I've been waiting night and day.
I didn't see the time,
I waited half my life away.
There were many invitations
and I know you sent me some,
but I was waiting
for the miracle to come.
I know you really loved me.
but, you see, my hands were tied.
I know it must have hurt you,
it must have hurt your pride
to stand beneath my window
with your bugle and your drum,
while I was waiting
for the miracle to come.
You wouldn't like it baby.
You wouldn't like it here.
There's not much entertainment
and the critics are severe.
The maestro says it's Mozart
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting
for the miracle to come.
Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do.
I haven't been this happy
Since the end of World War II.
Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken.
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb.
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
for the miracle to come.
I dreamed about you, baby.
It was just the other night.
Most of you was naked
but some of you was light.
The sands of time were falling
from your fingers and your thumb,
and you were waiting
for the miracle to come.
Baby, let's get married,
we've been alone too long.
Let's be alone together.
Let's see if we're that strong.
Let's do something crazy,
something absolutely wrong
while we're waiting
for the miracle to come.
When you've fallen on the highway
and you're lying in the rain,
and they ask you how you're feeling
of course you say you can't complain-
If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle to come.
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, social and political conflict, and sexual and romantic love, desire, regret, and loss. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, he received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.
Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s, and did not begin a music career until 1966. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man, co-written and produced by Phil Spector, was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound.
In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz, East Asian, and Mediterranean influences. Cohen's most famous song, "Hallelujah", was released on his seventh album, Various Positions (1984). I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions. In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.
Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, a major hit in Canada and Europe. His eleventh album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. In 2005, Cohen discovered that his manager had stolen most of his money and sold his publishing rights, prompting a return to touring to recoup his losses. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, he released three albums in the final years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014), and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death. His posthumous, fifteenth, and final studio album Thanks for the Dance, was released in November 2019.
In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked him number 103 in their "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" list.
