Although this doesn't quite work, this closest i can come to figuring these lyrics out is this: i think the song is about being depressed and wallowing in loneliness (near to the point of suicide) and love comes from out of the blue and saves you (love calls you by your name). At this time leonard cohen was depressed and near suicidal as is shown far more clearly and explicitly on another track from this album("songs of love hate"): dress rehearsal rag. You can tell that he feels suicide might be a relief i think by the line: "shouldering your...
Although this doesn't quite work, this closest i can come to figuring these lyrics out is this: i think the song is about being depressed and wallowing in loneliness (near to the point of suicide) and love comes from out of the blue and saves you (love calls you by your name). At this time leonard cohen was depressed and near suicidal as is shown far more clearly and explicitly on another track from this album("songs of love hate"): dress rehearsal rag. You can tell that he feels suicide might be a relief i think by the line: "shouldering your loneliness like a gun that you will not learn to aim". Apart from the lyrics, the music seems to suggest the themes mentioned, i refer mainly to the uplifting bridge or "chorus" when the brass kicks in and when the title is sung. i'm not sure the "love" necessarily means a woman, i think it refers to some kind of epiphony when the depression lifts away, after which he can't fully understand why he was so deeply depressed as there was no real reason for it. i believe this is indicated in the lines: "wondering out loud as the bandage pulls away, was i only limping, was i really lame?" There are few things that i can't work and another few reasons why this argument doesn't work and also might be completely wrong but this is as near as i can figure at the moment.
Pressure of living. Tightness of life. Not misery, but the intensity of the pain of being alive.
Reminds me of someone who once said, "when the heart breaks, it breaks open."
Although this doesn't quite work, this closest i can come to figuring these lyrics out is this: i think the song is about being depressed and wallowing in loneliness (near to the point of suicide) and love comes from out of the blue and saves you (love calls you by your name). At this time leonard cohen was depressed and near suicidal as is shown far more clearly and explicitly on another track from this album("songs of love hate"): dress rehearsal rag. You can tell that he feels suicide might be a relief i think by the line: "shouldering your...
Although this doesn't quite work, this closest i can come to figuring these lyrics out is this: i think the song is about being depressed and wallowing in loneliness (near to the point of suicide) and love comes from out of the blue and saves you (love calls you by your name). At this time leonard cohen was depressed and near suicidal as is shown far more clearly and explicitly on another track from this album("songs of love hate"): dress rehearsal rag. You can tell that he feels suicide might be a relief i think by the line: "shouldering your loneliness like a gun that you will not learn to aim". Apart from the lyrics, the music seems to suggest the themes mentioned, i refer mainly to the uplifting bridge or "chorus" when the brass kicks in and when the title is sung. i'm not sure the "love" necessarily means a woman, i think it refers to some kind of epiphony when the depression lifts away, after which he can't fully understand why he was so deeply depressed as there was no real reason for it. i believe this is indicated in the lines: "wondering out loud as the bandage pulls away, was i only limping, was i really lame?" There are few things that i can't work and another few reasons why this argument doesn't work and also might be completely wrong but this is as near as i can figure at the moment.