Lyrics to
Iodine

This version of Iodine was released by Leonard Cohen in 1977.

Our Decade Lyrics Leonard Cohen profile has all of the Iodine lyrics from 1977 and many more songs from the Leonard Cohen discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Leonard Cohen or about the 1970s in general.

I needed you, I knew I was in danger
of losing what I used to think was mine
You let me love you till I was a failure,
You let me love you till I was a failure —
Your beauty on my bruise like iodine
I asked you if a man could be forgiven
And though I failed at love, was this a crime?
You said, Don’t worry, don’t worry, darling
You said, Don’t worry, don’t you worry, darling
There are many ways a man can serve his time

You covered up that place I could not master
It wasn’t dark enough to shut my eyes
So I was with you, O sweet compassion
Yes I was with you, O sweet compassion
Compassion with the sting of iodine

Your saintly kisses reeked of iodine
Your fragrance with a fume of iodine
And pity in the room like iodine

Your sister fingers burned like iodine
And all my wanton lust was iodine
My masquerade of trust was iodine
And everywhere the flare of iodine

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Leonard Cohen has released many songs over the years besides Iodine. 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 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Iodine by Leonard Cohen

The lyrics to Iodine are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Leonard Cohen used when the song was created in 1977. The lyrics to Iodine 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 Iodine 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 Iodine" means the words set to the music of Iodine, 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 Iodine and the lyrics to Iodine 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 Iodine, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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