue eyes they were shining and his voice was very cold. He said, "I've had a vision and you know I'm strong and holy, I must do what I've been told." So he started up the mountain, I was running, he was walking, and his axe was made of gold. Well, the trees they got much smaller, the lake a lady's mirror, we stopped to drink some wine. Then he threw the bottle over. Broke a minute later and he put his hand on mine. Thought I saw an eagle but it might have been a vulture, I never could decide. Then my father built an altar, he looked once behind his shoulder, he knew I would not hide.
You who build these altars now to sacrifice these children, you must not do it anymore. A scheme is not a vision and you never have been tempted by a demon or a god. You who stand above them now, your hatchets blunt and bloody, you were not there before, when I lay upon a mountain and my father's hand was trembling with the beauty of the word.
And if you call me brother now, forgive me if I inquire, "Just according to whose plan?" When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can. And mercy on our uniform, man of peace or man of war, the peacock spreads his fan.
Seems So Long Ago, Nancy It seems so long ago, Nancy was alone, looking ate the Late Late show through a semi-precious stone. In the House of Honesty her father was on trial, in the House of Mystery there was no one at all, there was no one at all. It seems so long ago, none of us were strong; Nancy wore green stockings and she slept with everyone. She never said she'd wait for us although she was alone, I think she fell in love for us in nineteen sixty one, in nineteen sixty one.
It seems so long ago, Nancy was alone, a forty five beside her head, an open telephone. We told her she was beautiful, we told her she was free but none of us would meet her in the House of Mystery, the House of Mystery.
And now you look around you, see her everywhere, many use her body, many comb her hair. In the hollow of the night when you are cold and numb you hear her talking freely then, she's happy that you've come, she's happy that you've come.
I finally broke into the prison, I found my place in the chain. Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows, all the brave young men they're waiting now to see a signal which some killer will be lighting for pay. Into this furnace I ask you now to venture, you whom I cannot betray.
I fought in the old revolution on the side of the ghost and the King. Of course I was very young and I thought that we were winning; I can't pretend I still feel very much like singing as they carry the bodies away.
Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...
Lately you've started to stutter as though you had nothing to say. To all of my architects let me be traitor. Now let me say I myself gave the order to sleep and to search and to destroy.
Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...
Yes, you who are broken by power, you who are absent all day, you who are kings for the sake of your children's story, the hand of your beggar is burdened down with money, the hand of your lover is clay.
You Know Who I Am I cannot follow you, my love, you cannot follow me. I am the distance you put between all of the moments that we will be. You know who I am, you've stared at the sun, well I am the one who loves changing from nothing to one.
Sometimes I need you naked, sometimes I need you wild, I need you to carry my children in and I need you to kill a child.
You know who I am...
If you should ever track me down I will surrender there and I will leave with you one broken man whom I will teach you to repair.
You know who I am...
I cannot follow you, my love, you cannot follow me. I am the distance you put between all of the moments that we will be.
Lady Midnight I came by myself to a very crowded place; I was looking for someone who had lines in her face. I found her there but she was past all concern; I asked her to hold me, I said, "Lady, unfold me," but she scorned me and she told me I was dead and I could never return. Well, I argued all night like so many have before, saying, "Whatever you give me, I seem to need so much more." Then she pointed at me where I kneeled on her floor, she said, "Don't try to use me or slyly refuse me, just win me or lose me, it is this that the darkness is for."
I cried, "Oh, Lady Midnight, I fear that you grow old, the stars eat your body and the wind makes you cold." "If we cry now," she said, "it will just be ignored." So I walked through the morning, sweet early morning, I could hear my lady calling, "You've won me, you've won me, my lord, you've won me, you've won me, my lord, yes, you've won me, you've won me, my lord, ah, you've won me, you've won me, my lord, ah, you've won me, you've won me, my lord."
Tonight Will Be Fine Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past. We swore to each other then that our love would surely last. You kept right on loving, I went on a fast, now I am too thin and your love is too vast. But I know from your eyes and I know from your smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while.
I choose the rooms that I live in with care, the windows are small and the walls almost bare, there's only one bed and there's only one prayer; I listen all night for your step on the stair.
But I know from your eyes and I know from your smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while.
Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me, she's the soft naked lady love meant her to be and she's moving her body so brave and so free. If I've got to remember that's a fine memory.
And I know from her eyes and I know from her smile that tonight will be fine, will be fine, will be fine, will be fine for a while.