The Stranger Song

It’s true that all the men you knew were dealers

who said they were through with dealing

Every time you gave them shelter

I know that kind of man

It’s hard to hold the hand of anyone

who is reaching for the sky just to surrender,

who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind

you find he did not leave you very much

not even laughter

Like any dealer he was watching for the card

that is so high and wild

he’ll never need to deal another

He was just some Joseph looking for a manger

He was just some Joseph looking for a manger

And then leaning on your window sill

he’ll say one day you caused his will

to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter

And then taking from his wallet

an old schedule of trains, he’ll say

I told you when I came I was a stranger

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems

to want you to ignore his dreams

as though they were the burden of some other

O you’ve seen that man before

his golden arm dispatching cards

but now it’s rusted from the elbows to the finger

And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter

Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to see another tired man

lay down his hand

like he was giving up the holy game of poker

And while he talks his dreams to sleep

you notice there’s a highway

that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder.

It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down

but something makes you turn around

The door is open you can’t close your shelter

You try the handle of the road

It opens do not be afraid

It’s you my love, you who are the stranger

It’s you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I’ve been waiting, I was sure

we’d meet between the trains we’re waiting for

I think it’s time to board another

Please understand, I never had a secret chart

to get me to the heart of this

or any other matter

When he talks like this

you don’t know what he’s after

When he speaks like this,

you don’t know what he’s after.

Let’s meet tomorrow if you choose

upon the shore, beneath the bridge

that they are building on some endless river

Then he leaves the platform

for the sleeping car that’s warm

You realize, he’s only advertising one more shelter

And it comes to you, he never was a stranger

And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...

And leaning on your window sill ...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

One of Cohen’s earliest songs, it was included on Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967) and on Field Commander Cohen – Tour Of 1979 (2001). A number of phrases (“he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter” and “you hate to watch another tired man / lay down his hand / like he was giving up the holy game of poker”) can be read as metaphors for Cohen’s abandonment of his literary ambitions for the “shelter” of a musical career. The song is also a good early example of a Cohen trademark – the use of religious images and vocabulary for non-religious purposes.

The Traitor

Now the Swan it floated on the English river

Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide

A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer

and the judges watched us from the other side

I told my mother “Mother I must leave you

preserve my room but do not shed a tear

Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you

it was half my fault and half the atmosphere”

But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever

and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame

She said at last I was her finest lover

and if she withered I would be to blame

The judges said you missed it by a fraction

rise up and brace your troops for the attack

Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action

Oh see the men of action falling back

But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment

I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still

My falsity had stung me like a hornet

The poison sank and it paralysed my will

I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers

that they had been deserted from above

So on battlefields from here to Barcelona

I’m listed with the enemies of love

And long ago she said “I must be leaving,

Ah but keep my body here to lie upon

You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping

Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”

So daily I renew my idle duty

I touch her here and there -- I know my place

I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty

and people call me traitor to my face

Included on Recent Songs (1984), this song includes fine examples of Cohen’s literary skills. The phrase “a suntanned woman yawned me through the summer” is wonderfully evocative. An earlier version of the song, then called ‘The Traitor Song’, was played on Cohen’s 1975 tour. At that time, it was co-credited to John Lissauer, but he did not play on and is not credited for the album version.

The Window

Why do you stand by the window

Abandoned to beauty and pride

The thorn of the night in your bosom

The spear of the age in your side

Lost in the rages of fragrance

Lost in the rags of remorse

Lost in the waves of a sickness

That loosens the high silver nerves

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love

Oh tangle of matter and ghost

Oh darling of angels, demons and saints

And the whole broken-hearted host

Gentle this soul

And come forth from the cloud of unknowing

And kiss the cheek of