And, more importantly, even if you've never heard of the things I mentioned above, do not despair, as I intend to fill in all the necessary details. In any case, I decided to make this blog post about the song "Joan of Arc", and not "Hallelujah", for very specific reasons. I absolutely love both songs, but "Joan of Arc" has inspired me immensely since I was fairly young. To understand why, we need to understand a few things about the artist himself.
Leonard Cohen is not just a songwriter...
Good lyrics? I'll believe it when I hear it.
This leads me to my next point, which has to do with an issue that I seem to have with music in general. Most people who know me also know that I really like instrumental music, whether it's classical, "modern" instrumental, "new age" or something like solo guitar music, or solo piano music. There are several reasons for this, but one reason is actually because I can't stand most lyrics. I'm cursed by having studied English (and linguistics) in college, having taught English for several years, and having learned to be extremely picky about language in general -- especially about language that's meant to be artistic. So, whenever I hear music that includes vocals, I want the lyrics to be poetic, original, free of cliches, vivid, somewhat mysterious, clever, catchy, meaningful, etc., and if the lyrics don't have these qualities, I get somewhat turned off. I'm a complete snob when it comes to this. When I listen to modern pop songs, especially the ones that get airtime on the radio, I often hear one cliche after another. As an example, there are probably a dozen songs with lyrics that, somewhere, contain the phrase, "Learn to love again". That's not original. It's been done countless times, and it took these songwriters almost no creativity whatsoever to write a line like this, because they're just spouting out some common phrase that's overused.
If I'm going to hear lyrics, I want originality. Something like this would be better...
Your words are a knife that has sliced into my veins.
But I haven't bled completely dry.
One day I will feel my pulse again, and I will find another smile.
You are no longer alive in me. But I am still alive.
Now those are lyrics! It's original, it's vivid, and those particular phrases have probably never been used before. The metaphor has most likely been used plenty of times, but the words themselves have not been used verbatim. And, interestingly, this particular example of "good" lyrics has the same meaning as the example I used of the "bad" lyrics, containing the cliche love again phrase.
To summarize this point, lyrics have to affect me, really affect me, for me to appreciate them -- otherwise I'm just not impressed. They have to make me either see something, feel something, or they have to give me chills... something. You know, something other than getting me to roll my eyes :D This is not to say, of course, that poorly-written lyrics mean the music itself is bad. I am still guilty of listening to peppy, up-beat songs simply because the quality of the music is great, even though the lyrics might show complete lack of effort on the part of the songwriter.
So what is my point in all this? My point is that there are only a select few singer-songwriters who I admire for their writing ability, who I will praise for their word-craftiness -- because I am, as I said, such a stuck-up, snobbish, unfair lyric-judger. And my other point is that some of Leonard Cohen's lyrics, in my artistic opinion, are damn good. As I said before, this songwriter started out just writing, has published poetry as well as his own novels, and his first novel, Beautiful Losers, came out as early as 1966. His first music album was released less than a year after that. I find this intriguing because I'm generally very fascinated with this literature/music combination, and some of my past blog posts have explored this "dual" art form to some extent. Cohen explores topics in his literature that are also very relevant and relatable to many people -- love, relationships, human nature, suffering, religion, history, to name a few. I won't reveal right away whether I think he's actually a good musician, but I do think he's an excellent writer.
By the way, I happen to think he's an excellent musician! Did you see that coming? You didn't, did you? :D But enough rambling... here is what you need to know about this particular song.
Who was Joan of Arc?
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| Depiction of Joan of Arc at her execution |
What's probably good to know, though, is that Joan of Arc was a peasant who lived in France, during the Middle Ages. France was fighting a war with England (The Hundred Years' War, they called it), and, apparently, Joan of Arc received "visions" from a bunch of angels, who all told her that she should go and support the King of France (Charles VII) and help him preserve France by fighting the King of England. Now, first of all, a vision from a bunch of angels? Maybe somebody slipped something into her tea, I don't know. But many people believed her, and they regarded her as a "saint", or someone who was sent on a mission by God. So basically they were crazy.
As a result of this, Joan of Arc ended up leading an entire army, at the age of nineteen, even though she had no military experience whatsoever. She took them to the city of Orleans, where, remarkably, the French succeeded. The bad part, for her, is that she was eventually captured by English allies (the Burgundian Faction) and because of the "visions" she had, the English captors believed that she was a witch. They also accused her of heresy, and a number of other offenses. The story ends tragically, of course, when Joan of Arc is finally burned alive at the stake, having been convicted of witchcraft and other "crimes" that they deemed punishable by death.
Leonard Cohen's song, "Joan of Arc," is about this particular historical event. The reason I love this song so much, though, is not just the originality of writing about something historic, but the way that Cohen wrote the lyrics. I first heard this song when I was pretty young, probably eleven or so, but it wasn't until later in my life when I looked at the words and realized how cleverly Cohen put the song together. As you can see below, the lyrics are actually a dialogue between Joan of Arc and the fire that's burning her. The moment I realized that Cohen had personified the fire, that he had made the fire able to "talk", was the moment I realized how talented of a writer he is.
The chorus of the song appears four times, and as you can see in the lyrics the chorus is nothing but a repetition of "la-la-la's" (no actual words), while all of the other lyrics are profoundly poetic. I realized, after some time, that the la-la-la's in each chorus was probably symbolic of Joan of Arc screaming and wailing as she gets burned to death. This realization, of course, hit me like a brick.
"Joan of Arc" lyrics
Leonard Cohen
Now the flames, they followed Joan of Arc
As she came riding through the dark.
No moon to keep her armor bright
No man to get her through this dark and 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.”
La la la, la la la
La la la la la la…
“Well I’m glad to hear you talk this way.
I’ve watched you riding every day.
And there’s something in me that yearns to win
Such a cold, such a lonesome heroin.”
“And who are you?” she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke.
“Why, I am fire,” he replied.
“And I love your solitude. I love your pride.”
La la la, la la la,
La la la la la la...
“Well then, fire, make your body cold.
I’m going to give you mine to hold.”
And saying this, she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride.
Then, deep into his fiery heart,
He took the dust of Joan of Arc.
Then, high above all these wedding guests,
He hung the ashes of her lovely wedding dress.
La la la, la la la,
La la la la la la...
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, 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?
Must it come so bright?
La la la, la la la, la la la la la la, etc.,
to fade.
This set of lyrics clearly differs from those of most modern songs, obviously. The idea of making something like "fire" an actual character, anthropomorphized and able to speak, is something you just don't see these days. There are also parts that seem symbolic, such as the repeated reference to Joan of Arc's wedding dress, and her plan to be the fire's "bride." Marriage, as we know, is supposed to be "forever," but in this case the "forever" part is actually Joan of Arc facing her own death.
There are several versions of this song, where one is obviously the original recording, but the version I grew up listening to is sung by the American singer Jennifer Warnes, as well as Cohen himself. Jennifer Warnes released an album of Leonard Cohen cover songs, in 1987, called Famous Blue Raincoat. In her version of "Joan of Arc" (which you can listen to via the link below), Warnes sings the part of Joan of Arc, while Cohen sings the part of the "fire". They take turns singing, and sometimes sing together. What intrigues me is that Cohen and Warnes are clearly "singing to each other" passionately, as if it's a romantic love song, but of course when you analyze the lyrics you realize it's far more tragic and gruesome than that, with this heroine being charred to death by flames. There's a brilliant irony to this, because the singing style is very flowery and romantic. Cohen's voice as the "fire" is also mesmerizing, and inviting, while she tells him "I'm going to give you mine to hold", as if they're going to lie together and cuddle in the moonlight. But, since we know the real situation, and the real outcome of the story, the irony of this just makes the song that much more powerful.
One can see, I'm sure, why I decided to talk about this piece. As a writer myself, I find this kind of "musical literature" quite inspiring. In fact, using personification as a literary device, as Cohen does in these lyrics, is something that I have picked up and used quite excessively in my own writing (very much in the same way that Cohen does in this song), especially in my narrative poem The Lost Enemy, which you can learn more about if you'd like by checking out my blog post, Why Music Is Incomplete Without a Background Story (Part 1).
Below is a YouTube video of Jennifer Warnes' cover of the song. It gives you the lyrics, too, as the song progresses, and it shows you neat little paintings and photos that relate to each part of the story. Pretty neat stuff if you ask me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Comments, questions and/or ideas, as always, are welcome :)
"Joan of Arc" (Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes)
from the album Famous Blue Raincoat
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