Reply to: The Runaway Horse and I
A few days back I posted the lyrics to my favorite Cohen song, Ballad of the
Runaway Horse. Susan Cole sent it back to me annotated with the differences.
The original version by Cohen is Ballad of the Absent Mare and it's on Recent
Songs (a record I don't have).


First, my history with this song. I originally heard it by Nana Mouskouri on
her Ballades album with French lyrics by her usual lyricist, Pierre Delanoe
(final e as in Noel). (If there's interest, I'll post the French lyrics in
translation back to the English - heck, I'll post the French lyrics.) Her
version is called La Ballade du Chien-Loup (The Ballad of the Wolfhound) and
Pierre offers his usual translated lyrics with a twist. I've always loved the
song for its musical beauty, but I didn't pay much attention to the lyrics
until I took it down for translation in conjunction with these postings.


Then Rob Wasserman released a wonderful album named Duets. This is a series of
songs with his double bass as the only accompaniment save for an occasional
guitar. Aaron Neville contributes a chillingly beautiful Stardust, and Cheryl
Bentine, Lou Reed(!), Dan Hicks and Rickie Lee Jones, among others perform
songs with Rob.


The most beautiful track on this album, and worth the price on its own, is
Ballad of the Runaway Horse, sung by (who else) Jennifer Warnes. She certainly
made me listen to the lyrics. They always made me cry. I admired the sheer
richness of the lyrics. Metaphors everywhere. About love. About loss. About
possession. About a tenuous kind of oneness with nature - or is it with
partners? I've wondered what it might be that ties everything together. Just
recently, it occurred to me that Leonard may just have managed to summarize
life in six minutes.


Any thoughts?