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Date: Wed, 2 Aug 95 01:17:17 -0400
From: Clay Jonathan Boutilier 

CLOSING TIME (L. Cohen)
from Columbia Records' album THE FUTURE by LEONARD COHEN (CK 53226)

Transcribed by Clay Boutilier

URL:  http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~cjboutil/

Introduction:

G    /D    /G   D

          G
Ah, we're drinking and we're dancing


and the band is really happening

        Em
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high,

       Bm
And my very sweet companion,


she's the Angel of Compassion

          Em
and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh.

          C
And every drinker, every dancer


lifts a happy face to thank her

        G               B7              Em
and the fiddler fiddles something so sublime

        D
all the women tear their blouses off


the men they dance on the polka dots

         C
and it's partner found and it's partner lost


and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

     G
it's CLOSING TIME

          C
Yeah, the women tear their blouses off


the men they dance on the polka dots

         G                      B7
and it's partner found and it's partner lost

         Em                   C
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

     G              D
it's CLOSING TIME


      G
We're lonely, we're romantic


and the cider's laced with acid

        Em
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"

        Bm
And the moon is swimming naked


and the summer night is fragrant

       Em
with a mighty expectation of relief

      C
So we struggle and we stagger


down the snakes and up the ladder

       G               B7            Em
to the tower where the blessed hours chime

      D
and I swear it happened just like this:


a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

    C
the Gates of Love they budged an inch


I can't say much has happened since

    G
but CLOSING TIME

  C
I swear it happned just like this:


a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss

    G                  B7
the Gates of Love they budged an inch

  Em                 C
I can't say much has happened since


  (can't say much has happned since, can't say much has happened since)

    G             D
but CLOSING TIME, CLOSING TIME


  Em
I loved you for your beauty


but that doesn't make a fool of me

Bm
you were in it for your beauty too

      Em
and I loved you for your body


there's a voice that sounds like God to me

A                                A7
declaring (declaring) declaring (declaring)

D
declaring that you're body's really you (really really really really)

  C
I loved you when our love was blessed


I love you now there's nothing left

    G            B7           Em
but sorrow and a sense of overtime

      D
and I miss you since the place got wrecked


but I just don't care what happens next

C
looks like freedom but it feels like death


it's something in between, I guess

     G
it's CLOSING TIME

        C
Yeah. I miss you since the place got wrecked


by the winds of change and the weeds of sex

G                         B7
looks like freedom but it feels like death

     Em             C
it's something in between, I guess

     G              D
it's CLOSING TIME


            G
Yeah, we're drinking and we're dancing


but there's nothing really happening

    Em
The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night

       Bm
And my very close companion


gets me fumbing gets me laughing

        Em
she's a hundred but she's wearing something tight

      C
And I lift my glass to the Awful Truth


which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth

  G              B7            Em
except to say it isn't worth a dime

        D
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice


and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ

        C
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights


we're busted in the blinding lights

   G
of CLOSING TIME

    C
The whole damn place goes crazy twice


and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ

        G                     B7
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights

      Em            C
we're busted in the blinding lights


(busted in the blinding lights)


busted in the blinding lights

   G             D
of CLOSING TIME, CLOSING TIME


        G
Oh, the women tear their blouses off

                                               D
and the men they dance on the polka dots, it's CLOSING TIME

         G
And it's partner found, and it's partner lost


and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops

     D
it's CLOSING TIME

  G
I swear it happned just like this:

                                   D
A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss, it's CLOSING TIME

    G
The gates of love they budged an inch

                                       D
I can't say much has happned since but CLOSING TIME

  G
I loved you when our love was blessed

                                         D
I love you now, there's nothing left but CLOSING TIME

      G
And I missed you since our place gor wrecked

                                                  D
by the winds of change and the weeds of sex, it's CLOSING TIME