weird that its about prostitutes, i always thought the song was about nuns, at least on a literal level. the 'sisters of mercy' being a large catholic order of nuns which has a strong presence in french speaking canada where cohen is from.
There's religious references throughout: 'when your not feeling holy...', 'made my confession to them'.
The second verse seems particularly seems like a description of the sisters sacrifices for their faith:
'It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.'
In general the sisters are decribed as being kind of nice and kind. I always picture the two nuns in 'catcher in the rye' that holden meets at the train station, when i hear the song.
Then by the last verse when he goes on to talk about sweetening their night it kind of implies that there's more to the song than that... strange how people interpret stuff differently
weird that its about prostitutes, i always thought the song was about nuns, at least on a literal level. the 'sisters of mercy' being a large catholic order of nuns which has a strong presence in french speaking canada where cohen is from.
There's religious references throughout: 'when your not feeling holy...', 'made my confession to them'.
The second verse seems particularly seems like a description of the sisters sacrifices for their faith: 'It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.'
In general the sisters are decribed as being kind of nice and kind. I always picture the two nuns in 'catcher in the rye' that holden meets at the train station, when i hear the song.
Then by the last verse when he goes on to talk about sweetening their night it kind of implies that there's more to the song than that... strange how people interpret stuff differently