Leonard Cohen Samson In New Orleans
You said that you were with me
You said you were my friend
Did you really love the city
Or did you just pretend?
You said you loved her secrets
And her freedoms hid away
"She was better than America,"
That's what I heard you say
You said, "How could this happen?"
You said, "How can this be
The remnant of dishonor
On the bridge of misery?"
And we who cried for mercy
From the bottom of the pit
Was our prayer so damn unworthy
The sun rejected it?
So gather up the killer
Get everyone in town
Standing by those pillars
That may take this temple down
The king so kind and solemn
He wears a bloody crown
So stand me by that column
That may take this temple down
You said, "How could this happen?"
You said, "How can this be?
The chains are gone from heaven
The storms are wild and free."
There's other ways to answer
That suddenly is true
I'm blind with death and anger
And that's no place for you
There's a woman in the window
There's a bed in tinsel town
I'll write you when it's over
Let me take this temple down
You said you loved her secrets
Her freedoms hid away
She was better than America
That's what I heard her say