Seems So Long Ago, Nancy

I believe I read about Mr. Cohen's friend who killed herself, so I think most of the song can be about her and Leonard's reflections on her.
When I first heard this song, it sounded a lot like a female acquaintance of mine, who was later diagnosed with Bipolar disorder (manic depression) and I believe she had histrionic personality disorder as well.
Histrionic personality disorder with mania: We've all met these girls or crossed their paths at one time. They make you feel that you're the most intelligent, insightful and desirable person on the planet, and they even take it right to the bedroom with you. Then they find the next man and repeat the process. This is not sustainable. If the pattern isn't broken, and left untreated, suicide is very common. ("many of you use her body...", but then she ends up alone, with no one calling, when she really needs it) I agree that the "father on trial" bit is a bit ambiguous, but some kind of molestation or early damaging manipulation seems reasonable.

The song is about a Nancy who was a friend of Cohen's. Here is the full background: http://www.challies.com/articles/seems-so-long-ago-nancy-0#more

Again, I thought it was about Marilyn Monroe. The open telephone is definitely her. Not to mention 1961... And this is the right title..

i had another thought, a complex one, but ill do my best trying to explain that.

Nancy represents honesty which is also a mystery, kind of a god. when he says there was no one at all - he means no one was honesty. she slept with everyone - she belongs to everyoone - not only 1 religion. she fell in love for us - she(god) loves us for for our's sake. nancy is alone, she never said she's wait for us- god wont wait for us people to be honest. we told her she was beautiful, free but none of us would meet her - religous people are hypocrite. and now you look around you, see her everywhere - now after you've heard all this you see her, "nancy", god. many used her body - many used god's name in the hollow of the night when you are all alone... - when you are alone, at your most "with yourself", thinking , time you can see her, you know the truth.

i hope you liked my point of view :)

It seems like i was wrong. recently i read that leonard had a friend called nancy who shot herself after her parents made her deliver her son to a foster family.

Nancy's father molested her. Reread the lyrics.

Nancy was a former muse...her alleged promiscuity is bandied about.

much of the lyrics are fairly self-explanatory (to me at least). Nancy was a girl who the young Cohen and his friends could not resist. For some reason or other, despite the pleas of her friends, she ended up shooting herself.

But what's he significance of the Houses of Honesty & Mystery, her father being on trial? What does he mean when he says she fell in love for them in 1961? And the last verse ... is this simply a dream where he remembers her as he used to know her?

I haven't read much about Leonard Cohen's life. Even before I knew that he was depressed or knew that he did know a Nancy that killed herself, I thought that this song must have been about a specific event that occured. However, I also interpreted it as having a double meaning- with Nancy representing a collective vision of idyllic, innocent pre-1960's womankind- and here "self destruction" during the cultural revolution. Her "father on trial" representing the counterculture's disdain for the previous generation. House of mystery = love. No one would actually love her- just sleep with her... and now, much later, he see's some of that in every woman he see's. Anyway, maybe I'm way too young or read into things too deeply ;0) Interesting stuff though. Peace

Cohen is so awesome. When sudden tragic loss happens, awhile later, the grief can feel "buried" and the person obscure. It seems so long ago; it just feels that way, but in reality it wasn't. Clearly Nancy had some kind of major psychiatric disorder, bi-polar, schizophrenia or Borderline personality disorder or severe depression, something that caused her to be hospitalized in a time with little compassion and horrific care for persons experiencing mental illness. Numbly staring at the late show, through eyes deemed semi precious, contemplating suicide. Her father did not support her, or many even abused her (makes sense because he too killed himself). The mental space Nancy was in, was spiritual yet disconnected and she was utterly alone, with no one who could meet here there. Promiscuity and pleasure seeking are a sign of mania, so I'm going with bi-polar. Cohen and his group were all depressed, which made them feel "not strong" and unable to help her (maybe doing drugs like heroin too--see "The Butcher" from the same album). Nancy captured the mood and collective feeling of the time and circumstances they were in, lost, disconnected, abandoned maybe. They try their best to help her, tell her she is beautiful, but her illness is too much. Finally after her baby is taken from her, in a deeply depressive episode, no one to talk to or help her (meet her in the House of Mystery), she takes her own life. But there is still a gift she brought to Cohen, validation for the deep despair and numbness that depression brings. In his own depression he sees her everywhere, in everything. And she's happy that you've come.

I

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.