Diamonds in the Lines : Leonard Cohen in his own live words

Tennessee Waltz (1985-)
(Redd Stewart, Pee Wee King)

Birmingham 28/02/85

Friends, I'd like to sing a song that I didn't write. It's an old song, it's a beautiful song. I wrote a couple extra words to it. And it's a song that I loved all the time I was growing up, and I hope you'll like it too. It's called "The Tennessee Waltz."

Warsaw 22/03/85

I want to say a little tiny thing. When I was in the distinguished Hotel Victoria in which.. Is that the name of it? Yeah that's the name of it! You know you get to see a lot of hotels when you're on the road, sometimes you forget the names. Of course we've been very hospitably treated at the Hotel Victoria and a young man came up to me this evening and he shook my hand and he was the president of the "Country Western Music Association" of Poland. That's a kind of music that is very dear to my heart. I don’t know if you met here at the concert tonight, but he gave a very beautiful pin, give us a few pins and I really appreciate that and … I dunno, somehow that dissolves all the other concerns that we approached this evening and for this man … I know he was a man that worked hard because his hands were calloused...he'd done some hard work in his life.... and ... I want to dedicate this song to him and to all of us. It's a song I didn't write but it's a country western song that I've loved for a long time. I wrote a few extra-words to it but it doesn't change that much. Here it is:

San Francisco 08/06/85

There's an old song that I first learned when I was about 16, sitting at the Cadillac Restaurant on Peel Street in Montreal. And I always hoped that I'd be able to grow up one day and sing this song in front of people. And "Lo and Behold" I see there is a happy end. I forgot the second verse, so I constructed a new one with all the respect for the first.

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