Leonard Cohen – Please Don’t Pass Me By (A Disgrace) Lyrics

Please Don’t Pass Me By (A Disgrace) Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

I was walking in New York City and I brushed up against the man in front of me
I felt a cardboard placard on his back
And when we passed a streetlight, I could read it, it said:
“Please don’t pass me by – I am blind, but you can see –
I’ve been blinded totally – Please don’t pass me by.”
I was walking along 7th Avenue, when I came to 14th Street
I saw on the corner curious mutilations of the human form
It was a, a school for handicapped people
And there were cripples, and people in wheelchairs and crutches
And it was snowing, and I got this sense that the whole city was singing this:
Oh please, don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by
For I am blind, but you, you can see
Yes, I’ve been blinded totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by

And you know as I was walking I thought it was them who were singing it
I thought it was they who were singing it
I thought it was the other who was singing it
I thought it was someone else
But as I moved along I knew it was me, and that I was singing it to myself

It went:
Please don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by, yeah
For I am blind, but you, you can see
Well, I’ve been blinded totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by

Now I know that you’re sitting there deep in your velvet seats and you’re thinking:
“Uh, he’s up there saying something that he thinks about, but I’ll never have to sing that song.”
But I promise you friends, that you’re gonna be singing this song: may not be tonight
May not be tomorrow, but one day you’ll be on your knees
And I want you to know the words when the time comes
‘Cause you gotta have to sing it to yourself, or to another, or to your brother
You gotta have to learn how to sing this song
It goes:
Please don’t pass me by
Ah you don’t have to sing this .. not for you
Please don’t pass me by
For I am blind, but you, you can see
Yes, I’ve been blinded totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by

Well, I sing this for the Jews and the Gypsies and the smoke that they made
And I sing this for the children of England, their faces so grave
And I sing this for a saviour with no one to save
Hey, won’t you be naked for me?
Hey, won’t you be naked for me?
It goes:

Please don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by
For I am blind, oh but you can see
Yes, I’ve been blinded oh, totally
Oh now, please don’t pass me by

Now there’s nothing that I tell you that will help you connect
The blood tortured night with the day that comes next
But I want it to hurt you, I want it to end
Oh, won’t you be naked for me?
Oh now:
Please don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by
For I am blind, oh but you, you can see
Oh yes, I, I’ve been blinded oh, totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by

Well I sing this song for you Blonde Beasts
I sing this song for you Venuses upon your shells on the foam of the sea
And I sing this for the freaks and the cripples, and the hunchback
And the burned, and the burning, and the maimed, and the broken, and the torn
And all of those that you talk about at the coffee tables, at the meetings
And the demonstrations, on the streets, in your music, in my songs
I mean the real ones that are burning, I mean the real ones that are burning
I say

Please, don’t pass me by
Oh now, please don’t pass me by
For I am blind, yeah, but you, you can see
Oh now, I’ve been blinded oh totally
Oh no, please don’t pass me by

I know that you still think it’s me
I know that you think that there’s somebody else
I know that these words aren’t yours
But I tell you friends one day

You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down on your knees
You’re gonna get down …

Oh please, don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by
For I am blind, yeah but you, you can see
Yes, I’ve been blinded oh, totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by

Well you know I have my song and I have my poem
I have my book and I have the army, and sometimes I have your applause
I make some money, but you know what my friends, I’m still out there on the corner
I’m with the freaks, I’m with the hunted, I’m with the maimed
Yes I’m with the torn, I’m with the down, I’m with the poor
Come on now …
Oh…
Ah, please don’t pass me by
Well I’ve got to go now friends
But, please don’t pass me by
For I am blind, yeah but you, you can see
Oh, I, I’ve been blinded, I’ve been blinded totally
Oh now, please don’t pass me by

Now I want to take away my dignity, yes take my dignity
My friends, take my dignity, take my form, take my style
Take my honour, take my courage, take my time, take my time, take my time
‘Cause you know I’m with you singing this song
And I wish you would, I wish you would, I wish you would go home with someone else
Yeah, wish you’d go home with someone else. I wish you’d go home with someone else
Don’t be the person that you came with
Oh, don’t be the person that you came with
Oh, don’t be the person that you came with
Ah, I’m not going to be. I can’t stand him. I can’t stand who I am
That’s why I gotta get down on my knees
Because I can’t make it by myself
I’m not by myself anymore, because the man I was before, he was a tyrant
He was a slave
He was in chains
He was broken
And then he sang:

Oh please, don’t pass me by
Oh please, don’t pass me by
For I am, yes I am blind, oh but you can see
Yes, I’ve been blinded totally
Oh please, don’t pass me by

Well, I hope I see you out there on the corner
Yeah, I hope as I go by but I hear you whisper with the breeze
Because I’m going to leave you now, I’m gonna find me someone new
Find someone new

And please don’t pass me by