This song by Leonard Cohen contains the powerful statement about Jesus I’ve ever heard in a popular song – when he compares Jesus to a sailor when he walked upon the water. “When he knew for certain only drowning men could see him…”
Thank you Leonard Cohen for use of your home page.
Spent the day with people dealing with issues like Mel Gibson’s, and it is draining.
This version of Suzanne, by Judy Collins, is excellent. Another of my favorite versions is Roberta Flack’s version.
The key line:
“…And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said “All men will be sailors …”
Bird on a Wire
The Leonard Cohen Home Page
What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.
– L. Cohen, Beautiful Losers (1966)
The Man
- Robert Hilburn interviews …
- A wonderful recent interview from the LA Times. Cohen talks about his life on Mount Baldy, Hilburn reviews the new tribute album (he gives it two and a half stars), and Cohen gives a critique of his own music.
- CBC Radio Interview with Leonard Cohen
- Cohen comments on his work, particularly his two most recent studio albums.
- Leonard Cohen on BBC Radio
- A transcript. Leonard Cohen hosts a show with Jennifer Warnes and Suzanne Vega, discussing his life and his music.
- The Jewish Book News Interview
- This interview provides an insightful perspective on Leonard Cohen’s religious life and beliefs.
- Suzanne Vega – Leonard Cohen Interview, October 1992
- Not really an interview so much as a conversation. In three parts. To find out more about this artist who was influenced so greatly by Cohen, check out the Suzanne Vega WWWebsite.
- Columbia’s promo page
- Provides a lot of interesting biographical information, interspersed with commentaries and anecdotes.
- The handwriting of Leonard Cohen
- Cohen’s intruiging answers to a questionnaire from the Jewish Telegraph. From Paul Black‘s Cohen page.
The Inspired
- Jarkko Arjatsalo’s Compleat Leonard Cohen Page
- This page has an unparalleled collection of information on covers, compilations, bootlegs, books, memorabilia, etc.
- Leonard Cohen: Poemes et Chansons A Cohen home page in French. Includes poetry and translated lyrics.
- Alt.music.leonard-cohen
- The newsgroup that helped this page begin
- The Unofficial Alt.Music.Leonard-Cohen FAQ
- Something I’m throwing together in my spare time…
- Covers
- Some of Cohen’s more famous fanatics
Thanks to…
- Dean Englehardt (dean@cs.adelaide.edu.au) for providing the lyrics and discography for me to html’ize
- Martin Grossman (tgg@bronze.coil.com) for posting the Jewish Book News Interview
- Andrew Norman (nja@le.ac.uk) for transcribing the BBC radio show
- Larry Tomczyk (larryt@nwu.edu), John Qua (John_Qua@MBnet.MB.CA), Paul Black (paul.black@unn.ac.uk), and J. C. Nisbet (jnisbet@inch.com) for scanning the pics of Cohen
Colophon
- this document is maintained by carter page. please email cpage@seas.upenn.edu with comments, corrections, or submissions (including uuencoded photos, essays, and reviews of his songs and poems)
Disclaimer: This document in no way represents the University of Pennsylvania. All opinions and errors are mine alone.
Suzanne
by Leonard Cohen
Suzanne takes you down to
her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she’s half crazy
But that’s why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you’ve always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you’ve touched her perfect body
with your mind.
And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said “All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them”
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you’ll trust him
For he’s touched your perfect body
with his mind.
Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she’s touched your perfect body
with her mind.
∜3600 - McLaren Bristol Constant 
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