That have all turned out to be illusions, do not mourn in vain.īid her farewell, the Alexandria that is leaving.Ībove all do not be fooled, do not tell yourself

Your fortune that fails you now, your works The poem by Cavafy and the poem by Cohen are very close connected, but the melody, the emotions and the soulfulness of the song are equally important, The flow of the poem.Īlessandro Turchi – The Death of Anthony and Cleopatra This is vital for understanding Cohen’s lyrics, “The god of love preparing to depart.” But, Bacchus was also a god of resurrection and the love that Cohen describes is a resurrected love. Bacchus (Dionysus) Antonys’s “patron god”, was deserting him.īacchus (Roman)/ Dionysus (Greek) was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Roman and Greek mythology. One night he heard sounds instruments and voices coming through the city. Cavafy’s poem is based on Plutarch’s story about Antony being besieged by Octavian in Alexandria. The song is based on Constantin Cavafy’s Greek poem, The God Abandons Antony/The God forsakes Antony. Now he has to face the devastating loss all over again. It sounds like the protagonist in the song didn’t plan to love/make love again, but it happened. He reads some lines from his own text and then says, “Sharon Robinson, ‘Alexandra Leaving’.” (I have never heard a live version where Cohen sings the song himself, if it exists I would be very thankful to get a link in the commentaries.) In concerts, Cohen speaks the opening words of a poem-song he wrote three decades ago, inspired by another poem published in 1911. Sharon Robins is credited as co-writer on this song and her contribution must not be understated. And when I say love, I include lust and desire of course. It is even harder the second time, because he had given up on that whole “love stuff”.

I’ve chosen a lament of lost love, actually it’s about lost love twice(!). Leonard Cohen is a first class melancholic and he has quite a lot of songs that could fit in the “sad song” category. The Saddest Songs in History: Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson Alexandra Leaving

Sharon robinson leonard cohen