Leonard Cohen – So Long, Marianne Lyrics

Marianne is Marianne Ihlen, ex-wife of the Norwegian author Axel Jensen, who was a friend of Leonard. Leonard lived with Marianne in Greece together, in the 1960s, after Axel separated from her.
To quote Leonard (backcover of “Greatest Hits”, 1976):
I began this on Aylmer Street in Montreal and finished it a year or so later at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. I didn’t think I was saying goodbye but I guess I was. She gave me many songs, and she has given songs to others too. She is a Muse. A lot of people I know think that there is nothing more important than making a song. Fortunately, this belief arises infrequently in their conversation.

So Long, Marianne Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

[Verse 1]
Come over to the window, my little darling
I’d like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
Before I let you take me home

[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 2]
Well you know that I love to live with you
But you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
And then the angels forget to pray for us
[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 3]
We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 4]
Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
Is fastening my ankle to a stone

[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 5]
For now I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 6]
Oh, you are really such a pretty one
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again