Leonard Cohen - Closing Time (Live in London)

Leonard Cohen - Closing Time (Live In London) (Official Video)
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Lyrics:
So we're drinking and we're dancing
And the band is really happening
And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
And my very sweet companion
She's the Angel of Compassion
And she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
Every drinker every dancer
Lifts a happy face to thank her
The fiddler fiddles something so sublime
All the women tear their blouses off
The men they dance on the polka-dots
And it's partner found and partner lost
And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
It's CLOSING TIME
Yeah the women tear their blouses off
And the men they dance on the polka-dots
And it's partner found, it's partner lost
And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
It's CLOSING TIME
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
I loved you for your beauty
But that doesn't make a fool of me:
You were in it for your beauty too
I loved you for your body
There's a voice that sounds like God to me
Declaring that your body's really you
I loved you when our love was blessed
And I love you now there's nothing left
But sorrow and a sense of overtime
And I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
Looks like freedom but it feels like death
It's something in between, I guess
It's CLOSING TIME
We're drinking and we're dancing
But there's nothing really happening
The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
And my very close companion
Gets me fumbling gets me laughing
She's a hundred but she's wearing
Something tight
I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
Which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
Except to say it isn't worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
And it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ
But the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
We're busted in the blinding lights
Of CLOSING TIME

[@GinaGreenlee]

Until I saw it, I didn't know I needed to witness Leonard Cohen skipping off stage to the beat of Closing Time. In the early 2000s I was sitting solo in an Italian pastry shop eating cannoli and sipping a tumbler of Amaretto on ice. It was around 10 pm on a weekday night. The place would be closing about midnight and I'd be long gone before then. I hated the city I lived in and this one of my few refuges. The bartender was from Poland and I didn't know it until this fateful evening when I'd be "introduced" to Leonard Cohen, but ALL the music that played at the bar was from the personal collection of the bartender. It was quite a mix of jazz, indie, piano, guitar, international. This was my neighborhood joint and the vibe helped me stay in the God awful city for much longer than I wanted to but needed to. So, on this fateful night, I heard a voice. A deep, low, slow, long cigarette-drag of a voice through the din of talk the traffic outside. A steady drumbeat behind the voice. Like a heart. I literally stopped breathing, tried to detect a clue to who, what this was I was hearing. I couldn't even catch lyrics. I was mesmerized. Couldn't move. Then it was over. I stood from my table and approached the Polish barkeep. I said, "What were you just playing?" By then another song had begun and I had to struggle to hum back to him what I thought I was hearing - only wisps and such - under the cafe's din. He went to the back behind the bar, brought out a CD. It was "10 New Songs" by Cohen. That's all I needed to know. The next day I found it online, scrolled through the tracks until I heard THAT SOUND. It was the "Here It Is." I can and HAVE listened to that song all day. That was my introduction to Leonard Cohen and I've been in love every since.

[@Геннадий-ч8ы]

our person...

[@trevscribbles]

Leonard Cohen galloping away on an imaginary horse having spouted-off 6 odd minutes of lyrical genius is just perfect

[@amcmenemy5647]

What a genius. I find it impossible to pick my favourite song of Leonard's.

[@robertallard759]

I remember this moment like it was yesterday. In 1993, he won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year, after his 1992 album The Future... It's an award presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. Well, Leonard got up on the stage under a thunder of applause!!! With his gravely voice, he said something like: "Only in Canada could I be voted the best vocalist of the year..." PRICELESS!!!

[@MotivatedMetalworks]

That album is a masterpiece!

[@Wanderglobe]

I remember that like it was yesterday. Too funny.. But a good vocalist doesn't need a 4 octave range.

[@Геннадий-ч8ы]

Leonard is a man of peace. Everything else is pathos

[@Pakadeva]

LOVE this comment, so true!

[@JohnHWelch63]

I just recently discovered Leonard Cohen, and I am so baffled as to how, in the 50 plus years I’ve been old enough to appreciate music, I never encountered him before now.🤷‍♂️ This brilliant lyricist and musician is an absolute delight to hear and a treasure to music lovers! ❤️👍✌️🤘

[@T0STIST3R]

The sight of him hopping off the stage fills me with joy.

[@mirelaivanova2267]

Me too!

[@LisaElisa0289]

Yes 😄🥰

[@interestedlen8823]

Skipping! : ))

[@FernandoRuvalcaba]

And the smile of a child !!

[@christinewilliams4515]

Me too in a wonderful childlike happiness. His smile is so beautiful

[@jamesscanlan6240]

In his seventies and still the coolest guy in the room. Such an incredible artist.

[@bmint]

Usually live music disappoints! This does the exact opposite, He truly was an exceptionally incredible artist! Thank you leanord cohen

[@Irene-iu9sj]

I agree 100% ,me too I like to see him when he sings,he was such an artist, an actor really. And I'm especially happy when there are captions too,as English is not my own language,,so I really need subtitles......

[@davidhoy8363]

That man had something, pure soul and a magic. He got better the older he got. Guess I miss him he gets inside my head.Hoorayyy for Leonard.

[@cros99]

Leonard always surrounded himself with the best backup singers and the best musicians available. He is sorely missed.

[@MrYomomoto]

These best musicians adored his work it was a dream come true for them to play his music with him at the same stage

[@annacwiekala6280]

Yeah I've always been incredibly impressed by his backup singers, even if songs themselves weren't so great - which they are - the choir is enough to cherish these recordings

[@ianhouldsworth5836]

they gel so well together the lyrics and music are out of this world

[@montihimelstein3019]

A perfectionist for sure! His high standards of excellence are always evident when they perform. Wish he was still with us. Can't help but love Leonard ❤ Cohen.

[@dan44762000]

Stole a lot of them from Van Morrison

[@ganlyb]

Accompanying singers raise it x 10

[@dorisc8604]

Why the good people died, I want them for ever.

[@axelhager4773]

Just m e s m e r i z i n g , little known and underrated! WONDERFUL!!! R.I.P. Leonard! 👍👍👍

[@ТаисияКонова-ъ8ц]

БРАВО ЛЕОНАРД КАКОЙ МОЛОДЕЦ, ПОДАРИЛ МИРУ ТАКИЕ ПЕСНИ!!!👏👏👏

[@jbuntine1255]

I love the poetry RIP to a great artist beautiful ,

[@hobarthelen2]

Loved the happy way he just skipped off the stage like a happy kid!😁❤️

[@tonyfrancesco3701]

What a fantastic poet

[@bryantimmins339]

Leonard at his very best. You don’t get simple lyrics with him it’s more like a tale set to beautifully paced melodies which in his last years swells with a sensation that he had enjoyed his life on the road again.

[@markleventhal8863]

I was so lucky to see him twice in the years before he left us doing this concert. A Religious Experience to say the least. I still tingle when I hear it.

[@brenda_anchiu9074]

Lost a good friend, yesterday. I don't have the words. It was a legal holiday called Victoria day in Canada, but it will for ever to observed as the day my friend was welcomed in the arms of Morpheus. This song, used as the closing tribute to a life well lived. I just know Leonard would have approved.

[@davidbrown7213]

As More and more people discover His great gifts to us the more the loss he was to us!

[@auntpearl9887]

Even when he was still with us seeing him skip off that stage filled me with joy and a strange sadness all at once. You will remembered always Mr Cohen.

[@moondancer9066]

The pretty little Webb sisters are going to have some hellacious memories!

[@jamessanderson333]

Could listen to this all my life hopefully another 20years one of the best poets ever with Bob Dylan happy to know them both i have been blessed cheers James Anthony Sanderson Welsh man and proud

[@Mark-ld5um]

I loved you for your beauty But that doesn't make a fool of me: You were in it for your beauty too 😁

[@steveswaby7464]

The full Monty! It is SO good to see Leonard at his very best with the greatest singers and backing group. This how I want to remember him. He is looking down at us with that wicked smile of his and enjoying the fun and laughter we all shared together.

[@andrevolkow4923]

This was the song at my brothers memorial in 2020.We had it on Zoom because of COVID-19.He always said he was a fan ..before he got recognized .Oh well,both RIP,job completed.Well done ❤

[@eric7922]

I don’t know, I think this is my fav of his. This live version is lights out.

[@apexxxx10]

Thanks 'L.Cohen''. I saw Leonard Cohen in Stockholm, SWEDEN. Was it 1982? I recall now, it was a freezing, cold February evening. Inside the Concert hall in the center of Stockholm city, where Mr Cohen and his band were on the stage bringing us so much poetry and music. Keeping us warm. A night to remember. Afterwards my new girlfriend, Karin blond and deep blue eyes. After the concert we drank red wine in her small apartment. A week later a popular Swedish DJ Kjell Alinge (dead and gone like Leonard Cohen) called the Canadian L. Cohen jokingly: "LEONARDO COHENSKY" in his popular weekly Eldorado radio program. Later in the autumn before the cold arrived I left Sweden for Bangkok, ASIA. Today I am 72 married. I live in Thailand. KZbinr a biker since 2021.(kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaW9dnysgLmZitk) Karin found a tall accountant or maybe an actuary Sven G. Andersson and moved in with him. They live in Stockholm. But, Karin & Johnny (Johannes) we both still remember and cherish LEONARD COHEN!

[@kgbarnett5350]

Another Perfect song

[@ceocoachrobinson]

One of a kind musician and lyricist! I miss you Leonard! Your voice actually got more incredible as you got older. Amazing man, what a talent!

[@MissBettieS]

His songwriting has always been so brilliant it's almost otherworldly but I agree, his voice grew so much better as he aged. After I'd downloaded "Suzanne" years ago, I thought I'd bought a cover, and one that I didn't like nearly as much as the original. When I bought another copy I realized that *was* the original.

[@annettehonickman9069]

I Miss Leonard And His Poetry 💖

[@squamish4244]

"Looks like freedom but it feels like death/It's something in between I guess" - I LOVE that line. After years meditating, Leonard's depression vanished. He was genuinely happy for the first time in his life. He unfortunately had to go on tour because his accountant stole his money, but he kept touring for a decade. He wanted to. He was *happy.*

[@MissBettieS]

That's one of my favourite lines too. How could one person so brilliantly and beautifully describe seemingly *every* human emotion? I did not know about the meditation, thank you. Now I have the inspiration to try it, but mostly I'm just glad he was happy, my heart broke when I heard about his accountant, I'm so relieved to know he wasn't devastated by it.

[@ryanmontgomery4302]

ohhhh Leonard Cohen...........Lets hope that some day the world will catch up with you "RIP Sir".......hope

[@iluvdaguitar]

Anyone who attends a Leonard Cohen show should realize they are in the same room with probably the greatest songwriter in the world! I've thought that for many years, but I was recently delighted to see a David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) interview in which he said the same thing. If David Gilmour, who is one of the greatest songwriters himself, says so, that's good enough for me. ♥️👍✌️

[@bobkaboggle4445]

I think he was really pleased with this song, you can tell it’s one of his favourites…

[@black9030]

spot on Bob

[@Геннадий-ч8ы]

He sang about himself...Wonderful clip

[@STEVE1MUSICMAN]

I was busy playing across Canada when Leonard was touring . I could kick myself for missing him. We are so fortunate to have these live concerts recorded! I listen most every night

[@jonnred544]

Ciao. Grande maestro immensamente grazie x la tua buona musica che ci hai regalato nel corso della vita. Ci hai lasciato un grande vuoto, ma appena, ascolto un tuo brano ti sento ancora vivo nel cuore. ORA vola libero e suona tra gli angeli. Rip big Leonard♥️🙏🌹

[@kathryn3390]

Everyone looks like they're having so much fun singing his music. I mean, it's so rich!

[@robertallard759]

They were playing with a legend!! They didn't just look like they were into it! They KNEW they were privileged and that it was almost closing time...

[@hans-joachimspanka8743]

There must be real good music in heaven.

[@danhorea5505]

True

[@rayokeefe1006]

Absolutely love this version of the London Closing Time.

[@merledoughty5787]

So glad that we have KZbin and the media to watch the best of musicians perform, I turn this tune up very loud it is magic thanks Leonard Cohen for the music you gave us god bless

[@LauraMorland]

Yes, KZbin may be the greatest gift of the Internet. Long live the memory (and the videos) of Leonard Cohen!

[@elliesambrook5929]

I was there xxxxy

[@RenéeGomand]

Hier wordt ik blij van schitterend

[@at_brunch3836]

Skipping off the stage....thanks for that Leonard, you sure know it ~ xxx

[@interestedlen8823]

The way he left the planet last time ~xxx

[@niks7348]

Hats off to Leonard Cohen!!

[@raservesthedinner7620]

His "conclusion" to the concert with this song, Closing Time, and surprising the audience with one more song (I Tried To Leave You) after he left the stage makes me smile with happines every time.

[@onmyown7364]

You were there? Oh, how I wish I could have been.

[@berec1999]

Wow! 💓

[@mehcol]

Mazeltov leonard.

[@hiltonwilliamprinsloo8073]

Still miss him very much.

[@richardmorrison1467]

One of my favourites, he really gets into it!

[@donhabedi8300]

Beendet gerade meinen Abend in die Nacht! Doobie !

[@Jinx-ge9yi]

This was my first fav of his - never gets old!

[@onmyown7364]

He's right. It isn't worth a dime! All you have is a few memories because, as he said in another song, " I thought the past would last me, but the darkness got that too". ❤

[@elisabethdorig1912]

His back up singers are amazing ❤

[@fernandoalbornoz7930]

Un grande un poeta de música en inglés lo descubrí por íntima amiga que le gustaba la hermosa de los 80

[@toasterenthusiast6188]

I wish I could have seen him preforming live

[@Marika0329]

Egy zseni ❤Szomorú, hogy meghalt

[@joedomagala6465]

Definition of Cool !

[@karenobdam3842]

Just wow

[@stellacurteanu3859]

Long live.,..ln eternity... the King!!! Thanks!!

[@andreymuzyka]

Bravo, maestro!!!

[@PeterBrowall]

❤

[@edwardgatey8301]

Leonard was indefatigable when he played Winnipeg,MB. Crowd was naive. Didn’t realize Leonard had the stamina to do three or four encores. Loved him singing over his ‘prayer stones’. Someone please explain and educate me.

[@akademevent5206]

Even Siberia loves the maestro!

[@dan44762000]

Oh god is there a complete video of the entire concert?

[@jenniferforde8203]

So loved this master of music and poetry..Miss you from this world but nice to think your singing in the next..RIP my lovely handsome man

[@gerrywhelan7426]

Brilliant & sadly missed.

[@leemorgan4799]

Love his music, lyrics. Saw him in concert at Old Masseyhall in the late 70s..best concert I ever attended.

[@tonyfrancesco3701]

What a great soul

[@wproct11]

What a voice! This man was remarkable.

[@valerialabat6306]

I love you Leonard Cohen

[@hermankuiper6142]

Harry K - Thanks Leonard. What a wonderful musician you are and what a wonderful group you have. Love all of your songs and in particular Hallelujah which brings tears to my eyes every time I play it. Lost count at the number of times I've played your songs. Your brilliance will always be remembered.

[@valerialabat6306]

Gracias por tanto 💖 de vos

[@Carl-im9gh]

We have all been there. Closing time. Fights and all.

[@radkahorakova4709]

Amazing.

[@dias4377]

So much energy. Loved this man.

[@nickbrown3020]

Leonard Cohen was erudite and musical - but what I loved about him was the obvious and immense pleasure he got from being very sleazy, even into old age. :)

[@onmyown7364]

Yes and he was always that way. Being erudite was how he managed to make so many "inappropriate " songs sound appropriate back in the 60's. I just love the beautiful way he could say the nastiest things!

[@oldDNU]

Have you heard "The Night of Santiago" from Thanks for the Dance? It's hilarious.

[@struthruth38]

@@onmyown7364He was NEVER nasty - he was into sex. 💋

[@waltymurphy7260]

Well done John great song for the Town

[@steveswaby7464]

Sooo happy and memorable. Thank you Leonard a real performer sadly missed.

[@katehollywood4426]

I’m not sure that we would have had this, Steve, if his manager hadn’t stolen all his money!

[@dizcret]

[@dizcret]

..Mehh ~ Don't remember leaving that ^ comment.

[@LeelaLu7]

I think of this song every time I try to shop these days. "The men they dance on the polka dots" Must be closing time.

[@angelaconnor6687]

He's fabb I miss him soooooo much

[@jean-pierrebernigaud8130]

La classe absolue et un talent poétique hors du commun Thanks golden voice Leonard…

[@redduketeleman]

Brilliant.....I've left so many pubs like this

[@ronshand7841]

Yes,love his canter(trot) off the stage at the end!!!!

[@joeglasgow1]

Great STUFF.....GOTTA LOVE HIS LYRICS....

[@joeglasgow1]

What a FIND....LOVE HIS PROLIFIC TALENT...

[@mikejoseph7465]

Pure joy

[@leemorgan4799]

Did any of you see him in the short film" The Hotel" filmed in Toronto. It's quite good.

[@suchislifes]

There's a Leonard Cohen Documentary in late January on Netflix

[@darrellburger4400]

he is the man

[@moabessare3624]

The master...R.I.P

[@terrinegrete3173]

RIP!

[@dalialimonad5633]

נוח על משכבך בשלום אתה חסר ת.נ.צ.ב.ה

[@teja850]

Er wae der beste

[@RenéeGomand]

Mijn favoriet 😊😊

[@miguelmiguel8492]

FOREVER TODAY LEÓN COHEN THANK ON WONDER MUSIC THANK FRIEND THANK K BRON

[@peterward8630]

I think so to cros99,great catchy piece of magical performances by everyone

[@iracemaraizer]

Muito Especial! Pra Sempre!!!!

[@praveenchawla6999]

I think this was first performed in a club called the Matador in Toronto.

[@davidbeattie7817]

Masterpiece

[@THEBANDIT7979]

I love this man. Hector Lavoe. , bob dylan. Leonard Cohen.

[@leomaranton]

Magnific!