Tuesday, September 9, 2008

i lit a thin green candle



somewhere in czechoslovakia.


Two from Canada's poet minstrel.

I once heard Mr. Cohen give an account of his meeting with Scottish junkie, Alexander Trocchi - born and educated here in Glasgow - himself no slouch with words. Trocchi was delighted to shoot up his young counterpart at a crossing light and send him, half blind, alone into the midnight traffic of downtown Montreal.

"I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me.
But the room just filled up with mosquitos,
they heard that my body was free.
Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night

and I put it in your little shoe.

And then I confess that I tortured the dress
that you wore for the world to look through."

- One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
, Leonard Cohen.

"
My scow is tied up in Flushing, NY, alongside the landing stage of the Mac Asphalt and Construction Corporation. It is now just after five in the afternoon. Today at this time it is still afternoon, and the sun, striking the cinderblocks of the main building of the works has turned them pink. The motor cranes and the decks of the other scows tied up round about are deserted.

Half an hour ago I gave myself a fix."

- Opening passage, Cain's Book, Alexander Trocchi.

LEONARD COHEN: ONE OF US CANNOT BE WRONG from "Songs Of Leonard Cohen" LP (Columbia) 1967 (Canada / US)

LEONARD COHEN: SING ANOTHER SONG BOYS from "Songs Of Love And Hate" LP (Columbia) 1970 (Canada / US)

PURCHASE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN
PURCHASE SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE

2 comments:

Peewit said...

I'm trying to get tickets to see Cohen in November. He's definitely playing the O2 but that's the other side of london for me. There is a rumour he is going to play the Albert Hall though

ib said...

Interesting and timely comment. I was going to post an amendment on this this very subject this afternoon.

Rosa and I were keen to go and see LC in Glasgow to celebrate her birthday, but the cheapest tickets were in the region of £50 per pop. I know this is inkeeping with current market trends, but I really wish the credit crunch would have as much of an effect as on ridiculously inflated house prices.