James So Long Marianne

SO LONG MARIANNE

First released 1992

So Long Marianne never appeared on any official James release until the 2004 retrospective "The Collection", with the band not being particularly impressed by the final result at the time. As with the Velvet Underground cover, Sunday Morning, Tim finishes the song with an improvised medley of lyrics from other Cohen songs. The song was played on French radio as part of the acoustic Black Session in March 1992 as a favour to the DJ, a huge Cohen and James fan.

WHERE TO GET

I’m Your Fan – The Songs of Leonard Cohen LP (COL 469032 1), CAS (COL 469032 4), CD (COL 469032 2)

James - The Collection CD (9824088)

LYRICS

Come over to the window my little darling

I'd like to try and read your palm

I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider's web

Is fastening my ankle to the door

So long Marianne, it's time that we began

To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

We met when we were almost young

You made me forget so very much

I forgot to pray for the angels

And then the angels forgot to pray for us

So long Marianne, it's time that we began

To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

For now I need your hidden love

I'm cold as a new razor blade

You left when I told you I was curious

But I never said that I was brave

So long Marianne, it's time that we began

To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

About it all again

So long Marianne

Marianne

Now, you're really such a pretty one

I see you've gone and changed your name again

And just when I climbed this whole mountainside

I see you in the distance on the plains

So long Marianne, it's time that we began

To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

About it all again

So long Marianne

All the fights with that big kitchen knife

All the lies and the hate that you spat

All those long, long furious nights

All the tears that we shed

The excitement we had

On the unmade bed with that big kitchen knife

And the crimes we committed at night

Yeah the crimes we committed at night

For a love we could never get right

So long Marianne

Marianne