Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
This song was inspired by Nico. Sylvie Simmons sums up the song as follows:
“One of Us Cannot Be Wrong”, Leonard’s wryly humorous song, inspired by Nico, about a man battered but unbroken by lust (…)
In fact, there was a period when Leonard Cohen was in love with Nico:
Although he never won her,...
[Verse 1]
I lit a thin green candle
To make you jealous of me
But the room just filled up with mosquitos
They heard that my body was free
Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night
And I put it in your little shoe
And then I confess that I tortured the dress
That you wore for the world to look through
[Verse 2]
I showed my heart to the doctor
He said I just have to quit
Then he wrote himself a prescription
And your name was mentioned in it
Then he locked himself in a library shelf
With the details of our honeymoon
And I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse
And his practice is all in a ruin
[Verse 3]
I heard of a saint who had loved you
So I studied all night in his school
He taught that the duty of lovers
Is to tarnish the golden rule
And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure
He drowned himself in the pool
His body is gone, but back here on the lawn
His spirit continues to drool
[Verse 4]
An Eskimo showed me a movie
He'd recently taken of you
The poor man could hardly stop shivering
His lips and his fingers were blue
I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes
And I guess he just never got warm
But you stand there so nice in your blizzard of ice
Oh, please let me come into the storm
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong was written by Leonard Cohen.
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong was produced by John Simon.
Leonard Cohen released One of Us Cannot Be Wrong on Wed Dec 27 1967.
Some brief, enlightening remarks from Cohen’s prologues:
Frankfurt 06/05/70 :
This song was written in the Chelsea Hotel, in the elevator, waiting for my friend to wake up…
Berlin 24/09/74
A song from the other side of the marriage bed. The room is empty, the window is opened, the lover is gone,...