I Can't Forget

... And I can't forget, I can't forget
I can't forget but I don't remember what.
... And I can't forget, I can't forget
I can't forget but I don't remember who.

Leonard Cohen

"The Partisan"                                                                           

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands e'taient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, "Resigne toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")
mais je n'ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j'ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)

J'ai change' cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cache', (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.


El Partisano
"The Partisan"
Cuando atravesaron la frontera,
me habían advertido para que me rindiera.
No podía hacerlo.
Cogí mi pistola y me escapé.
He cambiado de nombre tantas veces.
He perdido a mi esposa y a mis hijos.
Pero tengo algunos amigos,
algunos de ellos están conmigo.
Un anciana nos dió refugio.
Nos escondió en el desván.
Entonces vinieron los soldados.
Murió sin dar un suspiro.
Había allí tres de nosotros aquella mañana.
Sólo quedo yo por la tarde.
Pero debo continuar.
Las fronteras son mi prisión.
Oh, el viento, el viento sopla.
A través de las tumbas el viento está soplando.
La libertad pronto vendrá.
Entonces saldremos de las sombras.
Los alemanes estaban en mi casa.
Me dijeron que me identificara.
Pero no tengo miedo.
Retomaré las armas.
He cambiado de nombre un centenar de veces.
He perdido a mi esposa y a mis hijos.
Pero tengo algunos amigos.
Tengo a Francia entera.
Un anciano, en un granero,
nos escondió por la noche.
Los alemanes lo capturaron.
Murió sin sorpresa alguna.
Oh, el viento, el viento sopla.
A través de las tumbas el viento está soplando.
La libertad pronto vendrá.
Entonces saldremos de las sombras.
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Cambio partisano por inmigrante, da igual la nacionalidad, da igual en que país, en una Europa que cierra fronteras hoy donde ayer se luchó por la libertad...La música y la poesía de Leonard Cohen me lleva a reflexionar sobre la Europa, la España, en la que vivo, que navega dirigida por la derecha ultraconservadora y atenaza, cercena las libertades conseguidas desde el término de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

I Can't Forget (No puedo olvidar)

"I Can't Forget"

I stumbled out of bed

I got ready for the struggle

I smoked a cigarette

And I tightened up my gut

I said this can't be me

Must be my double

And I can't forget, I can't forget

I can't forget but I don't remember what

I'm burning up the road

I'm heading down to Phoenix

I got this old address

Of someone that I knew

It was high and fine and free

Ah, you should have seen us

And I can't forget, I can't forget

I can't forget but I don't remember who

I'll be there today

With a big bouquet of cactus

I got this rig that runs on memories

And I promise, cross my heart,

They'll never catch us

But if they do, just tell them it was me

Yeah I loved you all my life

And that's how I want to end it

The summer's almost gone

The winter's tuning up

Yeah, the summer's gone

But a lot goes on forever

And I can't forget, I can't forget

I can't forget but I don't remember what

In My Secret Life (Leonard Cohen)

"In My Secret Life"

I saw you this morning.

You were moving so fast.

Can’t seem to loosen my grip

On the past.

And I miss you so much.

There’s no one in sight.

And we’re still making love

In My Secret Life.

I smile when I’m angry.

I cheat and I lie.

I do what I have to do

To get by.

But I know what is wrong,

And I know what is right.

And I’d die for the truth

In My Secret Life.

Hold on, hold on, my brother.

My sister, hold on tight.

I finally got my orders.

I’ll be marching through the morning,

Marching through the night,

Moving cross the borders

Of My Secret Life.

Looked through the paper.

Makes you want to cry.

Nobody cares if the people

Live or die.

And the dealer wants you thinking

That it’s either black or white.

Thank G-d it’s not that simple

In My Secret Life.

I bite my lip.

I buy what I’m told:

From the latest hit,

To the wisdom of old.

But I’m always alone.

And my heart is like ice.

And it’s crowded and cold

In My Secret Life.

Take This Waltz

Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women

There's a shoulder where Death comes to cry

There's a lobby with nine hundred windows

There's a tree where the doves go to die

There's a piece that was torn from the morning

And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you

On a chair with a dead magazine

In the cave at the tip of the lily

In some hallways where love's never been

On a bed where the moon has been sweating

In a cry filled with footsteps and sand

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take its broken waist in your hand

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz

With its very own breath of brandy and Death

Dragging its tail in the sea

There's a concert hall in Vienna

Where your mouth had a thousand reviews

There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking

They've been sentenced to death by the blues

Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture

With a garland of freshly cut tears?

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take this waltz it's been dying for years

There's an attic where children are playing

Where I've got to lie down with you soon

In a dream of Hungarian lanterns

In the mist of some sweet afternoon

And I'll see what you've chained to your sorrow

All your sheep and your lilies of snow

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay

Take this waltz, take this waltz

With its "I'll never forget you, you know!"

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz ...

And I'll dance with you in Vienna

I'll be wearing a river's disguise

The hyacinth wild on my shoulder,

My mouth on the dew of your thighs

And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook,

With the photographs there, and the moss

And I'll yield to the flood of your beauty

My cheap violin and my cross

And you'll carry me down on your dancing

To the pools that you lift on your wrist

Oh my love, Oh my love

Take this waltz, take this waltz

It's yours now. It's all that there is.

Take This Waltz es una canción del canadiense Leonard Cohen, perteneciente al disco I'm your Man del año 1988.
El poeta y novelista compuso el tema a modo de versión en inglés del poema "Pequeño vals vienés" del poeta granadino Federico García Lorca, perteneciente a "Poeta en Nueva York". Cohen es un gran admirador de García Lorca hasta el punto que llamó a su hija "Lorca".
La canción ha sido versionada con la música de Cohen y la letra original de Lorca por Enrique Morente y Lagartija Nick en su disco Omega del año 1996, y por Ana Belén en su Lorquiana de 1998.

Leonard Cohen (II)

Ain't no Cure for Love

Ain't No Cure For Love

I loved you for a long, long time

I know this love is real

It don't matter how it all went wrong

That don't change the way I feel

And I can't believe that time's

Gonna heal this wound I'm speaking of

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure for love

I'm aching for you baby

I can't pretend I'm not

I need to see you naked

In your body and your thought

I've got you like a habit

And I'll never get enough

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love

All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky

The holy books are open wide

The doctors working day and night

But they'll never ever find that cure for love

There ain't no drink no drug

(Ah tell them, angels)

There's nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus

I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up

I see your hand, I see your hair

Your bracelets and your brush

And I call to you, I call to you

But I don't call soft enough

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure for love

I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go

When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul

I don't need to be forgiven for loving you so much

It's written in the scriptures

It's written there in blood

I even heard the angels declare it from above

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure,

There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love

All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky

The holy books are open wide

The doctors working day and night

But they'll never ever find that cure,

That cure for love