Leonard Cohen

Stories Of The Street

Leonard Cohen


Tom: C

Intro: Am

      Am             C                     Em           Bm
The stories of the street are mine, the Spanish voices laugh.
Am                C                        Em                  Bm
The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas,
    Am              F                  G    F#       B
and I lean from my window sill in this old hotel I chose,
    E               A        E               D       A    Am
yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose. 

   Am                    C            Em              Bm
I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come,
Am                     C                     Em            Bm
  the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone.
    Am              F                 G      F#      B
But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk,
           E                 A              E                D      A    Am
All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us?

     Am                 C           Em               Bm
And where do all these highways go, now that we are free?
Am                 C                   Em                  Bm
Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me?
   Am             F            G      F#         B
O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel,
         E                A                   E                D       A    Am
You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal.

    Am         C                     Em               Bm
The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask
Am                      C               Em                 Bm
  the nurse to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass.
Am                  F                  G        F#      B
  And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite,
     E                   A           E                     D       A    Am
and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night.

   Am             C           Em                Bm
O come with me my little one, we will find that farm
      Am              C                Em                   Bm
and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm.
    Am              F                   G      F#      B
And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am,
    E              A                     E                   D       A    Am
O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb.

      Am             C             Em             Bm
With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl
   Am         C                   Em               Bm
I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world.
    Am              F                 G      F#          B
We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky,
      E             A               E                D       A    Am
and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye.