Mark Harmer: "La Partida"
played on Paraguayan harp
let there be songs to fill the air
"Columbus Stockade Blues" from the 2002 recording session of "Banjoman: A Tribute To Derroll Adams".
with Jerry Douglas playing dobro and Danny Thompson on double bass
It's four in the morning, the end of December.
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better.
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living.
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert.
You're living for nothing now.
I hope you're keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair.
She said that you gave it to her that night that you planned to go clear.
Did you ever go clear?
The last time we saw you, you looked so much older.
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder.
You had been to the station to meet every train
And then you came home without Lili Marlene.
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life,
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth,
One more thin gypsy thief...
Well I see Jane's awake--
She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you, my brother, my killer,
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you.
I guess I forgive you.
I'm glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here for Jane or for me,
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes.
I thought it was there for good, so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair.
She said that you gave it to her that night that you planned to go clear.
Sincerely, L. Cohen
--Leonard Cohen
From the "Vote For Change" Concert in Washington, D.C. 10/11/04.