june1_sunset

Apparently Kris Kristofferson wants those words on his tombstone.

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Like a bird on a wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
Like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn every woman who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a young man leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, don’t ask for so much.
And a young woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, why not ask for more?

Like a bird on a wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
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Leonard Cohen’s song “Bird on a Wire” says a great deal in not very many words, which is why so many people have covered it, including these fine folks:

Joe Cocker
Johnny Cash
Willie Nelson
K.D. Lang
Judy Collins
Rita Coolidge
Tim Hardin
The Neville Brothers
Seaside Man

Here is Johnny Cash doing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rb1rse0fKs

Here is a Cohen version accompanied by a peculiar video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-rCqbvVnog

And here is a very different version by the Israeli singer Esther Ofarim:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cvOjmWv7yc

Song-writing doesn’t get much better than this.

Cheers, Tom