Dec 26, 2014

Top 20 Songs of 2014: Leonard Cohen - Samson in New Orleans


How could a Leonard Cohen come out and it not get a nod; he is after all a huge influence on just about all I listen to... Samson in New Orleans's is a beautifully bitter lament on the power of nature on humanity and biblical references are obvious...
Cohen invokes Hurricane Katrina in "Samson in New Orleans," lamenting the destruction of jazz's birthplace: "You said you loved her secrets / And her freedoms hid away / She was better than America / That's what I heard you say."


You said that you were with me
You said you were my friend
Did you really love the city
Or did you just pretend

You said you loved her secrets
And her freedoms hid away
She was better than America
That’s what I heard you say

You said how could this happen
You said how can this be
The remnant all dishonored
On the bridge of misery

And we who cried for mercy
From the bottom of the pit
Was our prayer so damn unworthy
The Son rejected it?

So gather up the killers
Get everyone in town
Stand me by those pillars
Let me take this temple down

The king so kind and solemn
He wears a bloody crown
So stand me by that column
Let me take this temple down

You said how could this happen
You said how can this be
The chains are gone from heaven
The storms are wild and free

There’s other ways to answer
That certainly is true
Me, I’m blind with death and anger
And that’s no place for you

There’s a woman in the window
And a bed in Tinsel Town
I’ll write you when it’s over
Let me take this temple down

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