By the time this music library is complete, almost all of the songs on Leonard Cohen’s last record, You Want It Darker, will have featured here. That goes to tell you what I think of this record. It was recorded in his house in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, and released just 17 days before his death. Due to Leonard Cohen’s mobility issues, the album was largely recorded in the living room and then sent by e-mail to his musical collaborators.
Just when people, including yours truly, after much anticipation of its release, were starting to listen to and absorb his latest spiritual reckoning of a record, the news came through of Leonard’s passing. It really upset me and still does. I didn’t want to fathom a world without Leonard Cohen in it. When you listen to him still, with his voice almost whispering in your ears, he feels ever-present and as current and real as any singer can sound. I also don’t think there is another album where he focuses so heavily on his own spirituality, death and God.
It’s difficult not to see this second song from the record as an accompaniment piece to the title track and opening song, You Want It Darker. Come to think of it, every song feels interconnected and part of one body of work. The references to the Bible, love and war in these first two songs are profuse.
In both, Leonard seems resigned to his inability to become a person who is reconciled with ‘the message’ and at peace with it or himself. Cohen spent his whole career circling Jewish scripture, Christianity, Buddhism and human desire without ever claiming to possess certainty. He isn’t trying to resolve spiritual tension; he inhabits it:
I’m angry and I’m tired all the time
I wish there was a treaty, I wish there was a treaty
Between your love and mine
But here’s the irony. Leonard appears at peace with the existence of contradiction, and it is that acknowledgement which gives him some measure of peace as he approaches his own departure from this great ‘play’ we call life. He isn’t happily accepting division; rather, he seems to realise the treaty probably won’t come.
I’m so sorry for that ghost I made you be
Only one of us was real and that was me
The “ghost” is the imagined beloved. That realisation in itself is profound, and there’s so much humility and openness in it. You could call it a profound spiritual epiphany that refuses easy religious answers. He’s accepting responsibility for much of the relationship’s failure. And the more you hear and take in, the more cans of worms Treaty opens.
One also gets a sense of just how uniquely qualified the individual is in interpreting the scriptures and the events of history and adopting them for themselves. Treaty may not be in concordance with your own beliefs and ideas, but that’s the whole point. It demonstrates how every individual ultimately has to wrestle with scripture and history for themselves.
[Verse 1]
I’ve seen you change the water into wine
I’ve seen you change it back to water, too
I sit at your table every night
I try but I just don’t get high with you
[Verse 2]
I wish there was a treaty we could sign
I do not care who takes this bloody hill
I’m angry and I’m tired all the time
I wish there was a treaty, I wish there was a treaty
Between your love and mine
[Chorus]
Ah, they’re dancing in the street – it’s Jubilee
We sold ourselves for love but now we’re free
I’m so sorry for that ghost I made you be
Only one of us was real and that was me
[Verse 3]
I haven’t said a word since you been gone
That any liar couldn’t say as well
I just can’t believe the static coming on
You were my ground, my safe and sound
You were my aerial
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
I heard the snake was baffled by his sin
He shed his scales to find the snake within
But born again is born without a skin
The poison enters into everything
[Verse 5]
And I wish there was a treaty we could sign
I do not care who takes this bloody hill
I’m angry and I’m tired all the time
I wish there was a treaty, I wish there was a treaty
Between your love and mine
References:
1. You Want It Darker – Wikipedia
Observation Blogger 