The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
She stands before you naked
You can see it, you can taste it,
And she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
It don't matter how you worship
As long as you're
Down on your knees.
So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
At the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease.
O baby I waited
So long for your kiss
For something to happen,
Oh something like this.
And you're weak and you're harmless
And you're sleeping in your harness
And the wind going wild
In the trees,
And it ain't exactly prison
But you'll never be forgiven
For whatever you've done
With the keys.
O baby I waited
It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going,
The river has started to freeze.
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees.
Then she dances so graceful
And your heart's hard and hateful
And she's naked
But that's just a tease.
And you turn in disgust
From your hatred and from your love
And comes to you
Light as the breeze.
O baby I waited
There's blood on every bracelet
You can see it, you can taste it,
And it's please baby
Please baby please.
And she says, drink deeply, pilgrim
But don't forget there's still a woman
Beneath this
Resplendent chemise.
So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
I knelt there like one who believes.
And the blessings come from heaven
And for something like a second
I'm cured and my heart
Is at ease
You can see it, you can taste it,
And she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
It don't matter how you worship
As long as you're
Down on your knees.
So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
At the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease.
O baby I waited
So long for your kiss
For something to happen,
Oh something like this.
And you're weak and you're harmless
And you're sleeping in your harness
And the wind going wild
In the trees,
And it ain't exactly prison
But you'll never be forgiven
For whatever you've done
With the keys.
O baby I waited
It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going,
The river has started to freeze.
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees.
Then she dances so graceful
And your heart's hard and hateful
And she's naked
But that's just a tease.
And you turn in disgust
From your hatred and from your love
And comes to you
Light as the breeze.
O baby I waited
There's blood on every bracelet
You can see it, you can taste it,
And it's please baby
Please baby please.
And she says, drink deeply, pilgrim
But don't forget there's still a woman
Beneath this
Resplendent chemise.
So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
I knelt there like one who believes.
And the blessings come from heaven
And for something like a second
I'm cured and my heart
Is at ease
Lyrics submitted by katerpillar77, edited by Click57
Light as the Breeze Lyrics as written by Leonard Cohen
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Light as the Breeze – While these lyrics draw heavily on images of a relationship between a man and a woman, they are not about sex or the relationship between a man and a woman any more than Moby Dick is a story about fishing.
This song is about the creative process: O baby I waited So long for your kiss For something to happen Oh, something like this. In this refrain, Cohen is talking about waiting for the “kiss” of inspiration from the creative Muse that resulted in these lyrics. The medium is truly the message here since the lyrics are about the creative process that goes into writing these very same lyrics. In stanza one (my references here are to each stanza as they appear excluding the above refrain) when the creative muse is present, she provides access to “the universe” (or “intention” or “spirit” or “the mind of God”) without pretense – she appears before you naked but she is ephemeral and elusive – she’s “light as the breeze.” How great or small the insights you get when she opens this portal are up to you but you must recognize who’s in charge – you must be humble. In stanza 2, Cohen kneels “…at the delta / At the alpha and omega” with all its imagery of female anatomy and its references to the cradle of civilization both of which conjure up images of creation and birth. This is where things are created and this is where things end – this is the creative portal. Through this portal, “For something like a second” he is cured and his heart is at ease – he gets the gift of creative access for which he has forgone so much and in which he has invested so much and, as brief as the inspiration is relative to all that he has to go through to receive it, it’s worth it. The reference to “sleeping in your harness” in stanza three refers to the trappings of everyday life that wall you off from the creative process. Wordsworth said (in “Ode, Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”): “Earth [the temporal, natural world] doth all she can / To make her foster-child, her inmate Man, / Forget the glories he hath known, / And that imperial palace whence he came.” We sleep-walk in our everyday life while the rich flow of creativity with all its symbolism, insights and meaning is “…the wind going wild in the trees.” Like Wordsworth’s “inmate Man” mankind is not exactly in prison but, like the concept of original sin, we will never be forgiven for losing touch with our spiritual nature – we lost the key. Stanza four recognizes the agony of the creative process where long stretches of effort yield no result – the creative flow is freezing over and Cohen is frustrated. In Stanza five, the creative muse appears again, naked and apparently ready to give Cohen what he wants but that’s just a tease – she’s in control of the process and doesn’t always deliver, even when she makes an appearance. Cohen turns angrily from the muse and the creative process which is both his passion and the bane of his existence. Just as he is giving up, totally discouraged, she appears again, ready to inspire him – she cannot be summoned, she comes and goes as she pleases. In stanza 6, Cohen acknowledges he is a captive to the creative process. The blood on every bracelet may be his blood – the result of subjugating his temporal needs to his pursuit of spiritual or creative enlightenment (“…things undone, worldly activities not attended to…” – from Wordsworth). The muse encourages him to “drink deeply, pilgrim” which, while a religious reference to the Christian sacrament of holy communion is also, in the context of these lyrics, the process of receiving the “sacrament” of creativity (or Spirit). As with the Christian practice of receiving Holy Communion, one must be in a state of “grace” to partake of the creative process which is a fragile one and easily ended if taken for granted. Stanza 7 is a repeat of Stanza 2 followed by the fourth repeat of the refrain to hammer home the reminder that these lyrics are about the process of creating these same lyrics: “O baby I waited / So long for your kiss / For something to happen / Oh, something like this.” And again, Cohen reminds us in Stanza 7 that as brief as the inspiration is relative to all that he gives up to get it, it’s worth it. As long as this creative process results in lyrics like those in this song, I wholeheartedly agree: it’s well worth the effort.