Escrita por Leonard Cohen, foi gravada entre abril e maio de 1979 e lançada no disco Recent Songs, o sexto disco de Leonard, em 27 de setembro de 1979. Foi produzida por Henry Lewy e Leonard Cohen. A canção foi baseada em um poema do século 13 e foi escolhida pra abrir o disco por causa da resposta animada quando Leonard a tocava pros amigos. Tem uma banda mexicana Mariachi que toca na gravação. Leonard cantou e tocou violão. Mitch Watkins, Ricardo Gonzalez e Filipe Peres tocaram guitarra. Everado Sandoval tocou “guitarrón”. Abraham Laboriel tocou baixo. John Lissaeur tocou piano. Garth Hudson tocou acordeon. Bill Ginn tocou piano elétrico. Steve Meador tocou bateria.
A letra:
One
by one, the guests arrive
The guests are coming through
The
open-hearted many
The broken-hearted few
And no one knows
where the night is going
And no one knows why the wine is flowing
Oh love I need you
I need you
I need you
I need you
Oh . . . I need you now
And those who dance, begin to
dance
Those who weep begin
And "Welcome, welcome"
cries a voice
"Let all my guests come in."
And
no one knows where the night is going ...
And all go
stumbling through that house
in lonely secrecy
Saying "Do
reveal yourself"
or "Why has thou forsaken me?"
And no one knows where the night is going ...
All at
once the torches flare
The inner door flies open
One by one
they enter there
In every style of passion
And no one
knows where the night is going ...
And here they take their
sweet repast
While house and grounds dissolve
And one by one
the guests are cast
Beyond the garden wall
And no one
knows where the night is going ...
Those who dance, begin to
dance
Those who weep begin
Those who earnestly are lost
Are
lost and lost again
And no one knows where the night is going
...
One by the guests arrive
The guests are coming
through
The broken-hearted many
The open-hearted few
And
no one knows where the night is going ...
A versão de Leonard Cohen:
A versão de Anthony and The Johnsons:
