written by Leonard Cohen
Intro: A..|E.. ...|D.. ...|A.. ...|... ...|
E.. ...|D.. ...|A.. ...|... ...|
A D A
Now the Swan it floated on the English River
A D A
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
C# F#m D A
A suntanned woman yawned me through the summer
E D A
And the Judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother, Mother I must leave you
Preserve my room, but do not shed a tear
Should rumours of a shabby ending reach you,
It was half my fault, and half the atmosphere
But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
And the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
B E E7
And if she withered, I would be to blame
The Judges said, You missed it by a fraction
Rise up and brace your troops for the attack
The Dreamers ride against the Man of Action
Oh see the Man of Action falling back
But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity it stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralyzed my will
I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
B E7
I'm listed with the enemies of love
And long ago she said, I must be leaving
Ah, but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I'm sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan
So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there, I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
And people call me Traitor to my face