First We Take Manhattan
Leonard Cohen)
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station
I told you I told you I told you I was one of those
You loved me as a loser but now your worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this: to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I don't like your fashion business, mister
I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to your sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin (chorus)
And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night and now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
Remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
It's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
song performed by by REM

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Related quotes
First We Take Manhattan
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
Im coming now, Im coming to reward them
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
Im guided by a signal in the heavens
Im guided by this birthmark on my skin
Im guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
Id really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those
Ah you loved me as a loser, but now youre worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you dont have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
I dont like your fashion business mister
And I dont like these drugs that keep you thin
I dont like what happened to my sister
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
Id really like to live beside you, baby ...
And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now Im ready
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
I am guided
Ah remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well its fathers day and everybodys wounded
First we take manhattan, then we take berlin
song performed by by Leonard Cohen

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I've lived most of my life in Manhattan, but as close as Brooklyn is to Manhattan, there are people who live there who have been to Manhattan maybe once or twice.
quote by Ellen Burstyn

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Remember Manhattan
Nothing worth a damn
Can be sifted through the brain
Sense dont make the
Man
But you insist on being sane
Dont take time to
Think
Or youre done before
You start
Theres no missing link
Cause its right there
In your heart
Take a closer look,
Theres an answer not a
Question
In that may-december line
Youll bite a bigger
Hook
Than the one you want to leave behind
Remember manhattan
Woody wasnt wrong
Remember manhattan
Before you say so long
How you gonna tell
If it stands the test of time
Theres no wishing well
That comestrue without the dime
Its a common curse
That the grass is always greener
No matter what you have
But nothing could be worse
Than to try to reproduce the past
Remember manhattan
Woody wasnt wrong
Remember manhattan
Before you say so long
Remember manhattan
What did woody say
He said, remember manhattan
Before you walk away
Lose your common sense
cause you may not get the chance again
song performed by by Richard Marx

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The alliance with air Berlin is attractive for me. I can use the whole sales network of the air Berlin and 24 percent of my own airline at air Berlin sold.
quote by Niki Lauda

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I remember Berlin. Berlin to me was the star of the film. I loved for six months that we filmed there.
quote by Marton Csokas

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Manhattan
Summer journeys to Niagra
and to other places aggravate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!
I've a cozy little flat in
What is known as old Manhattan
We'll settle down
Right here in town!
We'll have Manhattan
the Bronx and Staten Island too.
It's lovely going through the zoo!
(Sing to me, Bette, come on)
It's very fancy
on old Delancy street you know. (I know)
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
I'd like to take a
Sail on Jamaica Bay with you,
And fair Canarsie's Lakes we'll view.
The city's bustle cannot destroy
Oooh, the dreams of a girl and boy
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
Ooh, yeah
And tell me what street
compares with Mott Street in July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.
The great big city's a wonderous toy
Ooh, just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy!
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy!
song performed by by Rod Stewart

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There was an Old Person of Berlin,
Whose form was uncommonly thin;
Till he once, by mistake,
Was mixed up in a cake,
So they baked that Old Man of Berlin.
quote by by Edward Lear

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Manhattan (feat. Bette Midler)
(feat. Bette Midler)
Summer journeys to Niagra
and to other places aggravate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!
I've a cozy little flat in
What is known as old Manhattan
We'll settle down
Right here in town!
We'll have Manhattan
the Bronx and Staten Island too.
It's lovely going through the zoo!
(Sing to me, Bette, come on)
It's very fancy
on old Delancy street you know. (I know)
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
I'd like to take a
Sail on Jamaica Bay with you,
And fair Canarsie's Lakes we'll view.
The city's bustle cannot destroy
Oooh, the dreams of a girl and boy
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
Ooh, yeah
And tell me what street
compares with Mott Street in July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.
The great big city's a wonderous toy
Ooh, just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy!
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy!
song performed by by Rod Stewart

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When I went back to visit my native Berlin after World War II, I noticed that the only thing I really remembered from my childhood Berlin days is the shoe store.
quote by Lukas Foss

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Sons Are Liars
However ugly life appears
to be it’s good: so wrote Isaiah
Berlin to mollify the fears
of his dear mother. Sons are liars.
Timothy Garton Ash reviews Letters,1928-1946, by Isaiah Berlin (CUP) , edited by Henry Hardy (“A Genius for Friendship, ” New York Review, September 23,2004) . Like Clive James, he is puzzled the way that Berlin had so little to say about the events of the 1930’s and the Holocaust that followed but this poem was inspired by something completely different:
There is a moving early letter from the nineteen-year-old Shaya, as he was then known, to his spirited, musical, romantically aspiring mother, Marie, consoling her (“I know that your position is not sweet”) for the frustrations of living with the pedestrian caution of his merchant father, Mendel Berlin. “Remember, life is Good; and always will be Good however ugly it looks….” Somehow that remained Isaiah’s belief through all the horrors of the twentieth century, and this fundamentally optimistic, life-affirming attitude is one of the qualities that made him such a stimulating person.
9/15/04
poem by Gershon Hepner

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Barack Hussein Obama II
Barack Obama in Berlin,
With words like a bard to put us in order;
But many minds will lay low to think.
Being one of his father's children among the four wives and,
A vision came to him to achieve the best of life with dreams;
Right from the beginning of things to fulfil his ambitions and,
As the right person to stand for the U.S Presidential race.
Care was given to him from every angle to push him up like,
Kenya where his father came from.
Barack Obama in Berlin,
With words like a bard to put us in order;
But many minds will lay low to think.
Here in Berlin with the advantage of his reputations and,
Using the opportunities in the U.S.A. like his father had;
Showing how great it is to share without racism and religion like,
Sunflowers in a sweet green field with the smell of an aroma:
Emitting with positive words to call us all together as one.
In the U.S.A. to reach out to the world with love and,
Now that he is running for the presidential seat.
Barack Obama in Berlin,
With words like a bard to put us in order;
But many minds will lay low to think.
Obama has made a name in this world so sweet,
Being rated among the best to bring us together;
Along the lines of war, hatred and peace like,
Masters of the act of flying to reach a place:
A memory of his visit will sit many down to think.
Barack Obama in Berlin,
With words like a bard to put us in order;
But many minds will lay low to think.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis

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The Berlin Wall go down, that was the most wonderful thing that could happen, absolutely. I celebrated with everybody in Berlin that day when the Wall was down.
quote by Nana Mouskouri

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A.M. Oversight
If I were God
and in passing, caught sight
of you, Manhattan,
on such a summer's day morning,
sparkling
divvying the waters
of the mighty Hudson like the rock you are,
in twain (in what else?) . If I...
...were God,
who is quite old-
bent over and not a little crotchety;
who long ago stopped having sex in any form
and who has only one child...and...
caught sight of you, Manhattan,
monkey's fist of glimmers and glares,
rayons and fountains
and finials of blinding light;
and your miles of highways
on which numberless cars
idle, gleam and fume;
and your banks of leaves, shimmering,
though only ginkos
though only locusts
and, not, say, the darkly-glowering, cloud-like trees of Rome,
looking down and out over all, I would say,
'nice going, Manhattan, even if only the handiwork of men,
you're looking good this morning.
But, you, little man, little barbarian, come back-
when you polished the Chrysler building top last,
see-you missed a spot.'
poem by Morgan Michaels

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My Blue Manhattan
My blue Manhattan
She's angry like a child, but how sweet
Fire and rain on the street
It's you against me most days
It's me against you, doll
Ah, the snows comin' down
on the cars in midtown
Stone cold in sheets with you all over me
Ain't that sweet my little gal,
ain't that sweet my little gal
My blue Manhattan
She cusses with her sailor's mouth
And fire and rain on the streets
It's you against me most days
It's me against you
Making snow angels in the gravel and the dirt
Crawling like a spider,
and I'm somewhere inside her
Too hurt to move, too hurt to move
My blue Manhattan
song performed by by Ryan Adams

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After Berlin
Just like a young boy running down the road
Im singing out the same old song
Cant go back the way I started from
The road goes on and on
Wont you help me, help me, help me, help me,
Help me, help me, help me, help me,
Make my way on home
Help me make my way on home
After berlin.
Lights are shining in the german sky
Clouds make walls between the moon and i
Dont know where I started from
So wont you take me, take me, take me, take me,
Take me, take me, take me, take me,
Just the way I am
Ah, take me, just the way I am
After berlin.
Ill be cruising down the corridor
Seeing things I never seen before
Tomorrow morning in old berlin
Where they lock you out or lock you in
Wont you save me, save me, save me, save me,
Save me, save me, save me, save me,
From the final day
Save me from the final day
After berlin.
Just like a young boy running down the road
Im singing out the same old song
I cant go back the way I used to go
The road goes on and on
Wont you help me, help me, help me, help me,
Help me, help me, help me, help me,
Find my way back home
Wont you help me make my way on home
After berlin.
Help me, help me, help me, help me.
Help me, help me, help me, help me.
song performed by by Neil Young

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Summer In Berlin
This days an invitation
And its just for you
Youve got a reservation
For the 17th of june
Open your eyes and let the sun break in for a while
There may be something that youve never seen inside
Feel how your heart beats like a
Heavy machine
The sound of the traffic is like a
Silent dream
The dust in the park, the exhaust from the cars
Ascends in that heated afternoon
You touch a sweaty body
Summer in berlin, its alright
The day feel so tired from the led in the air and the fire in the sky
Life seemed to be a fault of grace but its okay
It gave you a kiss in the middle of the crossroads
Summer in berlin, its alright
The heat of the sun which is stored in the pavement feels so fine
Here stands the innocent and there it comes oh so wild
Thats when youre longing for a summer by the wall
Summer in berlin, its okay
Gold/1983
song performed by by Alphaville

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Dire Manhattan #3
Walking aimlessly
Past the sleeping terrain
Of Manhattan
At 1: 30 in the morning,
Thinking of a place
Where I could crash and burn.
The wind cradled me
And caressed my chaffed lips.
The cars were scant
And the smell of forgotten love
Flourished.
Alone, fretting in the dark
Underneath the stark abyss,
I was submerged in the pretentious
Moon-glazed concrete of quagmire.
I will never be the same
Underneath the Manhattan skies.
poem by Windsor Guadalupe Jr

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Ballade: Bedrock
Laurasia and Gondwana pressed,
volcanic vents disgorged Earth's brew
and from the shallow sea a crest
of ragged, blackened islands grew.
Below the waves the sea's floor slew
and swallowed layers of ashy grist.
The mantle forged the mineral stew,
recrystallized Manhattan schist.
Green copper, gold capped, self-possessed,
crowned heads aloof in pallid blue.
Steel chests, attired in natty vests
attending street and avenue.
Art deco, choice of parvenu-
brass, nickel, chrome, aluminum twist.
Foundations; granite, concrete glue
recrystallized Manhattan schist.
September Central Park is dressed
in greens; oak, maple, elm and yew.
A bloated rain cloud bursts in jest
and hazed skyscrapers fade from view.
The washed rock outcrop's subtle hue-
eclectic greys blend amethyst
and glinting mica sparkles through
recrystallized Manhattan schist.
Beneath thin air where chaos blew,
the trace of lives in bronze persist
and trace of fragile bones imbue
recrystallized Manhattan schist.
poem by Diane Hine

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Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Divided, divided; world was divided
Great Chinese wall was broken by artillery bullet
Great wall of among two worlds was broken
Berlin wall broke and collapsed
Keeping ruins of
Broken wall of Berlin
Remnants seen by stopping
Broken heart burnt
Boundary of black and white world
Shows the whole picture
When looked at by white color world
Everybody is silent
Blackness of the red world
Come and see from the eye of west
Even there are no positives
Such a hidden thing would be constant
To see the ruins
People are on pilgrimage
Eyes of look are quite
A gap of instances
Digging tunnels
Jumping over the wall
Looking for the west freedom
Have found expected goal?
Being Disappeared past
Are showed to new generation
Children are playing
In two sides of difference
Without having recognized
Broken down
It is not only the wall of Berlin
Broken down
Left branch dream
Though it is shown by hiding
Teaches a lesson
World is a field of Freedom
Is not one and only problem
Udaya R. Tennakoon
poem by Udaya R. Tennakoon

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Manhattan
Summer journeys to niagra
And to other places aggra-
Vate all our cares.
Well save our fares!
Ive a cozy little flat in
What is known as old manhattan
Well settle down
Right here in town!
Well have manhattan
The bronx and staten
Island too.
Its lovely going through
The zoo!
Its very fancy
On old delancy
Street you know.
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
And tell me what street
Compares with mott street
In july?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.
The great big citys a wonderous toy
Just made for a girl and boy.
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy!
Well go to yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the whiles
And starve together dear, in chiles
Well go to coney
And eat baloney on a roll
In central park well stroll
Where our first kiss we stole
Soul to soul
And my fair lady is a terrific show they say
We both may see it close, some day
The citys glamour can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy!
Transcribed by todd peach
(from this specific recording)
Guy from bath england sent me this more complete version:
Verse
Summer journeys to niagra
And to other places aggra-
Vate all our cares.
Well save our fares;
Ive a cozy little flat in
What is known as old manhattan,
Well settle down
Right here in town.
Chorus 1
Well have manhattan,
The bronx and staten
Island too.
Its lovely going through the zoo.
Its very fancy
On old delancey
Street you know.
The subway charms us so,
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
And tell me what street
Compares with mott street
In july?
Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by.
The great big citys a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy --
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
Chorus 2
Well go to greenwich,
Where modern men itch
To be free,
And bowling green youll see with me.
Well bathe at brighton,
The fish youll frighten
When youre in,
Your bathing suit so thin
Will make the shellfish grin,
Fin to fin.
Id like to take a
Sail on jamaica
Bay with you,
And fair canarsies lakes well view.
The citys bustle cannot destroy
The dreams of a girl and boy --
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
Chorus 3
Well go to yonkers,
Where true love conquers
In the wilds
And starve together, dear, in childs.
Well go to coney
And eat bologny
On a roll,
In central park well stroll
Where our first kiss we stole,
Soul to soul.
And south pacific
Is a terrific
Show they say,
We both may see it close some day.
The citys clamour can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil --
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
Chorus 4
Well have manhattan,
The bronx and staten
Island too,
Well try to cross fifth avenue.
As black as onyx
Well find the bronix
Park express,
Our flatbush flat, I guess,
Will be a great success,
More or less.
A short vacation
On inspiration
Point well spend,
And in the station house well end.
But civic virtue cannot destroy
The dreams of a girl and boy --
Well turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy!
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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