Coming after 'Master song', 'Winter Lady' appears short and simple.
Not that it's clear what the stanzas of the song mean, but given the
first (and last) one I accept the three middle ones as obscurely
associating the situation described with events in the past.


        Traveling lady, stay awhile
        until the night is over.
        I'm just a station on your way,
        I know I'm not your lover.


        Well I lived with a child of snow
        when I was a soldier,
        and I fought every man for her
        until the nights grew colder.


        She used to wear her hair like you
        except when she was sleeping,
        and then she'd weave it on a loom
        of smoke and gold and breathing.


        And why are you so quiet now
        standing there in the doorway?
        You chose your journey long before
        you came upon this highway.


        Traveling lady stay awhile
        until the night is over.
        I'm just a station on your way,
        I know I'm not your lover.

I heard a tape of a performance once (from the late '60s or early '70s)
in which someone in the audience asks for "Winter Lady." Cohen
says something like, "Oh, that! I wrote that about someone I saw
in a bar one night and only played it once or twice." He then plays
something else.


Amazing that he can write such a beautiful song about what was
apparently not too meaningful a situation for him.




From: rmura@world.std.com (Ron Mura)22 Dec

[I sent the following a couple of weeks ago, but I think the mail
server was done at the time. - Ron ]


I heard a tape of a performance once (from the late '60s or early '70s)
in which someone in the audience asks for "Winter Lady." Cohen
says something like, "Oh, that! I wrote that about someone I saw
in a bar one night and only played it once or twice." He then plays
something else.


Amazing that he can write such a beautiful song about what was
apparently not too meaningful a situation for him.