Lover Lover Lover

  • Track

Leonard Cohen, Mati Caspi. Courtesy Anjani Thomas Collection, Isaac Shokal, Doron Yakobi, Uri Dan – Farkash Gallery

[Verse 1]

I asked my father, I said, "Father, change my name

The one I'm using now it's covered up with fear and filth and cowardice and shame"

[Chorus]

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

[Verse 2]

He said, "I locked you in this body, I meant it as a kind of trial

You can use it for a weapon or to make some woman smile"

[Chorus]

Yeah and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

[Verse 3]

"Then let me start again," I cried, "Please let me start again

I want a face that's fair this time, I want a spirit that is calm"

[Chorus]

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

[Verse 4]

I never, never turned aside", he said

"I never walked away

It was you, who built the temple

It was you, who covered up my face"

[Chorus]

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

[Verse 5]

"And may the spirit of this song

May it rise up, pure and free

May it be a shield for you

A shield against the enemy"

[Chorus x2]

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover, lover

Come back to me


Name

Lover Lover Lover

Description

"Lover Lover Lover", was written and performed in Sinai during the Yom Kippur war.

Types

Length

03:19

3

Statement

Original version opens with the words: "I went down to the desert to help my brothers fight / I knew that they weren’t wrong / I knew that they weren’t right / but bones must stand up straight and walk / and blood must move around / and men go making ugly lines / across the holy ground" But later, when Cohen performed “Lover Lover Lover,” he’d acknowledge where he wrote it, but said it was for soldiers “on both sides.”