| Leonard Cohen – Alexandra Leaving Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"Alexandra Leaving" is wonderful precisely because it evokes a range of interpretations. When I first heard it, it was a man losing his lover. Then after my daughter was born, I began hearing it as a man farewelling his daughter at her wedding. Both times I cried, but both times illuminated my own life experience. Parts of the lyrics suit one interpretation but not another; some parts I may never comprehend. The greatest works of art allow endless reinterpretation over years or decades, as one's viewpoint changes with experience and knowledge. My daughter is three. At the most bizarre hours she wakes me with a kiss, joins us in our bed, smashes me in the nose with a hardback storybook, and penetrates my armoured cynicism. The love of a father for his daughter is not sexual, but it is sensual in a non-rational and innocent way. When she told me she had a "boyfriend," my momentary impulse was jealousy: "who is this punk?" It turns out he was a younger man: only two. But a punk nonetheless, I say! Losing her to another man, or to death (likely my own) is something that will be heartrending -- but natural and of course inevitable. I hope to face that moment with love, compassion and dignity; I will probably blub like a baby. That's what "Alexandra Leaving" says to me. |
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