submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I see what you're saying. I definitely think Cohen was being more contrite than many of the people who have already commented do. |
submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Bird on the Wire Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Birds sit on wires and, unlike you or me, don't get electrocuted. Why? Because they are tiny and can sit on a single wire without touching any of the others (at least I THINK that's why they don't get fried). Meanwhile, you have a drunk. Why is he still alive? The knight, why does he continue to survive these many battles? Because that is exactly what they were built to do. The bird was built to sing on a wire while the drunk and his choir are simply made to do just that, drink and sing. It is a song of realization as well as a song of resignation to the station the speaker was built for. We can't ALL be the roses of the world. Some of us need to be dandelions to keep the whole thing going. Be true to yourself and all will be fine. At least, that's what I think the first verse means.
The second verse seems to take a more austere tone. The stillborn baby hurt those who tried to love him spiritually and emotionally. The beast with his horn ravaged the person who came near physically. Again, both kept to their primal natures. The baby hurt his parents simply by being loved and desired. The horned animal was only doing what instinct mandates. As Sigfried and Roy showed us, love a beast and eventually the beast is going to attack. It's instinct. It's what the beast was MADE to do. (Refer back to the first verse). However, I believe this verse may be an attempt for Cohen to reconcile something he personally did to hurt someone who loved him.
We end with the beggar and the pretty woman. The beggar has nothing and says to ask or nothing more. The pretty woman presumably has everything and suggests we ask for more. How does this tie in with the rest of the song? I suppose it might mean that, the less God gives you, the more easily you can see WHAT He has given you. I'm not sure about that though. What do you think? |
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