Leonard Cohen has released a single “Show Me The Place” which is the third track on his new album “Old Ideas” that will be available in January 2012.
In this tender evocative song, Leonard Cohen prays in music.
You can hear “Show Me The Place” here:
http://www.leonardcohen.com/ca/oldideas
In 2009 Heather and I attended a Leonard Cohen concert. I wrote about the experience here:
Leonard Cohen’s music, like all great art, is worship. The lyrics are not always easy to grasp; his meaning can be elusive. He does not demand agreement to any specific creed or manipulate his audience to elicit a particular response. But, Cohen evokes something deep at least in this listener.
This music touches a tender place in my being that I know to be my better self. It helps me open to that gentleness and reverence that I believe are my true nature.
Cohen’s prayer is my prayer: “help me roll away the stone.” And he understands, as I know deep in my being, that “I can’t move this thing alone.”
There are a variety of versions of the lyrics for “Show Me The Place” circulating on the internet. They contain a few small variations. Here is the version that seems to correspond most accurately to the song as I hear it on Cohen’s website.
Leonard Cohen – Show Me The Place
Show me the place, where you want your slave to go
Show me the place, I’ve forgotten I don’t know
Show me the place for my head is bending low
Show me the place where you want your slave to go
Show me the place, help me roll away the stone
Show me the place, I can’t move this thing alone
Show me the place where the word became a man
Show me the place where the suffering began
The troubles came I saved what I could save
A thread of light, a particle, a wave
But there were chains so I hastened to behave
There were chains, so I loved you like a slave
Show me the place, where you want your slave to go
Show me the place, I’ve forgotten I don’t know
Show me the place for my head is bending low
Show me the place where you want your slave to go
The troubles came I saved what I could save
A thread of light, a particle, a wave
But there were chains so I hastened to behave There were chains so I loved you like a slave
In A Spacious Place 
8 comments
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November 23, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Jennifer
That song is amazing, like most of Cohen’s music. His lyrics are Eucharistic for me. I will be taking some of these into a chant….
November 26, 2011 at 11:33 am
David S Rubin
All choir voices on “Show Me The Place” were written, arranged and performed by Jennifer Warnes on April 25th, 2011 in Los Angeles, recorded by Patrick Leonard.
November 30, 2011 at 8:37 am
Anthony Hendriks
Wow…moving, sad…thanks for sharing Christopher.
December 4, 2011 at 2:10 pm
lindsay
KD Lang singing Leonard Ohen’s Hallelujah
February 21, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Kim
k.d. does it best for sure Lindsay!
April 29, 2012 at 4:08 pm
sethmil
I agree with your sentiments, “it touched me in a tender place and that it’s a prayer in music” about sums it up. I confess, until a few days ago I did not know who Leonard Cohen was but when I stumbled across this song it blew me away. My thinking was maybe there are a few good Christian musicians out there. Then I read Leonard was not a Christian, he’s a devout Jew apparently. BTW, the version I heard ended with these two lines
“Show me the place where the word became a man
Show me the place where the suffering began”
The song remains deeply spiritual and meaningful to me. It’s almost a spiritual experience in itself. It’s as much a mystery as Leonard Cohen is a mystery to me. But this in a strange in familiar way in that he is like me in his painful and sometimes almost pornographic honesty and openness. Anybody brave enough to bare their soul not only to themselves but to the world is going to present a conflicted and contradictory picture. Ant that’s the human condition, that’s raw humanness and that rawness resonates in my soul. The song remains clearly a reference to the passion of Christ for me, Christ’s answer to the human condition. I suppose that’s just a reminder from the Man that nobody knows the mind of God. I’ve read few comments elsewhere with anything close to my interpretation except you in your comments above.
April 29, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Christopher Page
thank you for your lovely comment. I agree that LC has a profound ability to reach down into the depths of his own humanness and a remarkable courage in sharing what he finds with the public. I believe that only a person who has found his true identity in a realm that transcends the normal sense-perceived realities, could draw from within himself such profound truth.
April 29, 2012 at 5:12 pm
sethmil
Thank you, I think you hit it and you have a much better way with words than I.