Closing Time Cifras

CLOSING TIME (L. Cohen)
from Columbia Records' album THE FUTURE by LEONARD COHEN (CK 53226)
 
Transcribed by Clay Boutilier
 
 
[Intro]
 
G    D    G   D
 
[Verse]
 
          G
Ah, we're drinking and we're dancing
 
and the band is really happening
        Em
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high,
       Bm
And my very sweet companion,
 
she's the Angel of Compassion
      Em
she's rubbing half the world against her thigh.
          C
And every drinker, every dancer
 
lifts a happy face to thank her
    G               B7              Em
the fiddler fiddles something so sublime
        D
all the women tear their blouses off
 
and the men they dance on the polka dots
         C
and it's partner found and it's partner lost
 
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
     G
it's closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time)
          C
Yeah, the women tear their blouses off
 
and the men they dance on the polka dots
         G                      B7
and it's partner found and it's partner lost
         Em                   C
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops
 
     G                     D
it's clo-sing time
 
[Verse]
 
          G
And we're lonely, we're romantic
 
and the cider laced with acid
        Em
and the Holy Spirit's crying, "Where's the beef?"
        Bm
And the moon is swimming naked
 
and the summer night is fragrant
       Em
with a mighty expectation of relief
      C
So we struggle and we stagger
 
down the snakes and up the ladder
       G               B7            Em
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
      D
and I swear it happened just like this:
 
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
    C
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
 
I can't say much has happened since
    G
but closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time)
  C
I swear it happened just like this:
 
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
    G                  B7
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
  Em                 C
I can't say much has happened since
 
  (can't say much has happened since, can't say much has happened since)
    G                D
but clo-sing time,   clo-sing time
 
[Bridge]
 
      Em
And I loved you for your beauty
 
but that doesn't make a fool of me
Bm
you were in it for your beauty too
      Em
and I loved you for your body
 
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
A                                A7
declaring (declaring) declaring (declaring)
D
declaring that you're body's really you (really really really really you)
      C
And I loved you when our love was blessed
 
And I love you now there's nothing left
    G            B7           Em
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
      D
and I missed you since the place got wrecked
 
and I just don't care what happens next
C
looks like freedom but it feels like death
 
it's something in between, I guess
     G
it's closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time)
        C
Yeah. I missed you since our place got wrecked
 
by the winds of change and the weeds of sex
       G                         B7
and it looks like freedom but it feels like death
     Em             C
it's something in between, I guess
 
     G               D
it's clo-sing time
 
[Verse]
 
            G
Yeah, we're drinking and we're dancing
 
but there's nothing really happening
        Em
And the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night
       Bm
And my very close companion
 
gets me fumbling gets me laughing
        Em
she's a hundred but she's wearing something tight
      C
And I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
 
which you can't reveal to the Ears of Youth
  G              B7            Em
except to say it isn't worth a dime
        D
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
 
and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ
        C
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
 
we're busted in the blinding lights
   G
of closing time (closing time, closing time, closing time)
    C
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
 
and it's once for the Devil and it's once for Christ
        G                     B7
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
      Em            C
we're busted in the blinding lights (busted in the blinding lights)
 
busted in the blinding lights
   G              D
of clo-sing time, clo-sing time
 
[Outro]
 
        G
Oh, the women tear their blouses off
                                               D
and the men they dance on the polka dots, it's clo---sing time
         G
And it's partner found, and it's partner lost
                                                  D
and it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops, it's clo---sing time
      G
And I swear it happened just like this:
                                   D
A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss, it's clo---sing time (closing time, closing time)
    G
The gates of love they budged an inch
                                        D
I can't say much has happened since but clo---sing time (closing time, closing time)
  G
I loved you when our love was blessed
                                         D
I love you now, there's nothing left but clo---sing time (closing time, closing time)
      G
And I missed you since our place got wrecked
                                                  D
by the winds of change and the weeds of sex, it's clo---sing time ....
X