NIGHT MAGIC
FRANCE 1985


Musical, lyrics by Leonard Cohen




Night Magic was re-released
in Canada in March 2003
by Disques Cinémusique. Click
here for more information


Night Magic, a musical fantasy, is set on earth but it is also about the heavens. At the centre of it all is Michael (Nick Mancuso), a music hall artist, who finds Judy (Carole Laure), an angel that epitomizes the woman of his dreams at the System Theatre where he is about to open his new show. For Michael it is just another show along the road but once inside something happens. The night is full of possibilities- full of love and romance, jealousy and infidelity, music and dance, even good and evil. Most of all it is full of magic!" (From the movie poster)

This pop opera was directed by Lewis Furey. Screenplay by Lewis Furey and Leonard Cohen. Lyrics by Leonard Cohen, music by Lewis Furey. Starring Carole Laure and Nick Mancuso. Produced by Robert Lantos and Steven Roth for RSL Entertainment Corp. Fildebroc & TF1 France.

Albums:

  • The original 12" double-LP album: RCA PL-70643 (2), France 1985, with poster and all lyrics.
  • CD: Mantra # 642059, France 1991, with a 16-page booklet (complete lyrics, movie pictures and cast). Total time 77:49
  • Home video:

  • The Night Magic home video # AVF 1018 was released by The Alliance Releasing, MCA Home Video Canada, 1988. Color and Hi-Fi, 1:35, in VHS NTSC format.
  • Collectors' items:

  • 12" vinyl album Carole Laure et Lewis Furey enregistrement public au théâtre de la Porte St Martin, France 1982 (RCA Saravah RSL1095). One of the tracks is I've counted what I have (Words by Leonard Cohen, music by Lewis Furey).

  • 7" single Slowly I married her, France 1982 (Saravah/RCA, France, 1982, cat. no RSB 504) by Carole Laure & Lewis Furey. A-side: I should have known (Lewis Furey), B-side: Slowly, I married her (Words: Leonard Cohen, Music: Lewis Furey).


  • Track listing:


    I have counted what I have
    Wishing window
    The throne of desire
    Throne variations
    Angels eyes
    The law
    The promise
    The marriage march
    The third invention
    Clap! Clap!
    Hunter's lullaby
    We told you so
    Fire
    Song of destruction
    The walls
    Coming back
    Song to my assasin
    The bells

    Click on song title or just scroll down for lyrics!

    Lyrics



    Michael is a singer and a composer. At thirty-five, he wants it all: love, success and money... and he is impatient. How much longer will he have to accept second-class engagements in second-class halls? One day, his ship comes in as three beautiful angels appear before him. All he needs to do it to voice his desires and he will get everyhting he dreams of. But Michael's intense desires unleash powers which he can no longer master. At last, he gets success, money and love: Judy, the gracious angel he is smitten by, will come down to play in the terrestial arena for the love of him. But what will this enchantments lead to?



    I've Counted What I Have

    (Michael) I've counted what I have; it's not enough
    And what I need I do not dare to say.
    I've heard the soul is diamond in the rough
    That pain must polish it to a bright display;
    But mine is diamond dust that's blown away.

    (Angels) I've counted what I have; it's not enough
    And what I need I do not dare to say.
    I've heard the soul is diamond in the rough
    That pain must polish it to a bright display;
    But mine is diamond dust that's blown away.

    (Michael) And covered up the world with glittering --
    Come back my soul, I cry, it won't obey,
    And I'm the empty shape of everything ...
    Come back my soul, come back to me I sing.

    I'm sick with greed, with unrequited greed
    And everyman becomes my enemy.
    I need his woman, his career I need
    For what he has, he's taken it from me
    And what is mine he uses clumsily.
    That pagan there pretending he can dance,
    This Christian peddling his humility,
    These carbons of Hitlerian romance,
    These lovers photographed without their pants.

    (Frank, Louis & Then, Doubt, sloppy mother mistress that you
    Jean-Marc) Can't get rid of, who loves you more the more
    You turn away, whose perfume's pity, who
    Isn't feeling well, whose shoulder's sore --
    Doubt comes generous as a dinosaur.

    (Doubt) O love forget this metaphysic bit
    About the lost world and the grieving heart
    You really can't believe is haunting it;
    While you brood here, other lovers part
    Their lips, prettier than you, and just as smart.

    (F, L & J-M) Doubt has all the reasons why you have to fail
    And you agree, you've heard them all before.
    Her heart is broken and her breath is stale
    And you say, Tell me more my nightingale.

    (Doubt) Give up your conquering plan, give up your plan.
    Time makes a choir of our lonely art
    And women know that since the world began
    There never was, there is no leading man!

    (F, L & J-M) Oo tell me more my nightingale.

    (Doubt & Pinky) And women know that since the world began
    There never was, there is no leading man.

    (Michael) I've counted what I have; it's not enough.
    And women know that since the world began
    There never was, there is no leading man.

    (F, L & J-M) Tell me more my nightingale.

    (Doubt & Pinky) There's no leading man - no leading man!



    Wishing Window


    (Angels) Come, sleeper to the window, do you know
    Us know? Have we changed? Have you seen us here
    Before? Do you remember long ago
    You summoned us across the high frontier
    Of sleep, and bid us urgently appear.
    You called, we came, we waited every night,
    Like crystals in solution coming clear,
    Until your dream was sharp enough and bright
    To waken you with stabs of appetite.

    (Michael) Is this the moment in my story when
    The messengers of destiny prepare
    The usual historic specimen,
    Some lonely little hero starving there,
    And feed him with the fruits of solitaire?
    Is this my miracle of bread and fishes?
    This the mystery of answered prayer?
    Is this my table laid with golden dishes?

    (Angels) Let us not say prayer, let's just say wishes.
    Don't stand there dreaming, let us in,
    It wasn't all that easy getting here. We had
    To metamorphosize at least a hundred
    Thousand times through all the dreary realms of
    Sense, just to get us from the astral, to
    The mental, to the solid and the dense.
    And that's not counting countless times we spent
    Manifesting aimlessly as
    Elements of chaos in the undifferentiated
    Anti-universe before
    We even had a chance to be unborn
    As shadowy particals in streams of light --
    Now hurry up, we haven't got all night!

    (Michael) What am I supposed to do?

    (Angels) Ask for something.

    (Michael) I can't think.

    (Angels) Come on darling.

    (Michael) Help me!

    (Angels) You can ask for peace on earth. There's a few
    That do. Or you can ask for peace of mind.
    It's very rare but we've had one or two.
    Or ask that human suffering unwind
    And justify itself by what's behind.
    Too abstract -- somewhat off the beaten track.
    We'd like to have this contract sealed and signed.
    Then we must get back -- ask for what you lack
    And we will leave you, sweet insomniac.

    (Michael) Well could I have someone to love?

    (Angels) You can

    (Michael) Can I send her away?

    (Angels) We have written it down.

    (Michael) Then could I call her back again?

    (Angels) You certainly can, you merry-go-man.

    (Michael) Could I write whatever's in my heart?

    (Angels) It's on your desk, the writer's mighty pen.

    (Michael) And could I sing whatever's in my heart?

    (Angels) Just close your eyes and keep your lips apart.

    (Michael) I could have my heart's desire when
    And where and how my heart desires it?
    And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

    (Angels) O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
    So boring. Everyone's like everyone
    Your famous heart is like an onion,
    All layers and layers of wild distress
    All gathered into rings round nothingness.

    (Michael) But can I have it, can I have it?

    (Angels) Yes!

    (Michael) If woman, heart and song are mine
    The rest will come, where do I sign?

    (Troupe) But could he write whatever's in his heart?

    (Angels) It's on his desk, the writer's mighty pen.

    (Troupe) And could he sing whatever's in his heart?

    (Angels) He'll close his eyes and keep his lips apart

    (Everyone) And could he have his heart's desire when
    And where and how his heart desires it?

    (Michael) And could I bring the whole world to my heart?

    (Everyone) O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
    So boring. Everyone's like everyone
    Your famous heart is like an onion,
    All layers and layers of wild distress
    All gathered into rings round nothingness.

    (Michael) But can I have it?

    (Troupe) Can he have it?

    (Angels) Yes!

    (Michael) Can I have it?

    (Troupe) Can he have it?

    (Everyone) Yes!

    (Angels) The night is ending, we have many duties
    Still, much gold and silver light to spill
    On anxious girls and frightened boys like you,
    All brooding deeply on some window sill.
    But one condition there remains to fill.
    One term before the heart begins to play
    With other hearts the music of its will.

    (Michael) If I don't agree?

    (Angels) Still you have to pay
    The ordinary price that humans pay...
    With suff'ring, joy, redemption, and decay!

    (Michael) All my heart's desire ... let's keep the part
    about joy.

    (Angels) It's a package.

    (Michael) ...Suffering, redemption, and decay!

    (Angels) It's a bitch.

    (Michael) I have to get some sleep, I'm opening
    tomorrow night.

    (Angels) Then you agree?

    (Michael) Yes, yes, I agree.

    (Angels) ...Do you remember long ago
    You summoned us across the high frontier
    Of sleep and bid us urgently appear.




    The Throne of Desire


    (Michael) Their bodies Triumphant
    Their power unfurled
    I know I am nothing
    And women the world!

    A slave to their favours
    Their no and their yes
    I'm crushed in the crease
    Of a cotton dress

    And I'm dead except
    In their company
    And I'm only at rest
    When they motion to me

    And night after night
    I turn to myself
    And I raise them
    Out of my panic
    And they come to me
    Willing at last
    Inflamed and fast
    Mutual and graphic.

    And suddenly they drill my heart
    With cavities of absence
    And they cover their thighs
    with cellophane
    And they cover their breasts
    with a shadow
    And they nail my good right hand
    to a wall in the attic

    O take me away
    From the thorns and the fire
    And let me recline
    On the Throne of Desire

    From the Throne of Desire
    I make this solemn decree
    Every woman I want
    Will want, will want, will want
    Will more than want me!

    o o o




    Throne of Desire Variations


    Let me start with you Miss Shy
    Bundled up in your mother's lie
    Tip toe, tip toe
    Hiding your silky pleasure

    Miss Shy come to me
    Along the snowy paths of modesty
    Tip toe, tip toe
    Hiding your silky treasure

    Come to me with downcast eyes
    Come to me and claim the prize
    Of your outrageous pleasure

    How I like you Miss Shy
    Bundled up in your mother's lie
    Tip toe --
    Claim your outrageous pleasure!

    o o o

    And you I want strong
    With your hatred intact
    With your father's pipe
    And your brother's bat
    And your quaint belief
    In holy authority

    With your discipline
    And your Darwin claws
    And your legal eye
    On the peacock's flaws
    I see what fallen man
    Was meant to be

    With your absolute
    No man can refute
    Your absolutely unique
    Contempt for the weak
    Down on our paws
    There are no laws
    Kiss me where I can not speak

    You I want strong
    With your hatred intact
    With your father's pipe
    And your brother's bat
    Now kiss me
    Where I cannot speak!

    o o o

    You I want for my friend
    To gossip with me and drink tea
    To walk down by the river's bend
    You I want for my friend

    To watch the water going by
    The swallows climbing above
    To tell me that I lie
    When I tell you I cannot love,
    Cannot love

    To know my heart better than me
    To be my friend in charity
    To speak of lovers old and new
    To say to me, what they've done to you

    You I want for my friend
    To make some sense of our difference
    To eat and drink together
    To comfort one another,
    And may our conversation never end!

    o o o

    And you
    I want your
    Beauty hidden
    From all
    Sight but my
    Own
    So none may know
    your womanhood
    Or hear you moan
    Your pleasures
    To an infant thumb

    You will be
    True to me
    There will be no
    Infidelity
    For I will weave
    A cloak so tight
    About your loveliness
    No man will ever guess
    The wild commands you whisper
    From your childhood to the night

    And what
    Drops the moon
    About a man
    And draws
    Him tidal to
    Your lips
    And lets your nipples
    harden I can
    Hear you moan
    Your pleasures
    To an infant thumb

    And you I want
    To wink at me
    And you I want
    To think of me
    You I want above
    I want you below
    You I want veiled
    And you to know
    I want you clumbsy
    I want you skilled
    You be ferocious
    You be mild...

    You be foolish
    You be wise
    You stay here
    You stay outside
    You comb out your hair
    You keep it curled
    I want, I want, I want
    I want to know the world
    You comb out your hair
    You keep yours curled
    I want, I want to know the world!

    o o o

    And you
    Who did not come tonight
    I will wait for you
    And you
    Who are not born
    I will write for you
    And you
    Who must appear
    In veils of chance
    And mystery
    I will kneel
    I will kneel
    Like a child
    Who's watching Mary
    As she stands
    Upon the air
    In gentle splendour
    In the black
    Mouth of a cave
    Open-armed and radiant
    To save mankind
    And all the broken
    World to mother

    And I swear
    By the obscure
    Truth
    Of this
    Enfolded heart
    I swear
    By
    The unrequited greed
    Of this
    Human heart
    And all
    Its
    Disappointed pleasures
    I swear
    By
    The deep light
    Of my soul
    Stained
    And covered over
    With
    Intrigues of pride
    Whose mercy is
    To let me sing
    I swear
    That I will be
    For the one
    Who will not come
    To me
    I swear that
    I will be
    Her lover
    Her eternal
    And imperfect
    Spirit lover.




    Angels Eyes


    (Angels) You are an angel, dare
    You mess around down there
    Arms open wide to save
    Mankind you are depraved
    What is wrong oh what?

    (Judy) I'm in love

    (Angels) You nut!

    (Michael) Angel eyes
    You've been crying lately
    Paradise
    Ain't like it used to be
    Can't get to sleep
    Can't face the light
    Weep baby weep
    You've no angel tonight

    (Judy) Angel eyes
    You've been crying lately
    Paradise
    Ain't like it used to be
    Can't get to sleep
    Can't face the light
    Weep baby weep
    You've no angel tonight

    (Michael & You've been bad
    Angels) You've been good
    You've been around
    Like a good angel should

    (Judy) One more heart
    One more town
    Falling apart
    When there's no one around

    (Angels) Falling angel, angel...

    (Michael & Judy) Angel eyes
    You've been crying lately
    All this time
    Aren't you tired baby
    Trying to fly when you
    Don't have the height
    Cry baby cry
    You're no angel tonight

    (Michael & Holy ground
    Angels) Hollywood
    You've been around
    Like a good angel should

    (Judy) One more heart
    One more town
    Falling apart
    When there's no one around

    (Angels) Falling angel, angel...

    You've got to be kidding
    Yes we know what you're
    Thinking about but you'd
    Better stop dreaming, Angel
    Better stop by here and now
    He's just an ordinary man
    And you're all mixed up
    Why are you listening to him?
    Why say Angel - say Angel
    Angel, Angel... oo - oo - oo

    (Michael) You're no angel, baby
    (Judy) You're no angel, baby

    (Michael & Judy) Can't get to sleep
    Can't face the light
    Weep baby weep
    You're no angel,
    You're no angel tonight!


    The Law


    (Valkyries) You are the messengers
    Of celestial machinery
    You only arrange
    You cannot change the scenery

    It is writ in stone
    And capitals bold
    You do, you do
    Just what you're told

    And you have fun
    Lots of fun
    Because you do
    What must be done

    We've told you once
    And we'll tell you again
    Creatures that fly
    Will only die
    If they lie
    In the arms of men!

    And this we must condemn!




    The Promise


    (Judy) Once I was happy to
    Roam through the gold and blue
    Now something haunts me
    I know it's real
    Someone returns
    The desire I feel

    (Angels) We could have passed him by

    (Judy) Should have passed him by
    So many others cry

    (Angels) One more human cry

    (Judy) So many others
    Reaching for
    A thread through the night
    Or one lover more

    He has a dream

    (Angels) It's his dream

    (Judy) I dream it too

    (Angels) It's not your dream

    (Judy) He dreams of the promise
    We swore we would come through

    (Angels) The promise is not yours alone to honor

    (Judy) But we said we'd...

    (Angels) This is not our part

    (Judy) Open his heart

    (Angels) Now it is open

    (Judy) No, now it must start

    (Michael) You promised me whatever was in my heart

    (Angels) We promised him whatever was in his heart

    (Michael) You swore that I could speak from the heart
    (Angels) Yes, we said he'd speak from his heart

    (Michael) Now I have chosen
    And you must obey

    (Judy) I will obey

    (Michael) It's my heart that commands
    And it must have its way
    I want you
    I need you
    I can't live without you
    Anymore

    (Judy) Your heart commands me
    And I will obey you
    I need you
    I can't live without you
    Anymore

    (Judy & Angels) We promised him whatever was
    in his heart

    (Michael) You promised me whatever was
    in my heart

    (Judy & Angels) We said that he could speak
    from the heart

    (Michael) You swore that I could speak
    from the heart

    (Judy) And now he has chosen
    And now I must choose
    Tho' garlands of planets
    And starlight I lose

    (Angels) Now you must choose
    Starlight, starlight
    You're gonna lose him

    (Judy & Michael) I want you, I need you
    I can't live without you

    (Everyone) I want you, I need you
    I can't live without you
    Anymore


    The Marriage March


    (Everyone) The whole work holds its breath again
    The marriage ring it shines
    The billionth trillionth walk begins
    As another world sighs

    Sights and best of wishes and
    A silence you can hear
    The vow that breaks the world are spoke
    And the whole world sheds a tear

    (Beggar) Out of the joy of your marriage feast
    O brother be good to me
    The way is long and the shrine is far
    Where my weary feet would be
    And feasting is always somewhat sad
    To those outside the door
    Still love is only a dream
    And life itself is hardly more

    (Everyone) The human company draws close
    And lends an ear
    The vows that break the world are spoke
    As the whole world sheds a tear

    The vows that break the world
    And the whole world sheds a tear




    The Third Invention


    (Angels) Blindly he worked
    At his third invention
    Taking the chances
    Of one who is lost

    Feeling his way
    To a cleaner expression
    Of whatever it was
    He stumbled across

    All for the sake
    Of a possible woman
    He goaded himself
    With a technical hope

    For the sake of his longing
    We came to the window
    He put on his cloths
    And he walked through the smoke

    All for the sake
    Of an interested woman
    Riding to him
    On a flicker of hope

    Some tourist of beauty
    In full disappointment
    Ready to fall
    In love with a ghost

    And here was his ghost
    With his third invention
    The usual claim
    To the highest reward

    And now it was ready
    His third invention
    Ready to fall
    In love with the world

    And he falls back
    And she comes forward
    The eye of his labour
    Measures them both

    And she lies in the arms
    Of his third invention
    And back in his room
    He commences the fourth

    This is the work
    Of the highest pretension
    An automatic
    Ode to the world

    O deep in comfort
    O full employment
    He's lost to the fourth
    He's lost to the third.




    Clap! Clap! (Mirror Song)


    (Michael) I never thought I'd get this far

    (Audience) We always knew you would

    (Michael) I've put a little weight on

    (Audience) Not really, it looks good.

    (Michael) These lines around my mouth are new

    (Audience) They're the lines of wisdom

    (Michael) This puffiness around my eyes?

    (Audience) The burden of the kingdom!

    (Michael) You know I like to talk with you

    (Audience) We do too, we never knew
    Someone who we could talk to
    Who was quite as smart as you.

    We would like to hear you talk all night
    But tell us if we might
    Interrupt you with applause
    If you should chance to pause.
    We would love to rock the walls
    Again and again with curtain calls
    And a standing ovation
    For your brilliant conversation ...

    (Michael) Clap, clap!
    Now silence

    Have you noticed people wear...

    (Audience) Copies of your favourite hat?

    (Michael) You have noticed that my dears?

    (Audience) O yes we have noticed that.

    (Michael) They wear copies of my shoes

    (Audience) Two by twos they wear your shoes

    (Michael) And they like to sing my blues

    (Audience) Echoes of your ah's and ooh's.

    (Michael) You know I like to talk with you

    (Audience) We do too, we never knew
    Someone who we could talk to
    Who was quite as smart as you.

    (Michael) I'm afraid that I've become
    For nearly everyone
    A model of behaviour
    A devil or a saviour.

    (Audience) He's afraid that he's become
    For next to nearly everyone
    The very latest model of behaviour
    He's a devil, he's a saviour

    (Michael) They read my news and
    they hold their views
    On whether I'm the devil
    or a saviour

    (Audience) He's afraid that he's become
    For almost everyone
    The very latest model of behaviour
    He's a devil, he's a saviour

    (Michael) I'm the very latest model of behaviour

    But I've paid my dues

    (Audience) We know you have!
    We hold your views!

    (Michael) You read my news?

    (Audience) Of course we do!

    (Michael) I've been a bum.

    (Audience) How very, very, very, very far you've come!

    (Michael) I've crossed this country on my thumb.
    I've met a lot of people...

    (Audience) Good and evil?

    (Michael) Good and evil!
    I've been up hills

    (Audience) You've been down hills.

    (Michael) I've been on junk.

    (Audience) You've beaten junk.

    (Michael) I don't mean pills

    (Audience) You don't mean pills!

    (Michael) I mean the needle

    (Audience) He means the needle
    He means the needle!
    He means the needle!

    (Michael) I've noticed my words on everyone's lips
    And women are always leaving me slips
    Of paper
    I'm supposed to get back to them later
    And sometimes I do

    (Audience) It's only your due
    After all that you've been through
    To lie down with some grateful stranger

    To think he honours someone's bed
    With his wine and with his bread
    And his legendary member
    It is April in December

    It's charity
    It's religion
    Saint Francis with the birds
    Jesus with the leper
    Please talk to us forever
    And ever and ever

    (Michael) Clap, clap
    Now silence!

    But now I make my confession
    Before all the mirrors of history
    This power was given to me
    It must have been given to me
    For something more
    Than a star on the door
    And a foot in this shabby profession

    (Audience) This is surely the sound
    Of the most profound
    Remark that has ever been made
    From the pulpit or the stage
    Or even the gates of heaven

    (Michael) There's something waiting for me
    There's something I must feel
    There's something that must bend its knee
    And I must see it kneel

    There's nothing to be conquered there
    A beast that keeps the crown
    And marble steps into the air
    And one man looking down

    (Audience) He's smiling
    He's smiling

    There is something that is waiting for him
    Something that he must feel
    Something that must bend its knee
    And it's he must see it kneel

    There is something to be conquered there
    There's a beast that keeps the crown
    And marble steps into the air
    And one man looking down

    Smiling, smiling

    (Michael) Clap clap!

    (Audience) Smiling, smiling

    (Michael) Clap, clap!




    Hunter's Lullaby


    [cf lyrics from the Cohen album "Various Positions"]

    (Judy) Your father's gone a-hunting
    Into the forest wild
    He cannot take his wife with him
    He cannot take his child

    Your father's gone a-hunting
    In the quicksand and the clay
    A woman cannot follow him
    Although she knows the way

    Your father's gone a-hunting
    Through the mirror and the glass
    Where only greed can enter
    But spirit cannot pass

    Your father's gone a-hunting
    For the beast he cannot bind
    And he's left a baby sleeping
    And his blessings all behind

    Your father's gone a-hunting
    And he's lost my lucky charm
    And he's lost the guardian heart
    That keeps the hunter from the harm

    There's a darkness in the thicket
    That was not there before
    And among the tangled undergrowth
    There is one tangle more

    Your father's gone a-hunting




    We Told You So


    (Angels) We told you so
    We told you dear
    You didn't have
    To come here

    The human life
    Is full of quirks
    We can't work it out
    Nothing works

    It's a lemon
    This mechanic
    Live, love, suffer
    Die and panic

    It lives, it loves
    Suffers and dies
    It eats cow's meat
    And apple pies

    Dumb, dumb, dumb
    And full of fear
    Anxiety and strife..
    This is the human life!

    ...We have many duties still
    Much gold and silver light to spill
    On anxious boys and frightened girls like you...




    Fire


    (Michael) I burnt the house of love tonight
    It made a perfect ring
    In which I saw some weeds and stone
    Beyond not anything

    Certain creatures of the air
    Frightened by the night
    They came to see the world again
    And they perished in the light

    So now I sail from sky to sky
    And all the blackness sings
    Against the boat that I have made
    Of mutilated wings

    Fire in this house of mine
    Fire of my own design
    Fire from the sky
    Fire from the sea
    Come fire come
    Fire onto thee
    Fire in the house of love

    I burnt the house of love tonight
    I burnt the house of love tonight
    I burnt the house of love tonight




    Song of Destruction


    (Frank & Louis) Are you still here? What are you waiting for?
    Your lives to change? An oracle to speak?
    Some version of the wounded matador
    Who turns toward the bull his other cheek
    And entertains you with a torn physique?
    Some prisoner in pyjamas dancing lewd
    Trablinka waltzes, while another freak
    Hangs himself to concentrate your mood
    And sweeten up your putrid solitude?

    (Michael) My drummer is the only one I trust
    Let the drums go rolling through the night
    And let them pulverise my deep disgust
    With steady thunder, whips and dynamite
    The man of sticks and skins is always right.
    I found him near the cremetorium
    Humiliated, begging for a fight.
    I wrote the name of honour on a drum
    O drummer tell the people why I've come!

    O listen to him and his saxophone

    (Frank & Louis) Our musical genital unicorn

    (Michael) He's very well hung with his golden horn
    He'd like to be standing out here alone
    The light on his hands, his mouth, and his bone.

    (Frank & Louis) So take your solo now and loose your way
    In every fingered hole and brassy groan...
    You'll soon begin to choke on what you play

    (Michael) You're choking now exactly as I say!

    (Michael, Frank As for the deeper spirits in the hall
    & Louis) Annointed ones and truely different
    Whom orgy doesn't satisfy at all
    Who loathe the horizontal argument

    (Frank & Louis) It is to such as you that he was sent.

    (Michael) I understand the loyalties that insist
    You burn a child or shoot a president
    Or tattoo numbers on a woman's wrist
    I know the sorrow of the good idealist.

    It is to such as you that I was sent
    To speak directly to your deepest shame
    And light the fires of experiment
    And burn all hesitation in the flame --
    I claim you now, I claim you in the name
    Of that which you have never done before
    And having done it never be the same.
    The victim shall be smitten on his sore.
    The haughty one shall have a visitor.

    (Michael, Frank We heard that drummer, do not think we missed
    & Louis) Your subtle derivation from the beat

    (Michael) Which I established with an iron fist
    A thousand years ago, a small deceit
    To be enlarged until you have complete
    Control of the mood and the atmosphere --
    Your crooked time endangering my defeat --
    Now all your instruments must disappear
    And on your traitor's face pursue your
    dark career!




    The Walls


    (Michael) It's late, it's very late
    How did it get so late?

    (Judy) What was it we were thinking of?

    (Michael & Judy) We didn't want this,
    did we?

    (Judy) There must be some mistake

    (Michael) What was it I forgot to tell you?

    (Judy) What was it I forgot?

    There was a promise here
    A child who knew me
    A bitter bedtime story

    (Michael & Judy) Another house of some forgotten family
    It's very late
    There must be some mistake
    And now this place
    for none

    (Michael) There was a woman here
    A woman who knew me
    A table set before me

    (Michael & Judy) It is the walls
    it is the victory of the walls
    It is the room
    it is the distance of the room

    (Michael) Without her...

    (Judy) Without you.




    Coming Back


    (Angels) You can't do this
    You must do what
    We must do what must be done

    (Judy) I hear my baby calling
    He is asking to be born
    I see the curtains parting
    That our kisses have outworn ...

    (Angels) Kisses all outworn...

    (Judy) I'll raise a tent of shelter
    Now though every thread is torn

    (Angels) Every thread is torn...

    (Judy) I take my life from realms of light
    And hang it on a thorn

    (Angels) Hanging on a thorn...

    (Judy) I hear the children calling
    Asking to be born
    I see the curtains parting
    And my life upon a thorn

    The stars have lost their fire
    And the moon has lost her voice
    And I'm coming back to find you
    I have made the human choice.

    (Angels) You've made your choice
    The world you choose
    Garlands of planets and starlight
    Now you lose

    (Judy) He's the only one who knows me
    He's the riddle of my life
    And they'll never tell the story
    Of the husband and the wife

    (Angels) The world she chooses, she loses...

    (Judy) He's the stone that broke my heart
    The foundation of my home --

    (Angels) This we must do!

    (Judy) He's the sweetness of the sweetness
    Of the sweetness honeycomb

    (Angels) We must do what we must do!

    (Judy) And he's welcome to his glory
    And he's buried in my life
    And they'll never tell the story
    Of the husband and the wife

    (Angels) She takes her life from realms of light

    (Valkyries) She hangs it on a thorn

    (Angels) She disobeys the law

    (Valkyries) The law is broken
    You must get them

    (Angels) Get him.

    (Valkyries) Get them!

    Messenger
    Listen
    Messenger
    Do what must be done
    And our will be done
    Will be done




    Song to My Assassin


    (Michael) We were chosen, we were chosen
    Miles and miles apart
    I to love your kingdom
    You to love my heart

    (Angels) We were chosen
    We do what must
    What must be done

    (Michael) The love is intermittent
    The discipline continues
    I work on your spirit
    You work on my sinews.

    (Angels) We work on his sinews
    And the discipline continues

    We have fun 'cause
    We do what must
    What must be done

    (Michael) I watch myself from where you are
    Please do not be mistaken
    The spider web you see me through
    Is the view I've always taken

    Begin the ceremony now
    That we have been preparing
    I'm tired of this marble floor
    That we have both been sharing.

    (Angels) Now we will be sharing
    What he has been preparing!

    (Girls) He's the only one
    He's the only one
    He's the riddle of the music
    He's the music of my life

    (Boys) Now it begins
    Now it begins
    He's the riddle of the music
    He's the music of the sacrifice

    (Valkyries) Messenger
    Messenger
    Our will
    Will be done

    (Angels) We work on his sinews
    And the discipline continues

    (Everyone) Begin the ceremony
    Begin the sacrifice ...




    The Bells


    (Judy) The birds they sang at break of day
    Start again, I heard them say
    Nor dwell on what has passed away
    Or what is yet to be.

    The wars they will be fought again
    The holy dove be caught again
    Bought and sold and bought again
    Until we set them free.

    Ring the bells that still can ring
    Forget your perfect offering
    There is a crack in everything
    The light behind to see.

    Add up the parts, not yours the sum
    Strike up the march, there is no drum
    Every heart to love must come
    Like a refugee







    Credits:

    Lyrics reprinted with Leonard Cohen's permission.

    Thanks to Serge Mironneau (France) for the CD,
    to Rob Robillard (Canada) for the home video,
    to Albert Labbouz (France) for additional info,
    and to J.-C. Brochard for finding the rare single




    Single RCA PB 40171 (France 1985)
    with two tracks: Fire / Angel Eyes
    (From the collection of Dominique Boile)




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