Leonard Cohen – It Swings, Jocko Lyrics

It Swings, Jocko Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

It swings, Jocko,
but we do not want too much flesh in it.
Make it like fifteenth-century prayers,
love with no climax,
constant love,
and passion without flesh.
(Draw those out, Jocko,
like the long snake from Moses’ arm;
how he must have screamed
to see a snake come out of him;
no wonder he never felt holy:
We want that scream tonight.)
Lightly, lightly,
I want to be hungry,
hungry for food,
for love, for flesh;
I want my dreams to be of deprivation,
gold thorns being drawn from my temples.
If I am hungry
then I am great,
and I love like the passionate scientist
who knows the sky
is made only of wavelengths.
Now if you want to stand up,
stand up lightly,
we’ll lightly march around the city.
I’m behind you, man,
and the streets are spread with chicks and palms,
white branches and summer arms.
We’re going through on tiptoe,
like monks before the Virgin’s statue.
We built the city,
we drew the water through,
we hang around the rinks,
the bars, the festive halls,
like Breugel’s men.
Hungry, hungry.
Come back, Jocko,
bring it all back for the people here,
it’s your turn now.