Sisters Of Mercy Analysis

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.

They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go
on.

And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me
this song.

Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so
long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.


It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your
soul.

Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how
you're pinned:

When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that
you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to
them.

They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.


If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn

they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a
stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them
soon.

Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the
moon.

And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened
your night:

We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all
right,

We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all
right.

.: :.

Its a song about prostitutes theres nothing holy or religouse about it

| Posted on 2009-03-29 | by a guest

.: :.

I really would love to figure out one day why people read so much Christian stuff in to Leonard Cohen's songs. There are a few explicit mentions of Jesus, but... HELLO MCFLY... COHEN is Jewish. Well, not exactly—he's a COHEN, which means he's a Levite of the Priestly class.
If you try to read the standard Christian exegesis into his works, you're going to fail miserably. He's Jewish. He's the grandson of a renowned Torah scholar rabbi and if you would stop assuming that everyone means what they mean in the context of WASP monoculture, and try to read it Jewishly, you'd get 100x closer.

| Posted on 2009-03-25 | by a guest

.: Mercy :.

Cohen wrote this inspired by an experience he had when travelling. He met two girls, who had nowhere to stay, and he offered them his hotel bed. He himself slept in an armchair ("we weren't lovers like that").
It seems to be a song about grace. A buddhist friend of mine who I sang this song to found portions that related to Buddhist thinking, e.g. "Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned".
There is also what seems to me to be christian imagery in "they touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem" - like the person who just touched Jesus's robe to be healed.
The general tone of the song is very peaceful and soothing, and it communicates someone coming to an acceptance of things as they are, through an experience that restores something like faith.

| Posted on 2008-02-19 | by a guest