Sing Another Song, Boys lyrics by Leonard Cohen, 1 meaning, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Leonard Cohen – Sing Another Song, Boys lyrics
(Let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter.)

Ah his fingernails, I see they're broken,
His ships they're all on fire.
The moneylender's lovely little daughter
Ah, she's eaten, she's eaten with desire.
She spies him through the glasses
From the pawnshops of her wicked father.
She hails him with a microphone
That some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her.
She tempts him with a clarinet,
She waves a Nazi dagger.
She finds him lying in a heap;
She wants to be his woman.
He says, "Yes, I might go to sleep
But kindly leave, leave the future,
Leave it open. "

He stands where it is steep,
Oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one,
His hand upon his leather belt now
Like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner.
And she will learn to touch herself so well
As all the sails burn down like paper.
And he has lit the chain
Of his famous cigarillo.
Ah, they'll never, they'll never ever reach the moon,
At least not the one that we're after;
It's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends,
And it carries no survivors.
But lets leave these lovers wondering
Why they cannot have each other,
And let's sing another song, boys,
This one has grown old and bitter.
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Songwriters: Leonard Cohen
Sing Another Song, Boys lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Sing Another Song, Boys meanings

  • j
    + 3
    JenniferCroft
    This song took longer than most Leonard Cohen songs to hit me. But I find it at least right now one of his more emotional songs in some ways. It speaks to the common struggles of most people but also touches on how we see whatever happens to us as the worst thing. I think this is supported in the line "he stands where it is very steep (I'm assuming because he's thinking of suicide) well I guess he thinks he's the very first one". Also, I feel quite moved by the line "his hands on his leather belt now like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner." It's that clinging to dignity in matters of lost love that (which I think is the overall theme of the song of course) is sadder for its attempt. I also appreciate the irony in "Let's sing another song boys" because we always have sung about lost love and always will. It reminds of a line in To a Skylark by Shelley, "our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought".
    Jennifer.
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    • j
      + 3
      JenniferCroft
      This song took longer than most Leonard Cohen songs to hit me. But I find it at least right now one... Read more →

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