Lyrics to
I Came So Far For Beauty

This version of I Came So Far For Beauty was released by Leonard Cohen in 1979.

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I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned
I thought I’d be rewarded
For such a lonely choice
And surely she would answer
To such a very hopeless voice
I practiced all my sainthood
I gave to one and all
But the rumours of my virtue
They moved her not at all
I changed my style to silver
I changed my clothed to black
And where I would surrender
Now I would attack
I stormed the old casino
For the money and the flesh
And I myself decided
What was rotten and what was fresh
And men to do my bidding
And broken bones to teach
The value of my pardon
The shadow of my reach
But no, I could not touch her
With such a heavy hand
Her star beyond my order
Her nakedness unmanned
I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family
My masterpiece unsigned

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Leonard Cohen has released many songs over the years besides I Came So Far For Beauty. Leonard Cohen released songs from 1967 to 2004 spanning across albums like Songs Of Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room, Songs Of Love And Hate, New Skin For The Old Ceremony, Death Of A Ladies' Man, Recent Songs, Various Positions, I'm Your Man, The Future, Ten New Songs, and Dear Heather. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Leonard Cohen.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and I Came So Far For Beauty by Leonard Cohen

The lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Leonard Cohen used when the song was created in 1979. The lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Leonard Cohen and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty by Leonard Cohen. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty" means the words set to the music of I Came So Far For Beauty, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Leonard Cohen. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to I Came So Far For Beauty and the lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Leonard Cohen who came here looking just for the lyrics to I Came So Far For Beauty, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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