SONGS THAT TELL A STORY #4: "The Partisan" by LEONARD COHEN, 1969

THE PARTISAN

 

 

Albie's Note:  I have always liked this great song from Leonard Cohen's 1969 album SONGS FROM A ROOM ever since I first heard it back in college in the '80s, but only when searching for info to do this blog did I learn some of the more fascinating details about the composition.  Apparently the tune was adapted by Cohen [a Jewish French Canadian himself] from a song called "La complainte du partisan", written in London during 1943, by Emmanuel D'Astier de la Vigerie (called "Bernard" in the French Resistance) and Anna Marly.  

 

Cohen had apparently heard the song many years earlier on the BBC airwaves and grew up to give it new life as a '60s folk story-song.  In any case I always enjoyed this tribute to the men and women who fought a fierce guerilla war against the invading Nazis, 1940-1944.  Enjoy.

 

 

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

 

Les Allemands e'taient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, "Signe toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")
mais je n'ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j'ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)

J'ai change' cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cache', (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

 

 

PEACE