--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a…" description: "\"Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!!\" — Leonard Cohen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg" --- # Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I… ![“Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!!” quote by Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg) > “Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!!” [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker seeks personal freedom despite feeling constrained, using vivid metaphors of a bird and a drunk choir. **In simple terms:** Trying to be free despite constraints. Key Takeaway Embrace authenticity while acknowledging limits. Themes freedom constraint identity artistry Mood poetic philosophical Type melancholic hopeful When to use this quote - creative work - personal struggles - mental health - performance Key Concepts existentialism poetry music Questions to Reflect On - What does freedom mean to you? - How do you express authenticity in daily life? A Different Perspective Freedom may be an illusion without societal change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Choir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choir/) [Drunk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drunk/) [Midnight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/midnight/) ## Related quotes > [I have tried in my way to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-have-tried-in-my-way-to-be-free/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [My voice? Yeah, well, I used to drink a lot of beer when I was a kid and I sounded like a drunk in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-burdon/my-voice-yeah-well-i-used-to-drink-a-lot-of-beer-when-i-was-a-kid-and/) [Eric Burdon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-burdon/) > [Grace is upside-down, to-do-list wrecking, scandalous and way-too free. It's one-way love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tullian-tchividjian/grace-is-upside-down-to-do-list-wrecking-scandalous-and-way-too-free/) [Tullian Tchividjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tullian-tchividjian/) > [“In a strange way we were free. We’d reached the end of the line. We had nothing more to lose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-kaysen/in-a-strange-way-we-were-free-we-d-reached-the-end-of-the-line-we-had-2/) [Susanna Kaysen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-kaysen/) > [The only way you can be free is to know is that you are worthwhile as a distinct human being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-means/the-only-way-you-can-be-free-is-to-know-is-that-you-are-worthwhile-as/) [Russell Means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-means/) > [The best way to be more free is to grant more freedom to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlo-dossi/the-best-way-to-be-more-free-is-to-grant-more-freedom-to-others/) Carlo Dossi > [Once you have a Down's syndrome child, you can't conform. In a way, you're free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-phillips/once-you-have-a-down-s-syndrome-child-you-can-t-conform-in-a-way-you/) [Sally Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-phillips/) > [Having money is a way of being free of money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/having-money-is-a-way-of-being-free-of-money/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Of course, the surest way to free yourself from an existential crisis is through comedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-beals/of-course-the-surest-way-to-free-yourself-from-an-existential-crisis/) [Jennifer Beals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-beals/) > [He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/he-was-free-free-in-every-way-free-to-behave-like-a-fool-or-a-machine/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [The only way to be free is to let go and forgive yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-way-to-be-free-is-to-let-go-and-forgive-yourself/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There's no easy way to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-townshend/there-s-no-easy-way-to-be-free/) [Pete Townshend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-townshend/) > [“Through those drooping branches the city sprawled out haphazardly like a drunk on a sidewalk, fallen where he may.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-powers/through-those-drooping-branches-the-city-sprawled-out-haphazardly/) [Kevin Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-powers/) > [Daddy, when he drank, just became sweeter. There wasn't a mean thought in his body. I've always said he was like a drunk Jimmy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-burnett/daddy-when-he-drank-just-became-sweeter-there-wasn-t-a-mean-thought/) [Carol Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-burnett/) > [When sober girls around me, they be actin like they drunk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/far-east-movement/when-sober-girls-around-me-they-be-actin-like-they-drunk/) [Far East Movement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/far-east-movement/) ## More by Leonard Cohen > [The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold and it's overturned the order of the soul...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/the-blizzard-of-the-world-has-crossed-the-threshold-and-it-s/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [“Don't matter if you're rich and strong Don't matter if you're weak Don't matter if you write a song The nightingales repeat Don't matter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/don-t-matter-if-you-re-rich-and-strong-don-t-matter-if-you-re-weak/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [“You don't know me from the wind you never will, you never did I'm the little jew who wrote the Bible. I've seen the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/you-don-t-know-me-from-the-wind-you-never-will-you-never-did-i-m-the/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [“This is it I’m not coming after you I’m going to lie down for half an hour This is it I’m not going down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/this-is-it-i-m-not-coming-after-you-i-m-going-to-lie-down-for-half-an/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn't pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/my-sense-of-proprietorship-has-been-so-weak-that-actually-i-didn-t/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can... reconcile and embrace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/this-world-is-full-of-conflicts-and-full-of-things-that-cannot-be/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [ I would say the hummingbird really deserves the royalties on \[some of my songs\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-would-say-the-hummingbird-really-deserves-the-royalties-on-some-of/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [One is given to self-dramatization from time to time. I intend to live forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/one-is-given-to-self-dramatization-from-time-to-time-i-intend-to-live/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [The basic function of popular music is to create an environment for courting, lovemaking, and doing the dishes. It's useful because it addresses the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/the-basic-function-of-popular-music-is-to-create-an-environment-for/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [“Blessed are you, embrace of the falling, foundation of the light, master of the human accident.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/blessed-are-you-embrace-of-the-falling-foundation-of-the-light-master/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [I continually blacken pages and scribble away, so I always have a number of songs that are half-finished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-continually-blacken-pages-and-scribble-away-so-i-always-have-a/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [I have nothing against the Queen of England. Even in my heart I never resented her for not being Jackie Kennedy. She is, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-have-nothing-against-the-queen-of-england-even-in-my-heart-i-never/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [I loved you when you opened like a lily to the heat; you see I’m just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-loved-you-when-you-opened-like-a-lily-to-the-heat-you-see-i-m-just/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [It's time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/it-s-time-that-we-began-to-laugh-and-cry-and-cry-and-laugh-about-it/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [“I followed the course From chaos to art Desire the horse Depression the cart”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/i-followed-the-course-from-chaos-to-art-desire-the-horse-depression/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) [Explore all 543 Leonard Cohen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) ## More Bird quotes > [And I have been very blessed, having coached some of the greatest that have ever played the game. But if I had to start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/red-auerbach/and-i-have-been-very-blessed-having-coached-some-of-the-greatest-that/) [Red Auerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/red-auerbach/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Set the bird's wings with gold and it will never again soar in thesky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/set-the-bird-s-wings-with-gold-and-it-will-never-again-soar-in-thesky/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [“He unfixes the metal notch and slips his hand around the body of the bird. Feels its heat, its small heart beating. He stares…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-schuyler/he-unfixes-the-metal-notch-and-slips-his-hand-around-the-body-of-the/) Nina Schuyler > [I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-would-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-to-teach-10-000/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-macgill/a-clock-struck-out-the-hour-of-twelve-and-the-bird-in-the-hedgerow/) [Patrick MacGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-macgill/) > [Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/every-wife-ought-to-answer-for-her-man-if-the-husband-be-engaged-in-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/when-they-started-to-drain-a-swamp-where-birds-and-fish-had-lived-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-mccullough/the-bird-with-the-thorn-in-its-breast-it-follows-an-immutable-law-it/) [Colleen McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-mccullough/) > [Real like sucks the life out of losers. if you want to fuck with the eagles, you must learn how to fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/real-like-sucks-the-life-out-of-losers-if-you-want-to-fuck-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If we studied birds ,maybe we could learn to be free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/if-we-studied-birds-maybe-we-could-learn-to-be-free/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) [Browse all 4,802 Bird quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leonard Cohen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a-midnight-choir-i-have-tried/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bird" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a-midnight-choir-i-have-tried/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ad/leonard-cohen-448_bird_like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a_1472465.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!!” — Leonard Cohen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leonard Cohen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Like a bird on a wire,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a-midnight-choir-i-have-tried/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/like-a-bird-on-a-wire-like-a-drunk-in-a-midnight-choir-i-have-tried/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```