Different Sides

Leonard Cohen · Old Ideas [1974]

We find ourselves on different sides

Of a line nobody drew

Though it all may be one in the higher eye

Down here where we live it is two



I to my side call the meek and the mild

You to your side call the Word

By virtue of suffering I claim to have won

You claim to have never been heard



Both of us say there are laws to obey

But frankly I don't like your tone

You want to change the way I make love

I want to leave it alone



The pull of the moon, the thrust of the sun

And thus the ocean is crossed

The waters are blessed while a shadowy guest

Kindles a light for the lost



Both of us say there are laws to obey

But frankly I don't like your tone

You want to change the way I make love

I want to leave it alone



Down in the valley the famine goes on

The famine up on the hill

I say that you shouldn't, you couldn't, you can't

You say that you must and you will



Both of us say there are laws to obey

But frankly I don't like your tone

You want to change the way I make love

I want to leave it alone



You want to live where the suffering is

I want to get out of town

C'mon baby give me a kiss

Stop writing everything down



Both of us say there are laws to obey

Yeah, but frankly I don't like your tone

You want to change the way I make love

I want to leave it alone



Both of us say there are laws to obey

But frankly I don't like your tone

You want to change the way I make love

I want to leave it alone