Why I love Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas (2012)
Track Listing
01 00:00 "Going Home"
02 03:48 "Amen"
03 11:22 "Show Me the Place"
04 15:30 "Darkness"
05 19:59 "Anyhow"
06 23:06 "Crazy to Love You"
07 26:10 "Come Healing"
08 29:00 "Banjo"
09 32:20 "Lullaby"
10 37:01 "Different Sides"


"Going Home"

I love to speak with Leonard
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
He’s a lazy bastard
Living in a suit


But he does say what I tell him
Even though it isn’t welcome
He just doesn't have the freedom
To refuse

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he’s really nothing
But the brief elaboration of a tube

Going home
Without my sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow
Going home
To where it’s better
Than before

Going home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without the costume
That I wore

He wants to write a love song
An anthem of forgiving
A manual for living with defeat

A cry above the suffering
A sacrifice recovering
But that isn’t what I need him
To complete

I want him to be certain
That he doesn’t have a burden
That he doesn’t need a vision
That he only has permission
To do my instant bidding
Which is to say what I have told him
To repeat

Going home
Without my sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow
Going home
To where it’s better

Than before
Going home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without this costume
That I wore

Going home
Without the sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow
Going home
To where it’s better
Than before

Going home
Without the burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without this costume
That I wore

I love to speak with Leonard
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
He’s a lazy bastardLiving in a suit

"Amen"

Tell me again

When I’ve been to the river

And I’ve taken the edge off my thirst

Tell me again

We’re alone and I’m listening

I’m listening so hard that it hurts

Tell me again

When I’m clean and I’m sober

Tell me again

When I’ve seen through the horror

Tell me again

Tell me over and over

Tell me that you want me then

Amen…

Tell me again

When the victims are singing

And the Laws of Remorse are restored

Tell me again

That you know what I’m thinking

But vengeance belongs to the Lord

Tell me again

When I’m clean and I’m sober

Tell me again

When I’ve seen through the horror

Tell me again

Tell me over and over

Tell me that you love me then

Amen…

Tell me again

When the day has been ransomed

And the night has no right to begin

Try me again

When the angels are panting

And scratching at the door to come in

Tell me again

When I’m clean and I’m sober

Tell me again

When I’ve seen through the horror

Tell me again

Tell me over and over

Tell me that you need me then

Amen…

Tell me again

When the filth of the butcher

Is washed in the blood of the lamb

Tell me again

When the rest of the culture

Has passed through the Eye of the Camp

Tell me again

When I’m clean and I’m sober

Tell me again

When I’ve seen through the horror

Tell me again

Tell me over and over

Tell me that you love me then

Amen…

"Crazy to Love You"

I had to go crazy to love you
Had to go down to the pit
Had to do time in the tower
Begging like crazy to quit

I had to go crazy to love you
You who were never the one
Whom I chased through the souvenir heartache
Her braids and her blouse all undone

Sometimes I'd head for the highway
I'm old and the mirrors don't lie
But crazy has places to hide in
That are deeper than any goodbye
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/leonard-cohen-crazy-to-love-you-lyrics.html ]
I had to go crazy to love you
Had to let everything fall
Had to be people I hated
Had to be no one at all

I'm tired of choosing desire
I've been saved by a blessed fatigue
The gates of commitment unwired
And nobody trying to leave

Sometimes I'd head for the highway
I'm old and the mirrors don't lie
But crazy has places to hide in
That are deeper than any goodbye

Had to go crazy to love you
You who were never the one
Whom I chased through the souvenir heartache
Her braids and her blouse all undone 

"Banjo"

There’s something that I’m watching
Means a lot to me
It’s a broken banjo bobbing
On the dark infested sea

Don’t know how it got there
Maybe taken by the wave
Off of someone’s shoulder
Or out of someone’s grave

It’s coming for me darling
No matter where I go
Its duty is to harm me
My duty is to know

There’s something that I’m watching
Means a lot to me
It’s a broken banjo bobbing
On the dark infested sea


"Lullaby"

Sleep baby sleep, 
The days on the run 
The wind in the trees is talking in tones 
Lullaby 

If your heart is torn 
I don't wonder why 
If the night is gone 
Is my lover there 
Is my lover there 

Well the mouse eats the crumb, 
Then the cat eats the crumb. 
Now they've fallen in love, 
Then they're talking in tones 

If your heart is torn 
I don't wonder why 
If the night is gone 
Is my lover there 
Is my lover there 

Sleep baby sleep, 
There's the morning to come, 
The winds in the trees, 
They're talking in tones.

"Different Sides"

We find ourselves on different sides 
Of a line nobody drew 
Though it all may be one in the higher eye 
Down here where we live it is two 

I to my side call the meek and the mild 
You to your side call the Word 
By virtue of suffering I claim to have won 
You claim to have never been heard 

Both of us say there are laws to obey 
Yeah, but frankly I don't like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
(But) I want to leave it alone 

The pull of the moon, the thrust of the sun 
Thus the ocean is crossed 
The waters are blessed while a shadowy guest 
Kindles a light for the lost 

Both of us say there are laws to obey 
But frankly I don't like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
(But) I want to leave it alone 

Down in the valley the famine goes on 
The famine up on the hill 
I say that you shouldn't, you couldn't, you can't 
You say that you must and you will 

You want to live where the suffering is 
I want to get out of town 
Come on, baby, give me a kiss 
Stop writing everything down 

Both of us say there are laws to obey 
Yeah, but frankly I don't like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
(But) I want to leave it alone 

Both of us say there are laws to obey 
Yeah, but frankly I don't like your tone 
You want to change the way I make love 
(But) I want to leave it alone...

Suu Kyi: I never felt that I was not free

Mendengar pidato Aun San Suu Kyi di  Sorbonne pada 28 Juni 2012 ini tiba-tiba membuat saya berpikir tentang video game, calculator, komputer and segala kemudahan yang dimiliki kita dan anak-anak jaman sekarang. Kadang saya membayangkan kalau tidak ada calculator dan saya harus menghitung sesuatu dalam waktu yang sangat singkat dalam situasi yang sangat genting dengan konsekwensi nyawa saya, apakah saya akan survive? Kemudahan jaman modern dengan segala fasilitas dan kemudaan telah membua banyak di antara kehilangan apa yang disebut Suu Kyi dengan "inner resources".

Pidato ini mengingatkan kita akan esensi pendidikan yang sebernarnya yaitu mengasah inner resources kita agar dalam kondisi yang sulit kita tidak hanya survive tetapi terus bertumbuh. Terlalu banyak pendidikan yang menghasilkan banyak mediocre karena kemudahan yang tersedia. Saya teringat seorang kepala sekolah pendidikan pertanian di Naibonat, Kupang yang pernah dengan sangat sinis mengatakan: "kerbau pun kalau disekolahkah akan mendapat ijazah."

Berikut ini adalah transkrip dari pidato Aung San Suu Kyi pada bagian awal video ini:

"..One of the things that help me to pass these years with equanimity was my curiosity. I was always wanting to know more, about what was happening to the world around me and to myself as well. And however small the world may be, even if its confined to one house or even to one room, there is always something of interest could going on. And because of these interests I never felt that I was not free. I have sometimes felt somewhat unreal, because I was not in contact with the rest of the world, but I never felt that I was not free because my mind was free to think. And to think about new things. Everyday day it seems to me that there were new things to think about.

I practice meditation during those years, and this teaches you a lot about yourself. You should try to sitting very quietly for about 20 minutes and not thinking, it very difficult not to think. And then you realized what your mind is really like. And little by little, because you know more about yourself,  you are more sensitive to what is going on around you. And of course I was lucky enough to have a radio to listen to, and books to read.

All of us need inner resources at some time or the other. If you are lucky you may not have to depend on them too much. But circumstances around you are such that your life is restricted in certain ways then you have to fall back on your inner resources. And I think that's what education should be about: to built up your inner resources so that whatever circumstances you may find yourself, you will be able, not just to survive but to grow. Because life is about growing. Its not about remaining static. Its about learning new things every day, even if just something about yourself, or something about the room in which you are forced to be.

So I hope that all of you today will help me to learn new things in the next hour and a half, or perhaps less. And that the questions that you ask me will help me to ask questions about our situation in Burma. Because question lead to other question. Some have asked me: "Aren't you bored with people asking the same question again and again?" Its not quite like that, people put their questions in different ways. And sometimes, even the same questions can provoke new insides into the issue that they are addressing. I look very much forward to the questions that you will put to me. And I hope that they will as interesting for you as I am sure you questions will be to me, that my answer should be as interesting as your question will be to me. Thank you." 

Pidato ini sangat menarik dan sangat asli, dan jawaban-jawaban terhadap pertanyaan-pertanyaanpun sangat bagus. Selain itu, ia sangat sangat eloquent dalam bahasa Inggris dan juga sangat influence dalam bahasa Prancis. 

Sasando memanggil

Seorang pemain alat musik tradisional dari pulau Rote, A.A. Malelak, memainkan sebuah lagu tradisional "Batu Matia" dengan alat musik tradisional Rote, Sasando. Informasi tentang Sasando bisa dilihat di sini : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasando