When I first heard this song I didn't like it because I thought that Cohen was claiming that Joan literally wants to wear a wedding dress..then I realized he's saying she's married to her destiny...(I think!)
It's just another great example of how many different people interpret Joan, are inspired by her, and are visited by her as Muse. This is why we'll be exploring Joan of Arc in various art forms at our Joan of Arts Fete, to be held January 3, 2010, at The Bienville House Hotel in the French Quarter. Join us as an artist or audience member!
There will be panels and workshops on everything from Joan as Muse to a songwriting contest about Joan of Arc...
Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
as she came riding through the dark;
no moon to keep her armour bright,
no man to get her through this very smoky night.
She said, "I'm tired of the war,I want the kind of work I had before,
a wedding dress or something white to wear upon my swollen appetite.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way,you know I've watched you riding every day
and something in me yearns to win such a cold and lonesome heroine."
"And who are you?" she sternly spoketo the one beneath the smoke.
"Why, I'm fire," he replied,"And I love your solitude, I love your pride.
"Then fire, make your body cold,I'm going to give you mine to hold,"
saying this she climbed insideto be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and high above the wedding guests he hung the ashes of her wedding dress.
It was deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and then she clearly understood if he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry, I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light, but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?
--Lyrics by Leonard Cohen
see him sing it on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqShebAkMQE
It's just another great example of how many different people interpret Joan, are inspired by her, and are visited by her as Muse. This is why we'll be exploring Joan of Arc in various art forms at our Joan of Arts Fete, to be held January 3, 2010, at The Bienville House Hotel in the French Quarter. Join us as an artist or audience member!
There will be panels and workshops on everything from Joan as Muse to a songwriting contest about Joan of Arc...
Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
as she came riding through the dark;
no moon to keep her armour bright,
no man to get her through this very smoky night.
She said, "I'm tired of the war,I want the kind of work I had before,
a wedding dress or something white to wear upon my swollen appetite.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way,you know I've watched you riding every day
and something in me yearns to win such a cold and lonesome heroine."
"And who are you?" she sternly spoketo the one beneath the smoke.
"Why, I'm fire," he replied,"And I love your solitude, I love your pride.
"Then fire, make your body cold,I'm going to give you mine to hold,"
saying this she climbed insideto be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and high above the wedding guests he hung the ashes of her wedding dress.
It was deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and then she clearly understood if he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry, I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light, but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?
--Lyrics by Leonard Cohen
see him sing it on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqShebAkMQE
