Born In Chains By Leonard Cohen – Updated Lyrics And All Videos

Putting Words To Music – Determining The Lyrics Of Leonard Cohen’s “Born In Chains”

Update: A summary of all MP3 downloads available as of August 30, 2010 for the songs introduced during the Leonard Cohen World Tour, “Feels So Good,” “The Darkness,” “Lullaby,” and “Born In Chains,” can be found at Leonard Cohen’s “Born In Chains,” “Feels So Good” “Lullaby”, & “Darkness” – Downloads Updated.

Compiling a consensus-driven set of lyrics for “Born In Chains,” the Leonard Cohen song introduced during the opening phase of the 2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour, has been an ongoing project since its first performance. An informal task force¹ has documented this effort in a LeonardCohenForum thread tellingly titled, Lyrics of “Born in Chains“, as far as I can make them out. An earlier Heck Of A Guy post, “Born In Chains” By Leonard Cohen – Lyrics, MP3, Video, Background, also included material from this thread.

Attempts to transcribe the words of a Leonard Cohen work in progress is, as T.S. Eliot described the profession of poetry, “a mug’s game.”² In a disclaimer attached to the version of the lyrics found below, sue7 wrote:

These lyrics are provisional. They represent our best attempt, and we have indicated where we are still not sure of the exact words.

And, in any case, Leonard Cohen has never felt bound to the first iteration of any song, sometimes changing words and arrangements years after the first version was played.

Nonetheless, many of us feel a written version of the words of a song, even one subject to error and inevitable change, lends insight and enjoyment to that music.

Note: The lyrics are based on the arrangement played in Sligo on July 31, 2010 and, where the lyrics were clearly the same in both performances, the Salzburg performance on July 27, 2010. The specific videos used in constructing this set of lyrics are embedded at the end of this post. Also included in those videos is the Malmo performance of “Born In Chains” which just became available and thus was not used in compiling these lyrics.

Lyrics: Born In Chains By Leonard Cohen

[LEONARD COHEN] [SPOKEN]
I was born in chains but I was taken out of Egypt
I was bound to a burden, but the burden it was raised
Oh Lord, I can no longer keep this secret
Blessed is the name, the name be praised.

[SHARON ROBINSON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY WEBB]
I was born

[LEONARD]
I was born in chains but I was taken out of Egypt
I was bound to a burden, but the burden it was raised
Oh Lord, I can no longer keep this secret
Blessed is the name, the name be praised.

[SHARON]
I fled to the edge of a mighty sea of sorrow
Pursued by the riders of a cruel and dark regime
But the waters parted and my soul crossed over
Out of Egypt, out of Pharaoh’s dream.

[LEONARD, ROSCOE BECK, SHARON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY]
Word of words and the measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
Thats all I know, I cannot read the rest .

[HATTIE]
I was idled? [___?] with my soul, when I heard that you could use me [resided? battered?]
I followed very closely, but my life remained the same
But then you showed me where you had? [___?] been wounded [have?]
In every atom? [___?], broken is the name.

[CHARLEY]
I was alone on the road, your love was so confusing
And all the teachers told me that I had myself to blame
But in the arms? [___?]of sensual illusion [hours?]
A sweet unknowing? [___?] unified the name. [undoubting?]

[LEONARD, ROSCOE, SHARON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY]
Word of words, and the measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
Thats all I know, I do not know the rest.

[LEONARD]
Ive heard the soul unfold in the chambers of its longing
And the bitter liquor sweeten in the hammered? [___?] cup [HABA?]
Ah but all the ladders of the night have fallen
Just darkness now, to lift the longing up.

[DINO SOLDO (saxophone), LEONARD, ROSCOE, SHARON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY]
But all the ladders of the night have fallen
Just darkness now, to lift the spirit up.

[LEONARD, ROSCOE, SHARON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY]
Word of words, and measure of all measures
Blessed is the name, the name be blessed
Written on my heart in burning letters
Thats all I know, I cannot read the rest .

[SHARON, HATTIE AND CHARLEY]
Cannot read the rest
Shall not read the rest

Leonard Cohen – Born In Chains (Lissadell House Sligo, Ireland 7/31/2010)

Video from albertnoonan

Leonard Cohen – Born In Chains (Lissadell House Sligo, Ireland 7/31/2010)

Video from messalina79

Leonard Cohen – Born In Chains (Salzburgarena, Salzburg, Austria 7/27/2010)

Video from MaartenLC

Bonus: “Born In Chains” From Malmo Concert

This video just became available and thus was not used in compiling the lyrics shown above.

Leonard Cohen – Born In Chains (Malmo 8/4/2010)

Video from hrjgr

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_____________________

Contributors include, among others I’ve no doubt omitted, Hartmut, tomsakic, scocoh, mnkyface, sturgess66, sue7, mwaldman, Mollydog, brightnow, edlosi, IMM, FOXWOOD, davdevalle, bridger15, and holydove. [↩]
Eliot’s more complete quotation follows: “As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug’s game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing.” [↩]