UKC

Well for Tom Waits it has to be "new coat of paint" with "better off without a wife" as close second although Cohen has to be "the Partisan".

Your favourites please.

M

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Waits - Clap Hands
Cohen - So Long Marianne

In reply to Southern Man:

Currently listening to Marianne.

Spooky!

Both great suggestions

m

In reply to Southern Man:

BTW nice to see a real waits Rain dogs ref.

In reply to Fly Fifer:

It is spooky isn't it, some pretty obscure references in there. Cohen always leaves you wondering - bootiful!

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Don't know about Waits but fave Cohen has to be Suzanne.

In reply to Mooncat:

It certainly takes you places....a wee cracker

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Famous blue raincoat

"and thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes, I thought it was there for good, so I never tried"

In reply to Removed User:

my goodness ....


i now reach for the last of the good stuff!

tear drips

Wonderful.

In reply to Fly Fifer: J'ai change' cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cache', (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

In reply to Fly Fifer:

"If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me.
While your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free"

In reply to Fly Fifer:
Cohen's "Everybody knows" has some of the greatest lyrics ever, so full of cynicism.

Also like " the Future" and frequently find myself singing that line from "Tower of Song" -"I ache in the places where I used to play"

In reply to Fly Fifer: Cohen ain't my cup of tea. Waits though, well that's a tough choice. Gun Street Girl, Swordfish Trombone and Romeo Is Bleeding are all up there.

T.

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Waits - quite partial to 'Burma Shave', but there are too many good ones to choose from.

Cohen - likewise, far too much great stuff to name a single song, but if pushed, I'd have to go with 'The Future'... Cohen at his ironic best

In reply to Southern Man: +1 for So Long Marianne!

In reply to Fly Fifer: Mine will change daily but today,

Cohen- The Window
Waits-Kentucky Avenue

Great, great songwriters both.

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Waits - Shore Leave
Cohen - The Future

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Waits - Gun Street Girl. Cohen - the partisan.

D

In reply to Fly Fifer:
I like this version of The Fall of Troy by Tom Waits, from a radio station interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnkYWBfqVus&feature=related

I like Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen.

In reply to Fly Fifer:

Waites: "The Piano Has Been Drinking."

The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York
the jukebox has to take a leak
and the carpet needs a haircut
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
cause the telephone's out of cigarettes
and the balcony's on the make
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and the menus are all freezing
and the lightman's blind in one eye
and he can't see out of the other
and the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
and he showed up with his mother
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking

cause the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
cream puff casper milk toast
and the owner is a mental midget
with the I.Q. of a fencepost
cause the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and you can't find your waitress
with a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends
and you just can't get served
without her
and the box-office is drooling
and the bar stools are on fire
and the newspapers were fooling
and the ash-trays have retired
the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
not me, not me, not me, not me, not me



Cohen: "The Partisan."

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands e'taient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, "Signe toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")
mais je n'ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j'ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)

J'ai change' cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cache', (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.



That song gives me chills and tears ever single f*ck*ng time.

In reply to stroppygob:

I seem to recall that "the partisan" was not originally written by Cohen but was an existing "folk" song which he adapted.

Still a beautiful and haunting song.

Thanks for that I didn't know that, you learn something new each day. A quick google proves you right.

"La Complainte du Partisan" ("The Partisan") is a song about the French Resistance in World War II. The song was written in 1943 in London by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie.

It is often confused with the Chant des Partisans, which became the unofficial anthem of the French Resistance.

Originally written in French, it has been adapted in English with lyrics by Hy Zaret and covered by diverse artists, including Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez, Buffy Sainte-Marie, 16 Horsepower, Red Union, Po' Girl, Branimir Štuliæ, Jaromír Nohavica, Electrelane and The Swell Season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Complainte_du_Partisan