Lyrics to
The Smokey Life

This version of The Smokey Life was released by Leonard Cohen in 1979.

Our Leonard Cohen Songs profile has The Smokey Life lyrics from 1979 and most if not all of the lyrics by Leonard Cohen that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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

I’ve never seen your eyes so wide
I’ve never seen your appetite quite this occupied
Elsewhere is your feast of love
I know … where long ago we agreed to keep it light
So lets be married one more night
It’s light, light enough
To let it go
It’s light enough to let it go

Remember when the scenery started fading
I held you til you learned to walk on air
So don’t look down the ground is gone,
there’s no one waiting anyway
The Smoky Life is practiced
Everywhere

So set your restless heart at ease
Take a lesson from these Autumn leaves
They waste no time waiting for the snow
Don’t argue now you’ll be late
There is nothing to investigate

It’s light enough, light enough
To let it go
Light enough to let it go

Remember when the scenery started fading
I held you til you learned to walk on air
So don’t look down the ground is gone,
there’s no one waiting anyway
The Smoky Life is practiced everywhere

Come on back if the moment lends
You can look up all my very closest friends

Light, light enough
To let it go
It’s light enough to let it go

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Leonard Cohen?

Leonard Cohen has released many songs over the years besides The Smokey Life. 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 popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Smokey Life by Leonard Cohen

The lyrics for The Smokey Life are defined as the words making up the song released by Leonard Cohen in 1979. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to The Smokey Life have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Leonard Cohen and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to The Smokey Life by Leonard Cohen if you think through it. 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 The Smokey Life" means the words set to the music of The Smokey Life, 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 The Smokey Life and the lyrics to The Smokey Life 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 The Smokey Life, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

Visit our Leonard Cohen profile for more Leonard Cohen songs, lyrics & info!

)