CLOSING TIME (L. Cohen)
from Columbia Records' album THE FUTURE by LEONARD COHEN (CK 53226)
Transcribed by Clay Boutilier
Introduction:
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Ah, we're drinking and we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high,
And my very sweet companion,
she's the Angel of Compassion
and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh.
And every drinker, every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
and the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
all the women tear their blouses off
the men they dance on the polka dots
and it's partner found and it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah, the women tear their blouses off
the men they dance on the polka dots
and it's partner found and it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
it's CLOSING TIME
We're lonely, we're romantic
and the cider's laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"
And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief
So we struggle and we stagger
down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
but CLOSING TIME
I swear it happned just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
(can't say much has happned since, can't say much has happened since)
but CLOSING TIME, CLOSING TIME
I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn't make a fool of me
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring (declaring) declaring (declaring)
declaring that you're body's really you (really really really really)
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now there's nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I miss you since the place got wrecked
but I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah. I miss you since the place got wrecked
by the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Yeah, we're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening
The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
gets me fumbing gets me laughing
she's a hundred but she's wearing something tight
And I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn't worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights
(busted in the blinding lights)
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME, CLOSING TIME
Oh, the women tear their blouses off
and the men they dance on the polka dots, it's CLOSING TIME
And it's partner found, and it's partner lost
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
it's CLOSING TIME
I swear it happned just like this:
A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss, it's CLOSING TIME
The gates of love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happned since but CLOSING TIME
I loved you when our love was blessed
I love you now, there's nothing left but CLOSING TIME
And I missed you since our place gor wrecked
by the winds of change and the weeds of sex, it's CLOSING TIME
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