And still they come ... every day here sees a small but constant stream of people wanting to know "What does Boogie Street mean?" As a public service I thought it might help if I quote this explanation from the Wikipedia:
Leonard Cohen has written a song called "Boogie Street", published on his album Ten New Songs (2001). In an interview with Brian D. Johnson in Maclean's Magazine on 15 October 2001, Cohen said of Boogie Street:
"… during the day Boogie Street is a scene of intense commercial activity … And at night, it was a scene of intense and alarming sexual exchange."
Later he goes on to talk of its metaphorical meaning: "Boogie Street to me was that street of work and desire, the ordinary life and also the place we live in most of the time that is relieved by the embrace of your children, or the kiss of your beloved, or the peak experience in which you yourself are dissolved, and there is no one to experience it so you feel the refreshment when you come back from those moments … So we all hope for those heavenly moments, which we get in those embraces and those sudden perceptions of beauty and sensations of pleasure, but we're immediately returned to Boogie Street."
Now your curiosity has, I hope, been satisfied, why not stay and look around? Leave a comment even?
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45 comments:
thanks!
Glad to be of assistance.
Thanks, I couldn't have found this easily :)
What a great man he is... Leonard Cohen, I saw him live in London
I'm very envious!
Thank you for your wonderful explanation. However, this song was apparently one of those many collaborations between Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson. On the CD Live in London, Leonard's comment is, "Shar Robinson wrote this tune." I don't know if this means that she wrote the tune and he wrote the words, but the liner notes say Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson. I'm glad he's bringing her talent to the fore, especially because she is a co-writer on some of my favorite songs.
Thank you for this information. I enjoyed your blog...let's get back to Boogie Street.
Oh, i have the DVD of the London concert and it is 2 hrs of pure and mesmerizing music.
If I'm not mistaken, Leonard and Sharon are a couple and have been now for many years. She knew him for about 15 years before this happened. Her songwriting and compositional skills are wonderful, and I have no doubt she could have either written this tune herself, or shared that with him. I was reflecting on the lyrics and was wondering if they almost referred to a Dante's Inferno type of 'levels of Hell' image, or just perhaps were more ruminating about the angle of Showbiz/ entertainment as being the pith of Boogie Street. Wonderful song, and I love them both always, Shar and Leonard. ~ thank you ~
Thank you all for sharing.
Thank you!
This my favorite song
I'm a bit late... several years after this blog, but thanks everyone for the information/interpretation about the songtext! A minute ago I was listening to "A sip of wine" - song by Philip Glass to Cohen's/Robinson's lyrics, sung by Tara Hugo (CD "Tara Hugo sings Philip Glass").
Also I'm currently reading Dante's "Divine Comedy", so thanks especially for your comment, Melissajoe of GA!
If there's anyone who is interested in discussing about this topic or similar, please contact me - I would be pleased! :-)
Gudrun
lichteck@web.de
Thanks
Thanks for pointing me at the Tara Hugo CD, Gudrun. It's playing in my studio even as I type and it's a fine album. Oddly, the only track I have reservations about is "A Sip of Wine". I'm not too sure I like the treatment (I'll reserve full judgement for now) and I don't like the way Hugo pronounces "Boogie Street". She pronounces it "Buggy" (yes I know the original street is "Bugis"), whereas I, like Leonard himself, pronounce it to rhyme with "Woogie".
Thank you so much for the information! Right now Leonard Cohen is one of the few things keeping me from insanity!
The Montreal Connection - the inquiry of LC is similar to that of the movie 'Cafe de Flore', set partly in french speaking Montreal. Coincidence or Synchronicity,
go figure?
it's not bugis street then?
Mine isn't.
Thanks.
Boogie Street is one of my favorites.
If you enjoyed the London concert I can recommend to watch the Dublin Concert. It's the only LC concert recorded in BluRay HD with TrueDTS, if you have the means to play it, it's more than 3 hours of peace and joy.
/MJ
Thanks, Marieke. It's gone on my list.
I have found your explanation very useful. Thank you. AT
Happy to be of assistance, AT.
Boogie street (to me) is my consciousness - my energetic being. "We are so lightly here" and then when its all and done ". We leave - come back etc etc - it's all "Posted on the door". But yeah - no one knows. "What boogie street is for" There lies the question,. God I love Leonard
Me too!
Thank you for the information!
Great song indeed!
Relevant in so many contexts. Very rich in other streets than those to boogie in! ;-)
Reading Yuval Harari's latest book (21 lessons....) now,... in combination with "...no one told us yet, what Boogie Street is for..."
Different times ask different narratives to boogie the same 'commandments' over and over again, woven from 'the Crown of Light' to the 'Darkened One' and back again, over and over in personal lives, in families, in communities,..., in history? And if one practices another- or no religion at all... the functions of 'the structure' keep needing to be filled out, boogie-ing in some way? The show must go on...I guess.
Thank you Harry Bell.
Thanks for the information... I love both of them and they have oss lovely smogs... Leo could have stayed with oss longer. What a shame😞
I did not wish to annihilate my infatuation and imagination of this beautiful rendition by this talented but reserved artist as, to my imagination of Boogie Street was hidden in the 'back streets' of London or Paris which led me there and to my futile search? Thank you for dispelling my faux dreams?
That was one of the most interesting articles i have read, thank you!
Tears and smiles always.
The poem/lyrics appears in his Book of Longing containing works all composed between 1994 and 1999 while he was on My Baldy. The song, unlike the poem, prefaces as well as ends with the final stanza. That refrain is also included as a bridge or chorus if you will in the middle of the song.
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful discussion!
And apparently there is still a stream of us. I'm here in 2022, 14 years after this blog post was published.
If LC hadnt driven me crazy early on in my life I would have gone insane too !
Thanks!!! Priority ....
No. Other websites list all the women who were romantic partners of Cohen
Sharon is not one of them
I'm here because I'm trying to find out where Boogie Street, the music video was filmed? Is it Rome? The streets look like Rome and the gardens look like Villa d'Este just outside Rome. (Tivoli)
I don’t know where the video was filmed, I’m afraid. You could be right about Rome but I’ve only been there once, almost 60 years ago.
Oh man, for years it was on my mind "what is a boogie street?".
Thank you for your post, cheers.
“I'm not too sure I like the treatment (I'll reserve full judgement for now) and I don't like the way Hugo pronounces "Boogie Street". She pronounces it "Buggy" (yes I know the original street is "Bugis"), whereas I, like Leonard himself, pronounce it to rhyme with "Woogie".”
Hugo has it wrong as the original Bugis street in Singapore is pronounced in the local vernacular as ‘boogie’, like you say ‘woogie’ just with an ‘s’ at the end. In English we would pronounce it like ‘bug’ with ‘is’ added but with Asian pronunciation it sounds like ‘Boogie’, which it became known as by British serviceman during wartime, due to the salacious evening activities that attracted many over decades. In the late 90s and early 00’s I lived in the area so know from personal experience how Bugis is pronounced by the locals and how it also came to be known as Boogie Street globally.
Thanks for that, Camelot. I don’t know where Tara Hugo was brought up, but perhaps it was in a part of the UK where the “oo” sound is pronounced “ugh”. As a Geordie, I pronounce the “oo” in, for example, “book”, just as Cohen pronounces it in “Boogie”. In some parts of the country, they pronounce it “buck”. No excuse, though.
So, so interesting Harry! I suppose this is what makes the world an interesting place, even if it does sound wrong! :-)
Thanks for the blog, any of Leonard’s songs are so worthy of dissection and deeper understanding. In my opinion he was without question the best songwriter of the 20th century and quite possibly the 21st too. I live in Australia and grew up in the 70s and 80s hearing his songs via my parents who are both huge fans. Now as an adult I have my own appreciation for his music and as I get older and experience more of the travails of life I hear new meaning in his songs, that I perhaps couldn’t appreciate 10, 20 and 30 years ago. Ten New Songs from 2001 is a real masterpiece in my opinion.
All the best to you, wishing you many years of health and happy listening to Leonard!
Long time Leonard fan. Having grown up in Montreal, I'm familiar with 'East of St Lawrence (St Laurent)'. It was famously called The Strip, due to the prostitutes that plied their trade nightly. I believe Leonard's house was 2 blocks east of 'The Strip'. I wouldn't doubt that St. Laurent would be called Boogie Street by those that worked it. And I wouldn't doubt that Leonard knew at least a few of the ladies. If Sharon wrote this, she's calling the same muse that Leonard tapped, and might have come from conversations with him. They were close.
Thanks for your input and observations.
Great music !
I’m heading to Bugis street tonight, with my wife. I’d always thought it was where he was singing about, the internet has corrected me again.
I met Leonard in Bombay at Ramesh Balsekar’s place. I didn’t recognize him and we spent a few hours together after the meeting without me knowing. He told me the next day he enjoyed that I didn’t know
Bang on. Montrealer as well.
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