'I'M WANTED AT THE TRAFFIC JAM'

THE LYRICS TO BOOGIE STREET - LEONARD COHEN

Boogie Street

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One,
I never thought we’d meet.
You kiss my lips, and then it’s done:
I’m back on Boogie Street.

A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it’s time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette;
I tuned the old banjo.
I’m wanted at the traffic-jam.
They’re saving me a seat.
I’m what I am, and what I am,
Is back on Boogie Street.

And O my love, I still recall
The pleasures that we knew;
The rivers and the waterfall,
Wherein I bathed with you.
Bewildered by your beauty there,
I’d kneel to dry your feet.
By such instructions you prepare
A man for Boogie Street.

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One…

So come, my friends, be not afraid.
We are so lightly here.
It is in love that we are made;
In love we disappear.
Tho’ all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There’s no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One,
I never thought we’d meet.
You kiss my lips, and then it’s done:
I’m back on Boogie Street.

A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it’s time to go . .

Weybridge, Boogie street, Sharon Robinson, Leonard Cohen Concert .

WHEN I FIRST EMMIGRATED TO THE FABULOUS USA, I LIVED AND WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL IN NEW YORK

CITY, THE ABSOLUTELY BEST CITY IN THIS COUNTRY
MY MOM USED TO TAKE ME TO THE MOVIES, 'THE LEATHER BOYS', 'JULIET OF THE SPIRITS',
'THE L-SHAPED ROOM', WHILE MY DAD WAS HARD AT WORK FOR DAVID ROCKEFELLER, AT THE

CHASE-MANHATTAN
THEN WE'D GO OVER TO HANG OUT WITH HER 'COUSIN', AFTER GETTING LUNCH AT 'HEBREW NATIONAL',

THE BEST, BIGGEST, DELI IN TOWN, YES, WE'D GO OVER TO THE HARPER-BAZAAR OFFICE ON FIFTH

AVENUE, HER COUSIN WAS THE EDITOR AT THE TIME
JACKIE KENNEDY LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL, AND SHE'D BE DOWN AT THE GREEK

COFFEE SHOP ON MADISON AT AROUND 7:30 AM, ACCOMPANIED BY TWO VERY SMART SECRET SERVICE MEN
IT WAS A SHORT WALK UP FIFTH TO GO CHECK WHO WAS SHOWING AT 'THE JEWISH MUSEUM',
OFTEN IT WAS LARRY RIVERS, OR BOB RAUSCHENBERG, (A SO-CALLED NEO-DADIST WHOSE PARENTS WERE

TEXAN CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS)
THEN, ANOTHER SHORT WALK UP TO THE GUGGENHEIM, TO RUN UP AND DOWN THOSE RAMPS (IT WAS

DEFINITELY NOT ALLOWED)
LARRY SHOWED A HUGE COLLECTION OF VERY REALISTIC NUDES PAINTED WITH HUGELY ROTHKO-TYPE

BACKGROUNDS, FEATURING HIS GRANNY, BIRDIE, IN MANY PAINTINGS, AND OTHERWISE, HE AND BOB WERE

STARTING TO DO POP ART MOSTLY, SOMETHING THAT WOULD RUB OFF ON ANDY LATER, AFTER HE QUIT

DRAWING FASHION FOR THE SUNDAY PAPERS
I MET LARRY AT THE HOTEL I LIVED IN, AND OFTEN AT MAX'S OR THE MARLBOROUGH, OR ON W 23RD

(ZIHUANTANEJO AND NYU!)
SOMETIMES I WISH I HAD STAYED IN NEW YORK AND GONE TO COLLEGE THERE, INSTEAD OF LETTING MY

DAD TALK ME INTO SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, THE SUITS AT WELLS FARGO BANK REALLY THOUGHT

THEY HAD FOUND THE MYTHICAL GOOSE WHEN THEY STOLE MY DAD FROM DAVID
ONLY TO CONSIGN HIM TO 'APPROVING' ENORMOUS LOANS TO SOUTH AFRIKA (HOW UNFASHIONABLE!)
AND HOW WRONG, CONSIDERING THAT WAS APPROVING OF APARTHEID, IN THOSE DAYS
(THEN I WOULD HAVE MISSED OUT ON THE WHOLE HIPPIE THING, AND NEVER HAVE LIVED IN LOS

ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, WHILE EXPERIENCING THE WHOLE RECORD COMPANY THING, OR RODNEY

BINGENHEIMER'S, DINO'S, OR DENNY'S, RIGHT?)
I LOVED THAT LINE ABOUT 'I DON'T GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS, IT'S BENEATH ME, AND, BESIDES,

THEY'D JUST TAKE ME TO THE CARMO AND SHOOT ME! I JUST MANAGE THE COMPANY WELL, I DO MY JOB!'
RIGHT-O, MUNDET E CIA LTDA, LISBOA, PORTUGAL, A CORK IN EVERY BOTTLE, WHAT?
UM POUQUINHO SALAZARISTA, PÁ! MAS ENFIM, A GENTE NÃO FALA DESSAS 'MANOBRAS' NA 'MOCIDADE

PORTUGUESA' TODAS AS QUARTA-FEIRAS! OU DO 'CHAUFFEUR' QUE ERA O MAIOR ESPIÃO QUE CONHECIA!
O PASSADO SÓ SE VÊ DE LONGE, NÃO É?
ENTÃO. . . NÃO SE ESTRANHA NADA. . . QUER DIZER. . .
WHAT THE FUCK IS IT THAT MAKES US REMINISCE SO WHEN WE GET OLD AND DECREPIT?