Lyrics to
I Tried To Leave You

This version of I Tried To Leave You was released by Leonard Cohen in 1974.

Our About Leonard Cohen page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for I Tried To Leave You from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Leonard Cohen that we have in our lyrics database.

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I tried to leave you, I don’t deny
I closed the book on us, at least a hundred times.
I’d wake up every morning by your side.
The years go by, you lose your pride.
The baby’s crying, so you do not go outside,
and all your work it’s right before your eyes.

Goodnight, my darling, I hope you’re satisfied,
the bed is kind of narrow, but my arms are open wide.
And here’s a man still working for your smile.

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Leonard Cohen has released many songs over the years besides I Tried To Leave You. 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.

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About Lyrics and I Tried To Leave You by Leonard Cohen

The lyrics to I Tried To Leave You are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Leonard Cohen used when the song was created in 1974. The lyrics to I Tried To Leave You 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 Tried To Leave You 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 Tried To Leave You" means the words set to the music of I Tried To Leave You, 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 Tried To Leave You and the lyrics to I Tried To Leave You 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 Tried To Leave You, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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