Royce Shook

1 year ago · 5 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Closing Time by Leonard Cohen

Closing Time by Leonard Cohen

When my children were young and we went on road trips, I always had music playing and from time to time my son or my daughter would ask what the song was about. I would reply that the song was a story written by a songwriter who put the story to music. I said it was our job to interpret the story as best we could as the songwriter could not know to be asked.

I was introduced to Cohen’s music in about 2004 and I love the use of metaphors and lyrics that makes listening to his songs a treat. I was listening to his song “Closing Time” the other day and did some research on the lyrics.

According to Ira Nadel’s 1996 Cohen memoir Various Positions, Closing Time took two years to write with Cohen even starting over from scratch on the song as late as March 1992. Cohen explained that it takes him so long to finish songs because “Nothing works. After a while, if you stick with the song long enough it will yield. But long enough is way beyond any reasonable estimation of what you think long enough could be.

Closing Time is certainly an enjoyable listen. The following information about Closing Time is from Song Facts:

It starts off as a euphoric track about a wild party.

The fiddler fiddles something so sublime

All the women tear their blouses off

And the men they dance on the polka-dots

As the song goes on, the scene evolves from the closing of the bar to the concluding of a relationship, to the end of life.

I loved you when our love was blessed

and I love you now there’s nothing left

but sorrow and a sense of overtime

And I missed you since the place got wrecked

and I just don’t care what happens next

Looks like freedom but it feels like death

it’s something in between, I guess

It’s closing time

Cohen based “Closing Time” on a violin sample that came with a Casio keyboard. “When he first started recording it, the sample was slowed down,” engineer Leanne Unger told Uncut magazine. “It was very moody, with six-string bass, very vibey. I loved it.”

The song peaked at #70 in Canada. It was Cohen’s second-biggest hit in his native country after “Hallelujah.”

The music video for Closing Time presented below won the Juno Award for Best Music Video in 1993.

As stated, I think the first verse is about a great party at the bar with a description of the singers partner, the band and the dancers at the party.

Ah we're drinking and we're dancing

And the band is really happening

And the Johnny Walker wisdom running high

And my very sweet companion

She's the angel of compassion

She's rubbing half the world against her thigh

And every drinker every dancer

Lifts a happy face to thank her

The fiddler fiddles something so sublime

All the women tear their blouses off

And the men they dance on the polka-dots

And it's partner found, it's partner lost

And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

It's closing time

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

Yeah the women tear their blouses off

And the men they dance on the polka-dots

And it's partner found, it's partner lost

And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

It's closing time

The second verse becomes a bit deeper as the singer throws in references to the game Snakes and Ladders which has many mythical and religious connotations. The most widely known edition of Snakes and Ladders in the United States is Chutes and Ladders from Milton Bradley (which was purchased by the game’s current distributor Hasbro). It is played on a 10×10 board, and players advance their pieces according to a spinner rather than a die. The theme of the board design is playground equipment–children climb ladders to go down chutes. The artwork on the board teaches a morality lesson, the squares on the bottom of the ladders show a child doing a good or sensible deed and at the top of the ladder, there is an image of the child enjoying the reward. At the top of the chutes, there are pictures of children engaging in mischievous or foolish behaviour and the images on the bottom show the child suffering the consequences.

In Closing Time” Cohen appears to throw in an apt metaphor for this moment (or century) in human history. Even as we leave the stage, it is good to bury our faces in the roses we found there.

Ah we're lonely, we're romantic

And the cider's laced with acid

And the holy spirit's crying, where's the beef?

And the moon is swimming naked

And the summer night is fragrant

With a mighty expectation of relief

So, we struggle and we stagger

Down the snakes and up the ladder

To the tower where the blessed hours chime

And I swear it happened just like this

A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

The gates of love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

But closing time

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

 

I swear it happened just like this

A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

The gates of love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

(I can't say much has happened since)

We're closing time

Closing time

The next verse is a lament about lost youth, beauty and love as the singer mourns the loss of his love and her beauty but admits to having a deep sense of loss and despair because he still loves even though the love is lost.

I loved you for your beauty

But that doesn't make a fool of me

You were in it for your beauty too

And I loved you for your body

There's a voice that sounds like god to me

Declaring, (declaring) declaring, declaring that your body's really you

And I loved you when our love was blessed

And I love you now there's nothing left

But sorrow and a sense of overtime

And I missed you since the place got wrecked

And I just don't care what happens next

Looks like freedom but it feels like death

It's something in between, I guess

It's closing time

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked

By the winds of change and the weeds of sex

Looks like freedom but it feels like death

It's something in between, I guess

It's closing time

The last verse is a recognition by the songwriter that even though there is a lot going on in the bar, it is a meaningless activity that is beyond understanding except by those who are crazy or those who understand the awful truth He also lets us understand that once the lights go on, people will understand, and the party will end. He also admits that he is not attracted to his current partner, but she is filling a need.

Yeah we're drinking and we're dancing

But there's nothing really happening

And the place is dead as heaven on a Saturday night

And my very close companion

Gets me fumbling gets me laughing

She's a hundred but she's wearing

Something tight

And I lift my glass to the awful truth

Which you can't reveal to the ears of youth

Except to say it isn't worth a dime

And the whole damn place goes crazy twice

And it's once for the devil and once for Christ

But the boss don't like these dizzy heights

We're busted in the blinding lights

Of closing time

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

The whole damn place goes crazy twice

And it's once for the devil and once for Christ

But the boss don't like these dizzy heights

We're busted in the blinding lights

(Busted in the blinding lights)

Busted in the blinding lights

Of closing time

Closing time

Oh the women tear their blouses off

And the men they dance on the polka-dots

It's closing time

And it's partner found, it's partner lost

And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

It's closing time

I swear it happened just like this

A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

It's closing time (closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

(Closing time)

The gates of love they budged an inch

I can't say much has happened since

But closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time)

I loved you when our love was blessed

I love you now there's nothing left

But closing time

I miss you since the place got wrecked

By the winds of change and the weeds of sex

 

Comments

Royce Shook

1 year ago #2

@Allan Culler you are welcome

Alan Culler

1 year ago #1

Well OK then, Royce!

Great exposition. Great song!  You prompted me to go to YouTube to watch the award winning video and the video of Cohen's London show where it was the last number.

As someone  who plays a little at songwriting, I stand in awe of the musical and thought complexity of such a song. There are few songs  like this one - complex and deep - that you can listen to over and over and get something new out of them each time.

Thank you for sharing. No, really, Thank You!

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