| Leonard Cohen – Is This What You Wanted Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I've always thought about this song as the way a relationship has changed over a period of time. In verse one, the woman is revered. She is the better part of two linked people/items, with the singer being the inferior part of the relationship: the temple moneylenders chased out by Jesus, the tired/hungover person (the morning after) who has promised undying love ("the promise at dawn") during a night of passion. By the second verse, the couple are equals: Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen, KY Jelly and Vaseline. He no longer needs her the way he did (Mr Clean has no need for a Doctor, let alone Hippocrates). He begins to realise that he has nothing at all in common with her (Rin Tin Tin and the Beast of Babylon). In the third verse, roles have reversed from the first, and the singer feels the superior part of the partnership. He has stayed young, while she grew old; he was able to be faithful, while she wasn't). He moves on from the relationship, she lives with the ghosts of the past. This is one of my favourite Cohen tracks, I have always thought how cleverly put together it is, and I think about it as my relationships follow similar paths... |
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