"There's a blaze of light in every word."

Um. Mostly this is just to let y'all know I'm not dead! And because Babo won't get off my case about not updating. So, in short:

a) not dead
b) still love jlem
c) on amazingly long break until feb 21st, after which i will take only four classes!
d) still suck at hebrew
e) had bff come to visit, and will have another bff come to visit during Passover!
f) M is back from Europe; all other friends are gone. roommates are good. still can't understand them half the time, though.
g) IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS COLD IN THE DESERT. WHAT THE FRELL?
h) hopelessly and utterly obsessed with leonard cohen. thus, spam. (for Mombo, since my internet is too slow to actually upload stuff.)(i bet the public library has?)
i) um. pictures eventually? i suck at life.

LEONARD COHEN YOUTUBE SPAM
part one

Anthem

Ah the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove she will be caught again
Bought and sold and bought again
The dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
- Anthem

Dance Me To The End of Love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
- Dance Me To The End of Love

Hallelujah

recorded version | alternate live version | Jeff Buckley cover

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
--
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
- Hallelujah

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

alternate live version

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
- Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

If It Be Your Will

recorded version

If it be your will that I speak no more
And my voice be still as it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until I am spoken for
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill I will sing to you
From this broken hill all your praises they shall ring
If it be your will to let me sing
- If It Be Your Will

Everybody Knows

alternate live | recorded

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
- Everybody Knows

Suzanne

live in london (2008) | live 1988

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
- Suzanne

Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On

Here come's your bride with her veil on
Approach her, you wretch, if you dare
Approach her, you ape with your tail on
Once you have her she'll always be there (x4)
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on
It will only drive you insane
You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown
You can't melt it down in the rain (x3)
So I work in that same beauty salon
I'm chained to the old masquerade
The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone
I follow my father's trade (x3)
Ah but don't go home with your hard-on...
- Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On

Closing Time

official video | live version

Ah 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.
- Closing Time

Bird On A Wire

Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.
Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
- Bird On A Wire